strangetomato | Maxis Taste Dare No. 26

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Maxis Taste Dare No. 26

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.

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Imo, she's a bit of both. She's a fortune who likes to be with rich guys who treat her well (with lots of expensive gifts and such), but not enough of a gold digger to go all the way and actually keep up for too long with the kind of lifestyle that comes with being married to someone like Armand DeBateau. (I imagine he's very uptight and involved in high class social events, that simply ain't for her)

I don't think she likes to live in a trailer, tho, so if I play with her, probably my goal would be taking her out of it (probably with romance as sec. asp. and living of gifts from rich guys lol)

She Florence is someone I like and have a clear idea about *cough* Flocolm *cough*

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

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!).

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

That's a good idea. This challenge would be great opportunity to play with a family type that you usually avoid, and you probably don't play the Bluewater Village sims much if you don't like playing the OFB elements.

I enjoy playing businesses, but it'd certainly be more appealing if the loading times for community lots were shorter on my game. Home businesses are a little easier for that reason.

I have some good hacks for home businesses, but generally I agree with you on that. I hate having to change the locks on the house to allow guests in, because otherwise the customers hang out in your living room!

I also hate having household expenses show up as part of the tracking for business related cash flow. For some reason that drives me just about batty.

Oooh, the Larsons are a good choice for me, too. I actually love them as characters but haven't given them their due in playing them or focusing on them much yet. That's a hosehold I could get really excited about playing more of!

Haha! That sounds awful, but sort of funny too. It's so frustrating when sims fail to survive with even the highest level of involvement from you as a simmer. Maybe you had some sort of odd glitch happening?

I resurrected a couple of sims as zombies recently, too (from the Tricou family), but now it bothers me that I can never turn them back. I didn't realize that until after I had done it.

But yeah, very amusing to see them roaming the town looking for braaaainns. XD

Edited 2012-01-14 15:37 (UTC)

The Newbies were the only Sims 1 family I played at all. I was more interested in recreating all my friends and family when I played that game.

Alien abduction was pretty unnerving in that game. Didn't the sim come back with a really scrambled personality, either reversed or just completely random? I remeber it happening to me once and I didn't know what to think of it. It's certainly not as fun as alien babies.

Yes, when planning for Challenges at Maxis_Taste, I do tend to see (at least) the exterior of a house, in the same way I see surgery for the face (with emphasis on the first line, pls, don't misread me. I don't care how people play their games, but we are talking about challenges here, or aren't we?)

For interior walls and widows/doors the rules vary from harder to looser in each challenge, but I tend to ask people to leave at least the shell of the house. Why? because the comm. is dedicated to focus in (maxis/ea) premade Lots and Sims.

That has always been the idea and of the comm, and I'll stick to that. If people want to bulldoze a house to start from scratch and build another house, or completely alter a sim's face, there're tons of comm. and forums with challenges for that, but sticking to, at least the base, of what the game gives is what makes this comm. different, imo. ;)

Again I'm only talking about dares and other comm. challenges. However people play their games is no one's business, but these are challenges in a comm that features Maxis premades.

And lastly, pls, when you have a doubt, concern or simply disagree with a rule, try to ask/discuss it with me in the respective post or by Pm. I love getting feedback about things done in the comm, whatever is good or not, but I appreciate if it's given to me directly. Thank you :)

Edited 2012-01-14 16:12 (UTC)

Maybe you had some sort of odd glitch happening?

I might have thought that, too, until I mentioned it once elsewhere and had two other people comment that they, too, had bad luck with the Larsons.

I have played them a little, in my Megahood. Jody is engaged/married to Malcolm Landgraab IV and Jason is a rookie cop.

I wasn't sure if those rules were typical or not (as I don't generally do building or makeover challenges), so I was curious.

That home gym is rather unusual. They don't seem like they currently use it, based on their body types, but I guess it's meant to be a hint to get them in shape? I usually keep them in the fat state, sell the weight equipment off, and use that as their toy workshop studio. I just chaulk it up to a good intention after a New Years resolution that never ever got used. :P

I think they're meant to use that small building in the backyard as their shop, but it doesn't have anything in it yet. It's actually quite small for a business, also, but not bad for the first few levels (especially if you include playground equipment outside, and that makes more sense). I usually end up building extensions on the store after it gains in levels.

Please don't take my comments the wrong way and get defensive. As I said, I'm not questioning any of your rules, just discussing them, but I'll try to avoid mentioning any of them in the future if it's going to be a problem.

lol ... again, pls, don't misunderstand me. (Doesn't that happen often, eh? I wonder who's really getting defensive here)

My only point is that you obviously had doubts and concerns about a few rules in this challenge in particular, and I'm merely asking you to mention that to me if it happens again. :)

Yes, this has happened before, and I think it's mostly a matter of misunderstanding.

I could try to explain myself a little better, but I really prefer not to argue with you about this, so I think I'll just bow out of the discussion at this point. I've heard you, and I'll be more careful in the future. Let's just leave it at that, please.

Look I'm really honestly sorry. I was trying to edit and rephrase that, because it came out all wrong, but I was too slow.

I do want to hear what everyone has to say, the rules in each challenge can be discussed, all feedback is really appreciated, but, please, when you have that kind of concerns (about rules, I mean) please bring them up to the comm, so they can be discussed directly.

I can't think of all the details, and whatever people has to add to each challenge always improves them. :)

I appreciate that, Ale. I really didn't intend to seem like I had any issue with the rules at all. I have no problem with the rules.

W mentioned the building thing and I was honestly just curious regarding building challenges in general (having no experience with them), and the mentioning of the plastic surgery was more meant to be playfully ribbing you about it because you've made no secret of how much it bothers you (and thus the wink and the LOL and all that, but I know things can be easily misunderstood). I'm sorry if it came off otherwise.

I do seem to run into this problem from time to time (and not just with you), overstepping my bounds about rules and such (I think I might have some inherent problems with questioning authority? LOL!), but I really don't mean to come off as such an asshole about it. I apologize if it seemed as if I was undermining you in any way.

I can see now how talking about it, even offhand, in my own journal might come off like that, so like I said I'll try to be more conscious of that in the future. And if I do have any serious concerns about the rules (I don't), I will bring them up in the comments of the post or PM you about it.

And now, I will try to stop completely stomping all over my resolution to be a positive force in the sims comm, stop being a source of/adding to drama, and less of a dick in general. I seem to be failing at it in a big way so far. :P

Edited 2012-01-14 19:09 (UTC)

That's so strange. I've never noticed that when I played, but I guess I really haven't played with them all that much yet. I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

I really like the idea of them working together on a business. I need to think of what exactly it should be. Their bio mentions them raising funds via house parties, so maybe some sort of venue business would be best.

I don't mind those stereotypes so much, because you can play around with them (I particularly like to attempt to humanize the whole "trailer trash" one and show it more truthfully than just playing it for laughs), and I think they do have some truth in them.

Jessica is a sort of strange one to pin down in a lot of ways. And I'm not sure Armand is left painted in the best light when you think about the child issue between them. It seems a little harsh, or at least it does the way the game portrays it. A story could actually give it more depth and have them go their separate ways with both keeping their dignity intact.

And yeah, a female sim that does want kids should be celebrated by the EAxis standard, though as usual she's seems somewhat painted as a villain for it (I'm thinking also of Mary-Sue). I think Jennifer Burb manages to dodge the same bullet, though she's never said to be against having more children.

I find it a little odd that she goes right from being with Armand to having no money at all and living in a trailer park. If she caught Armand's eye, you'd think she was already able to travel in his social circle. It's sort of strange that she'd go right from high society down to the lowest possible income level.

Then again, I think Apartment Life and Belladonna Cove are meant to play around with social classes in a big way, so I'd say that huge contrast was intentional.

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Maxis Taste Dare No. 26

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