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Instructor
Original Poster
#1 Old 2nd Jun 2017 at 6:59 PM
Default What do your sims phases look like?
So I don't know about you guys, but I've basically always gone through "waves" where I played the Sims with an UNRELENTING FERVOR for a given amount of time, usually a few weeks/a month or two, and then put it down for 4 times that long.
Do you any of you play the Sims semi-consistently? Do any of you have saves that have been with you for super long, or are you one of those people that constantly create new saves that barely make it past the first generation?
It's always fun getting an insight into others playing habits :~)
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Scholar
#2 Old 2nd Jun 2017 at 7:03 PM
I play a lot, then drop it for a while... eventually, I start back up and make a new save, only for the same to happen. One reason why I don't have any challenges completed up to now.
Alchemist
#3 Old 2nd Jun 2017 at 8:16 PM
I end up playing legacies without meaning to! I make a sim in CAS and before I know it, their kids are already adults and I'm looking for spouses to continue the family because the garden needs tending. I usually get to at least generation 5 before getting bored and starting a new save, and I never replay sims even though I keep some old saves in case I need something from them (hasn't happened so far, though). Honestly, I only abandon saves if they break beyond repair, as I spend a lot of time modifying the town to fit my preferences; that sunk cost fallacy is hard to avoid, haha.

But there are definitely times when I get bored of playing and turn to making custom content or playing other games, or the other way around. Or phases when I'm more interested in building or making sims than actually playing.

Tumblr - more downloads! ◾ CC reuploads / creator backupsTS3 CAS Conversion Catalog - for basegame, EP, SP, and Store clothing!
Top Secret Researcher
#4 Old 2nd Jun 2017 at 10:18 PM
I.... I can't stop playing the sims. It's an addiction. I think I'm beginning to get bored with it, tho'. I'm getting interested in making mods.

I'd love to play many generations. The 1.69 launcher keeps forgetting what EP/SP I've picked, and if I didn't write it down, I usually just start a new game. That keeps me from playing too long.

I go through phases... I want to play a witch, an alien, or a science orientated human. I once played achievement games, now I'm more into social games.
Field Researcher
#5 Old 2nd Jun 2017 at 11:27 PM
I don't have any super old saves, but I have a couple legacies I've been playing for about 4 years now, on and off. I like to move my sims to different towns every couple generations for variety and also because my saves get corrupted. Last time they had to move I lost about 10 gnomes that I'd accumulated over the generations and all the graves. I also upload my sims to a Google Drive folder for paranoia's sake so that once my computer inevitably dies I can keep playing them.

I mostly focus on gameplay and families, but occasionally I go through phases where I just create a bunch of sims in CAS or build lots.

I stop playing because I need to focus on other things, then rediscover the game after several months and play madly for short bursts (usually a couple weeks). I'm on Generation 9 of my oldest legacy.
Mad Poster
#6 Old 4th Jun 2017 at 12:30 AM
I check in on my tiny towns when I realized I have to balance out time with other things. I usually spend time working on screenshots for my screen shot manga, which I did as a way of experimenting with a manga program.

The only shots I got today were of Usagi Tsukino at the Sunset Valley Library at 5:00AM during a storm, sitting in a chair, and because her long twintail pigtails are rigid, there is an instance of intersection as it's called in CGI, due to the data in the game not having sufficient spatial coordination data.

Personal Quote: "I like my men like my sodas: tall boys." (Zevia has both 12 and 16 oz options)

(P.S. I'm about 5' (150cm) in height and easily scared)
Test Subject
#7 Old 4th Jun 2017 at 2:51 PM
The first Sims 3 save file I ever made I've kept, but all the rest I've eventually deleted. Because I get super attached to my sims I normally end up switching aging off or using the epic lifespan, so I've never gone beyond 2 generations. I think I'm very similar to you as well, I'll play so much and talk about the game so much that my friends start to get concerned for a while- I just can't Sim casually, it's not that easy- then put it down for a couple of months while I get distracted by books or something like that, and then go back to The Sims. I used to be the sort of player that played nuclear families all the time, but now I prefer to play with supernatural creatures and create vast amounts of relationship drama, so I go through phases in that respect, too.
Site Helper
#8 Old 4th Jun 2017 at 6:05 PM
I play one game for a while. Then I get an idea for another setup, abandon the first one for a while, and play the new one. Then I get tired of playing and just build either sims or lots. Then I go back to Pokemon, Oblivion, or just books for a while, or I get too many anvils in my bag and don't do anything. Sometimes I do eventually go back to one of my earlier saves. My lifespans are all Epic, with age duration for everything except Baby run up to the far end of the bar, so I've never had a sim die of old age.

I wasn't able to rescue my saves from my old computer, but I've got several saves from 2015 when my husband surprised me with this computer.

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 5th Jun 2017 at 1:17 AM
In the beginning I'd play the same three characters, two twin criminal sisters, (one promiscuous, the other bubbly and quirky) and their criminally insane roommate who dressed like a cowboy. That group branched out more as I made them friends and enemies, and got expansion packs like WA an my favorite, LN.

Then I discovered CC and modthesims. I would get all experimental and do dumb things like release a bunch of mummies at that one park in Bridgeport. I also played the game with my little brothers, we'd kinda share a game with all (mostly my) characters hanging out. The most fun Sims were these crazy nerds we'd created, and their "cool" roommates. It was fun watching them clash.

Next I did Sim modelling on the forums. I liked the community and started getting addicted to CC hunting. (I could never have enough hair. Like oh girl where did your sim get his hair) At this point I also became interested in building my own town from scratch using a Custom world as the base. I was playing on a laptop so I didn't get very far in doing that. My fps was super low, so I'd just end up focusing on designing characters.

Eventually I had to take an hiatus due to college. My time was limited and it became apparent that I could not just play thanks to all the bugs. Sometimes I would spend a day or more finding a fix to a bug! Ain't nobody had time for that. Plus my laptop got stolen.

Eventually I did get my computer back, a desktop this time. It played better but I barely had time still. Don't have any memorable games from that time, it was more about playing dress up if I did at all. I was bored with the game too.

Currently I am playing a game that is as weird as possible, like a literal wonderland. I finally made a simself, after all these years. I'm just a grumpy god chilling with my subjects on a houseboat in wonderland, visited the queen it was alright in the castle . Totally normal stuff. Also my simself visited her future descendants and burned their house down for being grumpy and having poor taste in fashion. Again totally normal stuff, I'm sure everyone here would do the same. That about sums up my Sims games.

I talk to myself but no one answers ;_;
Test Subject
#10 Old 6th Jun 2017 at 9:25 PM
When I play the sims or entertain myself with any sort of hobby I tend to REALLY fixate on that thing for a good month then I'll start to lose interest before I really finish what I started. Since we're talking the sims, the last I played it, Sims 3 to be specific, I had started a new family with the intention of creating a generational playthrough. The idea at the time was to create an extremely rich family without using cheats that crossed multiple generations. Almost like a sim version of a robber baron family. Had plans to have the sims make the bulk of their money purely from Tiberium farming. I immersed myself in various manor architecture, googling and researching manors owned by the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, etc and attempted to recreate some of that architecture within the game. I looked at various Edwardian architecture, fashion, and their styling. I was on a roll with what I wanted to do with that save. I had just got my sims to begin earning some simoleons from painting for the food and bills while they would go searching in their free time for possible Tiberium sources for their real money. Then abruptly I just simply stopped playing that save and the sims in general. I had burned myself out.

As a side note, currently I'm on an Elder Scrolls binge. I've been at it for a good month playing Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim all at the same time. Just as I was immersing myself in various stuff connected to my sim save, I've been on a high fantasy binge as well while playing TES. Listening to Celtic and Viking music while also reading stuff like the Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire. However, lately there has been the urge to get back to the Sims. Maybe I'll continue on with that Tiberium save.
Theorist
#11 Old 7th Jun 2017 at 12:49 PM
This may sound crazy but Sims keeps me sane when the rest of my life is either dead boring/at a standstill. Sims and baking are my therapies. That's how I get by! I play when I can and do get into phases where I play a few hours a day in between other things. It's quite easy to get obsessive and spend more time downloading and eventually breaking your game--things go wrong--rather than playing. I do have time periods where I stop playing, for example if I have to do work around the house or in real life if things change. I also only use my kitchen table to Sim now I have a laptop of my own and I make strict rules--no playing in the evening (makes me wired). I guess it's good my bedroom isn't set up for a computer and I never just rest my laptop on the bed--it's VERY BAD for your computer.

At some point I would like to keep my computer on all day and have a desk of my own and I'd probably Sim more. Right now the process of "setting up" to Sim is a bit elaborate so I really have to want to play to make it worth it.

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." Will Rogers
Field Researcher
#12 Old 8th Jun 2017 at 6:01 PM
There has never been a time where I haven't gone AT LEAST two generations, and yes, like OP, I can play for weeks on end, and then just stop.

One thing I need is new Worlds that are INHABITED. Most of the good Worlds are uninhabited (except "Undercity Ghetto", which I think is one of the greatest Worlds ever made).

-------

Jesus loves you and died for you!

Your resident prude! A pox on all who remove the "censor blurs" on showering (etc.) Sims!
Lab Assistant
#13 Old 9th Jun 2017 at 1:18 AM
I go weeks and almost months playing the Sims, and then not. Despite this, the longest I've even played is 2 generations, usually because I go from household to household and create new families and rarely make babies... Whenever I have a phase of it I find myself coming back to this site and downloading and reading so much stuff. It's a great boredom buster for me tbh.
Lab Assistant
#14 Old 16th Jun 2017 at 3:18 AM
I play sporadically, but obsessively. I play essentially at a "super-epic" game speed, where each week represents one year. So, for example, the Young Adult phase last 140 days (age 18 - 38). It's awesome, and really gives me plenty of time to get to know and enjoy playing as each of my family's sims, but the downside is the game becomes nearly unplayable by the end of the second generation of a family. For each generation of the family, I also take all the children manually through University myself.

But then after a couple weeks I get tired of my sims' bullshit, and the general buggyness and slowness of the game.
Field Researcher
#15 Old 16th Jun 2017 at 1:17 PM
Well, I've been playing like mad since about April 20th, 2014 (originally I played in September 2013, but ragequit because the sims I made weren't doing what they were supposed to in terms of relationships xD), and only recently stopped. Normally, I play the sims all day long until I get tired every day, but then it became whenever I could. In Sims 2, I play a town for about five or six months. I stop before I get too bored.

But lately, with my dad's passing in March, and with the amount of work I need to get done around the house to remodel it a bit, I don't have the time anymore. This past week, I tried booting up Riverblossom Hills after not playing it (or the sims in general) for two and a half months. But quickly I got bored of playing. I think I'm finally experiencing Sims fatigue, which has never happened until this point lol. Before this, my sim phase was obsessively playing until I got bored enough to start a new game, or choose a different Sims game to play. It used to be I couldn't NOT play a little bit every day.
Site Helper
#16 Old 16th Jun 2017 at 1:41 PM
If that were me, I would be quickly running through my checklist of warning signs of depression. Of course, I've got a weird brain chemistry and a medication that has dizziness, drowsiness, and depression as side effects, so I'm vulnerable to it. But with a recent loss of a parent, plus a lot of added stress, you are in a slightly vulnerable position yourself. And the loss of interest in activities that you ordinarily enjoy is one of the warning signs.

(Then again, I've noticed that I'm starting another trip through the valley myself, so I could easily be seeing something that's not there.)

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
Field Researcher
#17 Old 16th Jun 2017 at 1:55 PM
Nah, I'm on antidepressants, and I'm still very active in my other favorite activities (drawing, reading, etc). And I'm actually having fun fixing up the house. But I do thank you for the concern/information.
Instructor
#18 Old 19th Jun 2017 at 5:29 PM
Yeah, I usually play in impulsive bursts too. I'll start playing the game religiously every day for a few weeks or so and then just suddenly stop entirely for a few months. The problem with The Sims 4 with this kind of play style is that my mods keep getting outdated and everything's a giant mess when I return to the game once I'm forced to update it.

I should really try to play all my endless games more consistently. Less frequent and not as long, with less time in between each session. I usually become active on MTS as well again when I have The Buttersims (SImsflies?) In my stomach.
Lately I've just been obsessed with Overwatch and its butts again, so.

The Sims 4! Weirder Sims! Aren't they weird!? Look how weird they are! Bet you can't wait to see how weird their stories are!?
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