Everything thing I need to know about life...

[mellowtigger]

... I learned from Sims 3.

There went 2 days of my life in a flash.  I had a few $10 gift cards to Best Buy (from me taking monitors from work there to get recycled, where Best Buy now requires a $10 "deposit" for each monitor), so I cashed them in and got the game.  I never did play Sims1 or Sims2, but I saw online that EA got rid of the draconian anti-copying technology that they used in Spore and went back to plain old id number validation instead.  (It does, however, require a game disc in drive each time you startup the game.)  I figured I should reward their good corporate behavior, so I bought a copy of the Sims 3 game.  :)

Big news (for me) is that Sims 3 allows marriage between any two characters.  So welcome Terry and George, newlyweds!  Each character gets 5 traits.  I gave myself Loner, Bookworm, Green Thumb, Genius, and Computer Whiz.  I gave my hypothetical husband Good Sense of Humor, Handy, Friendly, Brave, and Good.  George ended up looking hispanic, although whenever popup notices appeared with his name "George Tiggun", I kept misreading it as "George Takei" instead.  *laugh*


I apologize for the dark photos.  Some of it is the way the progams are (mis)behaving, and part of it is because all the romantic stuff tended to happen at night, since we were both away at jobs during the daytime hours.  The romance part of the story was sweet, so I'll include the photos for that.  Unlike real life, I got me some WooHoo action with my own husband!  ;)

Real Stuff	Not so real stuff
If you don't put away the dishes as soon as you're done eating, they collect in a smelly pile.	Riding a bicycle for transportation is just as fast as riding a car.
If you add more table counter space in the kitchen, it just produces more smelly piles of old dishes.	Commuting safety is so passe.  Vehicles actually CAN occupy the same space at the same time.
It's a lot cheaper if you share the same interests that cost money for equipment.	Working out 4 or 5 times is enough to alter the appearance of your body.
It's very convenient (if you're a Loner) to have a beau who likes doing things elsewhere (like fishing or jogging).  You both rejuvenate while following your interests.	Why yes, please, I will take house appliances that clean themselves.  (Sink, oven, toilet, etc.)
I want a house near park land.  It makes it very easy to collect seeds to add to my garden!  :)	You can't move the mailbox.  So be sure your front door is near your mailbox, otherwise you'll miss paying your bills on time.  And repossession is unpleasant business.
If a garden is large enough, it becomes a job of its own.	Using a telescope in daylight is perfectly safe!
If it's just the two of us in a house, I prefer the indoor rooms to not have any doors.
Sometimes you have to schmooze with the boss in order to advance your career.  *sigh*
Playing house is a LOT easier if only one of you has to have "a job" elsewhere.  It takes a lot of time to keep a good house.
It's good if at least one of you is a social person, because you learn of job opportunities and cooking recipes that way.
Start with a small house and a BIG lot.  It's easier to expand than to move.  I started with a huge but empty lot (near park land) and built from scratch.
It's more efficient if one of you is "the cook" and the other just scavenges from whatever's in the refridgerator.
Any bath that lasts an hour will leave you feeling better afterwards.  (It better, if it takes that long to finish!)
Having "a job" leaves very little time to pursue other interests.
Jobs that requires 4 days per week are vastly superior to jobs that require 5 days per week.
Money doesn't buy happiness, but it does buy a lot of stuff that liberates you from unhappiness.

Although both of us ended up desiring children together, I could find no way for us to adopt a child.  (And WooHooing together never got George pregnant, no matter how often we tried.  *laugh*)  So I think that Sims 3 same-sex couples will need to start their family life with children already in tow rather than work on their careers first with parenthood later.

Comments

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

I picked up a copy of SIMS 3 over the weekend (even 'though I don't have a computer with a working DVD reader. Come October, however...)

I've really enjoyed SIMS 1 & 2, especially when I discovered places like Mod The Sims 2, and Gay Sims Club 2. They've got tons of custom content & game hacks. I'm sure they'll be one allowing male pregnancy pretty soon. There's several hacks out for Sims 2 that let ya do that.

I'm not sure why you couldn't adopt (maybe if you moved your couple from Florida...), 'cuz from what I read in the instructions that's allowed.

Something I'm really excited about is the movie editor built into the game. I've done a little bit of machinima on Sims 2 that have really turned out well.

[mellowtigger]

Yes, I had read that somewhere too, so I was fully expecting to adopt. I searched the whole town many times, though, and never found a place to do it. If it's something that's "unlocked", I don't know how to do it. :(

[mellowtigger]

I did notice that there were no pets. I assume Sims 1 or 2 had those eventually? I suppose they'll make it a paid expansion later. :/

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Yep. The pet expansion was the third or fourth to come out for SIMS 2, and I expect that the same will happen for the new version.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

If I remember correctly you have to call the adoption agency on the phone first. It should be already in the "service" call list.

Now that I think on it, the adoption agency should show up on the town map.

[mellowtigger]

Thanks! I'm back from work (oh, the woes of employment *laugh*) and tried it out. You're right, it was there all along and I missed it.



I'll need to save up some money for adding another room to the house. :)

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

There's probably a cheat code for that--I'm not so much in playing the actual game as I am to warping it to my purposes... Lemme know if you want more info.

Hey, is there a coffee get together tomorrow night?

[mellowtigger]

Wednesday 6-8pm at Lily's Cafe, yes. Wear a kilt if you've got one. :)

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Of course - with the right virtual drive utility, one can use an image of the CD in place of the actual disc. ;) I do that with one of my games that would normally require the CD to be physically present.

[mellowtigger]

I'll be trying that out shortly. :)

What do you use? I have http://www.virtualcd-online.com/.

[mellowtigger]

It worked with just a basic cd scan. It's still a 5.5GB image taking up hard drive space, but much more convenient than swapping out discs each time I start up a different game.

Now if only I could convince game companies that even the disc check does little to prevent illegal copying but just annoys paying customers instead.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

I'll have to give that a try. The DVD reader-thingieon my Mac has been broken for about a year, and if I can find a way around having to pop in the disc all the time I'd be very happy.