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Original Poster
#1 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 2:47 AM
Default Planning out sims' future stories vs going with the flow
I'm stuck away from the computer that plays sims, so I've been thinking about the game and how I play, and started to wonder how typical I am about planning sims' futures. I'll give a couple of contrasting examples.

Ginger Thanasia-Newson is 23 (I have a 1 year = 2 sim days age mod), didn't go to college, is married to David Gibson and has a baby boy. I know (well, I will do everything I can to ensure, including not saving if necessary) how many children she'll have with him, their genders and probable names. I know when they will break up, and why, and I know who she will marry next. I know how many children she and her second husband will have, and that they will then adopt another one or two. Assuming the game survives, I fully expect her to die of old age surrounded by children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, with Death and the hula girls welcoming her to the afterlife. That's not to say I know everything she'll do - she may well take up hobbies, or make new friends, or even take on bigger challenges like bringing up a grandchildren depending on what happens with her children - but I have a plan for what her "story" looks like.

On the other hand, Cassiopeia Curious is also 23. She went to college, and is now finished and living with her boyfriend Robin Landchild. Her LTW is in Medicine, so she's looking for a job in that, and I'll probably try to achieve it. Her boyfriend wants to get married, so she'll probably do that - but if something else comes up I might change plans. I have no idea if she'll have children, or how many she might have. If something comes up, I'll go with that.

Most of my sims are probably closer to Ginger than Cassie - I have several ongoing stories that I will carry on with. Some are closer to Cassie (especially children, that I haven't had a lot of ideas about yet). What about yours? Do you plan out your sims lives, or are you happy to go with whatever the game throws at you?
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Test Subject
#2 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 3:23 AM
Sometimes I plan things out, though not typically /too/ far ahead. A lot of the fun I get from playing the sims 2 is that, if you play off of what the sims want and let the game guide your stories, it becomes a LOT more interesting than what I could come up with on my own lmao. I have a tendency to try and make my sims have 'perfect' lives if I fully control every aspect of their lives. So I don't lmao.
Mad Poster
#3 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 3:41 AM
Sometimes it's worth not planning much at all, kind of like real life.

I do try to plan a life for a pixel, but they sometimes take the reins instead...like the time one of my pixels who was single and unmarried went to bed with a guy she barely knew and then became pregnant with twins by him. The awkward part was that he's married, and he wasn't going to leave his wife for this one night stand-she was fine with it, found another man, and is getting married to him shortly-he doesn't even mind that she's got kids. He wants his own, and the more the merrier.

That's what came of my not setting up birth control for her-I turned around and she's jumping into the sack with the guy she met at the bar!

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Original Poster
#4 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 4:17 AM
Quote: Originally posted by IgglyBuff
Sometimes I plan things out, though not typically /too/ far ahead. A lot of the fun I get from playing the sims 2 is that, if you play off of what the sims want and let the game guide your stories, it becomes a LOT more interesting than what I could come up with on my own lmao. I have a tendency to try and make my sims have 'perfect' lives if I fully control every aspect of their lives. So I don't lmao.


Oh, I've certainly had some interesting stories come out of what happened in the game! I killed off Matthew Picaso, intending Jessica to be a widowed single mother, and then Matthew's ghost scared Jessica to death - so instead their children are being brought up by their aunt who never wanted children, and it's definitely been fun. But I find there are sims that will have ordinary, happy, .... boring lives if I don't plan a story for them, but if I find a story to tell there is often something more interesting.
Field Researcher
#5 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 4:21 AM
I actually do a little of both - have a general idea of where I want a Sim's life to go, at least short-term, but be ready to change my plans on the fly... and be willing to accept suggestions from others (including my Sims), whether or not they intend their suggestions as such.

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Top Secret Researcher
#6 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 4:21 AM
I sometimes get an idea for something to do or have a vague idea. It's a mix I guess. I do let my sims take the lead and they usually have the power to veto me if they wish. It's their lives. I was going to set up Pascal and Nervous but Lazlo came over to the Beakers before he got free and ACR did it's thing and I let them keep it, so Lazlo and Nervous it is. But I do have ideas of things I might do. Some couples that could happen, some couples that might divorce, and I do do somethings because I can but the sims have a lot of say too. But I also have ACR so that keeps things interesting lol. And I like my sims to make babies but i'm going to let ACR take the reign for the most part there. I'm not sure what to say really, it's just a mix of me and my sims.

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retired moderator
#7 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 5:51 AM
I go 80% with who my sims tell me they are, then 20% what I want.
I play integrated so I need sims to run the town so that has to take priority. Maybe the sim really wants to be a rock god, well that might not happen because I probably need something else more. Maybe they get to open a music store and play music more as a hobby. Not many people in rl get to be famous. I would look at who they are telling me they are, like personality, hobby and interests and try to go with that. Brandi Broke just rolled for a generic job so I am going to have her be a waitress as it seems to fit.

For things like: "gets married-breaks-up-gets remarried" No never. If the sim seemed unhappy married and the husband was a cheater yes but if they were happy I would not want to break them up. I would not have got them married to the first sim in the first place unless one of them had rolled either a marriage or engagement want or went steady by themselves. I figure any one of these is enough to say 'wants to be married to this sim'. So while I think someone might make a good partner and gently push in that direction the sim ultimately gets to decide. (also having a baby may be enough for me to get them married unless they are someone like Don) I've had a couple of sims marry someone I completely didn't see coming like Brandi to Lazo Curious (just had a baby girl and yes I did reload for that because Brandi deserves to have at least 1 daughter) Malcolm Landgraab and Alexandra O'Mackey. Of course, now I am paying for it with the ugly kids the Landgraabs are throwing. I have high hopes that little Bailey Broke will be gorgeous.

Ripp Grunt rolled a want to get engaged to his old uni professor so I let him. He wanted it. So what will happen will depend on what wants he rolls. I'm expecting things to get messy.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Field Researcher
#8 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 6:59 AM
I plan their lives, but I like it when a wrench gets thrown into my plans. Accidental ACR babies, unexpected deaths, etc. Keeps things fresh.

All's fair in love, war, and video games! ~LyokoGirl5000
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Original Poster
#9 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 7:06 AM
I'm glad I decided to start this thread, it's really interesting to see everyone's thoughts. I clearly do plan my sims' lives more than most, but then I don't have ACR (though I do have a few other romance mods), so that reduces the spontaneity on that front in my game.

Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
For things like: "gets married-breaks-up-gets remarried" No never. If the sim seemed unhappy married and the husband was a cheater yes but if they were happy I would not want to break them up. I would not have got them married to the first sim in the first place unless one of them had rolled either a marriage or engagement want or went steady by themselves. I figure any one of these is enough to say 'wants to be married to this sim'. So while I think someone might make a good partner and gently push in that direction the sim ultimately gets to decide.


I should probably clarify my original story: the "gets married-breaks up-gets remarried" stories I've planned have all involved the sims themselves wanting to marry in the first place, and my knowing that ultimately the two sims are incompatible in a way they're not going to be able to work through - so I've gone with it. Ginger and David it's because David is actually Dawn (or other female name to be confirmed), but she hasn't found the courage to come out yet - and Ginger is straight. I'm hoping, once they get over their initial reactions (and I find the right way to do it so the game reacts appropriately), they will manage a happy co-parenting relationship even if it's not romantic. The guy she'll then get together with is currently madly in love with and engaged to a romance sim, who accepted his proposal even though she knows it's a bad idea. And I don't force relationships if the sims aren't keen - but I check chemistry before trying to set a couple up, and I haven't had many reluctant sims.

When TS3 Generations first came out, and all my sims started to get those "romantic reputation" things, I realised that they were almost all getting the "Faithful" one because so often sims stayed together with the first person they kissed (in my TS2 game as well as TS3). So I had a rule in the TS3 neighbourhood that (apart from one couple) every romantic relationship at least one partner had to be in another romantic relationship at some point in their life - before or after, brief or long term, whatever, but something. Sometimes it lead to divorces and blended families, while for others it was more that someone had a brief romance as a teen before meeting their spouse as a young adult, or a pair of highschool sweethearts had a happy marriage, but eventually when one of them died their widow(er) had a brief fling with a neighbour.
Mad Poster
#10 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 7:08 AM
I tend to go with the flow.
Careers - I don't care so much about the LTW's here and sometimes change them - I don't really want 50 mad scientists or 50 celebrity chefs in my game.
Love and Marriage: I definitely let the sims decide, and it has brought some delightful surprises and a lot of fun in my game over the years.
Free Will: always on, too much fun will be lost without it. The things my sims do behind my back when I am not playing them, for instance. Those two having dinner together - I did not even know they knew each other. This one getting his 30th best friend at the bar, and I get a pop-up, because I am not playing him. And this happily married (?) fortune sim suddenly kissing a townie at the pond.
I don't like to break sims up, although I may with some sims like Don (although drowning seems like a better option ).
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 12:48 PM
For the most part, I let my sims control their destinies. Sometimes I'll follow smaller, easier to satisfy wants, and sometimes I'll settle into a longterm want, depending on how achievable it actually is. The only thing I actively ignore or meddle in is contradictory hobby wants (for instance, a sim whose one true hobby is nature wanting to play piano every single day), or cheating wants from who I consider to be Hopeless Romantic Sims (sims who want to get engaged without rolling the fear, have a single sim they seem to roll wants for more than others).
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#12 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 6:00 PM
I do both, however, I don't plan too far ahead, just certain parts that I'd imagine they'd do based on their personalities and stuff. For example, Dustin Broke I imagine letting his grades drop to the point of getting fired from his criminal job (I still don't get why a job like that would be concerned with grades, but that's dwelling on small details), which puts things into perspective for him. From then on, he gets ambitious, focuses on school and gets a much better job. He goes to college, graduates with honours, gets a decent job of his own choice and marries Angela. From that point onwards, it's fair game; do he and Angela have kids? Do they end up cheating on one another? Does Dustin get sacked? Does one of them die prematurely? Do they get divorced? I prefer for him to have a happy ending, hence this preset path for him, but I like it when the game throws curve balls at me.

If I literally have no idea for a sim, mainly born in-game sims that I've yet to form an attachment to or sims who I just can't conjure an idea for, I just go by Wants, personality, interests, and game behaviour.

Even though I set up a path for certain sims to keep gameplay fresh and avoid repetition, I still consider alternatives and let the game decide. To keep with the Dustin example, maybe he can't afford to let his grades fall at all since his family are suddenly in the single digits? Or maybe Angela has found a better alternative so broke things off with him? Maybe he doesn't go to college, because Brandi suddenly died and there's no one else to look after the younger ones?

In short, I combine Wants and my own ideas, however, my own ideas are a rough outline for where I want the sim to go. Whether they actually reach what I set up, or go a completely different direction is up to them. I don't play completely up to Wants, because I find that gets repetitive too, though Wants are brilliant for making sims' career paths less samey. It's why I call my gameplay style loosely Wants based.

When a game is predictable, it's boring.
That goes for any medium that isn't life.
That's why The Sims 2 is my favourite sims game.
It has elements of unpredictability and everything feels more involved.
The Sims 4 is another story altogether...
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retired moderator
#13 Old 18th Jan 2022 at 11:43 PM
Quote: Originally posted by KittyCarey
I'm glad I decided to start this thread, it's really interesting to see everyone's thoughts. I clearly do plan my sims' lives more than most, but then I don't have ACR (though I do have a few other romance mods), so that reduces the spontaneity on that front in my game.



I should probably clarify my original story: the "gets married-breaks up-gets remarried" stories I've planned have all involved the sims themselves wanting to marry in the first place, and my knowing that ultimately the two sims are incompatible in a way they're not going to be able to work through - so I've gone with it. Ginger and David it's because David is actually Dawn (or other female name to be confirmed), but she hasn't found the courage to come out yet - and Ginger is straight. I'm hoping, once they get over their initial reactions (and I find the right way to do it so the game reacts appropriately), they will manage a happy co-parenting relationship even if it's not romantic. The guy she'll then get together with is currently madly in love with and engaged to a romance sim, who accepted his proposal even though she knows it's a bad idea. And I don't force relationships if the sims aren't keen - but I check chemistry before trying to set a couple up, and I haven't had many reluctant sims.

When TS3 Generations first came out, and all my sims started to get those "romantic reputation" things, I realised that they were almost all getting the "Faithful" one because so often sims stayed together with the first person they kissed (in my TS2 game as well as TS3). So I had a rule in the TS3 neighbourhood that (apart from one couple) every romantic relationship at least one partner had to be in another romantic relationship at some point in their life - before or after, brief or long term, whatever, but something. Sometimes it lead to divorces and blended families, while for others it was more that someone had a brief romance as a teen before meeting their spouse as a young adult, or a pair of highschool sweethearts had a happy marriage, but eventually when one of them died their widow(er) had a brief fling with a neighbour.


You might be letting them decide a little more than you first thought then. Not that there is anything wrong in directing sims 100% with free will off if that's somebody's thing, just isn't mine.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#14 Old 19th Jan 2022 at 1:01 AM
I do mostly control what happens to my BACC sims though I can sometimes throw in a curveball like a challenge as happened when Dodge began having a drought and also when another couple arrives in town to settle on a homestead claim.Winter is about to start in Dodge and it will be the year of 1842 once spring arrives again.
Mad Poster
#15 Old 19th Jan 2022 at 4:47 AM
Quote: Originally posted by KittyCarey
Ginger Thanasia-Newson is 23 (I have a 1 year = 2 sim days age mod), didn't go to college, is married to David Gibson and has a baby boy. I know (well, I will do everything I can to ensure, including not saving if necessary) how many children she'll have with him, their genders and probable names. I know when they will break up, and why, and I know who she will marry next. I know how many children she and her second husband will have, and that they will then adopt another one or two. Assuming the game survives, I fully expect her to die of old age surrounded by children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, with Death and the hula girls welcoming her to the afterlife. That's not to say I know everything she'll do - she may well take up hobbies, or make new friends, or even take on bigger challenges like bringing up a grandchildren depending on what happens with her children - but I have a plan for what her "story" looks like.
I think I'm a bit of a control freak, but I'd never plan ahead to that extent. My teenage Ginger Newson hasn't a clue what she'll be doing when she's 23 and neither have I. She'll probably still be looking after Garrett and Georgia. She recently formed a friendship with a townie boy called Donald Dent who has a little sister he's trying to look after (and therefore has in some ways a similar life experience to herself) and I think they both hope the friendship will turn into a romance, but that's about as far ahead as I usually think. I play a very slow-paced game in which a day is basically just a day, and it will be several real years before Ginger s 23. I don't even know if I'll still be alive.

As for children, when a Sim is pregnant, I'll usually sit down with the parents and think about possible names, but the sex of the children will be whatever we get. And, if it turns out to be twins, then we'll have to deal with that too. The birth rate in my game is actually very low.

I like to plan ahead a bit, and I think my Sims do too, but somehow you have to learn to cope with whatever life throws at you.

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
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Original Poster
#16 Old 19th Jan 2022 at 6:57 AM
Quote: Originally posted by AndrewGloria
I think I'm a bit of a control freak, but I'd never plan ahead to that extent. My teenage Ginger Newson hasn't a clue what she'll be doing when she's 23 and neither have I. She'll probably still be looking after Garrett and Georgia. She recently formed a friendship with a townie boy called Donald Dent who has a little sister he's trying to look after (and therefore has in some ways a similar life experience to herself) and I think they both hope the friendship will turn into a romance, but that's about as far ahead as I usually think. I play a very slow-paced game in which a day is basically just a day, and it will be several real years before Ginger s 23. I don't even know if I'll still be alive.


I am in awe of how you manage your slow paced game - I've set up Pleasantview with 12 sim days = 1 year, and that feels very slow. I'm impressed that you can play a day is a day.

As for the rest of the Newsons, I adjusted Ginger and Gavin's ages when I first started playing them, so Ginger was only about 10 or 11. They obviously couldn't manage alone, but were all adopted by Mortimer Thanasia (aka Nervous Subject) and his husband Ajay Loner. Ginger didn't trust her new dads to look after everyone to start with, but they've definitely earned her trust now, and she was happy to move out (though the rest of the family visit frequently). It also helps that Garrett and Georgia are now teens, Gallagher is about to grow up and Gabi and Gavin are at uni.

Gavin, interestingly, I have far less plans for - he's going to live in an apartment downtown with a gym in the building (he's really into fitness), and try to get a job in business, but apart from that I have no idea. He hasn't had much luck with romance at uni, either with men or with women, though he's just met DJ Verse through Gabi (who joined the Sorority) and might be interested in her.
Field Researcher
#17 Old 8th Feb 2022 at 8:12 AM
I very much do long term planning, usually from toddlerhood (which is the first time I get to take a look at their personalities).

I like to plan my relationship pairings as well.
Lab Assistant
#18 Old 8th Feb 2022 at 12:37 PM
It depends. I'm currently in a transitional phase with my current neighborhood, Fairplay, in where I'm testing out SophiethePuffin's Weighted Aspiration Calculator, combined with normal Maxis chemistry. While I'm really liking the depth it provides, I had to randomize everyone's interests because apparently, in a vanilla game, interests are stuck within a threshold based on sims' age: teens have basically no interest in animals or toys, and never ever will for the rest of their lives. This definitely led to a glut of certain kinds of sims. In addition, Hopeless Romantic sims are still Romance Sims, so Family and Knowledge sims are still utterly repelled by them.

So... I've given up on planning matches before they actually meet another sim in the neighborhood. Attraction under this system is utterly unpredictable, overall lower, and generally more exciting. The unfortunate thing is gender preferences and certain aspirations seem to be conspiring together to make matchmaking extra difficult (a higher ratio of straight male teens who have compatible aspirations with each other VS straight female teens with incompatible aspirations), so unless things shake out better for them as adults this generation is really going to challenge my convention of "eventually find some sim that they really like, and stay with them forever."

I would download the mod that nixes aspiration based chemistry, but for one I kind of like the idea that people with polar opposite outlooks or goals would not see a future with the other person, and also if I did, it would screw up the established couples with good aspiration-based chemistry. Maybe once they're all dead I'll add it in, but for now I've just got to ride it out.

Long story short, I used to plan things out-- now I just hope that someone, somewhere, will be attracted to someone else that's their age.
Field Researcher
#19 Old 8th Feb 2022 at 2:32 PM Last edited by kiddypatches : 9th Feb 2022 at 1:08 PM.
I only plan stuff through if I have set couples I love (like Don and Dina, Vidcund and Circe, etc). However if it's a town I'm not sure what to do with, like I did for Desiderata Valley, I just went with the flow and let ACR and the sims' wants handle the rest. I guess it depends on how deadset I am for the sims and couples, and how attached I am to certain hoods. Also, for the rest of the sims I didn't have preset couples for (like Antonio Monty in the near future, for example), I let things go based off ACR or wants. Or sometimes I use the Matchmaker. It just depends, really.
Mad Poster
#20 Old 9th Feb 2022 at 2:30 AM
Interesting to read all these ideas. I always play with free-will on. When I create a new hood (which I do a lot. Fickle god that I am, I eventually get bored with a hood and delete it) I always have a theme in mind. Like: aliens - a pre-made hood is becoming all alien, with every birth being alien (I have about 40 different PTs). And humans & aliens hate each other. OR: mid-century-modern, where there are no aliens. ACR is used heavily to keep family sims faithful (and most married sims). Only women have babies, and only "bad women" have babies out of wedlock. I like playing pre-made hoods, but always totally tweak playables (and non-playables). I want things to make sense: so every aspect of a SIm that I can change gets changed; as, a Romance Sim is always outgoing and active; a family sim is always nice, faithful, likes toys, school, pets. So there is very little independent thought allowed. Except for those nasty, sex-crazed, lazy Sims that cause fights and broken homes --I will LET them commit suicide. I also have a mod that allows Uni townies to die - and if they are so stupid they don't eat or sleep or get out of the hot-tub in a storm --I let them.

Stand up, speak out. Just not to me..
Mad Poster
#21 Old 9th Feb 2022 at 4:58 AM
I've got a genral idea for my Pleasantview Epic Challenge in Pleasant Valley as my first couple to arrive will be arriving to colonize in the spring of the year 1600 and other couples like Andy and Carol,Pleasant willl arrive the next spring in 1601.They'll be struggling with dry summers and long cold harsh winters at first with the threat of running low on food before spring.Most of the early colonial settlers from the 17th and 18th centuries in that town will be ancestors of the Modern Pleasantview families I recreate in CAS.I'll also have townie neighbors in apartment lots created in CAS and moved in manually and might not have their futures as well planned out.
Mad Poster
#22 Old 9th Feb 2022 at 2:00 PM
TadOlson: for the weather in your hood, will you be using some mod? I looked at some (that do more than just changing the seasons in game) and they look too complex for me.

Stand up, speak out. Just not to me..
Mad Poster
#23 Old 10th Feb 2022 at 6:02 AM
@grammapat -I just place those Mods into a folder specially marked for Mods that are meant to be easily switched out and those are of that type of Mod as different ones will conflict with each orher if installed at the same time so I put one in and remove the one I don't need and later will trade them off if I want to cgange the weather up again.I've also got Wordpad for my scripts for the scripted events as it means a written document to guide my game.I know that my PEC sims will be having children though not when each couple starts their family.I use ACR so I can edit the chances of sims getting pregnant from TFB though they can't do many romantic actions on their own ecept with a husband or wife and some can be done by sims in a committed relationship though they can't do anything on their own unless theylre already in that relationship.
Mad Poster
#24 Old 10th Feb 2022 at 10:25 AM
Like life sometimes things work out for the better, sometimes for the worse, whether they're planned or not. I don't plan out the life except for the initial stages basically what is this sim and who might they be. But it is often they turn out to be something I never anticipated, this leads me to either love or hate them, but in this I am excited that these little pixels we control are intelligent enough to make up their own minds.

With this game we are given the tools to really experiment with life and its outcomes, this is something people 40 years ago could only dream of. Having such an ability with intelligent dollies that can move and act on their own is certainly an amazing feat. in computing.

Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

Lab Assistant
#25 Old 12th Feb 2022 at 1:14 AM
I thought this might be a decent place to ask this since several people mentioned it, but if you mostly go by wants and personality and such how do you decide when a couple should break up, if cheating on a partner isn't involved? It's something I'm interested in doing more in my gameplay, because it's pretty realistic, but the way things normally are most couples (aside from ones with Romance sims) seem perfectly content/happy staying together. They rarely argue and when they do, it doesn't do much to their relationship. In fact, it seems really difficult to lower a couple's relationship without mods or having a cheater found out (the couple times I tried to break a couple up recently, it took several days of spamming the argue interaction at every opportunity ).

I'd really like to know others' thought processes regarding this.
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