who's playing this game?

[J. M. Pescado]

Yes, well, I'm an old man. My wrists aren't really quite up to that sort of thing anymore. And besides, when it comes to me, using Macrotastics, that's essentially nearly as good as me playing the game myself. When YOU use it, on the other hand, it's more like having me play parts of your game for you. Is this a good thing? Am I more awesome than you? You decide.

[Ardin Topani]

Of course you are more awesome than me, but then my game would be easier and therefore, less fun for me. 

[J. M. Pescado]

I'm not sure if that qualifies as "easier" as opposed to merely "less tedious". I mean, you can do all that crap yourself if you want. There's sort of a difference between "difficulty" and "frustration" here.

[clem]

As far as psychological types are concerned (labels, who needs labels?) Jung explains it best:
There are eight personality types based on the interactions of the attitudes and the functions.

I thought there were sixteen? And it's funny you should mention this, since I was thinking of it while reading the thread, but I was cowed by the "labels" comment. It's my guess that introverts are highly represented among players, and maybe people who, like me, enjoy figuring out the system and how to get around the difficulties. I haven't downloaded Macrotastics, since half the fun for me is the time management aspect of the game. I have a set of conditions, a desired end result, and I have to solve how to get there within the limitations. FUN!

[J. M. Pescado]

Well, in my case, the time-management problem is double-edged: My objective is to maximize the ratio of sim-time to my-time, without reducing the efficiency of sim-time. Doing manually makes it a waste of my time, since I end up making the exact same decision as Macrotastics. Once you master the entire sim-management aspect, it will quickly become tedious, repetitive, and wrist-strain-inducing with all the tiresome clicking.

[veilchen]

I thought there were sixteen? And it's funny you should mention this, since I was thinking of it while reading the thread, but I was cowed by the "labels" comment. It's my guess that introverts are highly represented among players, and maybe people who, like me, enjoy figuring out the system and how to get around the difficulties. I haven't downloaded Macrotastics, since half the fun for me is the time management aspect of the game. I have a set of conditions, a desired end result, and I have to solve how to get there within the limitations. FUN!

That would be Raymond Cattell with his 16 Personality Factors. I don't give him much credence, he's one of those that try to apply techincal and logical reasoning for human actions and re-actions (silly Raymond).

Carl Jung was the one who came up with the extravert/introvert, and he also found that you don't have to be strictly one or the other, but can have a mixture of both. However, one is dominant.

Macrotastics are great for the maxed out sims. I send them off cleaning/gardening/etc, or set them to 'paint continously', have them power-idle, or have them train the kids/teens with the skillinator. Then I can concentrate on the ones that need more attention.

G.

[jrd]

Re: control freaks:
I micro-manage my Sims a lot. I constantly pause the game to cue up actions or macro's, and the only time the game is running for a long time unpaused is at nights, and while a macro is running succesfully.

On the other hand I let free will running most of the time, since I don't care about Sims not directly under my control. I let my Sims make their own enemies and friends mostly, I just step in when they make mistakes.

[veilchen]

I used to let them have free will, but when they burned their 10th lobster, played the computer-game until they were ready to pass out, and other assorted 'wackyness', while I concentrated on something else, I started turning it off.

Unfortunately, free will off/on is for every inhabitant of the lot you play. It would be nice to turn it on for some, but off for others, mainly the ones that are particularly stupid (skill-less). I know that this is not feasable, but, unlike pixel people, I can have wants/wishes and at the same time know they will not come to pass :D

G.

[bluecatvon]

i have to confess.. even though i'm studying art, i've always love science. but i can't do math haha. math and physics. and a higher lvl chemistry. i always fail at my tests haha.
most of my friends who are in the science stream hate this game, and most of my art stream friends love this game, so i thought, why not ask the rest of world

[Trubble]

I have one science fanatic friend (she's going into phorensic science) adores the game. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

[HRH Posie]

Well I have a BSc and MSc in Biochemistry and have previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry.  I've qualified for my MCSE and I'll be staring a new pharmaceutical job Monday.  I am a control freak and therefore I'm not over keen on macrotastics.  Whilst I complain about Uni, I still have to do everything by hand.  I'm certainly not artistic by any stretch of the imagination!

[kim]

Sims 2 is a great big mess. If you love messy things, you will love this game.

the very definition of "life simulator".  so maybe they intentionally left it incomplete and broken, to be more like real life.  i don't really love the game, i love all the things i think it could be, could lead to.
my reality has always been in arts, though i have a framed piece of paper around here somewhere that claims i once knew something about computer programming.

[schmoopee]

I think it attracts many types of player - the artistic and the logical - for different reasons. People play in different ways - some like to experiment, some like to story-tell, some like to build & decorate, some like to meet goals, etc etc.

I think I'm more dominant on the right-brained side of things but can be very logical as well.

I confess - the Sims, to me, is just a thinly veiled way of getting to play the "barbies" that I had to give up when I was 12. *lol*

I'm sort of a combo goal setter/story teller - I like to plan out my sims lives (ie, the hood I am playing now, I have decreed that this generation is toall go to uni, and marry and each have 3 kids, unless they want 6 for an LTW. And I'm trying to fulfill all of their LTWs.) But I kind of make up a story about it in my head as I go along. I'm not a picture-taking story maker, its more for my amusement.

[jrd]

The Sims is also one of the few games which attracts complete digibetes. This gets reflected in the level of questions on forums: you won't ever see a Quake3, Morrowind, Half-Life 2 etc. forum where dozens of people ask what to do with a zip file.

Decide for yourself if that's a blessing or a curse.

[DuckSpeak]

It's obviously a blessing, you get to laugh and make fun of them. 

[reggikko]

Carl Jung was the one who came up with the extravert/introvert, and he also found that you don't have to be strictly one or the other, but can have a mixture of both. However, one is dominant.

Jung is my favorite of the great innovators of modern psychology. It's funny, but before I knew of Jung, I had my own idea of a collective unconscious. In my mid-teens, I became fascinated with  Freud and "discoved" Jung through him. When I first read of his theory of the collective unconscious, I was totally blown away. When I was younger, I had the dream of becoming a psychologist. Unfortunately, that never came to fruition. Like you, I do much better with people's minds than I do with machines. I would have to do something like forensic psychology and not therapy, though. Whiny people irritate me too much for that!

I can be either an introvert or an extrovert, depending upon my mood. I've never been shy or anything like that. Sometimes I just prefer not to be bothered with socialization. Once in a social situation, however, I am never the wallflower. I also have pretty strong leadership qualities and fairly strong charisma, I just generally don't put them to use. And in case you couldn't tell, I don't think of recognizing one's own talents as conceit, just fact. 

Macrotastics are great for the maxed out sims. I send them off cleaning/gardening/etc, or set them to 'paint continously', have them power-idle, or have them train the kids/teens with the skillinator. Then I can concentrate on the ones that need more attention.

My son has devised either the ultimate challenge for control freaks, or the ultimate nightmare, depending upon point of view. It's the "I'm Surrounded by Idiots" Challenge. In any given household, you control one Sim and one Sim only. Everyone else is free-range. Of course, the challenge is in keeping everyone else happy and productive using just the one Sim. You're not allowed to see what the others want, however. You have to use observation and educated guessing. It's both fun and challenging and often has quite hilarious results.

Details here, if anyone's interested: http://virtualdollhouse.blogspot.com/

[dizzy]

My son has devised either the ultimate challenge for control freaks, or the ultimate nightmare, depending upon point of view.

Funny, but that's the way I normally like to play. 

And Jung was a wordy busy-body. If he had been as good a shrink as he was at enhancing his vocabulary, mental illness would be a thing of the past.

[cwieberdink]

My son has devised either the ultimate challenge for control freaks, or the ultimate nightmare, depending upon point of view. It's the "I'm Surrounded by Idiots" Challenge. In any given household, you control one Sim and one Sim only. Everyone else is free-range. Of course, the challenge is in keeping everyone else happy and productive using just the one Sim. You're not allowed to see what the others want, however. You have to use observation and educated guessing. It's both fun and challenging and often has quite hilarious results.

Details here, if anyone's interested: http://virtualdollhouse.blogspot.com/

OOOOOHH!  Now here's a challenge I could get into.  I just haven't been brave enough (I guess despite the body armor and the lead pipe, I am still in some ways a wuss) to do the email challenge, although it looks funny and interesting.  I may have to tear myself away from my current fave family and give these a go.

Chris

[Larita]

I spent years and years in business, then flip-flopped and went back to school for a technical degree in medicine.  Now I'm back to running the family business.  The past 25 years I've maintained a hobby-like devotion to learning computers...as the field keeps one...no, several...steps ahead of me. *Sigh*  I'm an artist, an introvert who has learned to be an extravert when a need arises, dabble in computer graphics, write poetry, paint watercolours, make jewelry, and try whatever else strikes my fancy. 

I'm addicted to Sims, and I thank God my hubby is addicted to surfing the internet, because we can sit quite happily at our desks for hours.  We live on an island and the TV is crappy, so this fills an entertainment need.  I'm a control freak, so therefore I LOVE macrotastics.  Without it, I couldn't possibly control everyone, all of the time.  I have ALL of JM's hacks and couldn't do without them.  I'm an achiever, so it's a challenge for me to allow my Sims to be different - read: stupid, sloppy, underachiever, etc. - but I'm learning.

[Ardin Topani]

My son has devised either the ultimate challenge for control freaks, or the ultimate nightmare, depending upon point of view. It's the "I'm Surrounded by Idiots" Challenge. In any given household, you control one Sim and one Sim only. Everyone else is free-range. Of course, the challenge is in keeping everyone else happy and productive using just the one Sim. You're not allowed to see what the others want, however. You have to use observation and educated guessing. It's both fun and challenging and often has quite hilarious results.

Details here, if anyone's interested: http://virtualdollhouse.blogspot.com/

Ooh! Something I can do after I finish, Legacy, Prosperity and Email! Yay!

Of course, I'm only on Generation 2 of Legacy is still a child, Generation 2 of Prosperity is at toddler age, and Email is still in the Sim bin. I think play with my other sims too much. 

[J. M. Pescado]

See, you should be very happy I have no intention of playing this challenge. Otherwise, where would you be when I suffer a fatal brain aneurysm from it?

[rhodaloo]

Both my BS and MS are in nursing so I guess that makes me not one of the artsy people.  I do love to sew and do needleart (well, I did before I owned the Sims2).  The thing I love about the Sims is that I control their lives in a way that I can't control my family's lives. 

[reggikko]

See, you should be very happy I have no intention of playing this challenge. Otherwise, where would you be when I suffer a fatal brain aneurysm from it?

Heh-heh. It is rather the polar opposite of your playing style, isn't it? You'd be surprised how much you can actually control vicariously, though. This challenge shows just how efficient a Sim-master you can really be. I think you'd actually be quite good at it.

[veilchen]

Reg, I'm curious. Is there actually a challenge that you refuse to take on? I see you all over the place (and I am, of course, rooting for you), and you not only take on all the challenges, but actually successfully tackle them all. I knew you'd be one of the first one to take on the e-mail challenge before it was even posted. My what many talents you have:

If you want a very nice and playable house = see reggikko
If you want a funny story that makes you laugh = see reggikko
If you want to test-drive a challenge to see if it is doable = see reggikko

Hm... I seem to detect a pattern here ;D

G.

[ElviraGoth]

Well, I'm not sure where I fall in this...

When I was in high school I wanted to be an art teacher.  I have always had the skill, was born with it, I guess.

I started programming in '82 when we got our first computer, a TI-994A (anyone remember those?)  My ex and his brother and I had a software company, selling programs I wrote.  I also did some art files that we sold.

Have been programming ever since, except I have slacked off for the last couple of years because I kinda got burned out.  And I need a better version of the C++ language I've been using for 15 years, but can't afford right now.

By profession, I'm a graphics artist for a sportswear company, and I create our catalogs and workbooks, so I spend a lot of my day working with Photoshop and Illustrator.

I didn't get interested in the sims until about a year ago - got TS1 after TS2 came out, to see what all the fuss was about.  Got hooked.  Before, all I played were adventure games, because I enjoyed the puzzles in them that you had to solve in order to progress.  So I kind of play the sims like that - make it as challenging as I can.

But I have done a lot of recolors for myself because of a color challenge I've been playing, and plan on using the color skins for a genetic challenge I have in mind when I'm done.  I'm just starting to get more creative with my recolors, and want to get into doing the 3D modeling, which I also want to learn for a program I was working on.

In high school, my aptitude test determined I had a mechanical mind.  But I'm also artistic.  Where does that put me in the art vs. science?