tips for "relaxing my gameplay"

[nomannoah]

So I've noticed recently that I'm in a rut for my families

Every single time I make a new game the first thing I do is make a young adult sim with traits such as; workaholic & ambitious..

thn I move them into an available house & plunge them into a power career like business, medical, science, or education

thn they spend all of their time working up the career ladder, making money, and buying out businesses

n thn it happens, midway through their adult life stage when they are at the top of their career with more money thn they know what to do with..... I notice that the only friends they have are co-workers, the 1 and only child they have is an "acquaintance" to them & their scrapbook is dominated by "got a promotion" memories

I'm pretty much asking for tips on how to have my sim live a down-to-earth relaxed life that is focused more on friends & family rather thn his/her career

[PunkyBreester]

You could try starting in CAS with a couple, maybe they even already have a kid or two. I would put them into a small house, maybe keep one parent a "stay at home" mom/dad, and give the other a self-employed career such as gardening or writing. That way they won't get too sucked into the rabbithole jobs, get rich too fast (taking all of the challenge away), and have lots more time to spend at home with the family :)

[ButchSims]

1. Give them traits that you would never have picked before. Make them a couch potato, or absent minded. many of these "negative" traits have some funny interaction that make up for any downsides. 2. Instead of the power jobs, give them a profession with open hours, like Gardener or Painter or Sculpter. That way, you can make a quick buck when you need it (selling a painting, for example) but you are not tied down to any time frame. Then go to a new non-rabbithole lot everyday. 3. Have them live in a 10 x 10 lot to start. Since the house is so small, it will be easy to fill in decor for a nice lived-in look, but you will have to be careful when choosing large items, since space is at a premium. 4. I agree it is way too easy to make tons of cash. So, every once in a while, use the familyfunds cheat to reduce their available cash. You can chalk it up to a huge medical bill, car problems, or any "real life" emergency. Set a cap as to how much money any family can have at one time (unless you are saving up for something expensive, like a new car or something).

[Srikandi]

Even better than a tiny lot, try a homeless sim :) No job (you can get em a skill career so they don't get job wishes), home is the smallest possible lot with just a mailbox on it and maybe a firepit, get em a sleeping bag so they can sleep anywhere, food from fishing, other people's gardens. Maybe a dog or cat.

Give em a social LTW like "heartbreaker" or "master romancer". "Mooch" is a great trait for this sim :) You can be nice and give em mostly positive social traits and "loves the outdoors", or mean and give em unlucky, grumpy, hates the outdoors and so on... either way is fun to play IMO.

[nomannoah]

Even better than a tiny lot, try a homeless sim :) No job (you can get em a skill career so they don't get job wishes), home is the smallest possible lot with just a mailbox on it and maybe a firepit, get em a sleeping bag so they can sleep anywhere, food from fishing, other people's gardens. Maybe a dog or cat.

Give em a social LTW like "heartbreaker" or "master romancer". "Mooch" is a great trait for this sim :) You can be nice and give em mostly positive social traits and "loves the outdoors", or mean and give em unlucky, grumpy, hates the outdoors and so on... either way is fun to play IMO.

That does sound like a very interseting approach, especially compared to the way I usually play(expensive mansions & shiny cars)

[zigersimmer]

freerealestate and motherlode. Use liberally.

Give them money so you don't have to play that aspect of the game and you can let them focus on making friends, finding romance, raising a family, etc. It's the part of the game that I find the most entertaining.

[StardustX]

Even better than a tiny lot, try a homeless sim :) No job (you can get em a skill career so they don't get job wishes), home is the smallest possible lot with just a mailbox on it and maybe a firepit, get em a sleeping bag so they can sleep anywhere, food from fishing, other people's gardens. Maybe a dog or cat.

Give em a social LTW like "heartbreaker" or "master romancer". "Mooch" is a great trait for this sim :) You can be nice and give em mostly positive social traits and "loves the outdoors", or mean and give em unlucky, grumpy, hates the outdoors and so on... either way is fun to play IMO.

This this this this. <3

I always play as homeless sims when I get stuck in a rut with "normal" sim families. It definitely makes playing like yourself seem fun after you've played a sim who has absolutely nothing.
I always find myself playing as a runaway teenage girl from a distant country who came to (usually) Bridgeport to start a new life. The longest I spent was about 3 real life weeks on a single sim, and I ended her story when she grew up all the way and had an "orphanage" for teenage girls in similar situations. :giggler:

[ViolettaVie]

This this this this. <3

I always play as homeless sims when I get stuck in a rut with "normal" sim families. It definitely makes playing like yourself seem fun after you've played a sim who has absolutely nothing.
I always find myself playing as a runaway teenage girl from a distant country who came to (usually) Bridgeport to start a new life. The longest I spent was about 3 real life weeks on a single sim, and I ended her story when she grew up all the way and had an "orphanage" for teenage girls in similar situations. :giggler:
Sounds like fun. I once played a hobo in Twinbrooks. He lived near the small junkyard. That was before GEN so he had no sleeping bag and I refused to give him a tent. He suffered a lot. I made him neurotic and insane. But he always managed to be happy.

[High Plains Gamer]

This sort of repeated gameplay may say more about you and your values than it does about the game. (By the way, I am guilty of the same thing.) If anything, the Sims3 game is a mirror showing our own values. Viewed in this light, it can serve as a warning.

When it first came out, the Sims 3 could easily lead one into a pattern of all work and no play. This is particularly true of many of the lifetime wishes, which tend to be geared towards reaching the top of a profession or mastering a series of skills.

What this all suggests is that at some point one has to consider what type of life you want your sim to live. Do you want him to be a workaholic grind who is in the office all of the time, until the day he dies? Do you want your sim to spend all of his time in the gym, library, or whatever to master skills?

Ultimately, you decide the type of life your sims will live. As the game has progressed, you have more an more options as to how to play it. You can spend all of your time playing pinball if you so choose.

As you explore these options, you might gain some insights into how you want to live your own life.

[IzzyBess]

I would say - small house, one sim and a child. If female it's fun to have a child while playing, not made in CAS, but without moving in father. I've ended up with 1 child from father no1, 1 from no2 and triplets from no3. In the end I've married genie. Bit like si-fi soap opera but it's fun lol. And she earns money by writing and collecting things.

[sheridanhoughton]

I have stopped trying to have my sims achieve their LTW. By the time they achieve it, they have so many points that I don't know what to do with them anyway. I prefer playing poor sims in grotty houses, have them working from home, and just enjoying life. like me.

But when I get a bit bored with them, I try and think of a new scenario. One of my favourites was the young aspiring female musician who married the ageing rock star. Because he was shunned for marrying such a young lady, they had to move to a new town. And he lost most of his money to his previous wives, so they were poor. Then I used twallan's MC to recreate his past wives and children and moved them in as well. but still played the original couple.

[Chocklitkiss]

Even better than a tiny lot, try a homeless sim :) No job (you can get em a skill career so they don't get job wishes), home is the smallest possible lot with just a mailbox on it and maybe a firepit, get em a sleeping bag so they can sleep anywhere, food from fishing, other people's gardens. Maybe a dog or cat.

Give em a social LTW like "heartbreaker" or "master romancer". "Mooch" is a great trait for this sim :) You can be nice and give em mostly positive social traits and "loves the outdoors", or mean and give em unlucky, grumpy, hates the outdoors and so on... either way is fun to play IMO.

This sounded like such a good idea, that I IMMEDIATELY put a homeless sim into a new city I'm building. Mike Stinkum has his firepit and his tent *I don't play with GEN* and I am now contemplating whether to send him to my 'flophouse motel' or just let him 'wander the earth'....

Thanks for the idea! :beer:

[zigersimmer]

As you explore these options, you might gain some insights into how you want to live your own life.
Apparently I want to live my life at age 24, spending my days at the gym and my nights at the dance clubs. Unfortunately the real world does not include freerealestate, motherlode, or the option to disable aging, and cheats to change age.
Mike Stinkum
:lol: