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Forum Resident
Original Poster
#1 Old 18th May 2017 at 2:44 AM
Default Do you focus on your sims' personal dramas or on the hood concept you've created?
In wrapping up this discussion thread about what motivates us to, or not to, play hoods based on premises we wouldn't want to see happening in real life, I guess I talked myself into another discussion topic.

It's this: Are some simmers more interested in personal drama (whether relationships or conflict between family members, friends or lovers) and others more interested in drama which comes from the hood setup? Or is this mostly a meaningless distinction?

So, my questions follow:
1. Do you have a preference for storylines that focus more on relationship-oriented dramas or the hood progression as a whole? Or do you think both are equally important?
2. Has this changed for you over the time that you've been a "Sims 2" player?
3. If you have only a little interest in either relationship-oriented drama or overall hood story, what do you do to ensure that your sort of minimum need for the one less important to you is met?

My answers:
1. I tried to play more with relationship dramas in the beginning, partly because that's how Maxis set up most (all?) of its storylines. But I found that they didn't sufficiently sustain my interest, although the game engine itself really did. I guess that's how I got into wanting to develop interesting hoods, because the overall plot of what's happening in that hood does keep my interest. Let me be clear: the relationships were interesting, but not enough to keep me playing any hood without a clearly defined concept of what the hood world is like. And then I realized that designing the hood world's concept is my favorite thing. In fact, I find that intersim drama in my hood comes from factors related to the hood's design, such as economic and social-class and travel limits.
2. I would say not---even though I tried initially with the relationship dramas because I thought "that's how it's done in this game," once I realized I could design my own hoods including economies and social structures and neighborhoods with unique personalities, that was that. So I think I was always a world-concept player, just didn't know it.
3. I tend to use Maxis playables because they come with a backstory, and it's interesting to fit that backstory into my hood, even though not interesting enough to me to spend energy creating the backstory (and especially using SimPE to mess with memories to do so) myself. I do use different mixes of Maxis playables by choosing different subhoods to add as business districts. And once that's done I feel free to focus on the world building.

Looking forward to hearing from you!
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Instructor
#2 Old 18th May 2017 at 2:51 AM
Lovely question! Best I've seen in quite a while.
That said, I prefer to focus on hood progression, subsequently neglecting dramas. I am definitely a 'world-concept' player, but I abhor playing maxis-made sims for some reason. Dramas don't intrigue me for long.

What's going on in your game group here: http://www.modthesims.info/forumdis...546&groupid=906
Check it out ;)
Link Ninja
#3 Old 18th May 2017 at 3:50 AM
I never had a hood concept starting out, because of all the personal stories that developed from my sims over the years it created an overall narrative and depth to the world. All I knew was that I wanted to make my own sandbox custom hood with custom sims and went from there. For example...back during the first couple years I seemed to always have these 'red-headed' housewives that one day went out and got jobs in the criminal career track. Pretty soon only the criminals in the hood were females and though it was more of a habit than something to do with a story, I morphed that fact into my hood having a criminal syndicate. Eventually they retired and died and there were other sims in other households that had risen to the captain hero ranks so through that I determined the syndicate was busted up since no one replenished those criminal careers. I still focus more on sims personal stories through relationships, career, choices, happenstances, and most recently - story plotting - and then by happy chance and interpretation does it add to the neighborhood. Read more on my neighborhood thread if interested

Uh oh! My social bar is low - that's why I posted today.

Top Secret Researcher
#4 Old 18th May 2017 at 4:52 AM
I've never really given it any thought. Right now i'm making a custom hood in order to use my CC skins and have fun with them. My basis for the hood is just a planet that still has plenty of room, still being colonized I guess?, taking in Sims from other planets. Whether they are escaping something or just looking for a new start. Hence the wide range of Sims. But honestly I focus on each household separately I think and whatever happens from there happens. I have some laws and taxes just to make stuff interesting and challenging, not sure that counts for anything. I focus on each Sims or households story mostly but I haven't finished setting up the hood so will see where it goes once it's set up and I start playing it.

My Simblr
He/They
Forum Resident
#5 Old 18th May 2017 at 9:42 AM
1. Do you have a preference for storylines that focus more on relationship-oriented dramas or the hood progression as a whole? Or do you think both are equally important?

ANSWER: Both interactions between Sims and how a community evolves are of interest to me. So, I would say both are equally important.

2. Has this changed for you over the time that you've been a "Sims 2" player?

ANSWER: No


natboopsie, I tend to either use Sims created by other players (such as those in Polgannon or Widespot ) and will create my own Sims. When I create Sims I also give them a backstory and a family history. Also, each individual Sim will have something in thier bio about thier unique personality.
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#6 Old 18th May 2017 at 11:57 AM
Quote: Originally posted by natboopsie
It's this: Are some simmers more interested in personal drama (whether relationships or conflict between family members, friends or lovers) and others more interested in drama which comes from the hood setup? Or is this mostly a meaningless distinction?

So, my questions follow:
1. Do you have a preference for storylines that focus more on relationship-oriented dramas or the hood progression as a whole? Or do you think both are equally important?
2. Has this changed for you over the time that you've been a "Sims 2" player?
3. If you have only a little interest in either relationship-oriented drama or overall hood story, what do you do to ensure that your sort of minimum need for the one less important to you is met?

Hmmm, well:

1. I would say neither really - or perhaps equally important. What I mean is I'm not sure that I'd make a distinction like that. The rule in Little Carping - the only rule really - is that I can play out any story I want to. Little Carping is a place I have a clear image of in my mind and it is a type of place (I guess). It's not a medieval village or a high fantasy kingdom or a futuristic space station or anything like that. It's just a regular, nowadays, present-day sort of place: earthbound, western, possibly in the UK etc. It's all a bit vague really but it has to be to accomodate the rule. It has aspects of other types of neighbourhood and play styles - I play in strict rotation for example but that's not so much a rule as to do with me wanting to visit all my characters every so often. If I were to allow myself to play just one or two families for a while, I would feel the others would be neglected. I also prefer the neighbourhood to be 'self-sufficient' not drawing in funds from outside and sims have to earn and build everything they have - but that's because I like the sense of creating something from scratch, not because it's a neighbourhood rule. If I really wanted to do something with a story (without saddling sims with mortgages - which I usually do), I'd simply do it.

Oh - gotta run off to work.

Briefly 2 and 3
2. no - always been that way
3. not sure I can answer this

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Mad Poster
#7 Old 18th May 2017 at 3:10 PM
1. Do you have a preference for storylines that focus more on relationship-oriented dramas or the hood progression as a whole? Or do you think both are equally important?
Well I don't really hold with Margaret Thatcher's dictum that there's no such thing as society, but she had a point is as much that it's the many individuals who make up society, so in playing the day-to-day lives, loves and troubles of my Sims, I am telling the story of their community. In some ways my playstyle, especially in Veronaville, is an odd mixture of the realistic and the utopian. It's a place that I'd like to believe could exist somewhere. In fact, as it's so easy to start up the game and visit it, I maybe even believe that it does exist! For some time now I have referred to "our Veronaville" rather than "my Veronaville", as I want its inhabitants to feel that they have some share in the ownership of the community. It's their town as well as mine. And I feel that much that has been done to create a sense of community spirit and civic pride, has been done by the Veronavillians themselves. And I say "our" because I count myself as a Veronavillian alongside them. It is a matter for extra pride that we have achieved this in a place that a few years ago was known mainly for internecine feuding between near-criminal families. I like to think that no Sim on trouble in Veronaville will be left to suffer alone: other Sims will offer to help.

Although this sense of community is most developed in Veronaville, which I've been playing since the first time I started up the game, I believe it exists, or is developing in my other neighbourhoods too. Even in escapist New Desconia, where young Romance Sims vie to have as many concurrent lovers as possible, the islanders have pride in their ability to have multiple relationships without fighting, and, since the only way to reach the island is by small sailing boat, in their seafaring skills. It's good to know where you belong, and have some sense of ownership of that place.

2. Has this changed for you over the time that you've been a "Sims 2" player?
In essence no, but I have developed a more conscious philosophy.

3. If you have only a little interest in either relationship-oriented drama or overall hood story, what do you do to ensure that your sort of minimum need for the one less important to you is met?
I believe that, in instilling this sense of civic pride and "ownership" in my Sims, as I play out their everyday lives, the story of their community tells itself.

I hope this doesn't sound too pretentious, and I know that a lot of this is just in my head, but for me it all adds up to a thoroughly enjoyable way of playing. In just telling this, I feel a longing to get back to Veronaville, which I haven't played for a couple of months, and meet up with my Sim friends there.

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Scholar
#8 Old 18th May 2017 at 3:17 PM
Well, I don’t really like dramas, I like my sims a lot and I want them to have happy perfect life. They date only one sim and are completely in love with them (and usually they have 3 bolts of attraction with them), they always reach the top of their career, max out skills, and their children have best grades. They don’t have enemies and I don’t make them perform negative interactions. You might find that boring, but I like my playstyle I have played cheaters in a different hood, but there wasn’t drama either (except a single case when I had to have that happen), but I prefer to play faithful sims. I also don’t let them become elders and die, they live forever and they’re forever young (I don’t mind playing pre-made elders though, and they live forever too, I just don’t want my sims to stop being young). Oh and every teen goes to uni, I’d never let them age to adults before that, and they graduate with best grade possible.

“Secret is only a secret when it is unspoken to another.”
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Scholar
#9 Old 18th May 2017 at 3:33 PM
1.a. I don't do drama, and I don't like artificial drama. I've seen LP-ers decide that this sim needs to start insulting that other sim, and that other sim needs to sabotage yet anther sim, for drama sake. Thing is, while I respect that it's their game and they can enact whatever they want, it's not particularly convincing to me when they just had to be assholes to some sim that did nothing to warrant the mistreatment. I mean the story is... what, that they're role-playing a complete psycho asshole bully? Because that's what "I'll insult this girl because my sim needs an enemy to keep things interesting" tells me. I don't find those interesting IRL, and I don't find them interesting in a LP either.

1.b. I don't do whole neighbourhoods either. Well, I mean, I might "do" a whole neighbourhood -- my vampire once went "man, FUCK this college!" and didn't stop until she could say "said and done" -- but I don't PLAY a whole neighbourhood. If at all possible, I play exactly 1 character, with everyone else being on free will and doing their thing. Let's be honest, you don't get to play the spouse too IRL.

2. Actually, if anything, over time I drifted towards this position.

3. Actually the way to make a game more to my liking is to stop the stupid drama from happening at all. In fact, if NPCs start causing too much fights and such, I've been known to *ahem* send them on a long guided tour of the woods with the royal huntsman, from which they never return. In fact, I just had to choose between two college roommates who were causing fights all the time. It was a particularly tough choice, since my sim was BFF with both, but one of them had to go into the woods with the royal huntsman, and my sim ate a nice fried heart that evening. And now everyone is scared shitless of starting another fight, which serves me just fine.

Well, ok, so they really just got a death token, but the point remains: You don't start fights in the court of the WItch Queen, all right? And the next one who mis-spells Witch with a B is getting a trip to the woods too :p
Scholar
#10 Old 18th May 2017 at 4:12 PM
@Moraelin Death token? What's that?

1. Do you have a preference for storylines that focus more on relationship-oriented dramas or the hood progression as a whole? Or do you think both are equally important?

I think both are equally important, though I tend to focus on families. I guess I'm in the minority when I say I LOVE the Maxis Sims (at least the Strangetown, Pleasantview and Riverblossum Hils ones ). And I love to see where I can take their lives from the meager beginnings Maxis gives us. I adore interconnecting a 'Hood. Making all the families connected somehow, someway. It's kind of a goal for me, really.

Yes, I love drama. I installed ACR just for the drama and randomness. I wanted it to feel more like real life and honestly the mods I install help add randomness and unexpected things in my game. My medieval game I have quiet pregnancy, hide try for baby, risky woohoo and ACR. Whoo! And real sickness and the safe inteen Chris Hatch made make it very hard on me. I love that!

2. Has this changed for you over the time that you've been a "Sims 2" player?

I have changed a little. I used to only play one Sim or one family and just abandon the others. Now I am trying to do rotation and involve everyone.

3. If you have only a little interest in either relationship-oriented drama or overall hood story, what do you do to ensure that your sort of minimum need for the one less important to you is met?

Hmm, I suppose my overall 'Hood story gets skewed when I focus on the families. Not sure I ever really have a plan set for any 'Hood...I try but it always ends up as a jumbled mess. I'm not sure I have done anything to fix this...or ever will

"Oh look, my grandchild is now an elder. They grow up so fast. Gee, I wonder when I'll finally graduate college." Sims 2
Scholar
#11 Old 18th May 2017 at 4:58 PM
It's a game mechanic for sims that die off screen, or more precisely. outside the active lot. So you can misuse it as, shall we say, a marker for the royal huntsman. Sims you flag that way, will die the next time they leave the lot.

Think of it kinda like taping a "Kick Me" sign on someone's back, except it says "Kill Me"

I mean, it's not even as much that the next time they'll leave, they come back in an urn. More like they don't come back at all.

Such is the terrible power of the Witch Queen
Forum Resident
#12 Old 18th May 2017 at 8:48 PM
I prefer a story line for the entire Hood over individual household dramas as Neighborhood setups make the family dramas special. In my Sedona neighborhood, I kept up the current story line for the hood and used it as backgrounds and plots for the new residents I added. This way, additional interesting stories that follow the original history are created.

For my physical health, I can't eat cheesecake everyday.
For my mental health, I imagine eating cheesecake everyday.
It's a delicate balance.
Mad Poster
#13 Old 18th May 2017 at 9:29 PM
I mostly play with a single household for a time, so for me, there's a lot of individual household drama - though most of this is storytelling, and not actual ingame drama. While storytelling, I see the neighborhood as my ingame Hollywood studio, so all the different lots are basically set pieces, and the sims are actors. NPCs and neighbors occsionally get to play extras, but mostly I regard them as those annoying fans who crash the party by storming in to get their three minutes of fame.

Previously, I used to play a mix between maintaining a neighborhood and playing families, but there was rarely lots of drama. Mostly I started with a family, they had a lot of kids, and as the kids grew up I added a few more families and let the 'hood grow. More often than not, I'd stop playing the sims when they grew to elders, and just let them have a happy not-ending, just living eternally in a from then untouched house, while their family continued on. There would be occasional drama, but since I've mostly played with free will off, there wasn't a lot of unintended drama.
Meet Me In My Next Life
#14 Old 18th May 2017 at 9:55 PM
I never really got into the over all concept of the whole hood, I have different class of Sims ( poor, middle class, rich ) I do have a Custom hood ( all Asians ) but still I play each household as to what ever drama is happening in their lot.
In my Asian hood I guess I do play with a concept that hood consist of Koreans Japanese and Chinese Sims, I do try to stick with their customs like furniture, foods and sometime clothes for special Asian holidays or celebrations.

As for Drama I always have a "romance Sims" around to shake up the neighborhood. I only just have two neighborhoods in my game my Custom and Pleasantview in Pleasant I added the extensions of Downtown, UN but I seldom go there.
In my custom hood I did not add a Downtown they have everything they need there but I did add UN, plus I am not a fan of the Super natural and I don't want them walking through my Custom hood or even in Pleasantview.

"Nothing in life is a Surprise it just happen to come your way at the time".
Scholar
#15 Old 18th May 2017 at 11:52 PM
@Moraelin Is that when you turn on the testing cheats and shift click and choose "Give death token?"

"Oh look, my grandchild is now an elder. They grow up so fast. Gee, I wonder when I'll finally graduate college." Sims 2
Scholar
#16 Old 19th May 2017 at 12:37 AM
Yep, that's the one.
Scholar
#17 Old 19th May 2017 at 12:51 AM
Thanks!

"Oh look, my grandchild is now an elder. They grow up so fast. Gee, I wonder when I'll finally graduate college." Sims 2
Forum Resident
Original Poster
#18 Old 19th May 2017 at 1:49 AM
I'm so happy to see people really getting into this thread and enjoying the question! Can't wait to read more.

One request I have: if you at all can, I really would appreciate you answering my question points as I've listed them, perhaps even using the numbers themselves. It's easier for me to read that way without feeling like I'm wading...and I want to feel like I can get through everyone's thoughts easily. After all, I asked because I really wanted to understand better, and it helps me get there if we're all answering the questions in the same order.

So if at all possible, please take a little pause before posting and organize your thoughts if you can. Having people rush to answer seems a peril of asking a question people really seem drawn by! But I kindly request that posters try.

Thank you in advance!

*Ongoing TS2 informational projects (come on by to contribute, get info, or spectate!): (1) the SimPE Preservation Project and (2) Conflict Tracking for the 3t2 Traits Project Mods
*Need a Pescado mod? Use his hack directory: in the first post, find the link for your latest EP, then go in hacks/
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#19 Old 19th May 2017 at 3:06 AM
1. This is a hard question. I don't have a lot of drama, since I am more goal oriented and less story driven than most players here. So I guess I would be in the hood progression group. My main two interests are mixing genetics and running businesses. I don't really see the hood as having much of a story. Any story tends to be small ones at sim level. Any relationship-oriented drama happens because the sims make it happen. I don't use ACR so that cuts out most of that cheating/jealousy related drama. I would rather not have any of that. So I guess equally important, but both of less importance to me than my hood goals.

2. I started with random families, moved onto challenges, then challenges with published stories. I then started a BACC which morphed into an integrated hood, which is how I play now with a few side challenges now and then.

3. I don't do anything to ensure stories. The sims do something which makes me think of a small story. Snippets I would call them rather than stories. My sims are mostly my own. I don't have any pre-mades in Coral Bay.

"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
#20 Old 19th May 2017 at 4:38 AM
1. Hood (societal) rules drive interpersonal drama. Is marriage a two sim event? A however many feel like joining the group event? (A la Heinleinian Line Marriages) If the former, flirting with the cute new sim is cheating. If the latter, it's courting a potential new member of the Line. Even if the sims involved have agreed to the latter, if the societal standard is the former, there are repercussions throughout that are worse. If there's institutionalized racism against aliens (Jim Crow laws) then choosing to marry an alien has results in family relationships as well as in curtailing of previously available options in society: perhaps certain careers will be closed off. If any racism isn't institutionalized, while a family member of the sim may have a problem with marriage to an alien, the greater society will accept the relationship.
Um, yeah. I think both are very important. Whether or not they're equally important depends on the sim, I guess. Some sims fit their society well, others don't. By playing rotations, I have high drama families (Hi Pleasants!) and low drama families (Hi Dreamers!) and medium drama families (Hi Oldies!), and can play according to what feels right to me that day. Because when it comes down to it, it's about what I need from playing, more than anything. If the game didn't fill a need, I'd be doing something else. Er, let me rephrase: When the game doesn't fill a need, I do something else. Sometimes I take multiple consecutive months off of playing. It's all about me, and as a wife and a mother and a child, there are very few things in my life that are all about me.

2. I used to play perfect, idealized, family life. Two parents, however many kids, etc, no cheating, no fighting, no conflict. That didn't last all that long. Perfectly happy sims who drank smart milk as toddlers, learned all the things, and now they were adults with nothing to do . . . I banned aspiration rewards except for when playing challenges, and no sim has a perfect life anymore.

Pics from my game: Sunbee's Simblr Sunbee's Livejournal
"English is a marvelous edged weapon if you know how to wield it." C.J. Cherryh
Top Secret Researcher
#21 Old 19th May 2017 at 6:05 AM
1. I have both in two different neighbourhoods. My main play style is concerned with individual dramas. More recently I created a medieval neighbourhood which has a storyline affecting all Sims. However when that gets a bit much I return to the trivia of Sims' lives in the other neighbourhood. I find I miss them. I think I prefer them. The big storyline requires effort and planning.
2. No
3. Nothing
Scholar
#22 Old 21st May 2017 at 10:17 PM
1. Do you have a preference for storylines that focus more on relationship-oriented dramas or the hood progression as a whole? Or do you think both are equally important?

I need both, and on balance I think I need them equally. However, my desire for them varies according to how I feel on given play sessions. Sometimes I play purely for the Sims' personal lives (in their broad concept - relationships are only one element of it) and completely ignore hood progress. Other times I play more or less purely to progress the hood storylines and individual Sims and households get little more than their needs met aside from that. Occasionally, I leave Sims 2 on to have a bath and then nothing progresses :D

2. Has this changed for you over the time that you've been a "Sims 2" player?

Yes. For about 3 weeks, I only played the personal dramas because that was the easiest way to learn Sims 2's particular quirks. Then the storyline gradually got woven (re-woven) into the neighbourhood.
Forum Resident
Original Poster
#23 Old 24th May 2017 at 1:12 AM
Wow! I'm so excited to read through the thread carefully again, so I'll set aside some time in the next day or so to get that done and post some comments.

Thank you to everyone who's responded so far. I hope no one will consider this thread closed for discussion or joining at any point; it's been pretty fun and enlightening to read already.

*Ongoing TS2 informational projects (come on by to contribute, get info, or spectate!): (1) the SimPE Preservation Project and (2) Conflict Tracking for the 3t2 Traits Project Mods
*Need a Pescado mod? Use his hack directory: in the first post, find the link for your latest EP, then go in hacks/
Lab Assistant
#24 Old 24th May 2017 at 11:06 AM
1. Do you have a preference for story-lines that focus more on relationship-oriented dramas or the hood progression as a whole? Or do you think both are equally important?

For me, both are important and interconnected . Every family is part of the community, so their personal stories do represent the community as a whole. Or at least in my book they do. Like, my first alien sim had sent out the message that my hood, in general, is alien-friendly. Of course, there are exceptions (cough *Grunts* cough). My first servo, I see as a progression of my hood. They now possess the mechanism. You get the drill.

2. Has this changed for you over the time that you've been a "Sims 2" player?

I have been playing since I had been 8. (Am 19 now) Of course my style has changed ! I used to play with 1 family, and now I play with numerous ones ! I do rotations, my sims grow old and die !

3. If you have only a little interest in either relationship-oriented drama or overall hood story, what do you do to ensure that your sort of minimum need for the one less important to you is met?

I look at my sims and their wants, and I try my best to fulfill those. The rest, my simmies do themselves . They are more than a *little* self-sufficient regarding this. I just kick back, relax, and let them work their magic.
Mad Poster
#25 Old 24th May 2017 at 4:51 PM
1. Do you have a preference for storylines that focus more on relationship-oriented dramas or the hood progression as a whole? Or do you think both are equally important?
I would prefer the storylines to focus more on relationship dramas, when they exist-but they do affect hood progression as a whole when they exist. So I would say they're both interconnected and important to each other in the overall context of the game.

2. Has this changed for you over the time that you've been a "Sims 2" player?
Yes it has-when I started out, I just played each lot as it came, not paying attention to the possibility that the actions taking place on each lot would affect the neighborhood as a whole. As time wore on, and a neighborhood aged, I could see changes in the hood and personalities that occupied it.

3. If you have only a little interest in either relationship-oriented drama or overall hood story, what do you do to ensure that your sort of minimum need for the one less important to you is met?

I don't-I try to see the overall picture as related to the hood when drama hits. For example, Daniel Pleasant's youngest daughter, Ellen, is a real heart-breaker (yes, she is a romance aspiration, of course) and she's gotten nearly all the eligible men all hot and bothered for her. She's sparked fights all over the neighborhood, and enemies have developed over her affections. She, on the other hand, likes playing this game and gets vast amusement from it. I like her attitude-she's not taking any of this seriously. She doesn't mind being the 'Heartbreak Kid' at all. That's her personality (like her father's, of course) which fills out the void of the 'Siren of Bellefleur'. She likes being hot.

It sometimes isn't in the player's hands to avoid the drama that comes out of every lot.

Receptacle Refugee & Resident Polar Bear
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