What is THAT all about?

[profbutters]

In Sim news, I've been playing Uni.  I have some ideas for a plot involving at least some of the Pleasantview Sims.  I'm starting to enjoy stories with the Maxis pre-mades, and the gender reversal makes for some nice twists.  For example, I allowed Danielle to cheat on Marty Stu a bit because she already has, and she's clearly supposed to.  But while I feel a bit sorry for Mary Sue (she's within three days of elder when you open the lot, nowhere close to her career goals, about to get fired, and her husband is cheating on her), somehow Danielle cheating on Marty Stu is. . . funny?  That's probably awful and terrible and sexist of me.  

Here's the thing:  I never played the real Pleasantview before, so some of what's going on doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  I figure most of you have, and I thought I'd ask you guys some questions:   I'll use the original names, so it's clearer.

What's up with Daniel and Dustin Broke?  When I invited Daniel(le) over to the dorm at Sim State, (s)her followed Dustin around, cornered (her)him in the restroom, and slapped the cookies out of (her) him.  Why?  What did Dustin do?  What's Daniel's beef?

Is Angela always this passive?  When you open the Pleasant's lot, it's Lilith who steps forward and smacks Angela.  I tried to get them a little less mad at each other before I sent them to college, and I gave up.  And still--it's most Lilith who does the stalking.  Angela slaps back sometimes, but mostly she avoids Lilith and cries.  

Dirk Dreamer seems a bit keener on keeping up the high school relationship than Dustin.  I don't know if that's because I played the Brokes longer than I played the Dreamers and Dustin had more time to do things like bond with his family and boost his grades.  

Frankly, I almost prefer Alexander, Beau, and Lucy, because they aren't such drama queens.  

As a girl, Nina Caliente was nothing but trouble, especially at the businesses.  But as a boy, he's pretty decent.  He was a date drop for Nausicaa, and I thought "no way," but then he hung around raking leaves for hours and then chatted with Nausicaa.  So I began to think he might be all right after all, though maybe not Fifty Dream Dates worth it.  

Anyway, I don't know when I can update next.  The work is going to snowball almost right away.  But I'm making time to Sim and I think I have some nice plot ideas.

Comments

[catzilla01.livejournal.com]

damn girl, that looks like a dramma story, great! I totally get you, first day is hard for every one

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

Of course, when you're a professor, everybody else's hard day is your day. I have ten extra students and students who really want to be able to add.

[peasant007.livejournal.com]

I'm going to guess that Daniel doesn't approve of Dustin dating his daughter, Angela. You know how some things are queued up to happen automatically (Don leaving Cassandra at the altar if she doesn't kiss him beforehand? Or Mortimer showing up on the Caliente lot as soon as you load it?) Dustin's teen career was on the Criminal track, and in Angela's biography, if memory serves, it talks about her "Bad boy boyfriend". It's never happened to me, but then again, I don't think I've ever actually had Daniel and Dustin in the same room together.

Yes, Angela is always that passive. Lilith was another "bad girl." I just checked their stats, and Lilith is meaner. And, I know from first-hand, personal experience, that Lilith is very aggressive and will pick fights for no reason...even in other neighborhoods, so that's not story coding there. I don't know why Lilith is that aggressive though, she has 3 Nice points, but she acts like she has 1.

I don't know about Dirk as I never played with him and he's currently an adult Townie with no past relationships in his memory.

Alexander and Lucy are actually very sweet, especially if they roll compatible Aspirations. That's probably the reson why a lot of people pair them up.

Male Nina and Nausicaa would be a three bolt couple, eh? Of course it all depends on whether or not you choose to re-roll her Aspiration after Sophmore year. The LTW's re-roll when you choose a new Aspiration, right?

I owe you a comment on your latest chapter, I know. I've been trying to get this rebuild finished and everyone situated, along with redecorating Zane's house so it's closer to what it was in the last update. I did read it, though and I can't wait to see what you have planned :)

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

Huh. Daniel has a nerve, considering what a mess he's made of his family's lives. I've never played the Calientes for more than a few seconds, so maybe that's why I haven't seen Mortimer there.

I don't think Lucy/Linus and Alexander/ra will wind up together. I was just playing their lot and I was startled to see Linus doing the "call me, baby" thing to Male Mohawk Dormie. I'm guessing I hit Randomize Gender Preference on the Sim Blender, gone off to do something else, and forgotten all about it. I could always re-randomize him, but I might leave well enough alone.

I think the LTWs do re-roll when the Aspiration changes. At least that's what I remember. I have two Fifty Dream Dates college kids; Nausicaa and Belle Broke. It's doable, but time-consuming and exhausting.

Take your time. I usually wind up doing that.

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

See, Angela always seemed to have it in for Lilith in my version of Pleasantview. I kind of felt bad for Lilith.

Daniel is probably set up pre-disposed to dislike Dustin because he's a 'bad boy' from the wrong side of the tracks dating his precious daughter. I know there's all sorts of ugliness with the way Angela and Lilith are treated. Angela's personality was encouraged up while Lilith's was encouraged down.

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

See, I like Lionel (Lilith), too. I don't really know why. I played him until he had decent grades, and he has two good friends: Nausicaa and Zane, both of whom came home from school with him. So he doesn't have any claim to pity from me.

^^^ see "Daniel has a nerve," above. As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with Dustin or any of the Brokes, other than being poor. BTW, that is a family that seems very different with the genders reversed, and I don't just mean Brandon being pregnant. Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that all the Pleasantview stories and characters are hugely drawn stereotypes with strong gender expectations built right in. So if Don becomes Donna, or Cassandra becomes Caspian, and nothing else changes, but your feelings towards them change, what does that say about our culture, and what does that say about you?

I'd heard something about Angela having Lilith's "missing points." Maybe that's what was meant?

[peasant007.livejournal.com]

I'd heard something about Angela having Lilith's "missing points." Maybe that's what was meant?

The only thing is, in a completely different neighborhood with none of the story coding, Lilith is still incredibly aggressive. My BC neighborhood is a good example. She laid the smack down on Cassandra within the first hour of meeting her. I've also extracted her, placed, and played her in other neighborhoods and she acts the same way. It's rather bizzare. She honestly acts like a Sims with 1 Nice Point instead of the 3 she comes with *shrug*

[smoothiesims.livejournal.com]

83 degrees??? No building in California EVER needs to be that warm. My room at work was ~80 last week while no one else was here and the A/C was turned off/not working for whatever reason and it was miserable. I hope you feel better soon and that the rest of the week goes well.

I never really play the pre-made neighborhoods (preferring my own Sims) but Pleasantview sounds like a drama bucket.

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

I think Pleasantview is supposed to be a drama bucket. The only pre-mades I ever really played were in Veronaville. I was surprised to hear how many people said it was their least favorite hood. I guess I thought having a gender-reversed Pleasantview and not ever using it seemed wasteful, and considering I'm on Gen. Nine, having one extra household at Uni is no big deal.

Remember the Sim Secret from a few weeks back that was "I hate it when writers use the Maxis pre-mades: you should make up your own characters?" I'm starting to like them. I'm beginning to think of them as a shared vocabulary. It's like using Legacy Sims in a way, only *everyone* has access to them.

Still, playing a neighborhood where a lot of Sims are pre-wired to hate other Sims can get old.

[ndainye.livejournal.com]

83 degrees? Even as I sit here shivering, I think that's way too warm. I hope you start feeling better.

Daniel starts the game with low relationship levels to Dustin. If that's not corrected before Dustin becomes an 'adult' then Daniel will fight with him. The Pleasants are supposed to be upwardly mobile, they are materially wealthy and Angela is the Princess. Dustin is the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks, he's poor and he's a criminal. Daniel doesn't want him near the Princess. It would probably be fine if Dustin was dating Lillith, but not Angela.

The Angela/Lillith relationship is one that I tend to work hard on repairing. And in my experience, Angela is always the aggressor. Lillith has social problems prior to playing the lot for the first time due to poor aspiration and negative family relations but once those things have been fixed she's fine. I always give her back her proper personality.

In my legacy hood with the sims extracted as townies, Mary-Sue married a cousin and the twins were sent to UNI with their step-siblings. The only issue I had with either of them was the constant stalking of Puck Summerdream. But hey, everyone did that :) Angela re-rolled romance, Lillith and Dirk eventually got together and are happily married.

Lillith/Dirk had no previous relationship in that hood, they just happened. In past Pleasantview experiences, Dirk has been a bit of a player. He has better chemistry with both sisters than Dustin does and tends to go back and forth between the two of them. Dustin and Angela rarely 'click' for me.

Lucy/Beau/Alex don't have many pre-set relationship issues. They're clean slates that can be played the way you wish them to be played. Since they're children they have time to bond with their families and to make friends. Depending on aspirations you choose for them Lucy can work well with either boy. My personal OTP for Alex though is Bottom Summerdream, but that requires merged hoods.

I've never had many issues with Nina, personality wise she doesn't really 'fit' romance. She's easily the type of Romancer that can settle with one man. Unlike many others, I don't think that Don's the one man for Nina. They gravitate towards each other based on the previously set relationships, but Don's not going to stick with her long term. He can't stick with anyone.

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

Thank you! You would not believe how helpful this is. It verifies a lot of stuff I've seen.

Dirk (Dionne) spontaneously decided to go up to Lilith (Lionel) for a kiss and they fell in love. Personally, I would rather have set Lionel up with someone else, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. However, I've noticed that Dionne seems to be interested in both of them.

Male Nina has relationships with a couple of other Sims, but since (s)he was a well drop for Carmilla, I don't have a lot of problems with nuking the hearts there and giving him (her) a fresh start. Donna seems happier playing the field--she's one of Achilles' girlfriends. We'll see.