Sims, part Deux.

[swestrup]

So, due to a slight miscalculation I had to have my Sims family move into a temporary home after they were evicted. I had they buy the half-burnt-down place where Matt had died. Bad Move. Lots of hysterics from the lady who say the death-by-fire, and lots of trouble dealing with the funery urn.  Anyway, it actually looked like having them all live there would be viable, but I started having immediate problems with the Sims. They were so, so, so <i>American</i> it put my teeth on edge. Lets see what I discovered:

1) Sisters will never share a double bed, even if thats all that's available. They would rather collapse on the floor.
2) No one will use a bathroom if someone is in the shower. They would rather pee themselves.
3) No matter how poor, crowded or desperate someone is, only one toilet in a bathroom will ever get used at a time.
4) Someone would rather die of starvation than exit a room through a bathroom, if they don't live in the house. (?)

That last one I'm not sure of. A house guest got himself trapped outside in the 'love grotto' which is only reachable via a classic bathing room. He followed someone in and then didn't seem able to leave. I finally had to dismantle a wall before he would leave.

And finally the big, as O'Roarke would say, WTFFFFFFF:

The sims are now in their mansion. They have a backyard grill and picnic area, accessible through a games room off of the main hall. They hire a butler to, uh, buttle for them.

8:00 am the first day, the Butler arrives. He climbs through a hedge to get to the picnic area without going through the house. He then proceeds to grill burgers (at 8:00 am???). Having made a batch of burgers, he climbs BACK through the hedge and goes in through the front door. He then proceeds to a vanity inside a bathroom off of the library, and serves the burgers there. (No one seems to care in <i>this</i> case that the shower is in use...)

The Sims flock into the bathroom to get their burgers, and then proceed back through the library, into the rec room, and into the back area where they sit at the picnic table to eat their burgers. They are now 2 squares away from the grill....

I JUST DON'T GET IT!!!

So, I had fun bulding the mansion, but I'm not having much fun with the Sims. They are just a bit too stupid for my tastes. Still, there are a number of things I haven't explored yet, so it may just be my inexperience at this point. We shall see.

Comments

[tjernobyl.livejournal.com]

Apparently, the original AI was smarter, but then the sims led happy lives and that didn't leave enough for the user to do. I wonder if they dumbed down the pathing as well...

[kay.livejournal.com]

I found out that even on a sims game I'm not supposed to become a parent .. because the kid I magically adopted after getting a call (poof, there it was) was picked up by the social services simply because my sim had to do some stretching before waking up and walking to the nursery to feed it ... pffff.

[labyrinthman.livejournal.com]

Sims 2 drops in 2004, apparently. Will be interesting to see if they've improved any of this.

[sps.livejournal.com]

Hm, it continues to sound rather pointless to me - except as an exercise in social surrealism.

[swestrup]

You know, I find your attitude to be sooo strange, because, in my mind, "The Sims" and "Sim city" are the same game...

[swestrup]

I haven't experimented with the phone much. Are you saying you can just phone up and have kids delivered? What if its for a BBQ?

[kay.livejournal.com]

Actually ... they call you and ask you if you wanna adopt .. if you say yes, it's right there next to the phone .. crib and all. Hmmm for a BBQ .. baby ribs perhaps?:)

[sps.livejournal.com]

Hm. It seems to me that Sim City is (at its best) a chance to play at management problems that I care about, but over which I experience a sense of total powerlessness in practise. Whereas the Sims is a game about real life and real life responsibilities - and there's more than enough real life already, thanks.

Hm, there's also the fact that it (literally) makes me cry when the little people in Rollercoaster Tycoon die. Anyone I'm more likely to identify with than that I do not want getting set on fire!