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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 11:57 AM
Default Playing in rotation or without rotation?
I'm curious about whether more people play the Sims 2 in rotation or not, and their reasons for doing so.

If you play in rotation, how do you deal with the possibility of getting bored of a family? Also, if you play challenges, like the asylum challenge, do you play those in rotation too or do you play them separately from your rotation schedule?

If you don't play in rotation, does it bother you that aging isn't synchronised - that someone could be an elder while their relations from older generations might only be adults? If so, is there any way you deal with this?

Also, do you have some hoods where you play in rotation and some where you don't, or is your playstyle entirely focused on one of them?
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 12:12 PM
No, I don't play in rotation. I play whomever I feel like playing. I have a really slow playstyle, so I've never had the problem of too many people aging up while others don't. If a kid has grown up and his friends haven't then I might play the friends' houses to age them up too.

Then I get distracted by creating stuff and don't play anyone except my testing neighbourhood. XD
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#3 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 12:25 PM
Quote: Originally posted by kittenby
I'm curious about whether more people play the Sims 2 in rotation or not, and their reasons for doing so.

Why not do a poll?
https://www.strawpoll.me

Quote: Originally posted by kittenby
If you play in rotation, how do you deal with the possibility of getting bored of a family? Also, if you play challenges, like the asylum challenge, do you play those in rotation too or do you play them separately from your rotation schedule?

If you play rotations, one of the points of doing that is that you don't get bored of playing a family because it's not long till you get to move on to the next one. I have trouble, if anything, with making myself move on - I play one-day rotations in Little Carping. I like the variety so it suits me fine. I've never played challenges - the whole concept of them bores me tbh - playing to someone else's rules. I have my own thanks.

Quote: Originally posted by kittenby
If you don't play in rotation, does it bother you that aging isn't synchronised - that someone could be an elder while their relations from older generations might only be adults? If so, is there any way you deal with this?

This is not why I play rotations. You're kind of making an assumption there.

Quote: Originally posted by kittenby
Also, do you have some hoods where you play in rotation and some where you don't, or is your playstyle entirely focused on one of them?

I only play one hood and would always play in rotation even if I played any other I think. I have a thing about hood-wide stories. Also - what Charity said - I don't think I've loaded Little Carping for about six months now.

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
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 12:27 PM
I play rotation and find that yes, sometimes a family might get boring for a while and their rotation isn't so much fun. However, the nature of rotation is that things are always changing and not all of the families can be having a complex and interesting storyline at the same time. One can be really compelling, but then the drama settles and they're boring for a bit, then the next generation causes trouble and the cycle begins again.

I also find that because in rotation all of the families are constantly interacting with each other, one member of a settled family could be dragged into a chaotic storyline by another and it livens things up again.

Then there are also areas of chance. In my current game, Addison Gordon was dealt a rough hand and was never able to get the job as a game designer she always wanted. She ended up with a husband and three kids, who were all messy. She spent a lot of the time grumpily mopping the bathroom. Wasn't the most interesting house.
Just recently she found that job in game design and realised that she needed to explore the life she'd always wanted. She's now left her husband and children (the eldest who she already had a rocky relationship with) and now I don't know what's going to happen! So it's exciting again
Lab Assistant
#5 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 12:28 PM
I play in rotation, almost always. Haven't for challenges aside from a shorlived attempt once, but the last few years I never finish them mostly because I eventually feel like I want to get back into rotational play. Been thinking about trying to incorporate them into my rotations for this very reason, so I can do both.

As for not getting bored with a household, I don't really get what you mean. Wouldn't you get more bored just sticking to one family? For me, that is part of the reason why I do rotations. It started, years ago, with trying to make it feel like less of a chore to go age up sims on satellite lots when doing legacy challenges. I figured it'd be a bit more compelling if they were more fleshed out. Then it kinda grew from there, and even led to moving on from legacies almost completely. But all the way through TS1 and quite some time into TS2 I only stuck to one family at a time and he rest were just extras and victims of mod testing and such. :D
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#6 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 12:33 PM
I play in rotations of one season, this does not mean I stick with the family for one season though. I hop around as I feel like it often only playing 1-2 days at any one house. I can easily see on hood view which season a family is in, so if they are still in this season they can be played but if they have moved onto the next season I won't load them since their rotation is finished. I feel this gives me the best of both ways.

I play an integrated hood, meaning each family plays a significant role in running the hood and with very few townies they are close friends, enemies, romantic interests. My education system requires that I keep the kids ageing close to what it should be since children born on the same or nearly the same day need to start school together and graduate together. They will most times form romantic attachments amongst other playable age mates so again a need for ages to be kept in sync.

If I feel like playing a short challenge moist time I will make a new hood for it. I did play a homeless teen in my main hood one time.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#7 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 12:34 PM
That's a nice approach Jo - doing it seasonally.

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
#8 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 12:43 PM Last edited by AndrewGloria : 22nd Jul 2018 at 1:34 PM.
I'd say I do play rotations -- very loose ones, but in practice my playstyle isn't very different to what Charity describes. In theory I play 24 hour rotations from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m., but in reality, if I'm engrossed ion a household, I might just go on playing it for another day or two. Aging is nearly always off, and, like Charity, I just don't get a problem of ages getting out of synch. My Sims story does progress, but it does it very, very slowly. I've been playing Veronaville, my oldest neighbourhood, for over 5 years now, and in that time I reckon the story has moved on by about 2 years. So most of the Sims are still the age that they were when I started. Not one child has yet become a teen in any of my 'hoods.

I don't like to say that any of my Sims are boring, because I think that's a bit insulting to them (and they're my friends :lovestruc), but let's just say I move on and play another family. . . .Or even another 'hood.

I really only build or make things when my Sims need (or want) them. The only challenge I've ever played, Jones's Outfit of the Day Challenge -- a new style "Sim Prompt" challenge, I played recently in Veronaville with my original Sim Andrew, and both he and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 12:49 PM
I play a medieval/fantasy hood in seasonal rotations, 5 sim days with each family. This is the only hood I play. The reason for playing in rotation is that I like to build a hood and let the households interact with each other. I have households of different social classes. Peasants pay taxes to the noble families, yeoman and merchant families pay taxes to royal family. I love to see how the hood develops and grows and how the families interact. Ageing is thus synchronized except for the very few townies, dormies and NPCs in the game. But my families don’t interact with them much so it doesn’t disturb me at all that they don’t age with my playable sims.

(Rarely a household might be a little boring. Then I play with double speed . The next rotation thing might have changed and the household has become more interesting).
Field Researcher
#10 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 1:42 PM
I only play one neighbourhood, Pleasantview. I play it entirely in rotation and I actually never get bored with households. I make sure to roll a ROS challenge for each household, so there's always something to do during their rotation. Aside from that, I play one day rotations, so they're too short to actually get boring.
Mad Poster
#11 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 1:50 PM
I normally play 4 days to a week to 2 weeks to 3 weeks to 4 weeks before I go on to the next family. That is rotational, isn't it?
Test Subject
#12 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 2:17 PM
I play in rotations, playing each family for one SIm week (Monday morning - Monday morning). I never get bored of a family because it's not long before I move to the next one. I find that rotational play prevents boredom. The few times I've tried to play a one-household legacy, I've gotten really bored of the family after a couple Sim weeks of playing them.

I always play exactly seven days because I use a realistic aging system in my game where each Sim day equals one real life year. So I have to play all my households the same number of days to keep ages in sync.
Alchemist
#13 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 3:21 PM
No rotation or schedule or spreadsheet or randomizer, I just play whichever family or hood I feel like playing. I play with aging off and an entire hood set to one season so it never seems out of sync. I play by story, so sometimes one group gets a lot of play, then the story arc ends, and another starts up somewhere else. And, yeah, lots of times, I'm not really playing, I'm creating something like a lot or an object or something for the story.
Mad Poster
#14 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 4:22 PM
I have to play rotation. I can only play one family for one day at a time or I burn out. Also, many things that are difficult or have to be planned for if you play only one family take care of themselves when you play rotations. Friendships, for example - I don't remember the last time I needed a friend for a promotion. All my sims have friends out the wazoo without my even trying. Courtships go smoothly and quickly when you're playing them from both sides.

One reason I play Sims 2 is, that it is the perfect medium for creating and exploring an entire community, one family at a time, with all t heir stories intertwining and connecting, so that I can see the repercussions of happenings in one household ripple out to all the others, how this sim's decision's affect that one's choices - even though they've never met.

As for being bored - it's on me to find the interesting aspect of all my sims. Playing one day at a time, as I do, with lots of parties and visiting and community lots, facilitates them in creating their own relationships and storylines. If I can't find anything interesting, can't find a place for them in the neighborhood network - I have a teleporter cat to change them into townies with, and Rodney's Death Creator to kill them with. But that hardly ever happens.

And if I'm bored with the game, I don't have to play it. There's plenty of things to do in this life.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Field Researcher
#15 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 4:33 PM
When I played The Sims 2 for the first time I had aging off and played whichever household I felt like playing to get used to the game after years of playing The Sims. Then I had to start a new neighbourhood thanks to the hard drive of my laptop breaking, so I decided to play with aging on and in rotations. Not just to keep the household in sync because honestly, it's a little boring when all your fresh out of CAS sims have the exact same age, but also to keep things fresh. If an household gets boring I usually add new elements in the household, like adopting, changing occupation, that kind of things. Usually I get bored because there's nothing to accomplish.
My rotations are a bit silly, I play all families from Mo-Tu, then Wed-Fr and finally the weekend. This allows me to bring in new households every Monday when needed, but it's not a perfect system now that I installed Seasons. I kinda forgot to note on which day of the season all households are, so I guess A Big Neighbourhood Season Reset is in order sometime in the future.
Challenges are played in rotations too, although the only one I'm playing is a very relaxed and heavily modified Rainbow Legacy Challenge. I don't care about keeping score, playing in big lots or keeping the house over multiple generations and moving out is a good way to make sure the family doesn't get ridiculously rich and that houses aren't played till corruption.
Instructor
#16 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 4:42 PM
I play with rotations. I think that rotational gameplay is more structurize. The amount of days per rotation depends on the type of hood I play. I found that having a rotation of 4 days is better for me then 7 days.



There's no drama, like Sims drama.

Currently Playing: Sims 2 again!




The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#17 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 5:35 PM
I use the season and day setters to sync new families to wherever we are in the year.

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
Theorist
#18 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 6:04 PM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
I play in rotations of one season, this does not mean I stick with the family for one season though. I hop around as I feel like it often only playing 1-2 days at any one house. I can easily see on hood view which season a family is in, so if they are still in this season they can be played but if they have moved onto the next season I won't load them since their rotation is finished. I feel this gives me the best of both ways.


I don't play in rotations or have any rules in place but I've been thinking about creating a new neighborhood with some rules to give it some structure. I really like this idea and I agree it seems like the best of both ways. I'm definitely going to incorporate this.
Scholar
#19 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 6:30 PM
I always play in rotation. The only time boredom becomes an issue is when I have a lot of college students, because they have longer rotations (three-day semester rather than one day in the regular hood) and less variety (I have Inteen, but haven't yet had any babies at college). I often play dorms at triple-speed and only pause occasionally to see if somebody needs directing to fill a want they can't fill autonomously; it has the advantage that they get a wide range of grades depending on their own inclinations, rather than all making the Dean's List every semester as they would if I controlled them all the time.

The bigger problem is stress when playing consecutive enormous families who live in the same apartment building and need constant micromanagement to avoid endless bathroom accidents or starving toddlers. Sometimes I'll go a little out of rotation to play a smaller household between the two. Yes, I could plop down another Crossroads Apartments building on the other side of town, but having a separate apartment building for each family seems kind of contradictory.

If I play something like the asylum challenge, I do it in a separate hood.
Mad Poster
#20 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 7:01 PM
I have started this hood when UC came out and now there are 250+ families; including some in subhoods (I have a retirement subhood as well) - and 24 students in 4 dorms.

My hood is interconnected; my sims all have friends too and since my game revolves around community lots, I can see what some of my other sims are up too.

But for me, a family who is raising 2 sets of twins needs and deserves more attention than a family whose kids have all grown out of the house or a retired couple.

I am not bound by rules because i regard the sims 2 as a game and a form of entertainment - I have enough rules to follow at work
Mad Poster
#21 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 7:25 PM
I play in a strict rotation one day/one semester at a time, in order to keep everyone's ages in sync, using Pescado's lot sync timer. If a family is a little boring, that's ok, I only have to play them for a day and then I move onto someone else. If they're interesting... well, you can actually fit a lot of things into one sim day if you really try, and families who are raising multiple babies or toddlers are always action-packed no matter what.
Mad Poster
#22 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 7:42 PM
I see no reason why everybody's ages should be kept in sync - if I need to have a sim's age in sync for some reason, I just use the blender.
Mad Poster
#23 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 7:44 PM
I like to have things happen in a chronological order, so I know what happened before or after something else, and so I can have kids grow up with each other even if they live in different households, without syncing every kid in the neighborhood. No way am I going to track on a spreadsheet who is supposed to be what age.
Mad Poster
#24 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 9:25 PM
I have to say that the thought of playing one family only scares me There is no way I can do that.

I also like to have groups of kids growing up together - but it does not bother me too much if some of them become teens sooner - they are still friends anyway and may just be in different years at Uni or some may be graduating when the others start.

But with such a big hood (It is a lot of families and I am already building a new hood for when it blows up/ becomes less enjoyable/start to lag too much or whatever may happen) - I simply see some families more as secondary characters, but they do play a role in my hood.
Example : the mayor is not played much - but she has responsibilities, like throwing the annual parties in the hood So I play her when it is time (or rather when I feel in the mood) for some annual celebration which involves certain groups in the community. Sometimes I just teleport her in so that she is there, and then it is an official function I have other duties for other sims to officially carry out, so they do get played, but sometimes just for a number of hours. This is my way of dealing with my big hood, and I can always invite a neglected Sim to a party or outing if I feel it is necessary.
Top Secret Researcher
#25 Old 22nd Jul 2018 at 9:51 PM
I also play in rotation just 2 Sim days each - in Veronaville anyway. I have a lot of families there and I want to play them all so brief rotations are a necessity.
My medieval hood is less strict because of a storyline. I'll develop one part of the story and then play other Sims to 'catch up', often not aware of how many days I played to develop the story. If Sims are not so involved in the story it doesn't really matter if I don't play them for a while. It only really matters when they age to elders. As long as one Sim doesn't age before the parents, for example.
I played just one family when I briefly played Sims 3 and hated it. It was dull.
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