Mystic Worlds

SimCity 5 Here I Come!

Not too shabby for a new Mayor

Launch nonsense aside, I’ve decided to join the masses playing SimCity 5. I’ve never played SimCity of any kind. For several years, I was a huge The Sims fan. I’ve played and owned every version and the accompanying expansions through The Sims 3 Apartment Life. I even played The Sims Online and was in the beta no less. Oh how the fall of that game broke my heart. It was like the designers had never played The Sims. *Cries big splashy tears*

A couple of years into playing MMOs, my love of The Sims slowly waned. The attraction of micromanaging a bunch of Sims in a solo play environment was less than appealing, with each new MMO adventure. Gradually, no one in our household or any of our immediate friends played The Sims anymore, having opted for massive online experiences instead. Most of my gal pals ended up in Second Life - *hurl*. While my immediate and extended family fell head over heels for fantasy MMOs and co-op console titles.

On a break from Guild Wars 2 and not wanting to burn out on Tera Online, I was in the market for a casual friendly game when I saw Gary Gannon’s play through of SimCity 5 on GBTV. I just noticed a second play through that I'll watch tonight.  

Delving into The Sims 3 – Part 2 of 3

Why I waited
I’ve been playing The Sims for many years.  I started back with Sims 1, had all the expansion packs and continued forward with The Sims 2.  And it’s not just me, my daughters and girlfriends all play.  We’ve all been playing for years since I was the first one in and corrupted the others.

A cornerstone of my playing until now has been to live rather large.  I didn’t see the point in struggling financially in The Sims.  I have enough budget management in my real life.  I’ve also been a self-employed Sim long before The Sims 2 actually added gaming mechanics to support player run businesses.  Back in the day, I used hacks to modify in game objects that produce small items you could sell back to the game, as a source of income.  There were custom skins to turn the canning object into a chef’s stove, flowers into fruits and vegetables, the robot maker into chocolate candy station, etc.  I had working farms, cafes, bookstores and the alike – all home based businesses.  But the revenue generated wasn’t enough to sustain a household.  I had to use money cheats to make ends meet, and that’s how I played Sims for several years.  The Sims 2 Open for Business changed all that, allowing me to use native game mechanics to build my home businesses.  The Sims 2 Seasons expansion let me drop the game hacks that turned weeds and flowers into produce and I was in Sim heaven.

One of my chief reservations about The Sims 3 was starting up the next generation of the game without the two expansions that crystallized my particular gaming focus.  I didn’t feel like delving back into game mods and hacks to have my own business.  I’d purchased The Sims 3 (TS3) for myself and my daughters but I hadn’t bothered to install my copy.  I figured I’d wait for some of the generation 3 expansions to be released.  Discussing this choice with my best friend, she informed me that I could do something small scale from home.  She explained that gardening was part of the base game.  Additionally, the writing performed on your home computer now translates into a career with aspirations and rewards. Whachoo takin’ ‘bout Willis?  Say whaaat?  This was the catalyst for me giving TS3 a try now.  What would be cuter than to have a novelist career path on my Sim while producing a side income by gardening/farming?  In my book, nothing would be cuter and in I went.

My Sim starting her garden in TS3

Delving into The Sims 3 – Part I of 3

I’m in the jumping off part of the second screenwriting workshop I’m taking this summer.  Gaming and blogging time have been sparse.  The first of two student critiques provided some interesting food for thought and some laughs along with valuable feedback. 

First was a marriage proposal since I’m a woman who loves sci-fi enough to write about, has a blog and plays MMOs.  *Smile*  Of course the proposal was said (written) tongue in cheek but it was quite funny.  The same person suggested that I stop playing games and shut down the blog until I finish the screenplay.  He said the he found it impossible to write to his potential while gaming.  He probably has a point there.  It’s something I’ve certainly considered.  However, I’m trying to use discipline over extremes.  To that end, I’ve spent very little time playing games the past couple of weeks.  And when I did, I felt like I needed a real alone experience and turned to playing The Sims 3.

 
Affordable bedroom community I built on the outskirts of town.

The second was more encouragement about the premise of my story and the uniqueness of some of the plot elements.  That's always a good shot in the arm to help you keep going when you're tired and want nothing more than to slack off.  I didn't do much slacking off but when I felt like playing The Sims, I took small steps toward building my little community and establishing my character, while learning the new and wondrous changes in The Sims 3.

Fundamental Changes to My Personal Game-Play
The Sims 3 changes some of the fundamental mechanics and constructs of its predecessors.  My opinion on those changes and their impact to how I personally play The Sims, is too large for a single posting.  As the title explains, I’ll be doing this in three parts.  Welcome to part one.

The Sims is Serious Business

When the next generation of a game sells 1.7 million copies in the first week even though adopting this version means eventually re-buying all the expansions you had in the previous version, that game must be a monster hit.  The Sims franchise is the monster hit of which I speak.  Being among the top selling PC games of ALL TIME, playing The Sims is s-e-r-i-o-u-s business!

While many Western MMORPG players are grappling with the idea of micro-transactions for virtual goods, The Sims community of players has been doing that for years.  For many, playing The Sims (TS) is all about beautiful, bling and over the top.  Unfortunately, the designing skills of the developers building TS has been shall we say, lacking in diversity and quality.  The community creates massive amounts of custom content for every aspect of the game that can be shared by others.  There’s a lot of free content but the amazing looks so real that it boggles the mind sort of content, comes at a cost.  You can pay by the item from a wide variety of player run websites.  Or you can subscribe to one or more of the better stocked sites for a few months.  That’s what I do.  And I’ve never worried nor cared about that fact that I was basically paying a monthly subscription, to a third party, just to have “pretty” virtual content in my game.

Although I purchased a copy for myself and one each for my daughters, I’m not playing TS3 yet.  But I ran across something while searching for a veranda for my daughter, that completely blew my mind.  I mean, TS is serious business but damn – the Living Sims magazine takes it to a whole new level.

ALL the rooms are created using The Sims!!

Apartment Life – New The Sims 2 Expansion Pack

I’m all over this like white on rice.  This is what will slack my thirst until the WAR Headstart.  In case you missed it, I’m going to be out of town on business during the Open BETA.  *Cries hysterically!*  My family remains proud members of the TS2 fan club.  We own all of the expansion packs bar none.  Granted, I don’t play so much anymore.  The whole alone in an RPG doesn’t work long for me these days.

I’m as excited about AL as I was Open for Business and Seasons because it eliminates the laborious efforts I was taking to simulate playing in a connected community of autonomous Sims.  OFB stopped me having to find ways to work and make money from home without resorting to cash cheats.  My storylines always revolved around a home-based business.  Seasons stopped me needing to download and use re-skinned flower models that looked like vegetables so I could have a garden or simulate a farm.

Calling All Sims 2 Content Creators!!

Every year I treat myself to something nice for Christmas.  It’s usually a geek gadget, peripheral or something cool I want but haven’t been able to justify purchasing.  This year, I want something really original – new content for my Sims 2 game!

That’s right, you heard me.  I want to commission custom designed content for me to use with the Sims 2 Open for Business and Seasons.  I want to negotiate a price to have a neighborhood built and sent to me.  We can work out the details of how many homes and the level of customization required, but here’s the general gist…

Go Sims!

It never fails to make me smile when The Sims hits the top selling games list.  First because I'm a fan on the franchise and own most of the expansion packs.  Second because all my girlfriends and daughters still play.  And last, because so-called real gamers like to laugh at people who play The Sims.  I guess if we can say that the 7 million people playing WOW can't be wrong, what does that say about Will Wright's brainchild game still topping the charts all these years later?

Meenoglubglub - GO SIMS!

In the most recent expansion, I created a couple that's running an Internet Cafe.  They have three robots that help out with the daily management.  And there's love in the air, and I'm not talking about the humans. *wink*  The last time I booted it up they were still focusing on building up skills in their primary roles.  Wife was mastering cooking and charisma, hubby mechnical to do repairs, two robots mechanical to help out and one robot cleaning and cooking to take care of the house.  I like The Sims but I can't get into the solo game play anymore.  Oh how I wish they hadn't botched The Sims Online.  My girlfriends and I still lament about how poorly conceived their attempt was at implementing such a wonderful game.  Oh well, at least the stand-alone is still kicking ass.

An Average Day for a Sim

A handsome couple sits quietly, side-by-side, studying cooking and mechanical repair. The household robot, after slaving away in the kitchen preparing baked Alaska, takes a break and plays Mozart. Strange? No, it’s an average day playing The Sims.

I had an hour on my hands and a few brains cells to burn. What, oh what, should I do with that time? Read? Interact with other humans? Get out for some fresh air? No, too cold. Run some errands? Nope, too tired. Let’s go play newest The Sims 2 expansion pack, Open for Business. All of you so-called real gamers can start rolling your eyes and make a quick escape by clicking the back button on your browser. For those of you who are liberal minded enough to admit any game that has been around this long probably has some merit to it, continue reading.

Wiping my nose with the back of my hand and swaggering into a pseudo macho stance I say, "Yeah, I play The Sims. What of it?" I pre-ordered the expansion pack as soon as it was possible to do so, on Amazon.com. My daughters are rabid fans and have been since the first version. Personally, I hadn’t played the last two expansions, my time being consumed with the likes of WOW. However, I knew I was going to play this version at some point. This was the version that had brought the features I had been trying to simulate directly into the game. Hot damn! I’m vindicated. I can now proclaim that the way I had attempted to play the game, as creative and forward-thinking, not madness.

Temptation Looms

The Sims 2 is coming out with an expansion pack that mighe lure me back.  Open for Business will allow players to open shops on their properties or community lots.  Entreprenurial-types can manage the business on their own or higher employees.  This sounds like an awesome idea!

I've always wanted to open a small business on my property from the very first time I played The Sims.  I loved the canning machine and used it to make small amounts of cash.  For my creative Sims painting was always an easy way to put a few simoleans in the pocket.  My last venture was an Inn where 3 of the Sims played the role of employees with the other 5 being guests.  I can't wait for this to come out.  I've already pre-ordered a copy for myself and my daughter.

Playing House

Everytime I run across a cute house for TS2 it makes me get the itch to download it and plant and fully dysfunctional family with its walls.  When I was playing The Sims, I spent a large part of my time designing the houses and decorating.  It felt like playing dolls for adults.  It wasn't uncommon for me to spend a whole weekend on creating the Sim property.

By the time I started TS2, there were so many sites out there with great properties - better than I could create, it no longer made sense to spend time creating, what I could easily download.  That's when I turned to simulating little freak-shows versus ushering families.  Lots of fun there too. 

I'm not playing TS2 at the moment but I do still read through blogs.  Check out this one for some nice downloads of free houses and Sims.