Maxis Premade Sim Genetics

[strangetomato]

I've been thinking about the Good Genes III contest at GoS, and what really interests me in it is not wondering if the ugly would breed out (I think we all knew it would, given three generations), but which Maxis sim features you're left with. Planning for those three faces to blend with an attractive (and hopefully unique) final result is what made it so interesting to me. A lot of people go the Face One/Face Two route, but are their sims interesting enough to win the contest? Pretty is pretty, but what stands out enough to win? It remains to be seen, I guess. I know I'm more interested in seeing the diamonds in the rough, making pretty from unexpected gene choices. I'd like to see people receive bonus points for using a sim like Chester Gieke or Malcolm Landgraab, but lose points for every Brandi, Ajay, Don, or Cyd (or any other Face One/Two type).

Speaking of odd gene choices, I'm surprised that so many people have used Oberon (he's at least as popular as Don Lothario), because his nose is so wide and he's just not as conventional as the other sims that get re-used frequently. Also, Lilith Pleasant gets used a LOT and have you ever seen what that nose looks like on a male sim? It's intense. I'm really surprised that I'm the only one so far (I think...) that has used Ripp Grunt. He has really attractive features (for a man, at least... his daughters need to worry about the chin). Are any of the choices surprising you?

I've been thinking about devising my own variation on a Maxis sim breeding challenge, but have people start with Face One and aim to remove it, but still end up with something attractive. I'm not sure I'm up for the work of designing it, but it'd be something fun to do. Perhaps I'll suggest it for a Maxis_taste challenge.

Comments

[mae-o-nays.livejournal.com]

Dominant is probably the wrong word (you wouldn't think I studied English lit...), but they really water down more interesting genetics. Really extreme genetics do dominate, but I've had trouble keeping medium-weird faces in the family gene pool. I'm going mostly on my own game, though, so I think you've got a point about it being random.

I've made Brandi have babies with a few Sims - with Remington the man-maid, the kids were a good mix of the two parents. Her babies with Darren Dreamer looked a lot like her, and Darren's lovely wide nose didn't get passed on. He actually makes really interesting kids with Cassandra Goth. But like you said, it's all subjective :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Okay, I see what you were saying now. I agree. Combining two parents that are sort of "middle of the road" often ends up more interesting than really extreme combined with a more basic and pretty template.

I've had some nice kids from Cass and Darren, too. I love his wide nose! It's such a rarity among the Maxis premades and I do have a soft spot for wide and generally bigger noses. (My SO has a very proud proboscis, in fact. :P)