Seasons of Discrimination

[Zazazu]

So. I was playing my Free Love Cult tonight. It was the end of a very snowy winter (and a slow one, 12 sims in a four-story house on a 3x3 who typically bring 4 sims back home from work and school daily, plus juggling three baby-machines and their spawn). The spawn portion of the family consisted, at that time, of two teen girls Blythe and Brook, a boy child Efren and girl child Mindy, twin boy toddlers Ethan and Sebastian, a girl toddler Lexie, and baby Kennedy. Blythe, Brook, and Efren were in private school. Mindy was not as I was waiting until that afternoon, when the toddlers would transition, to ring up the headmaster again.

At 7 am I got the message that there would be a snow day. Yay! The parents would all be at work during the day, Bobbie as a Junior Officer, Jennifer as a Director, Yvonne as a judge, and Richard...obviously...as Cult Leader. No problem, the teens could handle the toddlers and baby. At 8'o'clock a school bus pulls up, but no one gets up to go to school and when I clicked on the bus as Efren I got nothing. I checked all the kids' queus and noticed that Mindy had "Go to School" queued up.

Wait....snow days discriminate between public and private school kids? Only the rich kids get the day off? What the heck is this? I say we boycott Eaxis.

[Emma]

I've noticed this too, although it was on a different lot. My private schoolkids had 3 consecutive days off through snow and on the next lot, even though the snow was thick on the ground and it still continued to snow my public school simkid had no pop up message. I just thought it might be a random thing.

[SnootCB]

I'm pretty sure it is just random.  The vast majority of my simkids are in public school, but they do get snow days every once in a while.  It's just weird that the game didn't register the snow day for Mindy.  Hm.  Odd.

[pioupiou]

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that snow days are random and different for private and public schools. SO you could have had the snow day for public and nothing for private, or vice versa, or nothing for both, or snow day for both....

[Khan of Wyrms]

I'd say this is definitely random.  I had a similar occurrence once, save it was the private school kid that had to go to class and the public school brat got to stay home.  At first I thought it was planned this way, since it reminded me of my youth, having to go to school while all of the neighborhood kids got to stay home.  Overall, I'd have to say that snow days do not happen very often, and do not seem to have any relation to the quantity of snow on the ground either.

[Zazazu]

I've had snow days quite a few times, but it was always in houses where the kids were all in the same school type. Usually public. It always seems to occur when at least three days in a row have had snow. Heavy or not I'm not sure as I don't pay that much attention. But not always. I've had some lots which had heavy snow every day in Winter, plus a couple days into Spring and no snow day. So I'd bet it's like abduction but with higher odds. Something like "Is there snow?--Run probability of snow day (10% x days of snow)" but apparently it's run for each school type. It seems odd, but I guess I can convince myself that the public school is in Downtown Craziness and the private school is in Urban Paradise, or somesuch.

[idtaminger]

I think it's pretty realistic. I live in NY and I remember every time there was particularly heavy snowfall having to check the news for the school closing lists, to see which schools were closed and which weren't. Unfortunately for me I went to HS in Manhattan, which meant that unless it was city-infrastructure-debilitating snowfall I had to go to school pretty much all the time. The kids in the suburbs usually got snow days off, the lucky bastards.

So if you just imagine the private school being in a posh Uptown neighborhood, and the public school in suburbia, it makes sense to have different snow days.

[Invisigoth]

Yeah, I think it's more realistic, too.  I was one of the few students who did not live on the campus of the private school that I attended and rather commuted from home.  When most of the students just have to walk across a field to get to class there are very few snow days.  My brother attended public school and it felt like he always got snow days.

[KatEnigma]

I've heard of this happening. The only weird thing is that I've noticed that if it's snowing at exactly 7 AM when the pop up is due for the "the schoolbus will arrive" crap, then my kids have a snow day. Why it would only trigger for one group and not the other, is probably a glitch, but I like the realism too. Not that I've ever had it happen- I wait to call the Headmaster until all the kids are schoolage, so I don't have to put up with him more than once per household per generation.

[Zazazu]

If I waited for that, the majority of the kids in this household wouldn't have made it. Blythe only has three more days in the house. And dealing with cranky, fun-deprived kids at the same time as two or three pregnant sims and a bunch of toddlers/babies is...not enjoyable. It's much better when I can immediately throw them at their homework, then pull some food out of the fridge and let them amuse themselves and me in the process.

Ah well. At least all the school-age kids are now in private school now. As soon as Kennedy and the (at least) two more spawn immediately eminent are school-age, I'll do the dance again. Then maybe one more time for the next round. The baby machines are getting close to elder.

[broo]

Damn, I hate snow days But I like realism they add to the game...
 And talking about real life schools, I went to school in the country where minus 20 celsius and meter hight snow piles are standard for winter so I only had 2 "snow days" in 12 years. Here in Scotland they are closing schools, shops, everything when temperature hits minus 5.

[J. M. Pescado]

Pssh. In my day, we had to walk to school, uphill and against the wind both ways, through the snow, while the Japanese would try to bomb us! You kids don't know how good you have it.

[Simgoose]

Pssh. In my day, we had to walk to school, uphill and against the wind both ways, through the snow, while the Japanese would try to bomb us! You kids don't know how good you have it.

and let me guess, you all you got to play with was a brick that you kicked around... and on special days... you might get a news paper to wrap around it to soften the load?
well thats the stories i used to get told when i complained about school... of course im sure they were all BS.

another one that was told to me. was the only day they got off was when the teacher died. purely cause they had to wait for another one to come up from another town... all these BS stories of the yester-year.

[J. M. Pescado]

and let me guess, you all you got to play with was a brick that you kicked around... and on special days... you might get a news paper to wrap around it to soften the load?

Naw. Bricks hadn't been invented yet. All we had were sticks. Sharp ones. AND WE LIKED IT!

[Emma]

Pssh. In my day, we had to walk to school, uphill and against the wind both ways, through the snow, while the Japanese would try to bomb us! You kids don't know how good you have it.

At least going home was downhill. Stop complaining!

[Mirelly]

Pssh. In my day, we had to walk to school, uphill and against the wind both ways, through the snow, while the Japanese would try to bomb us! You kids don't know how good you have it.

Crikey, that narrows down your demographics a bit. Pescado grew up in an Escheresque landscape, north of the tropics, in the early 1940s, within range of Japanese bombers. 

[J. M. Pescado]

At least going home was downhill. Stop complaining!

No, it was uphill both ways. And I'm not complaining, we LIKED it.

[Gwill]

I live in Norway; land of snow and ice and polar bears in the street, and I had never heard of the concept of a Snow Day until a few years ago.
I'm still not sure exactly what the point of it is.
Snow happens!  Prepare for it!

[J. M. Pescado]

Yes, it is clearly not a concept that has any relevance to Fat Gwilly People.

[Zazazu]

At least going home was downhill. Stop complaining!

No, it was uphill both ways. And I'm not complaining, we LIKED it.

Oh hush. My dad had to walk uphill both ways EVERYWHERE. It's called West Virginia.

[Magicmoon]

It always seems to occur when at least three days in a row have had snow. Heavy or not I'm not sure as I don't pay that much attention. But not always. I've had some lots which had heavy snow every day in Winter, plus a couple days into Spring and no snow day. So I'd bet it's like abduction but with higher odds. Something like "Is there snow?--Run probability of snow day (10% x days of snow)" but apparently it's run for each school type.

It would be interesting exactly how it is calculated. The first snow day I ever had for the Sims was in mid-summer. (And no, a freak snowstorm was not going on). The penguin also appears almost as often in other seasons as it does in the winter. Originally I assumed that it would only be seen during the winter.

So exactly how did they calculate a mid-summer snow day?

[Dea]

Places that arent used to snow always get snowdays bc they dont know how to act.  When I lived in Colorado we never got snow days unless it snowed 8 feet and blocked the doors.

[Sleepycat]

most snow days in my area are usually because of ice

[Aggie]

and let me guess, you all you got to play with was a brick that you kicked around... and on special days... you might get a news paper to wrap around it to soften the load?

Naw. Bricks hadn't been invented yet. All we had were sticks. Sharp ones. AND WE LIKED IT!

Sounds like your life has been forever documented in a Weird Al song, you poor, poor bastard. 

[Tigerlilley]

I have never once seen a snow day in my game. I've got about 6 families with kids, and theyve each had at least 2 winters.

No snowday.  Is it possible that ive got something that could be preventing it?  All hacks are MATY and i dont really have many hacks anyways.