WTF Sims?

So, as I may have mentioned here, I bought Sims 2 (which came with the Sims Nightlife expansion pack for $20-- this is why it pays to by the older game just as the new one has come out :-P) over this summer. I've had it long enough now that I don't play it 24/7 like I did when I first got it, but I still play it pretty frequently.

One family I've played a lot with is the Donovans. I started them out as an adult married childless couple, Meg and Tom. They are both Family aspiration, and the Lifetime Aspiration (which when achieved will give them Platinum mood and 10,000 Influence for their rest of their lives-- which I think could then last forever since they'd be able to keep drinking the Elixir of Life?) for both of them is to Marry Off 6 Children. Since one of my favorite parts of Sims is sex and babies (the other being death), they quickly proceeded to have those six kids to marry off. After countless hours of play, Devin (who's been cuckolded but I won't let discover it until his parents have passed their Lifetime Aspirations, lest the shock of their breakup kill them first), Seamus (who grew from a weird kid in a pirate outfit always passing his birthdays in the red into a well-adjusted scientist with an alien wife and baby), the twins Molly and Oliver, and even Katie (who had to wait around for her childhood sweetheart to grow up) all married in due course to the great pleasure (and aspiration points) of their parents. However, when I noticed the youngest son, Aidan, born just days before his mother grew into a barren elder, was having recurring dreams of a man in the neighborhood he had never met, I decided this was Fate and went out of my way to have the two meet and begin a relationship. Aidan and this man Martin then were joined in a "Union" rather than a marriage.

It's kind of weird to me that they do make a distinction in the game between Marriage and Union anyway, but I guess it makes sense if the goal is realism. (The Sims just takes place in a state other than Massachusetts, etc, lol). However, it's really awkward (and quite political!) that a Union is apparently not valued as much as Marriage in the game.

( Observe )

And it's not just that Meg and Tom got 3,000 less aspiration points than if their son had married a nice girl from the neighborhood instead. Aidan's Union didn't count as Marriage and therefore did not count towards the six marriages necessary to fulfill Meg and Tom's Lifetime Aspirations.

What's more, Meg even came over one day to Aidan's new home with Martin to scold him, thinking "Babies!!!!" (the little pacifier icon). Fuck, Meg, Aidan can still have babies. He and his partner started thinking about adoption (pacifier icon plus a telephone) days into their new life together and summarily adopted a child named Alec. Harrumph!

I'm still going to get Meg and Tom their Lifetime Aspiration by marrying off the four children they've adopted since becoming unable to bear their own (bringing them up to ten kids, which earned them major aspiration points since I'd been keeping the 15,000 "Have Ten Children" icon locked) though part of me feels like they don't deserve it for being intolerant jerks )-:

WTF Sims?

So, as I may have mentioned here, I bought Sims 2 (which came with the Sims Nightlife expansion pack for $20-- this is why it pays to by the older game just as the new one has come out :-P) over this summer. I've had it long enough now that I don't play it 24/7 like I did when I first got it, but I still play it pretty frequently.

One family I've played a lot with is the Donovans. I started them out as an adult married childless couple, Meg and Tom. They are both Family aspiration, and the Lifetime Aspiration (which when achieved will give them Platinum mood and 10,000 Influence for their rest of their lives-- which I think could then last forever since they'd be able to keep drinking the Elixir of Life?) for both of them is to Marry Off 6 Children. Since one of my favorite parts of Sims is sex and babies (the other being death), they quickly proceeded to have those six kids to marry off. After countless hours of play, Devin (who's been cuckolded but I won't let discover it until his parents have passed their Lifetime Aspirations, lest the shock of their breakup kill them first), Seamus (who grew from a weird kid in a pirate outfit always passing his birthdays in the red into a well-adjusted scientist with an alien wife and baby), the twins Molly and Oliver, and even Katie (who had to wait around for her childhood sweetheart to grow up) all married in due course to the great pleasure (and aspiration points) of their parents. However, when I noticed the youngest son, Aidan, born just days before his mother grew into a barren elder, was having recurring dreams of a man in the neighborhood he had never met, I decided this was Fate and went out of my way to have the two meet and begin a relationship. Aidan and this man Martin then were joined in a "Union" rather than a marriage.

It's kind of weird to me that they do make a distinction in the game between Marriage and Union anyway, but I guess it makes sense if the goal is realism. (The Sims just takes place in a state other than Massachusetts, etc, lol). However, it's really awkward (and quite political!) that a Union is apparently not valued as much as Marriage in the game.

( Observe )

And it's not just that Meg and Tom got 3,000 less aspiration points than if their son had married a nice girl from the neighborhood instead. Aidan's Union didn't count as Marriage and therefore did not count towards the six marriages necessary to fulfill Meg and Tom's Lifetime Aspirations.

What's more, Meg even came over one day to Aidan's new home with Martin to scold him, thinking "Babies!!!!" (the little pacifier icon). Fuck, Meg, Aidan can still have babies. He and his partner started thinking about adoption (pacifier icon plus a telephone) days into their new life together and summarily adopted a child named Alec. Harrumph!

I'm still going to get Meg and Tom their Lifetime Aspiration by marrying off the four children they've adopted since becoming unable to bear their own (bringing them up to ten kids, which earned them major aspiration points since I'd been keeping the 15,000 "Have Ten Children" icon locked) though part of me feels like they don't deserve it for being intolerant jerks )-: