strangetomato | Maxis Taste Dare No. 26

Entry tags:

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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. :)

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.

What's the stereotype? I see a little of both "gold digger" and "trailer trash" in her game portrayal but neither really fits her story completely. I think the most significant thing about her was her refusal to have children, and choosing to go from riches to rags to stick to her childfree ways. That's sort of interesting.

True enough. I guess it's those two, neither of which I especially care for, in combination that sort of makes me feel... meh about her. But the leaving because she doesn't want children is an interesting angle, I agree. One that's unusal for EAxis too (there's... a lot of female Family sims).

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 like doing that with the Brokes. They're one of my favourite families to play, because I enjoy the challenge (tiny house, little money, lots of kids, one adult) and all the different directions you can take with them.

I think some of the problem with Jessica is that I don't really like playing single-sim-households very much. I did give her a business in my last BDC (which I didn't really post about), that was sort of fun. But I'm never really sure what to do with her.

The whole storyline between her and Armand is kind of poorly defined, I agree. I mean it's clear that he wanted a baby, she did not, and then she left, but what exactly happened between them? I'm never sure what to do with Armand either, to be honest. I had him adopt another kid once, though (Chandler Platz, in fact). I think I like that idea more than pairing him up again. I've never liked him with either of the Cordial sisters, he seems far too dull and normal for them.

I think one of the reasons I like the Burbs a lot is their kind of non-standard setup, with her as the Fortune sim, him the Family sim, and nothing really being said about either of their wishes or lack thereof for more kids. It's the same setup as with Armand/Jessica and the Aspirs, but it leaves you more free to interpret their situation yourself. Then again, that's the great thing about the base game character bios focusing more on little details about the sims' personalities (Jennifer likes being fashionable, John enjoys gardening) rather than telling you about their goals in life. (Victor wants kids, Elizabeth wants a career.)

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)

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.

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)?

Yes, you can. That way you can add more light, but the base of the room remains mostly the same. You can also move them a couple of tiles to the sides to give more space to bigger widows and better use of light. Same with doors.

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!).

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)

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)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Maxis Taste Dare No. 26

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject