Play Style: The Nitty Gritty

[J. M. Pescado]

I think everyone knows I have an alien fetish by now.     I like vamps as well.  Servos are cool.  Haven't played around with werewolves too much yet.  I rarely if ever do zombies since they're kinda irreversible.  Not sure how I feel about a plant sim since they skip two whole age groups.

PlantBABIES skip the age groups, including the ever-critical uni phase, permanently landing them with the incredibly craptastic 4 want slots. At least they tend to max out all skills early on, seeing as they inherit all parent skills. Plantsims themselves can also be made rather than born, however, and those get the full 6/2 + Degree.

[Arina]

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?
I like all aspects of the game. I love to build and decorate houses, and remodel them as the family who lives there changes. And I love to play the families I make. In this present hood I just started and my previous one I've gone back to not letting anyone die, as opposed to merely making them 'die of old age' as old adults (sim elders make me want to cry. Their animations, their whining voices... bleh x_X) I might keep the previous generations in their own homes, in new houses built for them and friends, or I might turn them into townies. I've not decided yet. I love creating sims, too - that's why I create all my townies from scratch.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?
Um... neither? I play with walls down because it's less laggy and I can actually see what I'm doing! But I decorate my houses as much as I can before they become unplayable.

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?
I cycle through the families, generally when the first sim gets married, when the first kid is born, and after that it depends how many kids the family has. But I do like having very long family trees. It's interesting

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?
I normally only have 2 hoods at a time - the testing hood and the main hood. The testing one has been there for ages now, because, well... it's a testing hood! I'll ditch it only when it becomes unplayable. It's not there for real gameplay. Prior to my cleanouts and discovering of empty templates and replacement face templates I had only had Pleasantview and one custom hood, both of which I played for at least a year. I've been through about 5 for one or two generations after that, and I think I've finally got my game perfect so I can stick with this one.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?
Both! I can't really understand playing in just one way. The relationships are important to me, and many of my sims are knowledge so they need to skill. Jobs are important too because I start with one CAS sim and no money cheats, and play in a vaguely Legacy-like style  (but I'm not fussed about the rules so much, and some sims can marry playables...)

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?
I only play community lots when I need to find a partner for a sim, or the rare occasions I just feel like it. Otherwise, they stay at home. They generally have home businesses and such.

-city/country/suburban?
It's most like a country village. There's a main square with the shop, the church, the park, the café and then about 5 houses (more as the neighbourhood gets older, but never more than 20). There's normally a lake somewhere, too. I love lakes! Especially lakes with bridges

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)
I find themes like that far too restrictive. I normally have a few medieval lots, an alien family or two, some elf-fairy-people who normally have treehouses, some big (well, 2x2, which is big for me) fancy Victorian manor... I believe variety is the spice of life XD

- do you play with pets?
I do, but only cats and birds. The guinea pig-things (I don't remember what they really are) are very boring, and sim dogs are even more annoying than rl ones! I'm really, really not a dog person. But the sim cats are cute. I like the way they sit on pretty much anything, and pounce people. The birds are pretty, and I like watching them fly about (even the weird turning XD), and they're useful for charisma. Not every family has a pet, though. I used to properly breed pets, but now I have one woman somewhere living as the owner of a 'cattery', and anyone who wants a pet uses the christianlov statue and spawns a kitten from some of those cats. I especially like amjoie's cat breeds in Peasantry

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?
Aliens, yes. I have an alien father replacement for abductions and I make some townies with alien skin.

In my old hood I made a townie with the zombie skin tone... it was quite funny, I made her as the mother of a toddler that I wanted to put in the adoption pool. Later, when this toddler was adopted and an adult, I decided she would have an affair to get back at her husband for doing the same. I forgot that the zombie was her biological mother until they'd already fallen in love... they got married and had a kid through the tombstone, who was very pretty until she aged to teen and turned blue and started to decompose! I made her some special zombie concealer to wear... she was a popularity sim! XD

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?
I don't use insim or inteen. I can do pretty much all of that with just testingcheats and some select hacks - the rest I'm not interested in. I like to make things simpler with hacks like macrotastics, but I also have things like no20khandouts. I don't use any mood hacks or cheats, though - even snapdragons feel a bit too cheaty for me!

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?
2580 files, 240mb... :x I went on a downloading spree the other night. *smacks own wrist* Anyway, this is a wonderful excuse to open JDiskReport. Yay graphs!!! Apparently, the thing I have most of is hacks - 300 files. Then comes Piggi's Sims furniture recolours, then my face replacements, Avenida Sims build/buy stuff, then ATS build/buy stuff, a generic folder called buildandbuy, then 128 Life Stories walls and floors, 121 Windkeeper doors and windows... I'm seeing a pattern. Doing a pretty rough estimate (I group by creator apart from my hacks folder and my buildandbuy and cas folders for people who I only have one or two files from), 1500+ of my cc files are build or buy mode stuff. So... yeah. If another 500 is hacks and faces, that means I only have about 500 appearance/genetics-related files. I would now continue with facts about my folders based on size, but I think most people don't even care about this stuff with their own downloads folder, let alone someone else's. XD

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?
My sister and I are making a site for our stuff. It's mostly clothes, and generally maxis recolours, or recolours of very useful custom meshes. Down with redundant custom meshes! XD There's also a lot of other people's nice textures put onto almost-the-same maxis meshes.

[pixiejuice]

I use Hook's randomiser to shake things up a bit, introducing random death, and Denimjo posted JadeElliott's list of random events in Hook's randomiser topic, which I also use when I think the pot needs to be stirred.

Kyna, what is Hook's randomiser?  And JadeElliott's list of random events?  It sounds like a lot of fun.

[SnootCB]

For me, the big draw is the 'Legacy' factor. I like going through their life spans with one generation taking over after another. That's probably what's kept me playing where the older game bored me to tears after a while. Built into that whole shebang is the genetics issue. I get insanely and unnaturally happy whenever I end up with a dark haired sim giving birth to a baby with recessive genetics displayed. It's rather silly, but it's something I've come to enjoy in the game. That and the whole mixing of facial features.

Neat topic, by the way.

Agreed, on both counts.

I tend to download lots of custom content, but often end up modifying it myself for my own needs (knocking down the walls of a house, or recoloring bad textures on a nice mesh).  I enjoy all of the aspects of the game, and try to play the sims according to their aspiration.  If they want to reach the top of their career, that's what I shoot for; if they want to pop out lots of spawn, that's what they get.  But my favorite part of the game is playing with genetics.  When I'm bored and short on time I like to open up CAS and see how many different combinations I can make.  All of my sims (even Romance) will end up having at least one kid, just because I like to see how their genetics mix.

[Hecubus]

So I realize I fell asleep before I actually posted my own answers! Here we go:

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?

I am mostly a builder/decorator. I'm not terribly girly, but I grew up with a mother who had a great eye for decorating, so i learned by example. I love building homes based on RL architecture - once the online sites started to bore me, I started getting books from the library. Fun! I'm working on a true-to-the-plans version of Fallingwater..it's the long-term project in the midst of other smaller ones (like the yankee barn which I PROMISE I'll rebuild sans curse!). I honestly have only gotten into playing families since I moved MATY sims into the game.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?

I do major decoration/buildling. I use the cutaway walls mostly, with the hack to choose visable paintings. I also use some of the custom non-cutaway walls, especially when I wish to maintain the look of a room or hide a garage. Whoever has the most toys wins is DEFINITELY my motto for my sims. Again, I have only recently gotten into playing sim families.

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?

I've yet to get through two generations....previously, once i got a couple to spawn, that was about it. This time...well...I am DYING to know what MATY spawn will grow up to be like, so we might see a few generations.

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?

I have blown up more hoods than I can count.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?

My sims tend to be overachievers....doing the relationship/interraction thing is not my style (odd, since I'm a director IRL)....but I'm learning. Maybe it's because I know my actors this time? <muahahaha!>

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?

My sims tend to stay at home, but I LOVE building community lots. I find comm. lots best for meeting new people rather than meaningful story movement.

-city/country/suburban?

I LOVE city scapes, but I always include some more suburban looks...and a country house or two.

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)

Nope. And yes, Pescado, "MOAR FIGHT" is a theme.

- do you play with pets?

No. I tried in the beginning, but they annoyed me. I use Ste's visitor controller to ban pets. (Exception: Lorelei asked me to give her a tuxedo cat, so I will. I also am allowing cats on the Bast Moon Cafe lot....well, it's a natural, isn't it?)

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?

I will be trying my first vamp WITH hacks as soon as I get a friend's self-sim. Otherwise, I don't do the supernatural stuff.

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?

I generally like to make life harder...although I use jfade's career choosing flamingo, as I like to dictate the path of a sim...and I have used money cheats now and then (mostly to build the requisite perimeter fence)...or if I want a family to start off richer than most. I will also use the college adjuster to randomize skills if I start with adult Sims...seems stupid to be an adult and have less skills than a toddler!

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?

I use a ton of CC....mostly, in fact. I go through spells of what I love...went on a kitchen spree for a while, then a clutter spree, an art spree, a garden spree. But i will drop everything for a good build set!   I limit hair and clothing...so much of it sucks out loud through a straw.

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?

Mostly lots - at SFV at the moment. I have done a few recolors - but I find I don't have the patience for it that I do for building.


I am really enjoying this thread...glad IG suggested it. I also think it's interesting that the game is so flexible as to accomodate so many different styles of play.

[theherbalbody]

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?

I hate building, decorating or creating sims. I play with game generated families.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?

I only play with fully furnished houses that are in game or ones that I have downloaded, walls down, focusing on interactions.

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?

I play with one family until the existing youngest member has become an elder and then I'm off to the next family.

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?

In-game hoods only.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?

Both, I do what it takes to keep their aspiration levels good. I also help them to the top of their careers.

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?

All of my sims are homebodies (just like me). Too many sims in one place makes me crazy.

-city/country/suburban?

Wherever they already reside

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)

Never.

- do you play with pets?

Only if it is one of their wants, but most of the time no.

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?

No, though I did play with the plantsim family just so that I could make them normal (wanted to see what they looked like).

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?

I was previously playing with all of the "no autonomous" hacks I could find, but then my sims wouldn't do anything on their own (like take care of their needs) and I hate micro-managing them (I like to leave my game running while I'm sleeping and not wake up and find them dead). Now, I only use The Director's cut, Monique's computer,  no bringing anyone home from school/work hacks, auto do homework and gardening.

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?

A Little, though I have over 20,000 (ridiculous load time) custom objects, I tend to put only the "hacked" objects in my game.

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?

I don't create anything.


As you can see, the way I play is quite bland. So occasionally, I will do challenges, which I almost never submit.

[jolrei]

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?
A bit of everything - I don't use Maxoid Sims, except for NPCs.  I create everyone else individually, including townies/dormies.  I generally create my own houses, which run from the "normal" to the outrageous (built one floating house with a pool under it once).  Mostly I get tired of building after a bit and get back to playing so there's usually a lot under construction in my hood somewhere, waiting for a generation to grow up and need it.  I also steal houses from Maxis hoods if necessary.

- lots:
Walls up to take pictures.  Walls down/cutaway to play.  I don't care who has the most toys.  I focus on interactions, but not necessarily spawning.  I decorate if I feel like it, or if a Sim wants to buy a painting, for example.  Not big on cluttering the houses up with plants unless the Headmaster is visiting and I need a good enviro score.

- is genetics your thing?
I care enough about genetics to make my own sims - I don't do fuglies.  If an NPC is decent material, I could consider marrying him/her into the game.  Otherwise townies are Bodyshopped and imported to the game as needed for marriage or interactions, etc.  Other than that, I let the sims crush/love on whoever they seem to choose/end up with.  I do like watching how spawns turn out, but if a really ugly thing happens (i.e. no chin, huge nose) I have been known to call down a satellite (only if a family can make money off it though).

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?
One or two custom hoods only.  I use default hoods as places to plunder houses, and sometimes to clone Sims.  Lots of plundering and reloading from backup.  I never move in occupied lots or download lots.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?
I like the relationships and interactions, but do the skill things if the aspiration or LTW of the Sim warrants it.  If a Sim wants to be Captain Hero, I'll try to get them there, but not at the expense of their other immediate wants (i.e. to make friends, eat omelettes, etc.).  I make sure they go to school, work etc., but don't concentrate too much on their grades.  I play several families at once in rotation (not strict) and will play a family until I get bored, and then move on to the next one.  I don't care about sync timing, so sometimes one sim will age to elder, while their childhood friend is still a teen.  I sometimes make spawn into townies, which means they don't age until they move back in with someone else, which could be a couple of generations later.  Makes things weird but interesting.

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?
Mostly homebodies - even my fortune sims want spawn, so they woohoo a bit.  Lots of cooking, phoning, and playing piano.  I had one sim who was a novel writer (very poor).  I do Community Lots for shopping and meeting people, and sometimes to boost fun meters.
I don't do clothing hacks, so if they want to buy clothes, they go shopping.

-city/country/suburban?
Usually starts as wilderness/country, and evolves into suburban/village.

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)
No themes, as such.  I download any CC that looks interesting, including medieval/victorian furniture and clothing.  Some of my sims dress in armour and go to work in helicopters.  Others have computers in rooms lit by candles.  One sim is mayor and dresses in pirate costumes, while his wife wears sundresses.

- do you play with pets?
No pets - why do I want to worry about the aspirations of dogs?

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?
None.  Might try this sometime.  Have not had an alien abduction yet, after 8 months of play.

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?
Hacks only to make things more sensible.  Use Jenflower's woohooteens and InSim.  I avoid inteen because of previous problems/conflicts.  Have a lot of the Director's Cut, but am somewhat selective.  I don't care if sim toddlers play in the terlet or if sims put coffee cups on desks in bedrooms.  That's what maids are for.  I usually run debug mode (heresy?), mainly to speed up bathroom visits (honestly, it takes these blighters forever to pee).

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?
Use a lot of custom clothing and some furniture.  I do not download sims or lots, even though I have clean installer.  Prefer to build my own.

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?
Sorry, don't create things yet.  Might get into that sometime.  If I shared anything now it would be houses, but they tend to be a bit abnormal.

[Count Four]

I like building and playing. To me, it's almost like I've got two games: Construction and Sims.

But with decorating...it depends.  Poorer sims get very little decorating.  Once the paint is on the walls, that's that--their furniture doesn't match, they probably won't have drapes. Rich sims get properly decorated houses, eventually.

Depends on the shape of the house what I do with the walls.  If walls cut away leaves a right-angle wall blocking my view, I'll play that house walls down. And if there are a lot of sims on the lot to keep track of, I'll play walls down.

Some of my sims have big families, some have no kids.  With the families that have kids, I'm happy when a kid turns out pretty but I don't sweat over it.  I have been know to kill off kids I can't stand.  I usually move them out and play them for awhile, but because they're there, not because I'm really obsessed with following a family line.

I decided awhile back to stop creating separate hoods and stick to one main hood. In most of my hoods I'd have one or two interesting families and a bunch of boring bastards.  And I couldn't get all my interesting sims together 'cause they weren't in the same hood. At the mo' I've got Strangetown, my primary custom hood, and another hood for random crap/testing. With one primary hood, the sims I intend to play long term (i.e., till they croak) are in one place.  If I want them to get together, they can.  The boring bastards get murderlized. The asylum is in the random crap hood, so as not to spam my main sims with Nutbag Memories.  I have no subhoods because I found I never used them.

With some sims, I focus on the career.  Fortune sims have to be greedy social climbers and they have to be ruthless about their jobs.  Criminals have to reach the top of their career 'cause I like criminal masterminds. And I like to make sims earn their lives.  I frequently start sims out with a shack and a hundred dollars.  Some sims are required to achieve permaplat before they can build a 'real' house, get married and do the kid thing, or maybe just before they're allowed to date.

But I've always got some sims that never get to reach the top of their career or have all those grandkids they want.  What's a neighborhood without a childless spinster or a guy who's a total failure at life?  And Pleasure sims exist to live ridiculous and pointless lives.  In my hood, pleasure sims are more likely to have stupid affairs than even Romance sims.

I don't do community lots very much because of the load.  My teens seem to get to go to comm lots more than other sims.

Mostly suburban in the current hood.  But there's a little corner I think of as "out in the country" that only gets to have a couple houses.

No themes.

I doesn't has OMGPETZ!!!!1!!! Doesn't has Uni, either.

I've got a couple vamps. More servos than anything else. No plantsims yet, 'cause I haven't yet concentrated on getting one.  Aliens all over the place; I like the green skin and black eyes.

I like to make the game less annoying.  Essentials:  antipeeobsession, antiwatchout, engagewantsfix, ltwvariety, Monique's changeoutfitnospin and her dohomework hack--because a kid who throws a tantrum about doing homework may not survive the night-- noeatcrap, noservochores, nounneededcoats, phonehack, stereohack, toddlerpottyfixes. Plus the important fixes. And I am deeply and fervently in love with abortbedmaking. If it were a person, I would stalk abortbedmaking.

I've also got inSim, which I keep primarily for two reasons--Wardrobe adjuster and Universal Teleport.  The sim modding features come in handy some times.  And I've got ACR, which makes the game a ton more interesting.  That's the way EAxis should have arranged it in the first place.

I don't have as much CC as some people; I'm nowhere near the gigabyte range.  And what I do have is mostly furniture and build mode stuff.  I don't do a lot of skins and clothes, though I rely on custom eyes.  Maxis defaults are terrible. 

The only stuff I've created are a few floors and walls, which aren't good enough to share, and a couple recolors of cars and clothes.

You didn't ask, but I think it says a lot about playing style and approach to the game whether you play freewill on or off.  I always play free will on.  The only time I may possibly turn it off is on business lots when I've got a particularly ADHD business owner.

[MistyBlue]

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?

I build, decorate, and play families.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?

Highly decorated, walls cutaway, with the camera zoomed out enough that I can see the whole house (my lots are usually very small)

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?

I do generations (and believe it or not, never have tried a Legacy). The whole population of my neighborhood's playable sims consisted of generations of 2 families.

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?

I build my own hood then play until I get the sudden urge to start over. BUT, I have been building an urban hood and it's taking forever to do and I do not want to do it again. I will probably stick with this one until it becomes a fireball, then whip out the pristine backup.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?

Both, but I don't care how they turn out. I like having perfect genius sims and really shitty, always in aspiration failure sims.

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?

Thankfully, lot load is only about a minute so I do play lots of community lots.

-city/country/suburban?

Definitely CITY!

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)

Hell no! Hate themes!

- do you play with pets?

A little, depends on how many are in the family. Most elders get a cat.

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?

No, I keep my game as real as possible, not even a servo.

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?

Definitely harder, but I also make things easier choice-wise using certain mods...like with ACR, I let them decide on how many kids if any. I have Insim, but maily only use it for the teleport here feature. I don't use Inteen.

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?

I dunno...is 1 gig a lot or a little? I have build items the most, next would be bedroom sets.

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?

I build houses. More recently, I started building sets and whole neighborhoods to share.

[jsalemi]

Kyna, what is Hook's randomiser?  And JadeElliott's list of random events?  It sounds like a lot of fun.

Hook's randomizer can be found here: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,8253.0.html

[Miao]

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?
In order of preference: playing families, creating Sims, decorating lots, building lots.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?
Er...I do something in the middle, though leaning toward the barely decorated/walls down/etc. style. I hate decorating, because I can't ever seem to be satisfied with the results (people even tell me I'm good at it. Psh!) and I'm too lazy to do so. I have no patience at all to sit for an hour or two just putting clutter all over the place if my game's just going to crash anyway.

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?
Oh, yes. The most important reason why I keep coming back to the game is to see how my Sims' genetics fare in new generations. I do have a billion families, so I haven't ever gotten farther than gen. 4 in any family.

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?
I have lots of hoods. In fact, I have several saved games with ~6 neighborhoods each. As for if I play them evenly--no.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?
Before I got the hang of time management, it was mostly about relationships/families/babies. Now, I like to have Sims reach at least one LTW before even starting a family (though ACR's complicated things a bit).

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?
They're pretty much homebodies. I only send them to comm. lots if they go on dates.

-city/country/suburban?
Mostly suburban.

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)
Not really, unless you count the one neighborhood with Sims with Genensims' furry skintones. I don't write stories with those Sims.

- do you play with pets?
I used to let my Sims have a pet or two, but since they have a tendency to ignore everything else to play with their pets, I'm not keen on getting pets for them any longer.

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?
I'm mostly a "real person" player, though I like aliens. There are a handful of Servos and two vampires in all my hoods.

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?
I like to make their lives more realistic, I guess I should say. Insim = yes, Inteen = yes, as well as 200+ other mods/hacks (incl. ACR, but mostly just anti-annoyance mods) which by some miracle all seem to work fine together.

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?
6.57 GB, last I checked. I really need to do some cleaning. I download mostly clothing and hair, occasionally furniture and build mode objects, rarely makeup and accessories.

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?
I'd created a few things, but haven't shared anything yet. I might start sharing if I'm confident that everything I make works and doesn't have any CC that shouldn't be shared.

[Zazazu]

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?

Building and playing, pretty equally.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?

Walls down, all the way, except for photo time. I want to see what everyone is doing. A lot of times my lots are built with a great deal of windows on the rear so that I can keep half an eye on the other floors while I'm focused on one sim. I also play viewing from the back of the lot to the sidewalk so that I can catch walk-bys. I tend to forget about decorative items until I start taking photos and realize how similar shots in the same room seem.

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?

I used to leave after 1-2 generations because I wasn't fulfilling my "build need", but then I figured out the best formula - move every generation, new house, new community lot. I do love the genetics. I love the annoyance that comes when I realize that at Gen 8 I still have that stupid pinnochio nose I married into the family at Gen 1 on all the guys (no boys in Gens 9 and 10, so we'll see if it comes back to haunt me yet again). I like starting with sims with dominant traits and breeding in recessives until I get an all-recessive kid.

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?

I'm a 'hood junkie. I started Urban Paradise and swore that this was my one 'hood forever and ever, no more making one every couple weeks. A couple/three months later I started Monopoly. Now I also have that Meadow Lawns 'hood I pop into from time to time. But I'm being good about playing both Urban Paradise and Monopoly equally, one each week. I feel bad for my simmies if I don't visit them (yes, craziness).

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?

Mm. Well, that's always changing. In Urban Paradise, since it's more of a challenge 'hood (though I rewrite challenges and merge them until they aren't recognizable) making sure that I focus on the heir and breed them is the most important. So on one hand it's about the relationships primarily. However, I let them loose a bit and often spin their non-breeding life into different directions based on what's happening (the elevator-plummeting-caused insanity of Charisma causing the obsession with immortality and subsequent drinking of the life essence of the entire 'hood, the All-Knowing Mime^tm's periodic appearances, India's obsession with the dead caused by her parents' early demise and her husband's death plus the presence of so many grilled cheese zombies, Jasmine's origins as part of Project Nanosperm due to random ACR sexual preference making the heir, Ivy, a lesbian). In Monopoly, I basically go free-play with them and let their actions show me what they want. I'll put them in a particular career if that's their LTW, and give them the requisite skill points when they want them, but I don't focus on it. Like with Klapaucius...she wanted a puppy before Flamingo left for college, so I got her one. Visitors gravitated to the puppy, and I had almost nothing for her to do as she didn't work. I have her start up a pet store to share the love she's found. Then everyone starts getting pets autonomously right and left.

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?

Depends on the sim and 'hood. No community lots yet available post-apoc in Urban Paradise, but they will be cropping up again soon. Typically I have a sim go out a lot while they are searching for a mate, and then on a date every sim week or so. Where they go depends on the personality. Really outgoing sims go to clubs/bars, playful sims to arcades, active sims to bowling alleys/skating rinks, lazy sims to restaurants. As for Monopoly, I'm doing it in rounds. One round they all stay home, one round I take them out.

-city/country/suburban?

Urban Paradise is urban, but developing. So for the most part, the lots are crammed together but there is a lot of open space. Because of the story aspects (apocalypse) after the F generation got back from college, they started over on the opposite end of the 'hood which was completely undeveloped. Now there is the Apocalyptic Tower of Doom (about to be torn down and replaced with greenhouses), a small but pretty 1x1 cemetary, and a second house where India moved with her twin teen sons and newly-resurrected husband. Monopoly is, of course, a Monopoly board.

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)

Monopoly is my first. It's only a theme in 'hood layout, lot design, and sim last names. No special clothes or objects except the layerable letter floor tiles and token piece painting recolors I did for the 'hood.

- do you play with pets?

Sometimes. If aspirations are low and the only want they have that will keep them out of the green and is feasible is a pet, I'll get them one. If they have a "raise 20 kittens/puppies want" I definitely do and have them pursue it. India was my first with that. Monopoly is going through a pet explosion (especially womrats!) due to Klapaucius's shop. I almost never get them jobs.

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?

Alien babies happen if they happen. I don't generally like vamps or werewolves or zombies, but Urban Paradise has 11 grilled cheese zombies who were created during the apocalypse (former romance who lost the reroll option).

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?

I don't see a reason for insim or inteen. I don't want my teens pregnant, and almost everything else can be achieved through the testingcheats "Spawn..." menu. I started using those objects before either -killer became popular. Hacks either cut annoyances (servo chores), make things crazy (ACR, trips/quads) or harder (Uni degree hack).

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?

Tons. What's odd on a lot/sim is what isn't custom. My main focus is hair and objects, but I have default replacement everything as well! Polination techs, skins, eyes, pet eyes, face templates, name lists, extra geneticized skins & eyes...

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?

I don't really share much because everything I have to share is so bloated with custom stuff. I have a few lots I've put out there, my face templates, one of these days I'll fix the preview issue on my layerable tiles so that I can share those.

[Lorelei]

Invisigoth and I were talking this evening about play style...and we realized that this discussion would make an interesting topic. Now IG suggested I start the thread, although, as she says, "since it was my idea I want you to credit me and never post it on the exchange or a paysite.  And also no changing my idea, recoloring, alpha edits...And you must link back to my profile whenever you mention this idea to anyone.  Including IRL."

O, ROFFLE, y'all so silly.

So with that in mind....

Yes?

How do you play? Please include details such as:

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?

I like to redesign houses and lots, decorate, create Sims, and I'd probably play families if I had more than two hours free a month on average to play.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?

Yes to decor, collapsible walls unless taking pictures, then walls up. I liked the idea of granting alternate fear/want days, but haven't done it yet. I tend to let the family I am playing get what they want so i can get pix I need. Unless I need Woeface Simmies. Then they are DENIED. Interqactions, yes; spawn, no.

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?

With two babies in StrangeT and one child in PView, plus one plat death in StrangeT, I'd say breeding/killing off Sims isn't a big draw. Yet.

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?

Typically play PView and occasionally PView Uni. Have played STown to test new eps. Ditto VVille.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?

Relationships, kind of. Skill, yes. Jobs? Occasionally.

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?

I send families to comm lots on occasion. Not often. Typically teleport desired visitors in if needed. Start on lot I need pix of, and get needed Sims to arrive. If on comm lot, will delete Townies to see familiar Sims arrive, but do not teleport while on comm lots, generally speaking. Whoever shows, shows.

-city/country/suburban?

PView has businesses and a small industrial section, but it also has a very suburban area. I like the lush green terrain best.

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)

I typically like Mod furniture, but that's not specific to a theme.

- do you play with pets?

I have a handful, mostly cats. Mostly MATYean cats, actually. I want a SimFerret.

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?

I have one vamp who vamped three or four townies plus default vamps and grand vamps, default aliens plus two halfalien babies. If there are default werewolves and zombies, then I have defaults, or none.

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?

Both, depending. Insim, yes. Inteen, never.

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?

Lots and lots and lots. Hacked objects and bodyshop crap.

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?

"Known" Sims, famous or otherwise, occasional spates of texturing clothes, a lot for MATY contest. Link in sig.

Discuss.
I think I download more than I play, I enjoy other people's stories, and I like to try and help resolve game problems I've dealt with, read about or found solutions to with others who are struggling. When I do play, I typically let the Sims do their thing and let them direct the action unless they are about to waste my time by destroying the house or dying, which would be an aggravation to repair or undo.

Typical game sesh = me redesigning layout of PView, putting more Sims into expanded hood, checking in on new or an old family, tweaking decor, watching Sims interact and be stupid, taking pix, getting bored and moving to new lot.

[Batelle]

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?

When I first got the game, I was totally into playing families.  Then I discovered custom content and became obssessive about lot building.  Now I do a lot of both, but it's cyclical.  My most recent challenge attempt got derailed by my own infernal meddling, so now I'm building.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?

I keep the decor pretty straightforward inside and out- simple but not bare.  Every now and again I clutter because I can, but I hate lag and useless items, so I usually keep it to needful things at 90 degree angles.  I play with walls down, usually, putting them up for pictures only. 

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?

If a family interests me, I usually get to the third or fourth generation before I get bored.  I love the genetics, especially when certain features are still going strong four generations down.   Noses and eye color are my favourite things to geek out about.

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?

I've played a lot in Maxi hoods, but I like to create my own neighborhoods.  I even make my own terrains in Sims City 4 and have spent whole weekends just doing that, but I end up using downloaded terrains more often than not.  Currently my big project is a main neighborhood with wolfsim's lots, a downtown with plasticbox's Backdoor Lane lots and a beachside shopping village and tiny university with my own creations.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?

I keep a nice balance, I think.  I like to keep my sims happy all around, so they get what they want.  I also like to watch their crazy expressions and reactions when they interact.  They're like a little television show I have all to myself.

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?

I love community lots to meet new people and for dates.  I think it's a lot of fun to have my sims "go out" and I usually send newly aged teens straight downtown to scope potential spouses. 

-city/country/suburban?

A little of all three.  Mostly suburban.

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)

I've tried, but I find themes too hard to stick with across several lots. 

- do you play with pets?

I have, but they have a tendency to bork my game so I only have them in lots that I don't care about. 

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?

I adore the supernatural, but have only played extensively with vamps and aliens.  Zombies and werewolves are usually relegated to the townie sect, because the moaning and loping bug me in the long term. 

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?

I use MATY hacks to make things run smoother, to make the tedious less so and to get the socio-political climate of Batelle Land the way I want it.  I have insim to give CAS sims a boost out of the gates and to fix genetic woes.  I don't use a ton of money cheats, but I do use shop at home functions for clothing.  I like to have a few outfits on hand for everyone in the household.

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?

Tons.  1.8GB at last check (and that was before Holy Simoly released their latest donation pack).  I have a lot of everything, but I have a weakness for women's casual clothing, beach-themed stuff, retro objects and industrial/grunge decor and build items.  My biggest subfolders are Cyclonesue, Windkeeper, Shannanigan and Holy Simoly. 

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?

I can barely do simple recolors, but I have shared a few basic houses that I built.  If my uni turns out the way I hope, I might share it. 

[msalwaysright]

are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?

More of the first three-I create the families, build and decorate according to who I've decided they are, then play them just long enough to see if the lot is up to spec.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?

The first one-I recently upped my ram to 3gig, so I decorate pretty heavily now.

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?


The second one-I get bored with the families easily.

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?

Lots of hoods-I do have SarahMK's merged Maxis hood that I've kept for ages-I go back to it ever so often.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?

More into relationships, etc. I usually cheat like mad for skills and jobs.

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?

Both-I do stay interested in community lots longer.

-city/country/suburban?

All of the above.

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)

Love themes-famous movie monsters, Bayou, 1950's.....

- do you play with pets?

Sometimes

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?

I only have supernatural sims in my monster hood. The others I keep to regular sims.

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?

Hacks a'plenty-Nearly everything from MATY, most of SimWardrobe's stuff, the one tiled version of Merola's painting, -No inteen, the options never appealed to me even before I knew about the kittens.

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?

Lots of CC, probably more recolors than anything else, but lots of clutter & anything needed to make thems more complete, Not nearly enough clothes, though.

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?

I'm not awesome, so I only make things when I can't find what I need for my own game. I have a Buffy and a Spike on the Exchange that I keep up out of nostalgia-('baby's first uploads'). -And tacky 70's couch and accessories set on MTS2.

[Emma]

How do you play? Please include details such as:

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?

All of the above.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?

Both, depending on family size.

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?

Both, again depending on family size. I must admit I rush through large families

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?

I only ever have 2 hoods. One is my main playing hood where all the action happens and the other is for building.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?

Both depending on the sim's aspirations.

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?

Again, depending on the sim families. If there are a large number of sims in the family they tend to socialise at home. If I have a small family or just a single sim I tend to send them on a lot of outings at community lots.

-city/country/suburban?

Definitely suburban.

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)

Not at the moment although I did have a Simstones themed neighbourhood on my other computer. I am thinking of doing a victorian themed neighbourhood, but kinda busy with the hood I have now.

- do you play with pets?

Yes, I love them. I am really glad I bought this expansion as Unleashed for Sims 1 really put me off the pet thing.

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?

Yes, although I am still to have a werewolf or Zombie in-game.

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?

I am a macrotastics convert I love my hacks. I don't do Inteen or Insim though.

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?

Very few objects. I tend to have completer sets and repository items and use the maxis stuff. Mostly hair and some clothing. I am trying hard to be strict about downloading clothing as my other game on the upstairs pc has hundreds of downloaded clothes installed and I think my sims have used about 25 of them. Seriously.

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?

Lots of Lots! Linkage in my sig. First one to find and pm me with the link to my 'famous bathroomless house' wins a custom made lot. Oh, I have made some crappy walls and floors too. Go me.

[jolrei]

In Urban Paradise, since it's more of a challenge 'hood (though I rewrite challenges and merge them until they aren't recognizable) making sure that I focus on the heir and breed them is the most important.

Funny.  I tend to play with a focus on heirs as well, although I never score the challenge because I'm always playing with hacks and debug mode.  I tend to like going for interesting events, interactions, occurrences, rather than sticking to the Maxis imposed timelines for eating, terlet breaks, etc.  If there's something good going down, I give them a full hunger bar and green bladder condition so they can get on with it (unless the situation calls for them to be hungry or extremely uncomfortable.

I tried one "real" Asylum Challenge in May (no hacks, no debug, no cheats, no InSim) and had no fights, only one death, and lots of pillow fights and sims breaking down and crying due to aspiration failure.  No visits from shrink, even when they did the chicken imitation or talked to the volleyball.  I got bored.  It's more funny now that I've turned all the former asylum inmates loose in the hood as townies.  One of the fortune sims from the asylum is still in aspiration failure (broke down and wept on a community lot yesterday because he had no way of making money).  Apparently the game has not assigned him a job yet.

[Faizah]

Mostly, I create sims, in a very general sense, and play families spawned from those sims. My houses tend towards the minimalist, more a graphics concern than anything else. Walls down, all graphics set to the lowest setting, my focus tends more towards the 'plot' than the special effects, so to speak. Though there's not very much plot either, actually... I don't have many downloads, and most of the ones I do have are hacks, not clothes or objects.

The genetic aspect -- well, I'll admit, this version of the sims has held my interest for a lot longer than the first one. I routinely start various genetic 'experiments', though I jump around so much that I don't think I've even hit a second generation anywhere yet... (Also, I had an anti-aging hack in, which I have recently removed) Various experiments have included: Don Lothario + Woohoo = Baby. Don Lothario + 20 Woohoo LTW = 20 Babies... I made a couple in CAS, generated a child with a 'double jointed nose', and kept it - intending to breed from him later on, to see how long the nose sticks around. Another experiment is to see how many children one couple can have before they reach elder - begun shortly after I removed the anti-aging hack. I think at this point my best bet for seeing things through to another generation is to go for China rule. I'm not quite there yet, though. Closest I've come to multi-generational has been Don's family, some of his earlier kids have married/joined now, he has one baby grandchild and two more on the way.

I start new hoods for new experiments, things I don't want to subject my main hoods to. Like overpopulating with one generation of siblings. Obviously I can't always do that (Don Lothario, for instance) but I try. I also go through and delete hoods I haven't visited in a while, just to keep the scrolling through to a minimum.

My main focus with sims is fulfilling their LTWs, though I like to have each sim either run at least one business, or have business reward skills passed on by another. Reaching the tops of careers is always fun, though since the education career I haven't been very motivated to try for any of the other rewards. Maybe the paranormal one here, or the adventurer/journalist ones there, the occasional cowplant for fun, but the skilling ones don't quite seem as important anymore. When it comes to interactions with other sims, there's not generally much going on within the household. Parents teach their toddlers the toddler skills, teach their children to study, etc. But mostly social comes from phone calls.

The only community lots I visit are ones that are owned and run as businesses, and then only as the business owner. More of a 'takes too long to load' problem there. I'd love to be able to exploit the lack of time passing while there, I just don't have the patience to go anywhere if I don't have to.

I like to play the farming part, that hasn't changed since Unleashed (I was so disappointed that it wasn't included with Pets... In Unleashed, pets had something to /do/, not crappy jobs to unlock weird coat colours) so I suppose there's rural in that. And I don't exactly play the ultra modern, or anything. But my sims still have all the modern conveniences - flushing toilets, fully stocked kitchens, big screen TVs, expensive computers, sports cars, you know, the basics. I don't think that really fits under city, country, or suburban... They're sims, they live wherever it is that sims live.

I'm not really big on themes exactly, or pets. (Though invariably someone ends up adopting Bonkers...) But I do like the alien abductions and alien babies. Vampires, well, they can be fun. Especially when the 'designated telescope shover' is a vampire. That was hilarious. "You looked at my house, in the day, while I was in my coffin, in my windowless basement, where you could not possibly see me! I must come over and shove you, with complete disregard for my own safety! Oh, but look, the sun! I must flee!" (complete with the standard 'the sun, I must flee' message) Zombies, not so much... I have a couple of werewolves. (And played a pre-Seasons lot the other day with a crazy amount of trees... THAT was fun when Autumn rolled around) I wouldn't mind more, don't think I ever got a 'natural' werewolf transformation (or vampire, for that matter...) but things are fine the way they are. Plantsims are pretty neat, though I had to cut back on that, as I couldn't tell them apart any more.

I would say, hack-wise, I like to make my game simpler. And less stupid. Mostly the less stupid. I have a lot of MATY hacks. A fair few of Inge's. And, yes, insim. (Though not inteen) and I've already mentioned my lack of custom content. Though I am quite fond of much of Mermaid Cove. Especially the subtle make-up, and hints of lipstick. I don't create anything, but am in awe of those who do.

[eevilcat]

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?

I have built lots since I first got the game, usually from scratch and with the emphasis on playability. I'm an obsessive decorator and tend to do revamp lots as one would do in real life. I'll create playable sims to start a game and fill the townie pool but what I really like is playing families for multiple generations.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?

I play with cutaway walls that tend to acquire decoration over time - always useful for fortune sims wants.

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?

Yes, more of an addiction than a thing. I've added geneticised version of Enayla's skins to my game and it's interesting to see how these breed into the gene pool. At the moment it's the fantasy skins but I may well try some of the others in the future. I'll often pair up/breed certain sims just to see how their spawn will turn out. In fact I refer to them as my little simmie fruitflies, which hubbie finds hilarious. I've completed the 10 generation legacy and have now embarked upon the 26 generation alphabet legacy so I enjoy watching how they develop.

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?

I started off with Strangetown but since then tend to build hoods for specific purposes, usually a challenge. There's the legacy hood, asylum hood, black widow hood, alphabet hood etc I also have a boolprop hood for testing things. It's been such a long time since I played Strangetown it will be interesting to have a look at it again... if it still works.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?

Relationships and interactions are far important. Skilling and career are things that automatically happen, although I may weave career choice into a storyline.

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?

I have the community cemetary but I wouldn't say I play it. I prefer home businesses and while I enjoy the features of NL, the whole getting there and coming back is annoying so I call up visitors/greet passersby instead.

-city/country/suburban?

country or suburban

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)

Not really though I am seriously tempted by a medieval game with all the tasty CC that's available.

- do you play with pets?

Cats yes, dogs not anymore - as in real life they require far too much attention. I might try another one with a water wiggler as suggested by Pescado.

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?

Aliens yes, lots of, it's the genetics thing again. Zombies are on the whole annoying though they were lots of fun for a while with the zombie apocalypse/eat brains hack. Vamps are ok and I've yet to try a werewolf. Plantsims are useful servants, certainly much better than servos, but I haven't yet turned one of my sims despite lots of gardening/spraying.

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?

I like hacks to fix things and the odd one or two that add to gameplay, I certainly wouldn't be without ACR or the age duration hack. I don't macrotastics as I like to micromanage, or maybe I'm just a sim control freak.  I have used insim but not since Seasons and I will confess to trying out the kitten killer, but as I disagree with teen pregnancies in real life I didn't see why I should use them in game.

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?

Lots and lots and lots and even more that I don't have in my downloads folder. Current size is ~1.6Gb evenly split between clothing, buy and build mode items as I build, decorate and play lots.

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?

I haven't shared very much - a couple of outfits and buy mode items, one tutorial, that's about it. I can create stuff, it's just time and effort on testing it for public release that has stopped me. I am working on a family tree utility but even that's on hold until next month when I'll have free time to start coding again.

[ElviraGoth]

- are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?

Mostly playing families, but I have one hood I use just for building lots.  I made a couple of versions of the house we had that my kids grew up in and I use the smaller one for newlyweds and then move them to the bigger one when they can afford it.  I also did a few for some themes I recently decided to try (my own themes, not any you mentioned).
 

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?

Barely decorated, walls down so I can see what my pixel people are doing.  Walls cutaway or up for pics.  Most of my houses don't even have curtains unless a sim wants them.

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?

I have a couple of hoods that I made specifically for the genetics.  My oldest one is over two years old now, and I expect something bad to happen to it every time I play, but so far so good.  It started as a Color My World challenge, which got me started making color skins, clothes, decorations, objects, etc., just to make it easier to recognize who was in what family.  I then got to wondering what kind of genetics would be passed on as the colors mixed.  I have charts, too.

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?

I originally was playing Pleasantview, a little of Strangetown, and my own hood.  In the last six months I added a townie town that I am using to see what the different kinds of deaths are like (take out my frustrations on! lol) and I got a hair up my ass to make one that is just going to be a "creature feature".
I started a second user account so I could start PV and ST over again, and added another color hood and townie town (the first one gave me a bunch of odd townies, not the usual crowd) and I started an Island Paradise hood with hula girls and pirates.

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?

Some of both.  One of the "rules" of my color hoods is that they have to reach the top of their career and get the reward when it becomes available.  All sim teens go to Uni the day before they will become an adult to find their mate (hopefully) if they haven't already.

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?

Mostly homebodies, occassionally I let them hang out at a community lot, but they usually only go to buy clothes or electronics.  Yes, they have cell phones, mainly so they can each talk to their friends at the same time (for relationship building).

-city/country/suburban?

Suburban, with the exceptions of the island hood and the creature hood.

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)

The ones I mentioned - gee, I guess they're almost all themed in some way!

- do you play with pets?
 

Very few, and then only if that's the only way a sim's wants will roll up something else!

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?

I only have one zombie family, but have had a few alien abductions.  One guy in my first color hood has been abducted 3 or 4 times!  (Once as a teen, once at Uni, and once or twice as an adult.)

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?

Mostly only what makes my game run better for me.  I like macrotastics and every lot has a debugger box.  I also have the InSiminator, mainly for checking on pregnancies, but I also use it sometimes for other things, like making a dormie playable.  I also have the pregnancy for all mod so I can
allow my same-sex couples to have their own kids (Genetics, of course.)  And crammyboy's cock hack.  Just because. 

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?

Quite a bit, mostly my own.  Clothes and furniture, some wall and floor recolors.  When a sim age transitions in my color hoods, I will go make a recolor of whatever outfit they grew up into that corresponds to their color name.  And all furniture and walls have to match the color name, too, so I have done stoves, fridges, counters, beds, desks, chairs, couches, tables, robots, etc., ad nauseum to make the houses consistent.

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?

Only recolors.  Don't really consider anything I've done to be so great that I'd put it up anywhere, but I did put my home lot on the exchange once and had an Uncle Sam suit up there once.  (Didn't announce them anywhere; I just wanted to see if there was any interest without pimpin' mah stuffs!)  I've done a hula girl outfit and a pirate outfit for toddlers, but haven't offered them anywhere yet.  Don't know what they look like in-game yet!

Discuss.

Interesting idea, seeing how people play!  Are you into fantasy or reality, basically.  How do you escape the tedium that is life?

[notovny]

I pretty much play Pleasantview, and only Pleasantview. It is a mildly-twisted Pleasantview. The original families remain in an
almost-pristine state, with my own Sims added.  I started out with the family that I created and played almost explosively when I just had the Sims,, and spread from there, seven generatirons ago.

I generally play with reasonably well-decorated walls and floors, though I find playing at Sim-Eye-Level a bit restrictive. Genetics, for the mos part, aren't really my thing. I don't use money cheats; it's ridiculously easy to make money post-Open-For Business; A skilless, badgeless, straight-out-of CAS Sim can make a million Simoleans  within an hour of being plopped on his first lot under the right circumstances.

I use a reasonable number of creature Sims. There are three half-alien Sims in my neighborhood, one of which is the descendant on a n uncheated abduction (Marie Roomies), the other two weretwins from a cheated abduction (Adam and Molly Black). Adam Married Stella Terrano, and they have a pair o green-skinned children, and I'm planning to add some more custom townie aliens to  sustain those lines.

I have one Playable Vampire  (Nadine Housewalk), and five custom townie vampires: Count  Carpathius Nocturne (Monacled Elder), Almathea Kallichore (Raver Adult), Baron  Samedi Guédé (Red-suited, Top-hatted adult), Vinnie Luciano (Greaser Gang Teen), and Bobbi Sachs (Poodle-skirted Teen).

I've got One Playabl(Sandy Housewalk, formerly Sandy Bruty and living with Nadine), and five custom townie Werewolves, whose names I can't remember (Two adult Males and one Teen Male,  One Adult and One Teen Female). Well, I can remember one of the Teen owlf names,  "Howard Scott."

Sandy Bruty:


I have two Servos, Prime and Secunda Servo, who are married and live on their own.  Their adopted son, Tom,  recently became the father of twins, Tyche and Calypso. Not planning to make any more, as it's hard enough to tell the Servos I have apart, and they don't provide any benefit over my crafted-object production factories.

Prime Servo, with his Son and Daughter in Law,  Tom and Coral Servo


I have three zombies, two of which are townies and one of which is a playable. I don't really like them all that much, particularly because of the huge personality shift and major skill-loss, so I tend to consider Zombification a Townie Punishment State.

Santa Klaus


I have two PlantSims, Simon Greene and Phyllis Forrest.  Disliking the

I play a lot of community lots. I have dozens of owned community lots, providing a multitude of goods and services.  I build most of my Community Lots from scratch, as I don't really like the Maxis ones; they often lack features I consider vital for  Business-running.  I've also got factories that produice Food, Toys, Robots, Flowers, and Fish for my business-owners, rather than have them prodced by the business-owner, or on the sales lot. I don't have a Plantation, since produce takes too long for my taste. Instead, I built what's been called a "notovny cheaty lot", a lot that takes advantage of one of the quirks of gameplay (in this case, Community Lot Restoration) to provide a hideous amount of  produce to whoever visits.

After a brief experiment with pets,  my sims no longer obtain Filthy Monsters., and most of my lots are built or hacked to keep them out.

I limit myself to custom content clothing that doesn't break the Suspension of Disbelief (nothing with real logos, or english text), and virtually no recolors or custom objects.


I don't play with Self-Sims, except for my own, who is primarily a spectator.



And Hilary Duff, who is mean and outgoing, and rigged to be in constant near-aspiration failure.
 


Families tend to be happy and long-lived in my Pleasantview.
My Test Neighborhoods, however, know me as a Capricious and Vengeful God.


As far as what I create, it's mostly community lots, which I'm uploading to my own webspace at a relatively glacial pace.  Residential lots I either download, or update small Maxis Lots for better playability.

[ZiggyDoodle]

are you more into building lots, decorating lots, creating sims, or playing families?

Play, build, decorate.  I build to take a break from gameplay but bulldoze more houses than I keep. I screwed up at the start by allowing one family to spawn eight kids (three sets of twins in a row) and just recently had to add three new male YAs to Uni for new opportunities.  For the most part, I've avoided the playables that came with the game and EPs.

- lots: do you play highly decorated, with walls up/cutaway, with a focus on 'whoever has the most toys wins"? Or do you play barely decorated, walls down, with a focus on interractions/spawning?

I like nicely designed, furnished and decorated homes.  If there are more than two Sims, most of the time the walls are down primarily for control purposes.  Cutaway with my senior citizens (they pretty much get to do whatever their pixels desire).

I have some smaller homes that newly graduated Sims can afford to move into, except for those who get to move back into the family home and inherit the place (which really isn't fair to any siblings).

- is genetics your thing? Do you like watching spawns, and spawns of spawns for how they turn out? Or do you barely get through one generation before you're off to the next family?

I like the genetic aspect; am trying to breed out the haughty raised brows inherited by the spawn of Petra Petrovitch, a Russian princess who was granted asylum in Pleasantview after escaping the tyrannical overthrow of her princessdom.

- do you build lots of hoods, or have you been playing one or two hoods forever?

Pleasantview is my hot spot, but I've been toying with starting a new hood this winter (when I have more indoor time).

- in terms of what your sims do: are you into relationships and interractions, or are you more into how they skill and climb the corporate ladders?

All of the above. 

- do you play lots of community lots, or are your sims homebodies?

My Sims shop for clothing, art, robots, snapdragons, and goodies from the local deli.  I do send families out for bowling, skating and an occasional dinner.  My senior citizens will don formal dress and dine out, since they don't have much else to do.  My YAs do date at community lots.

-city/country/suburban?

Country/suburban. 

- do you do themes? (aliens, medieval, Victorian)

Nope.

- do you play with pets?

About half of my families have a PITA pet.

- do you do the vamp/werewolf/alien/zombie thing, or are you more a 'real person' player?

Within the first 20 minutes of play after installing the base game, I had an alien abduction.  The scariest looking spawn I've seen.  Essie Tessie is in the adoption pool.  The vamps look too goofy to bother with.  Don't like zombies. but am toying with turning recently widowed Dirk Dreamer into a werewolf just because I'm curious and he's having a breakdown.  I do have quite a few Servos scattered about primarily because they are slave labor and can be turned off. 

- hacks: do you like to make life simpler or harder? insim? inteen?

I am particular about hacks and only use them to change what irritates me or what I consider really stupid.  The few hacks I have installed are from MATY.  Only dumb teens get pregnant.  My teens are smart.  [Edited to add that I use Jfade's and Paladin's talents as well.  Good stuff]

-custom content: lots or a little? what do you have the most of?

3,422 files in 16 folders: one gig.  723 files in clothing, 145 in build, 217 curtains, 130 floors, 353 furniture, 592 hair, 179 walls, 132 objects, 138 outdoors, 66 paintings, 134 plants, 59 rugs, and who knows what else hasn't been moved into folders yet.  Gads, got to do some culling.  Why do I have 179 walls and 130 floors???

Bed linens are a weakness; my Sims are better dressed than I am.

- and finally, if you share your creations...what do you create?

I've only fooled around with recolors for my own use, but someday (when I have more time) I'd like to get into that aspect of the game as I really admire some of the great work being done and would like to learn how.

[Pyromaniac]

I've never tried Legacy families before, since my neighbourhood usually ends up in a BFBVFS before I get to 3-4 generations. I tend to just delete the hood, and start over.

I used play with testingcheats enabled, and it's come in handy more than once. However, the cheating gets a little easy after a while, and I downloaded all the "harder grades/jobs" hack to make the game a tad more realistic.

Nowadays, I play with the fight club and zombie apocalypse hacks intact. University's actually fun to play now, where your sims have to juggle their studies, social life, and stay on their toes to survive. I even created a greek house called the 'Resistance', in which their task is to train new members to defend against zombie attacks.

I play with all of the macros, especially during university and business hours. To be honest, I've gotten a lot more incentive to play the game ever since my zombies turned brainthirsty.

[BattyCoda]

There seem to be a bunch of empty posts in this thread.

*looks all around* Is there a post thief here?

Makes me sad. I was gonna save the whole thing to keep for ideas and such.

[jolrei]

There seem to be a bunch of empty posts in this thread.

*looks all around* Is there a post thief here?

Makes me sad. I was gonna save the whole thing to keep for ideas and such.

Sounds like a browser problem to me.  I do not get any empty threads when I access the thread - all OK.  Check your browser settings or reload page.