Maxis Taste Dare No. 26

[strangetomato]

Is anyone else thinking about participating in Maxis Taste Dare No. 26: Second Chances? The idea of this one appeals to me, though I'm struggling with who to focus on. My recent playing of the entire uberhood has given pretty much everyone a chance, though I guess the point of the exercise would be to find something more to like in a character that you're not too fond of. So maybe Gunnar Roque? Haha. But disliking Gunnar is a fanon tradition, right? I sort of like him the way he is, in a love to hate sort of way.

I think part of what I'm struggling with is that some of my unfavourites actually get quite a lot of attention from other simmers, and I think this is a significant factor in my dislike of them. I honestly don't get it and I resist giving them any more of the spotlight. (Come on, admit it. I know I'm not alone in this.) Ajay Loner comes immediately to mind, with his boring Face One (or very slight variation, if you insist) and lack of storyline (beyond counting grains of sand for fun in his bio) and relationships, and yet he's pretty much universally adored in the fandom. I guess in the spirit of the dare, I should definitely give him a second third fourth chance. Or maybe I can keep digging for someone I truly ignore entirely. I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of right now.

Then there's the issue of my computer refusing to start up at all, so playing is sort of out for the next little while, and I can't even access any of my files until I either get it repaired again (throwing good money at bad?) or the new computer arrives. I finally ordered a new one, but I need to wait a few weeks for it to get here.

Comments

[microlurker.livejournal.com]

I'm not jumping the bandwagon. Though, if I had to choose someone, it would probably be Goths. I don't know why, though. It's probably because they've always been "my brother's" family, even in the first game. I don't really dislike them, just like I don't dislike any other family/sim. It's more as if I'm afraid of playing them.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

No? It seems like a lot of fun, but if you already play most households it might be hard to find a suitable sim to play for it. That's sort of my problem, too. I don't think there is actually a household I haven't played at all.

It's interesting that you chose the Goths, because they're such a popular family. I'm like you, though, and never played them in Sims 1. I started with Sims 2 for them. It'd actually be really fun to go back and see what they were like in the first game.

I don't actively dislike many sims, either. (Even that Gunnar thing is a sort of in-joke in my corner of the fandom.) Maybe that's why it's hard to pick one for this challenge. Even Ajay and his ilk are just sort of boring to me and my reaction is more of a disbelief at all the fanfare.

[w-sims.livejournal.com]

I chose the Tinkers. It's not that I dislike them, but the brief says "least favourite", not "most hated" and I've never played (or wanted to play) the Tinkers that much so they seemed like the idea candidates.

Making over their house is a challenge, though... not being allowed to change the walls! Bluewater Village homes are quite large and that's not my style but it's comin along quite well!

And I have no strong opinions on Ajay! :P

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

The Tinkers are a good choice, I think. They seem to be ignored by most simmers, so it works well all around. It took me many years to get around to trying them out. And there's something about their house (maybe the layout and size, like you said) that makes that lot a little cumbersome to play. I've really come to like Melody after playing her, and I love running the toy store (though it's way back there in the back of the lot).

Not being one for participating in house makeovers, I wonder about the rule to keep the existing walls. I guess that's meant to mke it more challenging or to keep it more recognizable? I can see that, but even in real life renovations people add and remove walls and windows, etc. don't they? For the huge rooms, you could divide them up in other ways, and go for a sort of open concept look.

Haha! Are my opinions of him strong? I'd classify them as "agreesively neutral" when it comes down to it. :P

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

I thought it's a very interesting challenge and I'd love to see what others come up with... But as for picking a sim/some sims myself, I don't know, because like you, I've played all the pre-made families and given them all a chance already. And well... even Trent Traveller has grown on me now!

I wouldn't mind seeing what you'd do with Ajay Loner, though. Haha. I feel pretty neutral about him, myself.

I could do a lot makeover... But I know which lot is my least favourite (some horrible thing in Desiderata Valley), and the thought of making that over without changing the walls or adding windows (there's like, three) makes me twitch. :P

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's exactly where I am with it. And haha! I forgot about Trent. Again, he's like Gunnar. I find him pretty unbearable as a character if you take your cues from his wardrobe (all Xtreme sports and such) but I enjoy playing him that way. I like most sims as they are, even the negative things. And with Trent, like most sims, I've played him quite a bit.

I don't actively dislike Ajay either (well I don't really like the look of Face One on males in general, but other than that...), but I don't see him as having any sort of major story relevance or anything really special going on. He's just sort of forgettable to me.

In S,HWC, I tried to jazz him up with crazy curly hair and glasses and he's a lawyer (so will likely find some story purpose in that career), and I see him as having some sort of Aboriginal background, most likely (the Curiouses, too). So in that sense, I think I've already given him a pretty good chance to be interesting. I suppose it could be fun to play around with him again, though.

That's too bad that you can't pop a window or two in there. Can you at least change the style of the windows? There's some good weird lots in Strangetown that would be fun to work with, like that one with the little tunnel down the middle. And funny, it's the one I always put Ajay in (again, to make it more interesting for me). I think Nervous lived there once, also.

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

Trent Traveller? (wasn't he one who you never really enjoyed so much)

For truly abandoned folks, I'd go for University pre-mades (not for LaFT, of course). There are so many of them they all kind of blend together. And you wouldn't have to bother with a house makeover if you did some of them (just slap them in a dorm together).

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Hm. I could do Chaz Whippler, I never liked his useless, Benjamin Long-clone face.

[aledstrange.livejournal.com]

That's an awesome idea. I may even go with that instead of Peterson, like I was thinking. A few of those uni guys look so bleh at first sight, but, you never know, they may surprise us.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Trent is a good one, but I have actually played him quite a bit. Or as much as any other household, anyway. I'm still not overly into him, so maybe I could try him for this. Maybe I could take him and his family on a vacation like they're meant to in their setup?

Some of the uni kids get a fair bit of play in general (and not just the LFT crowd) and in my game in particular. And like the rest, I've been making an effort to play them all up to a certain point in time in the uberhood. But yeah, there are still some of them that I don't really know what to make of. It might be fun to work them out as characters.

[nebulousfirefly.livejournal.com]

I'm totally doing this dare, but I'm stumped as to who I'm going to choose. Every family has had their chance with me, really. I enjoy the challenge of making boring sims interesting.

Though I do find, even after several incarnations and tries, that Ajay Loner is very, very dull. Don't know if he's my least favourite, but he just doesn't stick out in any way.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

That's really great that you give them all a chance. Maybe you could pick a household that generally gets little attention by other simmers, in that case. I think it'd still fit the spirit of this challenge. Or try reinventing some that are less appealing to to you.

So I'm not entirely alone in my thoughts about Ajay! Haha! Good to know.

[beadqueene.livejournal.com]

It really sounds like a fun dare. If I have time, I'd totally pick the Ottomas Family. I really can't stand them, and such a large, poor family will definitely be a challenge for me.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Haha, the Ottomases are pretty much my favourite. :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

It does seem like fun, doesn't it? It's the first dare to really catch my attention in a while.

The Ottomas family is another example of a family that actually has a pretty large following in fandom from what I've seen (or at least a niche in our corner of it), so I'd probably skip them for that reason. Also, I play them and enjoy them, so they don't really work for me. :P I think you'll find them fun once you give them chance. It can be overwhelming with the amount of work to take care of the kids, but it's certainly not boring!

[aledstrange.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see someone doing Gunnar, because it would be awesome to see less popular sims popping up in the entries, but it's totally about your personal opinion. It doesn't matter if the sim is popular between other simmers or not.

What like W says is right, tho, this is not about disliking sims (it's actually awesome to see everyone struggling to pick one for that same reason), but there's always that one sim or household, we simply don't enjoy playing as much, for whatever reason.

I'm personally going with Jessica Peterson because, imo, she's boring as heck, so I'm looking for something fun to do with her.

As for the walls (to respond to a few of your replies all at once), it's mainly because it wouldn't be much a challenge if you could put down all the walls and start from scratch, imo, but it's also because it's hard to find a balance when making rules for challenge like this without complicating them too much.

In other challenges the rules are more open, but in this one I though it would be interesting to leave it simple and see what people could do with the limitations. (And jic, you can replace all windows and doors so you can change style and size.)

Sorry this turned out really long, but if you have any other doubt or concern just ask. :)

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Jessica's a good one. I never know what to do with her, either! Probably because she's a stereotype I don't much enjoy.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Oh... and this probably really belongs in the challenge thread, not here, but when you say size of windows and doors, does that include how many tiles they take up (I could change a 1-tile window to a 3-tile window)?

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I think there's usually a little bit of dislike mixed in with sims we find uninteresting to play, or maybe just more of finding them boring or a chore to play (some lots are just tedious). That's how it is for me, anyway. It usually has something to do with their character and sometimes their position in the fandom at large. And I know I should only consider my own feelings about a sim for this challenge, so I'll try to ignore my resentment for what I consider to be overplayed sims, but I'm not making any promises there. :P

Thanks for clarifying that about the walls. I don't ever do building makeover challenges, so I was just curious about why a restriction for that would exist, and like I said, I figured it was to keep it recognizable or more challenging.

Sort of like the plastic surgery that way. ;) Not that I'm questioning your rule on that, but it doesn't bother me as much as it bothers you. It's a part of the game, so I can certainly see it happening in the normal course of playing with some sims, like those in the entertainment or show business careers (or elders with Face Two when their face deflates - LOL!).

[simtopi]

My least fave family, and the one I'll probably use for this challenge are the Roths. To be fair, I've never played them before, but I've always thought having a parralel of the Goth family was just really pointless, and frankly I thought it was kind of lazy. So I kind of ignore that they exist at all in my premade head canon.

I kind of agree with you about Ajay... He doesn't really come across as interesting, just "attractive.". But I know how you've played Gunnar, it would actually be neat to see what you come up with him for a second chance. :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Haha! I can see that about the Roths. I find the parallel pretty funny, actually, but it does make them a ittle less interesting as their own entity. And from playing them, I haven't been really that excited by them either. But there is some interesting alien abduction in their background, I think, so that could be something to play with.

Even the attractiveness angle on Ajay leaves me scratching my head. He's certainly not styled attractively! XD But whatever... I guess he's just not my type. It wouldn't be the first time I was at odds with what the majority seemed to find attractive.

It would be a lot of fun to do a really sophisticated and classy take on Gunnar. Afterall, people can change a LOT after their teens and university. Maybe it was all just a phase. On the other hand, I have a hard time separating him from the David Grohl type from the Nirvana era than he's sort of been molded into in my head and game. I even have David Ottomas styled into a matching Kurt Cobain type. :P

[holleyb76.livejournal.com]

One of the least favorite things for me is to run a business, so I will probably do something with Bluewater. Maybe the Jacquet's bakery?

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

OOoo. Good example of other simmers' influence. Gilbert Jacquet's been given so much personality in other peoples' stories that he wouldn't be a blank slate for me.

If you want a business challenge, you might like to try Florence Delarosa. She's got an at-home business, and those are a PITA because of the coding (guests think they're customers, customers think they're guests, nobody's happy.)

[chillyzgrrlsims.livejournal.com]

I'm contemplating the Larson siblings. I played them once... and was struck by how very unintelligent they are. As in, even with my micromanaging them, they almost died 4 times in the course of one half hour. I've pretty much written them off as idiot sims.

[nebulousfirefly.livejournal.com]

Haha, my Jason Larson died as well, in a fire! So I had his sister bring him back as a zombie. It amuses me to see him limping around the neighbourhood, moaning and stealing newspapers xD

[tov01.livejournal.com]

My personal choice would be William Williamson. I can never figure out what to do with him. He just seems so boring, especially compared to his roommates (Klara and Blossom).

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Excellent choice! I feel pretty much the same about that guy. I always feel so "meh" about him, no matter how hard I try to make him interesting.

[gaypher.livejournal.com]

I thought I was alone in my disdain for Ajay. He's cute, so hating him is a little out of the ordinary for me (I usually only hate ugly Sims), and one of the only Indian Sims in the game, which makes me feel a little racist, but I can't help it. He's so utterly bland. When I saw everyone turning him into an Intelligence man to meet his LTW, it seemed so out of character, but then, everything you can do with him is out of character, because he has none. He's certainly not a badass private eye/SCIA agent in my eyes.