Gah! What should I do!?!

[NollemD]

OK. I have a Sim named John, and the last time I played him was last weekend, and I can't get over it! You see, John woke up past his carpool ride, so he missed his carpool and lost his job (his job performance meter was already very low, anyway). Then, he tried to use the bathroom, but the toilet was clogged and leaking with water, and the bath tub completed flooded the bathroom. He did not have any mechanical skills, so it was pretty much useless trying to fix the bathroom appliances, so he called the handyman to fix it. The handyman arrived as soon as possible and fixed it. The only problem was, John didn't have enough money to pay for the service, so the handyman stole an object for compensation: the bed. Then, John spent the rest of the afternoon, moaning why the bed was missing, before he quit and looked into the kitchen for some food. He tried to make grilled cheese, but the grilled cheese accidentally caught the kitchen on fire, and the fire lasted for three hours, because John panicked for that long before his little virtual brain told him to grab out a fire extinguisher out of his pockets to put out the fire. When the fire was put out, the grilled cheese sandwich was all burnt and crumby that John decided to toss it out and make lunch meat sandwiches instead and eat it. While eating it, John just remembered that he had a baby upstairs who needed diapers and... oh no! feeding! But before John could go upstairs to feed the baby, the social worker arrived to take the baby away! John is a divorced father with a baby. First he has lost his wife, and now he has lost his son! Good grief! What's going to happen next? Then, John remembered that he had a date at night with a townie named Clarisse LeTourneau, so he attended the date with Clarisse LeTourneau at a restaurant, but the date was rated HORRIBLE, and Clarisse ditched him. So, John returned home in a bad mood and watched nothing but sitcoms on that night. He read some books and magazines and then realized that it was bedtime. That's when he went to his bedroom and just remembered that the handyman stole the bed. So, John had to wait to buy a new bed at Bluewater Village the next day. For now, he had to sleep on the couch, which didn't raise much energy points. But look on the bright side, it raised a lot of comfort points, he slept very well! In the morning, he tried to contact the adoption agency, but the adoption agency denied, because he was confirmed to be an irresponsible parent and because he was broke. So, this guy is divorced, broke, unemployed, childless and branded as an irresponsible father by the adoption agency! GAH! What do I do? What should he do? He's hopeless. :help:

[Aserette]

Once you've had a child taken away from you by the social worker, I don't think it's possible to adopt another. So I think your first move should be to get him another job :) Or go to community lots to bar tend? :P Then you can replace the missing objects and hopefully he'll be in a good mood to study some skills to get better at a job :P

[GEGNER]

Why did you put it in this weird story style?

Anyway, cheat? If not just get a job from the paper and recoup. Also, you can make a sim in CAS, let them adopt back the baby, and then make the CAS sim move out. That kind of fixes it.

[NollemD]

Why did you put it in this weird story style?

Anyway, cheat? If not just get a job from the paper and recoup. Also, you can make a sim in CAS, let them adopt back the baby, and then make the CAS sim move out. That kind of fixes it.

I always put it in a weird story style. That's how I write and narrate the crazy lives of my Sims. :)

Furthermore, I do not cheat, because I just KNOW that I am going to be attacked by the army of llamas who are going to steal my home's lawn gnomes. They are OUT to get my lawn gnomes!

[omglo]

I always put it in a weird story style. That's how I write and narrate the crazy lives of my Sims. :)
I like it. It makes the story more entertaining.

Get him a job, find a wealthy townie for him to date, then move him or her in and have them try and adopt the baby?

[Clashfan]

First John needs to know that he should fix his own plumbing and he will earn mechanical skill doing so, might take him awhile but he would still have his bed. Perhaps he shouldn't try to cook anything more complicated than sandwiches or a chef salad until he can invest in a smoke detector. As for the infant well I think he's out of luck there. How you forget you have an infant is a mystery plus the social worker always gives a warning before they come to cart the kids away so he should have gotten his act together and fed that baby.

He needs to get a job learn a few skills and get his life back together or he may not have much luck finding a partner.

[AlexandraSpears]

Create a female Sim, get her engaged to him, and before they're married have her adopt the baby.

Sure, John will "legally" be the baby's stepfather, but you can change that with SimPE, SimBlender, or whatever.

Oh, and give her the same last name as John if/when you create her. That way the baby will have his name.

[Bwinney43]

....As for the infant well I think he's out of luck there. How you forget you have an infant is a mystery plus the social worker always gives a warning before they come to cart the kids away so he should have gotten his act together and fed that baby.
...

Sounds like a user error to me. I've never had a child taken away because of the warning that pops up. And I've forgotten kids in the snow before.

Really it's not Johns fault...I mean who is controlling whom here?

[AlexandraSpears]

I tell you what, I don't know if the OP is fairly new to the game or what, but when I first started playing and my Sims had babies it was complete and total CHAOS until the baby became a child. I constantly got warnings about my toddlers: "(Child) is skin and bones! Feed that child, quick!" And the toddler's Hunger never got much into orange...maybe a deep yellow.

The only time I ever got children taken by the Social Worker was when a child got an F. He and his infant sister were both taken. I was pretty upset!

[Mrmo]

Seems like something is out of control here. Okey, maybe it's the first time NollemD plays whit toodlers but after six years of playing (see members profile) I think he would have the experience it needs. Sure, I'm no superman. I aslo made misstakes whit "my" first kids but the situation never did get out of hand. Yes, the social worker gives a warning if you don't take care of the small kids. I know that becurse I accidently did forget a toodler once. It it possible that the thread creator do not want to use cheats becurse of it takes away some of the realism but in sometimes it's almost impossible to use Maxmotives (I use it sometimes if my sims is to tired in the mornings). The story was quite sad but there is some things I do not understand. I thinks some things is odd whit it.

Q1: How can it be that John did not gain any skillpoints? I think he would get one from fixing the toilet and if he had tried to fix the bathtub would give him more.
Q2: Why did'nt John hire a nanny when he had a job? Sure, the nannys are stupid but they take care of some things.

you may think I'm cold person but I think John needs to plan his life better. Whit some planning I do think it would be possible for John to take care of his child, his job and everything else.

[AlexandraSpears]

I've never done the maxmotives cheat for that, myself; however, I've gotten hacks that have made caring for babies/toddlers easier, such as the babies/toddlers sleep all night hack from Simlogical, plus a sleeping blanket for toddlers. After all, in real life, babies typically start sleeping through the night at three months (I know my son did right at that time). Another thing I've done was make babies selectable so I have an idea as to how fast their motives decay.

[LilGeek]

This sounds too "fun" to be true ;) I think OP is pulling your legs, dear readers!

...or perhaps I'm just peeved from the wall of text.

Anyway, John needs a tighter leash. (and more skill points)

[Babahara]

Why are you peeved? That was pretty entertaining.

[NollemD]

This sounds too "fun" to be true ;) I think OP is pulling your legs, dear readers!

...or perhaps I'm just peeved from the wall of text.

Anyway, John needs a tighter leash. (and more skill points)

Yeah. That's the reason behind the first post. ;) It's to get people to react realistically or fantastically. The story is fantasy; I've completely made it up to test you people if you actually believe it. And it looks like people can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality, when I managed to create a story that both involved imagination and actual game interactions and functions. It's supposed to be fantasy and told from a Sim's perspective from a player who actually wanted him to go through a miserable life.

Over the years I've played this game, I have come to find some remarks sound like "I hope _______ gets ________," referring to the actual story rather than the gameplay style. In challenges, such as the Warwickshire Challenge, the writing style is mostly written from a Sim's point-of-view. In Heloise's Warwickshire Challenge, a Sim can somehow commit "suicide" or "homicide" without really specifying how that is supposed to work. In reality, that kind of process can only be done with the boolprop testingcheatsenabled true cheat code or modified objects (such as guns and bombs from Paladin's Palace/SimWardrobe). So, in reality, it's really the player that wants to make the Sim's life miserable. Most challenges I've read are written from a player's point-of-view, but Heloise takes a different turn and writes it in a Sim's point-of-view, as if Sims have their own minds.

[Mrmo]

"Not sure if trolling, or really stupid". For the record, I did'nt buy it. The story was to strange to be true. :)

[Simsica]

Why are you peeved? That was pretty entertaining.

Agreed, Babahara. That was a pretty entertaining story.

As a person that gets distracted a lot while playing, I can attest how things can get out of hand sometimes, even though I'm an experienced player. It's especially bound to happen when a fire is involved. This is why, before anything else, I always buy fire and burglar alarms in each of my houses. I have a "Home Setup" collection folder that serves as a reminder for me.

It seems to me that NollemD, though he (?) just ruined his Sim's life, had quite some fun with his game and wanted to share his story with us.
So I apparently crossposted with NollemD. Testing us, huh? That could come around and bite you in the a$$, my dear friend :heyhey:

And Sims do have their own minds, if you only let them use them. So just you know.

[Peni Griffin]

There's a major difference between not being able to tell fantasy from reality, and not being able to tell when someone is telling a pointless lie.

[NollemD]

So, basically the first post is a pointless lie, and that I should refrain from doing it because it's pointless and meaningless. People know that it's faked, and because of that, some people don't go along with the humor. One person even claims, "Not sure trolling, or really stupid."

Well, I'll tell you: It's neither trolling nor really stupid. It's just a prank on the community -- a prank that is deemed socially unacceptable.

Well, at least I learned one thing from this thread: Do Not Make Pranks.

[Simsica]

Oh, come on, guys! I thought this was fun too. I didn't feel insulted. Though I do think that NollemD has deserved to be pranked too. He must be an overly playful Sim. And I'm a bit of a grouch myself... (4 points in the nice, if I say so myself). I'd really like to prank him... her... it... whatever. I'll be biding my time. :deal:

ETA: Okay, NollemD, enough with this crossposting! And just so you know - I did see it as a prank, and I didn't mind one bit. Who knew? I like pranks. Live and learn.

[sushigal007]

Wall o'text, didn't read.

[omglo]

This is why, before anything else, I always buy fire and burglar alarms in each of my houses. I have a "Home Setup" collection folder that serves as a reminder for me.

Me too. I'm thinking of stopping every so often though, so I can have a few irresponsible Sims and add in more drama. Also, the animation that happens when a Sim realizes there's a burglar is funny. I miss seeing it.

As for the thread, I don't think it makes much sense to try and run an experiment about fact and fiction on a board dedicated to a game that is often very much about fantasy and imagination. People actually do ruin their Sims lives then come here and share the story written in an "in universe" style all the time, so I'm not sure what the OP gained from coming here and pretending to have done what numerous members here have actually carried out.

[HystericalParoxysm]

Sounds like someone took #1 on this Cracked article (http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-7-most-obnoxious-fake-personalities-internet_p2/) as a fun suggestion rather than a warning to others. :wtf:

[Simsica]

@HP Which one do you think he is? There's another wall of text there, and I get scared by those. Easily. That's why I gave up on being a philosopher - so many books to read! Or pretend to have read. I think I'd be a cat person, but the only cats I can call mine (by extension and in a thieveing kind of way, sadly) are my mother's. And we don't even live in the same town.
Meow. (Where is that cat icon when you need one?!)

ETA - Is there a cat person over there? I might have invented that type. But it's a funny type. Now I want to share a cat picture with you guys. Yeah. Definitely an annoying internet cat person.

(Sorry. I'm just having way too much fun with this thread. I'm silly like that sometimes.)

Anyone wants a funny cat picture?

[Darby]

Anyone wants a funny cat picture?

Always! :D

[Babahara]

I admit that I've never understood how people derive fun from playing pranks on others. It must be my personality's limitation. The best I can understand is friendly teasing, but even teasing often seems pointless, because I can't fathom what lies behind it: why do you want to annoy somebody even in a friendly manner?

Still the story was nice. And I remember quite a few stupid stories of my own, although they probably didn't quite match up to this one. But sims were dying of hunger, kids taken away, sims dying while giving birth (caught fire from the fireplace in the process), sims getting fired because they accidentally went to a community lot instead of another sim, etc.

[Simsica]

Always! :D

Okay. HP can delete it, but I bet you she'll find it too adorable to do so.

http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/s466/marija_spanjic/huge_yawn_kitten.jpg

I wish this was my cat. I'd be bragging about it's huge yawns to everyone.

[AlexandraSpears]

I didn't think it was a prank; I thought maybe it was a n00b, to be honest. I was thinking maybe the OP was someone whose household was so hectic that they didn't notice the social worker warnings.

[Darby]

I didn't think it was a prank; I thought maybe it was a n00b, to be honest.

As did I. So what does my having failed the test say about me, I wonder? And how is the conclusion affected if I supply the information that I have a pretty literal mindset that causes me to take things at face value, and that even though I adore and "get" most humor, my literal nature can be fooled if I don't know something is a joke ahead of time?

That's rhetorical, by the way. I love philosophy, but like Simsica, I only have so much energy (read, not much) to devote to in-depth discussions or debates. Eyes glazing over...

(eta: Thanks for the kitty, Simsica. ;) )

[Simsica]

Kitties - the reason I sometimes believe that there really is a purpose to the universe. Cause they're so perfect. See? An annoying internet cat philosopher personality, that's me :P

John - NollemD's Sim - should have had a cat. That cat would have made his story less a prank and more a funny kitty anecdote (I used "anecdote" because of reasons of style, not because I'm trying to appear smart. I don't need to try to appear smart, BTW. Cause I am smart. I even do tricks.)

[MOOKIEBLAYLOCK]

I thought it was awesome , for several reasons. Tales of woe , that don't actually screw up a real living persons life , always amuse me (ya, I'm sick like that). Secondly, it made me feel like such a competent simmer. I play my self sim as a romance sim that pays the bills and furnishes the house from selling/using the dream date gifts he gets , no work for that boy. So for someone to say they had a horrible date was truly amazing. Fires , losing a job, kids taken away... whatever, yawn, but a horrible date, truly incredible lack of competence.

NollemD , you have much more originality than I do. I'm currently making John Burb's life miserable in my game. He got sent to Inge's Big House , not a pleasant place, where he shares a cell with Billy Hill. Billy introduced himself by beating John up five times the first day (thanks to Squinge's fight anyone and never lose to a weaker sim). Billy then proceeded to inform John that he really likes makeup and underwear and that John's chances of ever getting out of his orange prison jumpsuit would be greatly enhanced if he would just give Billy the respect of donning a little lipstick and perhaps a thong or some fishnets. John barely quits crying long enough to eat his brown mush.

[Babahara]

thanks to Squinge's fight anyone and never lose to a weaker sim
Where did you get those? I'm currently searching for fight anyone (anytime), and never lose to a weaker sim sounds like a good addition.

[farawayy & so close]

Wow...I thought the first post was really amusing and enjoyable to read. Why all the drama? Nollem, please keep your creativity and sense of humor!

[MOOKIEBLAYLOCK]

Here you go Babahara http://www.insimenator.org/index.php/topic,10576.0.html fight anyone anytime and here http://www.insimenator.org/index.php/topic,31601.0.html never lose a fight with a weaker sim. I have all EP's and play on M and G and these work fine for me. Good luck!

[Jaguwar]

Wow, I think y'all took this WAY too seriously! I thought it was a lark, nothing more or less. I don't care about Nollem's motives, some people play bad Sims just for fun all the time and no one ever gets on their case like this. You can choose to run with it or not, but a little humor seems to me a good thing to have.

Just sayin'. ;)

[AlexandraSpears]

Didn't bother me any. :)

[Bwinney43]

....Well, I'll tell you: It's neither trolling nor really stupid. It's just a prank on the community -- a prank that is deemed socially unacceptable...

It's not that it bothered me but I don't get how it's a prank? Joy buzzer? That's a prank. Ventrilofart? Also a prank. Writing a long story about a sim who's life is just crazy and chaos..not really a prank?

I just...don't get it. You can't really prank on forums. You just become a troll after a while. Not to mention it's pointless.

[AlexandraSpears]

I have more pressing things to be annoyed about, myself.

[Simsica]

Wow, I think y'all took this WAY too seriously! I thought it was a lark, nothing more or less. I don't care about Nollem's motives, some people play bad Sims just for fun all the time and no one ever gets on their case like this. You can choose to run with it or not, but a little humor seems to me a good thing to have.

Just sayin'. ;)

Yeah. Some Sims are way too serious while others try to distract them with cute cat pictures.

Anyhow, I think there is a relevant topic trying to break through in this thread, despite all the drama (and the kitty talk, for which I must apologize. Not. :P)

Do we really "play bad Sims" when we lead our Sims from one disaster to another? And how do we then tell that story? Or is it about drama?

I remember my first toddler - in the very first household I created, with a single mom and a tot. It was a mess! I had to exit without saving numerous times, because my cute tot was taken by the social worker because I literally didn't know what to do with her. I learned all my lessons about sim child care with that tot, and later, in time, it all got way too easy to play.
But I didn't choose to create drama by forcing my Sims not to do things well, or by "playing bad Sims". I decided to go in a roundabout way - by making it harder generally, making their lives more demanding. And the drama still happens, only it isn't about social workers and hungry tots, or fires that kill entire families.
I'm not saying this is in any way bad - it's just not what keeps me playing. I've switched my interests to a larger scale, to the whole hood, to building a community. That amuses me endlessly.

I tried playing a hood with a story line just recently. It didn't work for me. There would be way too much for me to invent and imagine. In my sim storytelling I only interpret what I see them doing and within the limits of the actual events that happen in front of me. That's quite enough for me. They're Sims and I treat them as such. I often write things like: "Irene has had aspiration failure today, her mood went into deep red because she saw the roaches twice today and then she had to pee in a public toilet to add insult to injury." It could have been written from irene's POV - I do that too.
Those are the elements from TS2 gameplay and it may sound bland. But it's also sim-real, and sim-real is what my gameplay is all about. As all of you know, many times just telling what actually happened and trying to put it in some kind of a larger context of the Sims' lives indeed ends up as a captivating story. I encounter such non-intentional stories every time I play the game. To me, the sim drama just happens.

But I enjoy reading about the player-arranged dramas, like NollemD's, maybe because I don't do them myself.

So, if you'd pardon my "wall-o-text" here, maybe we could discuss how we create and then tell sim dramas in our own games. I think this was NollemD's intention, though he went about it in quite an original way, if I may say so.

[farawayy & so close]

This is a quote about novels, but it applies to stories in general (such as sim stories, in this case):
"Neither novels or their readers benefit from attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of the foundational assumption of our species."
-John Green

[Simsica]

This is a quote about novels, but it applies to stories in general (such as sim stories, in this case):
"Neither novels or their readers benefit from attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of the foundational assumption of our species."
-John Green

Oh, but I believe with passion that the opposite is equally true: Neither novels nor readers can avoid to divine facts that hide inside a story. Such unconsicious efforts rest on the very idea that made-up stories do matter, which is sort of foundational assumption of our storytelling. ;)

[Babahara]

@Simsica
We play in very similar ways. I create external circumstances, often encompassing the whole hood, and see how households deal with them. Drama happens when they fail or run into something inacceptable.

In fact, drama that happens is often something I'd never create on my own! Last time a sim I was playing met the queen's son (who was supposed to politically marry), and they had three bolts. According to my hood rules, sims with three bolts must be together no matter what, so that son got disowned and expelled from the town by the queen. Sort of. He hides on my sim's lot now, in the hidden basement. And because he's a warlock (the queen's family are all witches and warlocks), nobody can find out that he's there: there's no ladder to the basement, he just teleports in and out. Perfectly hidden.

I know I'd never make up something like that on my own, especially the part about the basement accessible only to a warlock.

Maybe some people would say that I lack imagination, but that's me, and I can't help it :)

[Simsica]

I have the same rule about three bolts! True love.
And that story sounds like what happened to that prince of Wales - Edward, was it? - that gave up his throne because of true love.

[Babahara]

Great minds think alike, is it what they say? :)

Well, the prince in my game was not supposed to become a king. My game is matriarchy :) He was supposed to politically marry an alien birth queen, though, no surprise that he opted out.