Sorry if this has been discussed before. After getting to nearly generation 10 of my longrunning legacy, I noticed a trend about my overpopulated neighborhood (HOW do I have over 1k character files?!). Of the 30 some families that had been created as the lagacy progressed, most of them had fallen into the "married couple who coninously have children" trope, and it's going to be a tedious process to age them all up a bit with the sim blender so they can catch up with the legacy family.

So, I ask you: what types of families or stories around families do you create to keep hour families interesting? I also recently started a bacc which started with some plot but I fear will deteriorate into my legacy 'hood. So far there have been affairs With Serious Consequence, unexpected couples cropping up, living off the land/business, rags to riches, etc.

Any help? Again, sorry if this has been discussed before.

There are a lot of ideas in http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=334957 .

Treat them as individuals and don't strategize for success, but for characterization.

One of the best things I did to my game was make it harder. Higher bills, lower wages, less business perks got rid of all my rich families and now they have to work to get by. It takes a bit of planning and saving to build that wrap around porch now, instead of just a single day at work. The fertility rate was decreased, making my family sims have to work for those babies (I don't know anyone who ever got pregnant 100% of the time when they were trying.) and risky woohoo was installed so that some sims may end up with child even when they never meant to. Harder jobs, harder homework, and harder university means that my slacker sims no longer get a free pass to a level 10 job three days into adulthood. With these tweaks, my sims now have to work for happiness and it makes for a much more interesting game. I also use a set of rules to guide the hood so that they have to pay taxes or pay for some services that are free in a vanilla game--college, adoption, and burial for example.

A lot of these little things really change the gameplay and make it far more fun to play. And sometimes these difficulties end up writing a story, too. For example, Lisa Ramirez became a Family secondary sim just before Tessa left for college, and immediately rolled the want to have a baby. Problem is that now with the decreased fertility, it became incredibly difficult to do. She and Checo were woohoo'ing every day, sometimes twice a day, but no dice. When she did get pregnant, she miscarried in the first term. I imagined this would have dire consequences on the family--now Checo is stressed because Lisa won't stop obsessing over a baby. Every negative pregnancy test feels like a failure. Now woohoo seems more like a chore than something fun with his wife. Soon, he's spending long days at the furniture store and his nights are spent back in the office with the new restocking girl while Lisa sits at home waiting to be babied up.

You'd be surprised what stories those little pixels can get themselves into.

I like to introduce a lot of random elements into my families - I NEVER direct Sims to try for baby, or even woohoo - I have ACR, and I let the Sims themselves choose when they want to get it on. Sure, it means some families end up with a whole bunch of kids, but then there are others who "have fertility problems", and don't ever have kids. In my hood I have some of the most devoted Family Sims you could imagine who just don't seem to be able to get pregnant. Of course, the insatiable desire to spend every night chatting on the phone with friends instead of doing the wild thing might have something to do with that.

I also like to take them on a lot of community lot outings, and on vacation, just to spice things up and add new storyline options - recently Gabriella Newson had decided she had sworn off men after a series of bad relationships, so I figured a nice tropical vacation was just the thing. She ended up having a wild, tempestuous affair with a local Sim, who selfishly got himself electrocuted in the hot tub, much to my (and Gabriella's!) dismay. Upon arriving home, Gabriella had barely unpacked her suitcase before she was throwing up in the toilet, not only had she gotten herself knocked up by Mr. Crispy, but it turned out to be twins. Totally NOT what I had planned for her, but like i said, I enjoy life's little Sim curveballs. She's now a struggling single mother with absolutely no maternal instinct whatsoever, and is seriously considering offloading the twins onto her big sister Ginger. But Ginger has her own problems, after many years of being 'the only gay in the village' she has now found love with Marla Biggs. Unfortunately, Marla doesn't like kids, and has no desire to help raise her lover's niece and nephew. Does Ginger give up her chance of Twoo Wuv to raise her sister's babies, thus fulfilling her own maternal needs? Or does she turn her back on family for the sake of her woman? Interaction between all my families is another way I keep things interesting, as you can see...

I have multiple challenges going on in the same 'hood. Some of them get their own stories, some don't. So I have the household that's doing a 100 Days challenge, the OWBC household, the Asylum challenge household, the Nickel & Dimed challenge household, the Crazy Cat Lover (my version) household... I used to have a Polyamory Project household, and coming up soon, I will have a Sun & Moon challenge, an Awesomesauce challenge, and possibly a Permaplat challenge (my creation again). I have a much longer list of challenges I want to try, but I wait until I have a Sim who seems to fit before I play one.

Then I have the household that gardens constantly and runs the vegetable stand, the orphanage that is training future crafted-items-business owners, and the local chapter of the Most Logical Brotherhood of the Telescope.

There are also some no-challenge-at-all households, which make a nice change.

klapaucius -- your story resonates with one I've got going in Adamswater Ridge at the moment. Rosita Bulger is living in a small apartment with her sister, her sister's husband, and her sister's two (toddler aged) children. Rosita is low motivation and currently playing around as a Ventriloquist (entertainment, level 5)-- she has a LTW job but it pays a lot less than her current one, so she's likely to stick where she is.

Lilia and Morris are both average motivation, Lilia a Prep cook (culinary level 6), Morris an Art Forger (art level 6). Even with three adults, all employed, they're still struggling for money. Rosita has a lover, Jamie who is in his second year of university. Thankfully he doesn't need a degree for his LTW job, but he will be graduating with $10k of debt because his parents had nine children and no money to set up college funds for any of them. He'll thus be moving in with Rosita and her sister's family when he graduates in order to try and get some more money to allow him and Rosita to find their own place.

Oh, but I forgot the best bit: Rosita got pregnant while they were on a date, and completely failed her abortion roll. I decided to be nosy and see how far along she was when I saw her throw up in the toilet, and got the rather unfortunate news that she's expecting twins. They're already living in a cramped, two-bedroom apartment (one bedroom for the adults, one bedroom for the children) so aren't allowed to add on another bedroom, and only have $3k to their name. They'll be getting some child support payments for the twins but in the grand scheme of things won't be much, and will leave me with a decision: do I try and make things work how they are now, or put Rosita and/or her sister into debt to get them a bigger place?

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I admit, a lot of my families tend to fall into the "married couple with children", but their wants, fears, and other randomly decided things make them interesting and unique. As linked above, I have a ton of rules for some hoods and, along with following their wants and fears, I can get some pretty interesting characters. Joseph Kraemer surprised me once by rolling the fear of going to school -- he barely did homework, got rubbish grades, and halfway through his teen years decided to screw school, he'd make his life worthwhile on his own. His LTW was to be an artist (one which doesn't require a degree in my game) and is ever so slowly working his way up. However, life has interfered as his girlfriend (who he's living with) got pregnant via risky woohoo and is now working to support a family at his very young age (he's just about 20, IIRC).

I like to use lots of different types of stories to keep my Sims, their families and my neighbourhood interesting. You probably have some subconscious stories, or at least a bunch of personalities and situations, for your Sims already. Finding interesting ways of linking those together, and thinking through the consequences of the personalities, situations and links on other Sims, can reinvigorate Sims you never thought could be anything other than cardboard cutouts.

Examples of stories I've introduced:

- start businesses (which can be OFB-fied or simply ideas in your head with maybe some decoration to help suggest the business's function) and explore consequences of them existing (or of particular Sims being involved with said businesses)

- introduce politics, religion and other concepts that are bigger than the neighbourhood, because these allow me to get Sims to have a part in them while still leaving lots of room for change and reinterpretation at a later date

- implement calendar with holidays and other special days, and certain things that happen on the holidays/special days.

- implement or change rules for things already in the neighbourhood (such as university) and examine the consequences.

- set up feuds - the sillier the reason, the better

- have families with specific habits that are always done at a specific time in the day (the family that always eats dinner together at 6 pm sharp - harder than it looks - or the family where there must be a party every afternoon)

- make some rules that apply to some Sims and not others (social strata are how I do it in my game, but there's several other methods)

- have people going round teaching or encouraging supernatural abilities, and play through the reactions according to personality and backstory rather than the Sim's stated wants/fears

- challenges such as the Asylum and Worst Camping Trip Ever challenge. A modified version of either would be a great way of giving 8 adult Sims instant backstory.

If all else fails, make sure a family has enough food in their fridge to survive, then leave the game running while you do something else for a few minutes. Either you'll be struck with inspiration while you're gone or the Sims will have got themselves into some scrape that inspires an idea.

If I decide I will play a family or Sim for many generations I don't allow them all to be cookie cutter Sims. That is extremely repetitious and boring to me. You know, two get married, have kids , kids all get married..have kids etc. I have a story of the character in my head first, and then whether they will all have kids or not, be rich or poor or a bum of the family out in the wilds (wooded areas of town) or I build them a desert lot (they are stuck on some Dig) living in a tent. Some may go to college and do very well, or I mess with them and they fail and get kicked out, or spend all their time being a goosy loosy...Some may not ever get married but be the bum that one cibling needs to take in, a real slob to say the least, or the idolized social butterfly of the family. Always going to parties, having parties, hanging with the Elite of town, or romancing the next Star.

I build my lots to accomodate what kind of life they will have. Some live on huge ranches, with horses (CC) etc. and must 'farm' garden and they may have bunk houses where the 'hired' help lives..that do all the farming, etc. Or one old lady lives in a shack on a chicken farm. She has to try to make a living selling those chickens..(CC). another family may live on the river and they live in a shack that looks much like the Tropico 3 shacks in that game. I try to build by what I see in other games. That isn't always easy. They have holes in the floors, roof pieces missing, things thrown up on their roof, etc. There is too many for their shack it only has one bedroom and it is very tiny.. it's a blast!

I really like playing Sims that don't have everything or have normal careers, or maybe sometimes not even a pot to pee in.
Oh, and every town usually gets Dr. Seward's Asylum,..where they are tortured until the roll wants outside their aspiration. AKA Popularity Sims must stop wanting to play with another Sim, or be friends with another Sim and roll a want outside their set of aspiration wants. If not, they remain there in his evil care and until they start overcome those OCD obsessions.

Assuming you play with Free Will on, really look into your sims personality! From the way they look to the way they dress and the things they do in their spare time. Build their home and family around their interests and make them pursue something unique. Like I try to never pick the same aspirations twice with sims. If I get a pleasure or popularity sim, always make them hit up the club on saturday night. Or get into politics and have a heap of BFF's. Another good tip is to follow their lifetime aspiration wants also! Also when you rotate through different families, try building community lots that would benefit the personality/interests for sims in the household, like gyms, arcades, clubs, libraries, gaming rooms, ect.

I've been toying around with the idea of applying Sims 3 traits (some of them, not all) to the personalities and their bio's in the game. If only for idle amusement, because you can't really pick a trait, but some do become obvious after a while.

Every sim in my hood helps to keep the hood running, so they are all there for a purpose. The Dr lives at the clinic/hospital and she looks after the sick. Pregnant sims go to her for an 'ultrasound' to see how many babies they are carrying. The farmers grow food, the school teacher teaches at my prep school, the poor uneducated sims get NPC jobs and live in trailer parks or dingy apartment houses. I also have rules based on some by Katya Stevens's and lauratje86 sim motivation levels. I use a simplified version which mostly effects skilling. Hobbies can effect this too. Then any family that seems a little boring will get a random event rolled. These are mostly amusing things, not devastating things like the plague. I also retain the option to re-roll lol. It's meant to be fun not torture. I also try and let my sims have time to do whatever and try not to interfere in their developing relationships too much. When my snobby fortune sim decided to form a romance with the sloppiest pleasure sim in my game, I face slapped but didn't stop it. She has now moved onto another fortune sim and they seem better suited. I'm sure at some point there will be a slap fest.

TS2 is repetitive by nature, and even though there can be ways to make the game feel fresh, imho the most universal one is to drop playing it. TS2 is like good food, you get addicted to it and then you can't immediately notice that you've overeaten. But usually when it starts to feel dull or too repetitive it's a sign that you should stop playing for a while (I wish it was as easy to follow that advice as it sounds). If you've stopped playing at the right moment, then next time it feels fresh again. If you haven't, then it starts to get duller and more repetitive and even the next time is dull. Overplayed!

The same goes for other games, so I think it's not something specific to TS2. Maybe it's something specific to our psychology.

In no way I'd advise against refreshing it in other ways, I just think that this one is the real reason why it gets stale. And stopping to play helps even in most dire situations if you're actually capable to pull it off.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder?

Roleplay the sim you are controlling and ignore everyone else. Make sure the one you are roleplaying is interesting.

Let me give you an example. For reasons unrelated to the Sims, I was reading about personality disorders, especially psychopathy. I read these books: Without Conscience, The Sociopath Next Door, and Snakes in Suits. That's not a personality type modeled in the Sims but you can roleplay it.

So I decided this one Sim who already had a selfish and careless history would be a clinical psychopath. Note that does NOT mean a serial killer. She (and most are males), but it best fit with this girl Ellen I was playing.

Ellen's trigger was this other girl, Susan. Susan was her age but Susan was having an affair with Ellen's father and Ellen happened to find out since she and her dad's flame lived in the same building. Dear old dad is blameless! in her eyes.

So Ellen did every single thing possible to ruin this other girl's life. And it works better if you become their friend and lull them into complacency. She broke the girl up with her dad, got her fired (by making her miss work), then lit her apartment on fire when she did go to a new job.

I'm glad most of my sims are not evil like that but occasionally going to the dark side is enlightening and makes for good stories in your neighborhood.

Oh and don't worry about Susan. Ellen shaved her head and drove her out of town, but Susan has a good family and they took her in and she is doing well now. She still thinks of Ellen as a "crush" so she is some denial, but she's getting over it.