What are those weird Sims rules you have for yourself?
 

I’m interested to know if there are any rules or rituals that the Sims 2 community follow whenever they play or build.

For example, I absolutely refuse to rotate lots. I want the lighting to be consistent throughout the entire neighbourhood - so I’m constrained to whatever direction the lot is already in.

Every single party in my neighbourhood I always teleport a specific Sim in, regardless of whether he knows anyone or not. I love a good party-crasher.

If my Sim is in the front yard getting the newspaper or the mail or something, and someone walks by, they have to greet them. It just seems rude otherwise.

Every stray cat gets adopted.

Unless the sim is mean or shy!

No crossword is ever left wanting and alone. They are all completed.

(In)famously I always claim that there are no rules in my game, as my Sims are free spirits who don't want to be constrained by rules. There are however laws which even I have to obey. Most importantly my Sims have a Constitutional Law which unconditionally guarantees their inalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. The biggest constraint on my Sims is that they may not do anything that would infringe another Sim's constitutional rights.

In addition there are conventions. Not binding on anybody, but simply the way that I do things. My Sims too tend to greet passers by, especially if they are out in the street anyway. We believe it helps to build a real community spirit. Only once in my entire game has a Sim asked another Sim to leave. That seems so rude to me. Instead, at least one household member will try to build a positive relationship with the visitor, often just by telling them a joke. They will then be able to say "Goodbye" to the visitor -- much nicer!

Newly arrived CAS Sims will invariably sit down with a book to study cooking. By the time the Welcome Wagon visitors arrive at least one household member should have at least one cooking point. Similarly I always place a fire alarm above every cooking stove and fireplace. Even though I've had Squinge's "No more Fires" for over ten years now. I never turn Sims' Free Will off, even for photographs. I did it once and I felt they just looked wooden, so I repented of my folly and turned it back on again. I suppose it was an infringement of their right to liberty anyway. My Sims hardly ever order food over the 'phone or online. Shopping for food in person is an opportunity to meet other Sims, and maybe make new friends.

May I relate in some detail the story of one Sim greeting another one who was passing, and what it led to? . . . Carla Cameron was originally created as a CAS townie with a gay teenage so called Dean Cameron. Dean became playable when his boyfriend Harry Hastie invited him to move in and share his downtown house in Custer Boulevard near the bridge over the creek. Dean then invited his mum to move in with them. Carla, a Fortune Sim, was a considerable financial help to the boys, but she had no love interest in her life. She went out with several men, but nothing came of any of them. Then her gay son said to her, "Mum, if you can't find a boy that you like, why don't you try and see if you can find a girl?" Seeing how happy Dean was in the gay teen community, she decided to give it a try, and started going to the Gaia gay nightclub near their home. Initially she found looking for a girlfriend almost as hard as looking for a boyfriend. . . . Meantime Bianca Monty was living alone in a similar but smaller house on the other side of downtown Veronaville. Like many other young women, Bianca felt that she had a good enough figure, that she didn't need to wear a bra. And so it came to pass that one day, when her kitchen waste-bin was full, she took the rubbish out to the dustbin in the front street, dressed only in her knickers. Now who should happen to be walking past in the front street but Carla Cameron? Carla looked lustfully at the topless Bianca Monty coming up the garden path towards her. Bianca, seeing that look, invited her in. It was quickly clear that Carla's long search for a girlfriend had come to a successful conclusion! And the result -- earlier this year, they married each other!

All my sims compost. You never know when they might run into someone with a green thumb.

Every single one of the pixels in my game will have a phone.

It doesn't matter if it's in the modern time or medieval, it's a standard rule.

All of my rules are perfectly sensible and not weird at all.

I agree to that.

I only have 1 rule now and its not to save a sim from death.

only one: never bring back the dead.

I agree with the phone. Mine also all get a Monique's hacked computer as well as a SimBlender. These are non-negotiable essentials, whether medieval-fantasy or modern.
Otherwise my other rule is dead is dead. No one is meant to be brought back. Death is final, no matter how tragic.

Any townie npc neighbour who after being greeted walks straight into the house and onto the families computer without asking gets dropped into the fire pit.

Where is this fire pit? Asking for a friend. XD

I'm not sure I'd call them weird rules as much as my standard way of playing.
a) I have no interest in supernatural aspect and as such none exist, with the exception of those who pre-mades in Strangetown and the ancestors of the Caliente girls. All others are modded out.
b) No resurrection - mostly. If a sim dies and dependin on the circumstances I might have their loved one plead with Grim. If the loved one wins against Grim then they can be revived as I see this as more of like a CPR measure.
c) All residential lots must have at least 1 compost bin, even if they don't garden. If they're not a gardener they can "sell" the compost bin and make a bit of extra money, but then they need to buy a new one to replace the full one.
d) Residential lots do not get an alarm, unless they are robbed.
e) 90% of all Residential lots must have a driveway if not a garage.
f) All bedrooms have closets, can be the single or the double dependin on the size of the room.
g) I mostly play want based with many things made autonomous.
h) I play rotational with 10 day seasons - I'll play each household roughly 3 to 4 days before movin on to the next.
i) Not everyone goes to college as they must have money to afford it. If they don't go to college then most times they can't advance past level 6 or sometimes 7.
j) Teens can not get a job, have a 1st kiss, or date until they reach 10 days left to adult. For me this puts them at roughly 14 to 15.

That's all I can think of at the moment. :D

All rooms, including bathrooms, must have windows.

Even the basement? XD

Basements can have windows.

I have lots of rules, no idea if any of them are weird.

I guess not adding/removing the kitchen sink a lot comes with because of my wish to compost everything is about as weird as it gets.

With no sink the sims will throw away their plates and bowls. (I have a mod that prevents them using the bathroom basin.) I do a lot of produce growing and every plot must be fertilized with compost first.
Unless a sim is very low in environment interest and no other sim lives there that would complain about their terrible wasteful habits. Then I force myself to give them a sink or a dishwasher and let them burn leaf piles. I guess if they burn leaves and end up dying in a fire it's their own fault.

My sims have now asked me to explain to them what a basement is.

Having a compost bin for every house is weird?

Not really .. I think it really all depends on how things are done in the real world where you live. For me, it's the law that we recycle. We have a blue recycle trash bin to go along side the green yard waste bin and the dark/ near black colored general trash bin. At least for us we only have the 3 as we don't have to separate out cardboard, glass, metal, or such from each other .. it just all goes in the blue bin.

I get your point - but I was perhaps not too clearly talking about my sims hood, where everyone just get that recycle bin as soon as they move in.

.. I got it .. but that's just it .. for me that is normal .. when someone moves into a home they get the curbside recycle bin at the same time as they do their curbside trash one .. they've brought from the company that picks up the trash

Compost isn't recycling where I am. Recycling is plastics and bottles etc. Compost would be organic waste, but if you're putting it in the organic waste bin then you aren't using it as compost.

With sims, I have to admit that not having a sink in the kitchen seems weird. Throwing out your cups and plates after every meal seems horribly wasteful. XD Plus, there are plenty of other things to compost. Just get a few leaf dropping trees!

Agreed .. but in the sims they don't differentiate between the two ... all waste goes in the trash bin .. trash bin can then be put in compost bin .. so for me.. I don't see it as a compost bin as much as a recycle bin .. hence why I place one on all lots

I see it as a Maxis oversight lol. Just like how a sim can drop a potty pouch and it turns into soda cans (what are they feeding that baby?).

Here we recycle certain plastics, clean cardboard, paper.



Compost can also include cardboard and paper, like brown paper bags and cardboard without sticky labels or lots of ink.

I do both of the above in rl.



They are not being wasted, I am turning them into compost. That means they are replacing a bag of fertilizer on that same garden spot. The bag costs $10 the compost is free. The main economy is selling crafted/grown/dug up items to townies. A few tress wouldn't cut it for the farm. They need every bit of compost I can get. The households who are not farms also compost and I have the farms pay them for a full compost bin. In a large hood yes they would have plenty but not in smaller hoods. So even if I switch over to my uber hood that has other ways of getting food I still like to compost. In my current hood I only have 1 main farm and they are constantly running out of compost.

This rural community has one large farm and fish as it's main source of food. (apart from the few Jackie sims food making items I installed recently that I try not to overuse) No grocery delivery, no fast food delivery, fridges come empty due to a mod I have and no restockable food bins.

Whether it's being used as compost for your own garden, or as organic waste (for compost or similar purposes, I presume) for bin day, it's still recycling. If both ways are meant to turn into compost, using it as compost at home is just a few steps removed. Not everyone has the option or need to to do compost at home, so having a pickup option is quite useful.

We've got organic waste (+ paper, glass/metal, plastic, and *whatever doesn't fit elsewhere*) for bin days. Some stores have collection places for small electronic waste and batteries, there's systems for returning plastic bottles and old clothes, and there's probably more I can't think of.

I'll rephrase it then lol. Sticking your dishes in the bin seems terribly wasteful to me, because I can't suspend disbelief enough to imagine that they could possibly be used as compost, therefore I consider them going straight to landfill (and the sims would also have to buy new dishes). Even farmers don't put their ceramic plates into the compost. XD



I have no idea what they actually do with the organic waste. I'm just presuming compost. But it isn't considered recycling. We do have a garden at home, but dad purchases fertiliser if he needs it (and I miss her terribly, but I don't miss having a dog that would eat all the sheep pellets he put down and then inflict her stenchful breath on us XD).

Half the plastic stuff isn't even recyclable anymore. We have yoghurts where the container is recyclable, but the lid isn't, which seems silly.

Here they're constantly trying out new variations of non-plastic spoons and straws for yoghurts and small juices. Some work, others just don't. Not even sure they're easier (or possible?) to recycle.

Composting is a natural form of recycling organic matter (Not sure what they're doing with the organic waste recycling, but I think some of it goes to produce biogases/heating or similar. If it can be composted it's probably just as useful in a compost bin for garden use. Throwing it in with the non-recyclables probably means it would have ended up on a landfill).

Similar here. Though, we have councils here that charge tax for various things, one of those things are waste disposal (all types, recycling included).

The council then charge an additional fee if you wish to use the green bin (garden waste). E.g, if they collect it from you, you pay extra.

So guess what happens?

No one uses it. And everyone burns it in their gardens. Most people take issue with "I'm already paying for that with my tax payments, why do I need to pay again?" kind of attitude.

It doesn't help waste collection for the other bins is only once every 2-3 weeks (It's supposed to be 2, but some weeks get missed where the bin lorries simply don't show up. )

One thing that has impressed me since we stopped using plastic bags, and are trying to cut back on other plastic use as well, is that McDonalds and KFC have stepped up to provide cardboard straws and wooden spoons instead of plastic.



We get charged extra for garden waste too. I thought that we used to have a composter, but thinking back it was actually an incinerator (not even sure that those are legal anymore).

The cooker needs to be between 2 counters and so does the sink. Neither can be next to each other and neither can be on "the edge" on their own. Like what if my sim elblows themselves against the wall or gets stuff on the wrong side??

They use paper plates.

It goes into the kitchen bin. That bin is magical, because once it goes in there it transforms everything into something that can be composted.
The sims take out of that bin compost ready waste and put it in the compost bin outside. The fact if they drop it and it somehow turns into a pile including cans is... unfortunate. But never fear! Sims also have magical transforming abilities as they only have to pick up that pile of rubbish and it is once again compostable material.

In RL most of us who compost have some kind of container in the kitchen to put things in before it goes outside. You can use a bought compost bin, a made bin or heap or just dig holes and bury and hope your dog doesn't dig it up. *Looks at dogs*

Cardboard straws are not all they pretend to be. Some use some nasty chemicals to get them to hold that shape and when they get soggy, like sitting in a drink, they can leech those chemicals. I always pull out a cardboard straw as you never know.
https://theconversation.com/eco-fri...wildlife-212472

[QUOTE=Charity]One thing that has impressed me since we stopped using plastic bags, and are trying to cut back on other plastic use as well, is that McDonalds and KFC have stepped up to provide cardboard straws and wooden spoons instead of plastic./QUOTE]

As a disabled person, those cardboard straws are a bloody choking hazard.

Don't use paper straws .. they're not as good as they're toted to be. Google for yourself.. but here's a bit of info
paper straws can be bad for your health because they can contain harmful chemicals and may not be better for the environment than plastic straws:

Chemicals
A study found that 18 out of 20 brands of paper straws contained PFAS, or "forever chemicals". PFAS are synthetic chemicals that are used to make many products resistant to water, heat, and stains. They break down very slowly and can persist in the environment for thousands of years. PFAS have been linked to a number of health problems, including thyroid disease, liver damage, and kidney cancer.

Environmental impact
Paper straws can have a negative impact on the environment in several ways:

Land use: The trees used to make paper straws require a lot of land.

Rotting in landfills: Paper straws emit more greenhouse gases when they rot in landfills than plastic straws.

They're not particularly good for hospital/care home use, either. They can work if you're able to drink up fast, but often in those places, or with disabilities where a straw makes it easier to drink, straws need to last for longer than 10 minutes. Paper straws go soggy much too fast, and just aren't capable of handling the job.



Not offering straws unless asked for, and being able to use some sort of "coffee-lid" (with a drinking spout) for soda instead of straw-lids could probably help a bit on reducing trash.

Wooden spoons, depending on type, are kinda awful, too. Some of them taste wooden, and others are too flat or weirdly shaped to be of any use... I've seen a cardboard spoon I actually did like in a yoghurt box (it was the perfect shape to scrape the sides, and it didn't go soggy in the time it took to eat), and some bamboo ones that weren't half bad.

Well, I don't let my sims use paper plates lol. They can wash their plates like usual and if they want compost then they can get it from other sources.

There's no other option now. You have to take the cardboard straws etc. They don't have plastic ones anymore.

Ok ... we have gone WAAAY OT .. (for which I acknowledge was very much apart of) .. the OP of the thread was askin about the rules each person plays with .. no one has to to follow anothers rules .. if it's one you don't use .. then so be it.. but there's no reason to say that someone else can't or shouldn't do what they like .. that is part of why we all love this game.. the sandbox that allows us to play our own way

soo.. please lets leave off this recycle talk and get back OT

You can buy metal and silicon reusable straws. You can also buy plastic... But if you are using cardboard ones, don't let them sit and go soggy.

On the plates, I am pretending they are paper. Of course you wouldn't compost china, you wouldn't compost nappies or plastic baby bottles either, yet those are also compostable in the sims world.

Another convention* in my game is that, if I create a child or teen in CAS, I'll use all the available sliders to tweak their facial appearance to just what I want. But, if I create two adults in CAS, and then use the CAS "pacifier" tool to give them genetic progeny (teen or child, rarely toddler), I consider that however they look is their natural inherited look, and I won't change it. Of course I'll happily change their clothes, and give them glasses and accessories to wear. I'll even change their hairstyle, but not their hair colour (unless I think it's dyed). The only slider I might tweak slightly is to turn up the corners of their mouth to give them a bit of a smile. Because I like my Sims to look as happy as I'm sure they feel. However, if I give the parents happy smiling faces, their children usually inherent their cheerful demeanour anyway.

Note: * Not a "rule" because my Sims don't like rules!

Everytime there's a party on a community lot it has to be paid for. Usually 500 simoleons

IRL, washing dishes is more eco-friendly than using disposable plates, even if you're composting, because a lot of energy goes into creating more paper plates. I was friends with someone whose job is eco-efficiency for a uni science lab, so I've learned all sorts of random things from her. She even uses cloth napkins at home instead of paper ones.

For sims, in addition to trees, cat litter and baby bottles are abundant resources for composting.

Weird Rules:

-No one is allowed to inherit their parents' house (with a few exceptions). The sims can't move back into their parents' house and inherit the house and all belongings. Sometimes they move back in after uni, move out with a bunch of money from the household funds and get a bigger head-start. Sometimes the parents move back in with the kids when they're elderly or give them a bunch of furniture when they're moving into the retirement home. In past hoods, I had too many families with enormous net worths from multiple generations just staying in that one house, which is obviously the biggest expense in the game. Also it creates pretty static hoods with limited housing, so I want to keep it flexible.
Exceptions: I have a few big expensive houses that are so decorated that I'm too lazy to move everything into inventory, so the oldest son gets to inherit. But they're already rich, so the inheritance is a moot point. Also anyone who lives in an apartment is an exception, since the household funds is all they have.

-Subhood schools and school friends. Children and teens in each subhood go to a different school. Not literally, it's not an institution school or anything, I just track it. This is harder to explain, but basically, on my spreadsheet, everyone is listed in birth order. I have a "window" around each sim of 20 sims older and 20 sims younger). I try to get them to be friends with everyone in their subhood who is in that window as their "class" at school. Sims who go to private school make friends with other private school friends regardless of subhood.
So my sim kids have unique friend groups by the time they're teens based on who they've grown up going to school with. Also they have cousins, family friends, neighbors, shared activities like ballet class or soccer teams, etc. It sounds complicated, it's not in practice It just gives me a way to narrow down my sims' friend options from "the entire hood" to "Here are sims my sim would actually be likely to interact with."

I don't have many rules; I prefer to follow the flow of the game. Some of those that I do have (no resurrection, no supernaturals) have already been mentioned. Others mostly pertain to Sims' love life. Every new Sim flirts with members of each sex at the beginning and the result (preferably three bolts) determines their orientation. Two bolts is the minimum for them to start living together (they always try to find a three-bolts partner but some just can't). If one (preferably both) of the partners wants to get married, they get married; same for becoming a parent. - There are many nuances but they would take too long to explain.

I used to have other rules, mostly financial (no Humble PC, etc.), but I gave up on those: there is no way to prevent your Sims from being at least well off in the first generation and seriously rich in the second. By now I don't really care about that aspect anymore, so I think that's about it.

You should talk to AndrewGloria. Very few of his sims get rich.

I used to have more rules, but I've decided to abandon a lot of "realism" because it can add too many annoyances to playing. I no longer care how much money (or how little) my Sims have either. If I think they deserve more, I just cheat it. If I see them as poor, I ignore their cash reserves and restrict their furnishings, house, etc. Also, the kinds of houses I want my Sims to live in cost more than the standard 20K handout, even if the house is not really a very nice or up-scale one. And I want everyone to have a decent bedroom, for goshsakes!

Other realism rules I've abandoned--my Sims now just walk everywhere. I don't care about distances. They walk downtown. I can't be bothered with the taxi anymore. I do like to give them cars if I can, just because it helps with going on dates and going to work. I also put random Sims in the same house because I don't like to play single-Sim households, although I will in a few cases. I don't care if it doesn't make sense. They're renting out an extra room or something. And I don't bother trying to sync up ages too much. It causes way too many headaches when playing university, for instance.

Weird rules for going to college: If they roll a career-related LTW, they will go to college unless they flunk out of high school for some reason. If they don't have a career-related LTW, they will go to college if they get the want to go within 3 days of becoming an adult. They will also go to college if they get the want to earn a scholarship and then earn it. If they go to college and don't have a career-related LTW, they will reroll their aspiration junior year. Why do I do this? Mainly because I prefer to play Sims with career goals, although with the way I play, very few of them still achieve their LTW. Also, if they reach elderhood and their LTW is impossible to achieve, then they will use the reward aspiration-changer thingie to change their aspiration again, and maybe they will get grilled cheese.

My BACC hood just had the first great grandchild and they are all still focused on trying to make money. Everyone has an owned business and only a small handful of jobs.I do not allow the money perk on the business tracker. Buying business lots, saving to give kids enough for some kind of a house, saving to try and build a church and a clinic, it takes every penny.

http://cyjon.net/node/134
https://modthesims.info/download.php?t=613939

I don't use either and my sims are still poor.

I don't quite understand this part. Saving to build them where? On their lot? On owned public lots? How would you make them profitable?

I have a doctor with a very small clinic and a policeman with a small jail and an office, both on their lots. They look nice but are completely useless unless I use various cheats; I do that when I am making stories but not in a normal game.

ETA: Regarding Bulbizarre's links: the first one was blocked as suspicious by Bitdefender. The second mod looks great but the problem is that university study is free where I live and will remain free in my game.

Sounds like a false positive. Don't think I've had issues opening links from Cyjon's site before. It opens fine for me (my AV reacts if there's anything bad on a site, and gave off no warnings). Could be reacting to no www, or "http" instead of https?

It's probably flagged because Cyjon's site is still using http instead of https. https has the wrong certificate (it also doesn't work).

Me either. I've found no20khandout makes the biggest difference.

That, and not feeling beholden to have every sim max out their careers at 10 levels. My town does not need 15 Chief of Staffs and no nurses.


Build A City Challenge. Sims have to pay taxes to earn community buildings.

The town has to build a church + graveyard on a blank community lot. That takes money that every family will have to decide how much to donate. Once a church is built a priest can move into one of the empty small houses. Priests don't normally build their own church or technically own them. So I would simply give them the cash to 'buy' it. My founders are about to die so we really need a graveyard and soon.

In game of course the priest will own the church so they can run it. As to it being profitable, apart from selling Bibles and flowers and adding a ticket machine to simulate church giving it won't be. The priest will use a custom career.

I don't know about other countries but most country towns have a church and graveyard here.

As for the clinic I am trying to have my doctor save to be able to build one but given that she is married to the teacher and he is trying to save for a proper school based on what the kids make and the robots he crafts it's being extreamly tough. Both clinics (forget about a hospital) and schools take an enormous amount of cash.

I still have no police station but when I do they will sell burglar alarms, toy police cars and books I will have an officer write. In my last integrated hood I had him write a book called "Home security" and "The mind of a burglar". It will also contain a small jail and I will use it. I have my police officer walk a beat and I also at that point will make a playable burglar. I use playable cops to be sure he will turn up if a family gets burgled and if he wins that burglar will be going to my jail. Other sims can go to jail for fighting or stealing as well. If I left the gate unlocked sims would have stolen my cows numerous times.

I have just figured out how to have a playable construction company and while they are only clearing and selling a block of land right now they may soon be able to afford an actual house block. I have a thread here in my signature on playing active carers and businesses.

I play out everything that I can, It just takes some mods and imagination.



I haven't been doing taxes yet as there is no proper town or town leader as such. I started this hood with one sim who is quite old now, but the town is just his kids and spouses and grandchildren in a small collection of houses.I need someone in the political career but I don't have that yet. The town is basically farms, a pub, a dance hall (which can double as a meeting area and sims can get married there) and a servo. (servo is what we call a petrol station here in Australia) The school is just in someones house.

This is why I love a combination of @Lamare's job options (namely 'ask before promotion') and @whoward69's Sim Salary Bonus Scheme.

I had to read your challenge to really understand how you are playing the game. In some ways it is similar to the way I am making my stories, but mostly it is completely different. I will certainly try it out but, I am afraid, with some tweaks:
- No supernaturals.
- "Any Sim you create in CAS may only move in/marry townies or Sims that were born in-game, not other Sims that you create in CAS." I am playing my most recent Pleasantview this way, but with lots of (free) plastic surgery. Not sure what you think about students but I treat them as in-game Sims.
- Churches are a must in my games as well. I made two types: a small "village" one with a small vicarage that costs a bit less than 20.000, and a big "town" one with a big vicarage (about 70.000). A new priest gets the small church and vicarage and then it's up to him to get the big one. He is, of course, always in the priest career (mod) but he is allowed to get married (mostly protestants, obviously; if he is a catholic he can't get married but he can get a cook).
- Free cemetery and marriage chapel. I think SimCity would take care of those.

In any case, a really good system, quite elaborate.

Not my challenge. There are numerous rule sets for the BACC around. I use my own rules. I call my game play a combination of Build A City and Integrated. If you were around for the isle of Tyme in 2009, that was integrated. Integrated means playable sims run and pay for everything they possibly can.
BACC has rules for unlocking things. For example they might say maid service is unlocked at 500 population or the church costs 20K. I don't use those number goals, I unlock by either having a sim willing to run a service and or having a lot dedicated to that thing. it can be as tiny as 1 by 1 lot that I expand later. Most times I build a 2 by 2 lot to start with and make it as cheap as possible. I have a 1 by 1 fire station uploaded to MTS with a 2 by 2 police station. I also have a 2 by 2 office uploaded which can be used for a variety of business. I would strip them and use cheap CC paint and floor. I have started business on 1 by 1 lot with 1 shelf of items and a porta potty in one corner and no building. It's a struggle bus.

If you add rules like no 20K handout, no money perks for business and no wishing for cash on genie lamps, your sims will be poor. Maybe too poor.
Some people like to get a money perk on every second business rank and I have done that before if you want things to go a bit faster and easier. I would call that a grant from the government. So tweak as you see fit, in a way that is enjoyable to you.

Did not occur to me. I got used to people using different usernames and avatars a long time ago. (A lot of "use" in this sentence. )

I played the "no handout" challenge only in TS3; it ended like any other run with the Sim sitting in his sumptuous home, later than usual, but not much.

I was surprised to learn that the Opportunity Shop at my mother's church was one of the main income earners.

How are you going to handle everyone being related to each other?

Sorry for the confusion, I figured it was BACC or something similar.

They marry in townies. I downloaded a couple of sets of them. Family gatherings are LARGE since my founder had 6 kids.

I am either joandsarah or Jo Playing the sims. But yeah, Jo everywhere. Not good with names, especially not name switcheroos so my own is as easy as can be.

I did make a challenge years ago, called from Creation to the Future on the Exchange and it was far too long. I also started a cave man survival challenge on a drive that went 'kaput' for want of a better word. Lost an underground tomb build and many other things.

Oops sorry you guys, double post. It's not 8am here in Australia yet. Got to wake up.

I never do anything to make my Sims poor. Mine just don't get rich. There are I suppose reasons for this. For a start no one has ever inherited money in my game -- because no one has ever died! With the exception of the few Fortune Sims in my game, my Sims seldom chase promotions unless they really need the money. I encourage them to go out and enjoy themselves rather than sit at home skilling for promotions. In the twelve years I've been playing, only two Sims have reached the top of an adult career.And one of those, Consort Capp (now Consort Hutchins-Capp) was already at level nine at the start of the game. I honestly prefer playing Romance, Popularity and Pleasure Sims to playing Family and Fortune Sims, whom I find hard to empathise with. Myself I've never felt any urge to produce genetic offspring, and I really have little interest in money beyond having enough to pay for all the essentials, and a little bit over for a few small luxuries. I have absolutely no wish to live in a mansion, and even less to share it with a dozen children that I've somehow fathered!! So I generally prefer to play Sims who think more the way that I do. (I give all my CAS Sims the same turn-ons and turn-offs as myself!!) I also spend a lot of my Simming time playing teens, and teen Sims just don't have the opportunities to grow rich that adults have. My Sims tend to spend their evenings, either entertaining visitors at home, or going out on outings with them. Or, better still, going on a date with a special friend! I very seldom let my teens take teenage jobs -- I'd rather have them at home having fun! If they live independently (as many of my teens do), and they really need a regular income, I'll probably let them grow a few money trees. That gives them enough to keep the wolf from the door, but not enough to grow seriously rich. About the most successful of these are Jack Gill and Ravi Bertino, who have four money trees in their bedroom. Their accumulated "fortune" over eleven real years is §6,145. They've been living in a tiny house in Mendoza Lane for all that time. They have added a second double bedroom to the house (so they can "entertain" two guests at once) but it certainly isn't a "mansion"!

There are some rich Sims in my game, but none have grown rich in ordinary gameplay. I suppose my rich Sims are either pre-made Sims who were made rich by Maxis, or else I've used money cheats to make them rich for story or similar purposes. Consort Hutchins-Capp is in both categories: Maxis made him rich, but I also let him regularly use Motherlode, as I understand that he owns a goldmine!! Andrew and Julian are a bit of a special case. When I entered d_dgjdh's Monopoly Game Town Contest back in 2016, I made Andrew and Julian the owners of the construction company. At the end of the contest, there was over §400,000 in their company's funds. I felt the fairest thing to do with it was to divide it between the business's owners. That transformed them from quite poor Sims to quite wealthy ones.

In my game, if a Sim needs to borrow money for business or other purposes, they don't go to institutions; they come to an arrangement with richer Sims, and borrow the money from them.

Oh that reminds me, someone in a black, hooded cloak was looking for you. Something about "denying Death its due," IIRC?

I just realized/ remembered that I have a sorta rule of thumb I tend to follow .. if a toddler is out of their crib than at least 1 adult MUST be awake with them .. maybe not in same room, but they can't be sleeping .. no matter how exhausted they are .. so I try and avoid it comin to had

I find that playing sims different from myself gives me more of a challenge. After all, it would be terribly boring if we were all the same. And sims who want different things let you explore more of the game. I remember going totally out of my comfort zone when I played a Romance sim who was actively cheating on her husband.



Heh, I gave up on that ages ago and now the little rugrats just sleep on floor mats and entertain themselves if other sims are asleep.

I play with a really long lifespan so I allow all my sims with pets to use a bowl of Kibble of Life once per pet. I love pets and it's sad when they die of old age, especially since large dogs age much faster than other types.

My rules:

When a Sim dies, I let it happen. I don't restart from the last save. However, I am open to letting them return from the dead, if possible and if it's a Want, by using either the Genie, if he arrives, and the Resurrection-thing (unsure what it's called in English).

Teens go to college when they have three days left (when the notification comes up that they will be an adult in a few days). However, they must have a Want to go to college (and for Sims I really what to play at universtiy, I lock that want).

When I start a new family (from scratch) I can use the money cheats to get them started. Since I like building cool houses, they can't always afford them, so they get a little help on the way. They get the house and the basics (working kitchen and bathroom and beds to sleep in). But once that is taken care of, they're on their own. I also think it's fun to see how their home "grows" =) I have one exception to this rule, and that is children. Since they're only children for such a short time, and since I reeeeally like to decorate children's rooms, I do that, if I'm in the mood.

My new rule is that if a sim rejects a proposal or leaves their partner at the alter, I take this as a sign that the rejecting sim just isn't invested in the relationship anymore and they must instantly break up. This one hurts my heart sometimes, especially when I have a whole storyline worked out and they've been together for ages. I guess some highschool romances just don't last.

I'm surprised that leaving someone at the altar doesn't automatically break them up.

Rules!!??

There is a widespread anarchistic belief among my Sims, that the only possible justification for the existence of rules at all, is so that they can break them!

It does break the engagement stops them from being friends, but the BFF status remained and can easily be repaired. I end up having the remove the BFF and make the rejectee furious at the rejector. The rejectee doesn't get a memory of it either, while the rejector gets a "left (sim) at the altar" memory.

Rules that I still follow:
• There must be a "Static Energy Sculpture" by TwoJeffs on every community lot, all other needs can deplete as normal except for that one because it's annoying
• Every teenager goes to college because it's chaotically fun and I love it
• There must be a park specifically for the neighbourhoods children so that they can all meet and play together, I also have a specific hangout spot for teens too
• Grouchy romance Sims are notorious heartbreakers and nice romance Sims are hopeless romantics - thanks to the Traits system and mods to make this happen, Herb and Coral Oldie are so cute!!!!
• Every household will get a Monique Hacked Computer
• Every household bathroom must have MogHughson's Thirstiest Bathmat in them
• Every community lot must have an All-In-One Bathroom no matter how out of place it looks, I make very rare exceptions for this

Obsolete rules:
• A strict wants based playstyle - I found it was getting repetitive and boring, most Sims ended up like clones of each other
• A strict aging & rotation system - I found myself getting frustrated with it, so now every lifestage is just that, a lifestage, and now there's no stress or pressure to keep things in order
• Every household had a stereo playing the "College Rock" station - I don't need the stereo anymore because I can just sing the songs myself now

Rules that I sometimes play with, but not always:
• Sims turn ons/offs are determined by their interests - I use custom turn ons/offs & find that you can get very interesting results sometimes

Those are all of the ones I can think of right now. :P

This isn't really a rule but a weird habit.

I have a bunch of community lots for various rabbit hole jobs like a hospital, courthouse, police station, a news station, talent agency, etc. Plus uni community lot buildings for majors. They're mainly for fun skill building lots where they can meet and hang out with their colleagues. A lot of times the buildings have offices and I try to decorate them to keep things interesting and on theme with some of the career jobs (like Sports Columnist or Internet Movie Critic)

This stared in the university science lab where I made an alien conspiracy theorist desk in an astronomy department office, but I've now included an alien conspiracy theorist at the journalism lot and the police station. I don't usually play with alien abductions in the game, but it's just a fun joke for me and a good way to use all the alien decor.

"Sorry, nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted."

I like the first picture best. The brick walls really give it a 'secret conspiracy' look.

My #1 rule is that Mary-Sue always wins Kaylynn Langerak in the end. I don't pit women against each other in MY game!

This is interesting! I think I need to try this for myself. I usually roll a D6 to determine this.