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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 21st Apr 2019 at 2:51 PM
Default Have you made up traditions/laws in your game?
I've been trying to make additions to my game that would make the neighborhood I'm playing in more intergrated. So far the rules I came up with are:
- All graves are to be placed in the community graveyard. I suppose some sims will choose to keep the graves of their ancestors and forever hide from the authorities (could be a fun storyline resulting in a lot of drama)
- Supernatural beings only allowed on supernatural lots. Mixing human sims with supernaturals is mostly looked down upon.
- Mothers of more than six children should receive something special, although I haven't really decided yet. Probably some kind of statue and a formal party, but that doesn't seem special enough.

Do you have any cultural traditions of that sort? Any more ideas? This is a new hood I'm playing in. I don't like my game being too strict, but I also want all of my households to be more connected by the same customs.
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Field Researcher
#2 Old 21st Apr 2019 at 5:50 PM
My game is all about fantasy worldbuilding and creating new cultures, so yes, most definitely. My tribal hood, Kulo Seeri, is twelve years old, and has a whole lot of customs, traditions and laws that have developed over that time. Mostly based on noting what "modern" SimNation does, then doing the opposite.

A few examples:
- Kulo Seeri is matriarchal. Only women can hold positions of leadership, although their culture does acknowledge three genders (female, male, risfe - which literally means "multiple spirits").
- Marriages are usually arranged by the tribal elders, and weddings always take place in the burial grounds, in the presence of the revered ancestors.
- Metal is the demon element (largely because so much SimNation technology is made from it). Only shamans are allowed to work with metal, so the shaman of the tribe is also the village smith.
- Hunting and gathering are the only sources of food. Farming is deemed cowardly and dishonorable, because you're not risking your life for the food that's literally growing on your doorstep.
- Adulthood is not based on age. It has to be earned by succeeding in a rite of passage, although I'm still working out what the rites of passage actually are.
- It is strictly forbidden to kill or harm a wolf, or a cat. Both are sacred to my Sims. Also, only females can scold cats, because all cats rank above human males in the tribal hierarchy.
- It is also forbidden to raise the dead, or create any sort of unliving creature (zombies, vampires, Servos). Other than that, most magic and supernaturals are highly respected.
- The leader of the tribe must always be a woman who is descended from my founder purely through the female line, and born with a twin.

...I could go on all day, but I don't want to hijack the thread.

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Home of my Kulo Seeri Test of Time and a lot of worldbuilder rambling. You have been warned.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#3 Old 21st Apr 2019 at 11:11 PM
I have lots of rules although I bend and break them as I feel like it. I play an integrated hood. I think you mean something different by the word, but traditionally integrated hoods meant hoods ran by playable sims with some kind of integrated economy, where they rely on each other for things.

To start with I have motivation/smart levels. I introduced those so that I would play sims in different ways but it also ensures I have sims to fill those less than thrilling, poorly paid jobs. As soon as a baby turns toddler I find out their motivation level by adding their neat + serious points and taking away the playful points. 0 and below is low motivation. These are my free wheeling sims. I can't direct them to study but they can do so autonomously. Having autonomous items around helps. other sims can also ask them to join things.
Average sims score 1-7 and they can do what they have a want for. So if they want to gain a skill for uni or their job they can, if they have a want to train their toddler they can. Conversely, no want means not skiing or training. First instance of where I kind of bend things is if they have a grandparent with a training want or is high achieving I bring them over to train the toddler. I think that's realistic even if it feels just a little cheaty. Then high achieving sims will be doing a lot of study and learning as soon as they turn toddler. They will become doctors, lawyers etc. They don't need to roll any wants to do so.

Most sims (except the low motivation ones) will run some form of business. They go to each other for services and for goods. There are no Pleasntview townies and no game made downtown townies except the few that I make so shops rely on other playables + BV townies + the few dormies that I have (8 of them) Keeping the townie population low (still feels like too many with the BV ones) means my playable sims rely on each other and know each other. I was checking why one did not get a promotion yesterday (probably because he was late for work) and noticed he has 37 friends. That is normal for my sims and something I never have to consciously think about. They meet often as toddlers and at my playable school and just naturally make a lot of friends. Back before I played this way I hated that friendship requirement for job advancement.

I don't really have traditions as such. I will be holding Christmas this coming summer season in game (I'm from Australia) I only do this every so often.
Sims who buy a Bible will be considered Christian and part of the church.
My hood has a strong recycling policy so households are encouraged to use the provided compost bins and can take them back full to the mayor's office for $100 and these are then given to free to the farmers.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Theorist
#4 Old 21st Apr 2019 at 11:58 PM
In my games it widely varies from neighbourhood to neighbourhood and traditions and rules can change over time. and yeah, like Joe I break them whenever I feel like it, because it's my game and what I say goes hahahah.

My current hood, the Beginning of Pleasantview (+Bluewater Village) had a "advancing decades") early on and at first it was like the early 20th century. Women had to take their husbands names always and could only hold certain jobs or had to be housewives altogether, there was no aliens or advanced technology yet, same sex couples could not marry or adopt children. As the generations advanced all of those restrictions were lifted as time went along, but as of now Aliens and Alien Hybrids are still barred from certain careers like Politics, Military, Intelligence and so forth. The government is currently monitoring a handful of Alien-Hybrids as they grow up. Once those are adults and the government and military have realized that aliens aren't a threat, they will be allowed to have all careers.

Other rules that won't be lifted anytime soon (if at all are):
-All Sims in dangerous careers have a chance of dying if they fail their chancecard.
-Military Sims can live in comfortable and cheap houses on the military base.
-If a Soldier is killed in action, their children get free University.
-Unviersity costs 3000 Simoleons per student.
-Only Witches can resurrect the dead.
-There are family curses.
-The number of children a couple will have depends on their aspirations: (NotFamily+NotFamily: 1 NotFamily+Family: up to 2, Family+Family: up to 3 or more)
-Full alien families (so Alien Sims that have migrated to live on Sim Earth) are mostly matriarchal.
-Aliens have technology that allows Same-sex couples to have biological children and are currently working on adapting it for Earth Sims (it will be available as soon as an Alien reaches the highest level in the Natural Scientist Career) <- That one is inspired by another user here, sorry I have forgotten whom (if the user reads this, THANK YOU for the idea! )
-And I tend to "breed" brown haired Sims, because it's the most common hair colour were I live and I always feel that Maxis put way too few brown haired Sims into the premade neighbourhoods.

Avatar by MasterRed
Taking an extended break from Sims stuff. Might be around, might not.
Test Subject
#5 Old 22nd Apr 2019 at 12:23 AM
I have a lot, but one that I don't see mentioned often by other simmers is this: To expand on the exterior of a house, my sims need a thousand dollar building permit. If the inspector walks by and they dont have one is a fine or jail.
Field Researcher
#6 Old 22nd Apr 2019 at 3:48 PM
@Orphalesion - I'd love to hear more about how this family curse idea works in your game!

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Home of my Kulo Seeri Test of Time and a lot of worldbuilder rambling. You have been warned.
Theorist
#7 Old 22nd Apr 2019 at 4:26 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nuidyaforever
@Orphalesion - I'd love to hear more about how this family curse idea works in your game!


Oh, like most things in my game it's just something I made up as I was playing. Like there's families that can be doomed to die young in a specific way. In my current hood, the Crumplebottoms were living in the House of Fallen Trees (that creepy old house in downtown) at first. The first Crumplebottom dabbled in the occult, the spirits there got angry at hima nd he died in a fire. Since then most of his male descendants, and quite a few of the female ones as well, have died in fire related "accidents" early in their adulthood. The Goths are protected because they have their ancestor spirits (the private graveyard) protecting them.

Magic also follows bloodlines. Only the unbroken line female descendants of a Witch can be witches, only the unbroken male line descendants of a Warlock can be warlocks (the sole exception is if the child or grandchild of a witch/warlock has three children of the same gender, they get to be witches/warlocks as well)

Oh also on the Resurrection. I already said it's only witches and warlocks who can perform resurrections (use the Supernatural Career reward), but resurrected Sims get their personality and aspiration changed, and come back to life wearing their funeral clothes. They wear those clothes until they roll a want to change out of them or age up. One resurrected Sim in my neighborhood is still wearing his black, very formal looking funeral suit everywhere, 2 rotations after his resurrection, he just doesn't want to wear anything else
Evil Witches/Warlocks create Zombies out of people they don't like, those zombies die when their creator dies.

Avatar by MasterRed
Taking an extended break from Sims stuff. Might be around, might not.
Mad Poster
#8 Old 22nd Apr 2019 at 5:15 PM
I have some:

Because I really like parties and outings and my Unemployment Center

1. All Sims start without any object to skill with - they need to visit the Unemployment Center and either study on their own or be taught by the wise elders. Since only knowledge sims can teach, other elders are used to play chess with/share hobby tips with/prepare food for and train sims on the exercise equipment. Elders play a very important part in my hood when it comes to learning/teaching, although I sometimes wonder if some of them have any wisdom at all.
2. The Mayor has some official functions that has to be done: a Christmas party as well as a Charity Evening annually. She is also expected to attend the opening of community lots (I teleport her in and she makes a speech using the business career award). She also has to attend the weddings and funerals of the VIS (Very Important Sims).
3. Sims have to buy at owned businesses and business owners are expected to attend the annual business dinner; take their staff out to a business lunch twice a year and also regularly go on outings.
4. The general presents the annual military gala as well and has to make sure all his soldiers are fit by drilling them on the obstacle course regularly.
5. Teens have to have a social hobby - they can play in a band, go hiking or jogging or just go and watch films with their friends at the local book and film venue.
6. Sims in certain careers are expected to go digging at The Digging Zone, but any Sim in financial trouble may also try (although breaking water pipes seem to be the most common discovery).
7. Sims in performing art careers have to perform for the rest of the hood. The Town Hall in the elder subhood is normally packed on Sundays, when the retired rock stars perform. Some teen bands also get good audiences.
8. All teens go to Uni - if they are not that smart, they study a degree for either the military or the culinary career (of course, they may turn out to be a lot smarter than the doctors and architects later in life).
9. At Uni, students have to attend lectures at my (rather ugly, but working) lecture halls, which work with the help of Sophie-David's mods.
10. Promotions means parties, even it it is a small one - which means that there may be a lot of parties at times in my hood

Nothing I do is making it harder, I think, it just makes it more fun. I like to think of my hood as a interconnected community, where groups of sims with things in common do things together, while still having friends outside that groups.
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 23rd Apr 2019 at 7:44 PM
I'm not a big fan of traditions irl so when I started to read the thread I first thought "no" but now I'm not sure.

- when a baby is born the parents throw a party in order for the close relatives to meet the child
- birthdays are celebrated and a bad birthday party is a really bad sign that will show up in not being able to get a secondary aspiration for example or limit how the sim may use aspiration rewards
- older relatives will encourage cousins and siblings to interact with each other "go play with your sister!"
- getting something else then an elderly pet is the exception since most sims are more concerned with getting a pet rather than taking care of the ones that are in the house.
Forum Resident
#10 Old 24th Apr 2019 at 4:26 AM
Quote: Originally posted by existerande
- when a baby is born the parents throw a party in order for the close relatives to meet the child

I do this too. If not a party, at least invite over the grandparents to meet the baby.

The General at Fort Bluewater hosts a weekly party for the military. He's met everyone in the military career, down to the newest recruits.

Only sims who have above a certain amount in household funds (200,000) can pass along their house and full net worth to their heirs. The children can rebuy the house, be given a certain amount of money, or the household possessions, but they can't move into the house while their parents are elderly and take it all over. Even if they're an only child. Something something high inheritance tax that only the rich with offshore accounts can avoid. (Real reason is that in the past, I did that all the time and found it too easy for sims to get rich. The exception is because those rich children can rebuy the houses, but I'm too lazy to pack up the entire bloody estate.)
Scholar
#11 Old 24th Apr 2019 at 4:53 AM
I have the same community lot in ever hood called "The Square, and in the center of the lot there is a well that constantly generates disease and anyone who walks by may be "contaminated". Coincidentally the well is located in front of a jewelery shop...so any sims who want to marry and have children must pass the well to buy a ring for their significant other.

One of my male sims today went to the store to buy his spouse a ring and contracted the disease and ended up dead later that evening....his poor wife just found out she was pregnant too...=[
Mad Poster
#12 Old 24th Apr 2019 at 11:30 AM
For my pixels there are a few laws in their lives:

If they don't roll wants for a job, they can either own a business (up to 4 basic owned businesses are allowed in game) or they can collect welfare until they become motivated enough to want a job.
The 4 basic businesses consist of "The General Store" where one gets their groceries, the 'Garden store" where flowers and vegetables are sold, and the 'Knickknack store' where some very small and basic items are sold-like lights, musical instruments, and knowledge items.The "Coin Trader" is always a popular venue for collectors of ancient coinage.
These businesses are always highly profitable and usable in either the modern version of the game or a medieval game.

All pixels must have a bank account set up, where they deposit the rest of their savings after they move into their residence. Every $5,000 is deposited into the account and the only times they can withdraw funds are when they move to better quarters or to open a business. Funds withdrawn must be replaced as promptly as possible, and they're only completely emptied when the account holder is within 2 days of their death. The funds are then deposited in the general family funds for distribution as an inheritance, in addition to any insurance payouts.

Marriage and moving to a new house only happens on a Monday of any given week.

Receptacle Refugee & Resident Polar Bear
"Get out of my way, young'un, I'm a ninja!"
Grave Matters: The funeral podium is available here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/e6tj...albits.zip/file
My other downloads are here: https://app.mediafire.com/myfiles
Mad Poster
#13 Old 24th Apr 2019 at 12:37 PM Last edited by HarVee : 24th Apr 2019 at 1:48 PM.
The Golden Papyrus contains the 5 tenets of Simlandia (Which consists of Gotterdammerung, Nhw-whr, and Paradiso de Manana)

Every Sim must contain in their wardrobe, or home furnishings, one item that is black. Failure to do so is punishable by death.

All music stations except Techno, Metal, New Age, World, and Classical are banned in public places. They're considered déclassé.

Any car that is newer than 2008 must be registered through the Simlandia department of futuristic devices (fee of 4200 simoleans) to prevent time rifts. Registering your futuristic car will change its paint colour to black.

With each generation, the almighty grilled cheese will select one Sim to be its personal divine jester. This sim will gain the grilled cheese secondary aspiration. Current holder of the position is Jazlyn Babybat.

All Sims must fuel the fires of the Underworld by doing at least one fear per sim week.

Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

Inventor
#14 Old 24th Apr 2019 at 2:30 PM
There are a few traditions and laws that have grown over time and different neighborhoods. Here are some in no particular order:

-For the sake of public health, most residents keep their trash cans in a fenced area behind a gate. Those that can't afford to do so usually build the area as soon as they have the spare funds.
-Each season is seven days long and begins on Monday.
-Public school is free, funded by taxes included in the bills everyone receives, but a family may choose to send their children to private school. Private school requires a $1000 per child admission fee, plus a daily fee of $200. Once the headmaster accepts at least one child, all subsequent children are allowed to attend once they are old enough.
-College is also free, again funded by taxes. However, teens are only allowed to begin classes on Monday, the first day of each season. If they have three or fewer days before aging up by the preceding Sunday evening (last day of the season), they're allowed to transition into Young Adult. Some may choose to move out at this time, while others remain in the family home. If they have five or more days before aging up to adult by the preceding Sunday evening, they have to wait another full season before enrolling (aging halted as needed). Teens who have four days are considered on a case by case basis, and will be held back or allowed to transition depending on other factors (such as if they have friends or a love aging up).
-Sims are only allowed to move house on Sunday night, so that they may begin with their new lot on Monday morning.
-The passing on of a family name depends on a few circumstances. If a sim is an only child or the only holder of the name, they tend to get priority. If both engaged sims are singular name holders, then it goes to the sim who first rolled a want to marry. In families of more than one child, one may be designated as the name heir. They're usually a Family, Fortune, or Knowledge sim, but may also be Popularity. Romance and Pleasure sims aren't considered likely to want to marry and have children, so generally don't get chosen. Even with a name heir, a family name might die out if none of the children want to marry. Very occasionally, two sims might combine their family names.
Lab Assistant
#15 Old 24th Apr 2019 at 3:04 PM
I have specific rules when it comes to marriages: 2 Sims can only marry if...
- they have the want to get engaged or to marry, BUT they have to have at least two bolts with each other
- they have three bolts with each other
- not both of them have the Romance aspiration
- not both of them are heirs (In my game the first born son is usually the heir. If there is no son, the first born daughter is the heir. There are exceptions though)
Alchemist
#16 Old 25th Apr 2019 at 5:10 AM Last edited by Phantomknight : 7th Oct 2019 at 5:38 AM.
I don't have a lot of neighborhood traditions, at least not yet. But I just very recently came up with some rules and notes about what my sims' legal system is like. I came up with it partly because I wanted a concrete list of crimes & offenses I could charge my sims with, things that they might do on their own in addition to some story ones that I orchestrate. Also, I had been doing a bit of hood planning in my Pleasantview and as I got to the police station, I realized I had no idea how I wanted to act out that career and what they would need on a police station lot. I realized I wanted my officers to go on patrol, but that would only be some of the time. Most of the time they'd be at their desk working, right? Then I also realized I wanted to try running a jail. But then how would sims get sent to jail? So that's when I started thinking about what I could use my town hall for and how to come up with a way to play the law career and set up trials. (I do a lot of integrated hood planning, as I hope to start one myself.)

I decided I'm going to have a courtroom in the town hall where The Judge goes to work. The Judge will most likely be whoever is The Law (top of Law career), but can also be elected, be the current political leader, or be a small group of Judges that decide cases. Anyway, he or she will go to work at the town hall and I'll then teleport in prosecutors (lawyers, or police if there are no playable lawyers) and defendants as each case arises. Then The Judge will make a ruling based on the tally of evidence. And when police and lawyers do desk work at their offices during their turns of the rotation (i.e., sit at a desk and write articles with Monique's computer or something similar), I'll imagine that's them putting a case together for The Judge to review. For police, that's them reviewing cameras and security systems and gathering evidence; for the lawyers, they're reviewing all the cases the police brought to them, deciding which cases will go to trial, and then they're preparing their summaries and arguments for those cases. The "evidence" will be game photos, which is nice for me because it'll help me get back into taking story pictures for sims. Hopefully.

What's really cool is that, after browsing the Career and Businesses thread, I realized that there are mods that can help with this. The Careers and Businesses for Sims thread (link in joandsarah77's signature) is a super great thread with tons of ideas for businesses in an integrated hood. Reading through it gives you a great picture of how one might set up integrated businesses. Must thank you a lot for that Jo, as I keep going back to that thread for ideas and inspiration. (Another great thread for this is the Tell Me About Your Integrated/For Sims By Sims Hood!, btw.) Anyway, PCSims made a ton of old mods, some of which are absolutely perfect for an integrated hood, though they can also be a bit cheaty, giving sims fast skill points. Since the graveyard is down, simmers can take a look at the archive uploaded by the Jessa Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr598SsBjYQ (file link in the description). PCSims had a few items for lawyers, including some podiums--one for witnesses and one for judges. Sims speak at it and then get paid a sum. For the Judge podium, though, you can judge a sim and at the end of the judge's speech, a pop up will tell you if the accused was guilty or innocent. The pop up seems to be random, too. There's also a typewriter that lets your sims write novels for money; I think that's to simulate court reporters & paralegals. And then there's an attorney table that one sim sits down at and acts as the attorney giving advise while another sim sits down across from the attorney and listens. The attorney sim talks for a bit then gets paid when the interaction is over. The mesh looks a little old, but honestly, it's probably the perfect tool for a law office and I can see setting up a psychology office with it too. I'm going to try and take a look at it in SimPE to see if I can either remove the skilling or at least slow the rate of skilling down, but even if I can't, it's a keeper. I can always just make sure that only sims who have already maxed the skill use it, especially since lawyers should be more skilled anyway.

Oh, and here are my notes that I wrote up, for those who like to get nerdy about rules & integrated hood ideas:

"May the sunlight find you, thy days be long, thy winters kind, thy roots be strong." -Grand Oak Tree, DAO

XPTL Mod Archive | Change a Mod's Mesh into a CC Object | Increasing the Game Difficulty | Editing ACR 4 Your Age Mod
Bored? Read an unfinished legacy or sim story. | aka Kelyns | she/her
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 25th Apr 2019 at 5:21 AM
Huntsville has some of them.

- One must pay the taxes to the mayor family, and when the mayor switches, the next mayor must be moved into that same family.
- One must pay 3k simoleons before sending a grave to community graveyard, owned by one of the residents. If one can't pay that, the grave must stay on the lot.
- Townie kids/teens must be in the orphanage. Not necessarily all at once, but still (unless you make some of them grow up with the playables)
- College is funded by taxes (the hood doesn't have college yet)
- Similarly, all the townie elders need to be in retirement home (minus the ones that live with the playables of course), with the sim that established the retirement home.
- The sims will "pass the torch" in their titles (Mayor, graveyard owner, retirement home owner, the social worker in the orphanage) when their time comes/when they want to enjoy their elder days
- Some of the careers are only unlocked once the sims graduate the university with some kind of degree.
- The sims that are in Criminal career will have option to pickpocket other sims.
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