When it comes to the townies in our hoods
not everyone appreciates the "locals" as much as I do.
I like them!
*Brandi Broke*
But it wasn't always that way with me.
When I first began Simming, (in 2007), I took to making my own Sims and for three years I played nothing but custom Sims in custom hoods. And like a lot of other people, I thought the townies were ugly and I didn't want them mixing up with my customs.
Then I began hanging out at the old Sim's site, (which is now gone), and joined in on the message boards and found out real quick how difficult it can be to chat it up about customs. No one was sharing theirs, (customs), and had little to no interest in mine. Most of them were focused on the premades in Pleasantview and being I'd never played any of them I couldn't respond to anything they posted. The only choice I had was to either start playing the hoods they did or leave the board.
*Don Lothario*
I was aching to have someone to share with when it came to the Sims so I decided to go where I hadn't ventured before, I opened up Pleasantview and began to play the pre-mades. I had little history of them and didn't take the time to study anything about them so it was interesting, (to say the least).
For instance, when I went into the Goth lot for the first time I had never even heard of Don Lothario and here he was on the Goth lot all set to marry Cassandra Goth. I didn't like that idea and had him leave before they anywhere close to the wedding arch.
The more I played the premades, the more I read up on them, especially what everyone was writing about at the Sims' site. Eventually I began to share of few of my Pleasantview experiences and even some pix. By the time I was ready to really put an effort into some detailed tales and share them Sims 3 was out and the Sims 2 section was losing it's enthusiasm for any new TS 2 stuff.
I was too late to get in on it all happening in it's height of glory but did find some wonderful friends in those last days of Sims 2 at the BBS. Friends that I still enjoy hanging with and sharing Sim stories.
*Daniel Pleasant*
I've never understood the the big debate over customs VS pre-mades.
The more I played and mixed customs with the pre-mades, the more fun it was.
Plus their off-spring are super interesting and different - nothing worse, (I think), than having a hood where all the Sims look the same.
Over the years I've developed a list of favorites when it comes to pre-mades/townies and I keep their files so I can bring them into any hood I create. I know some Simmers like having an empty hood to start with, (no pre-mades), and create all the townies themself. That's similar to how I played when I first began Simming and I don't think I'd ever want to go back to that.
*Ricky Cormier*
Little by little I changed the premades/townies to suit me.
I now have custom skin tones and default eyes. But I refuse to change any of them to a degree of not being easily recognized. For instance, I don't change Ricky Cormier's nose or Goopy's face. But I will change their hair, facial hair and anything else that I can add - but I don't change their genes.
The best part about the Sims is how creatively diverse it is -
it offers something for every player and we can turn it into a creative adventure that has no end. At least for me it's that way. I'm really glad I decided to acqaint myself with all the pre-mades and townies. They add a unique charm to my hoods that fuels the magic for me.
It just wouldn't feel right to play my hoods without them.
