Hi everyone! Jayce from Western Australia here...

What a great site, Sugah! Everyone is so friendly and supportive and, of course, crazily addicted to Sims 2. I love the game, I play every day and suffer withdrawal symptoms if I don't get to visit my hood and my little mates!
I was quite amazed when I first visited the site and read some forums about how so many of us started "simming" when we were kids, long before the game was invented. For me, it was Star Wars figures, though I never played them as the characters from the films. I would change their names, put them in a modern context and interact them as friends and write stories about their lives. Sound familiar?
I only discovered mods and CC about a year ago (living in a remote area, I didn't have access to internet until I moved to the big smoke) and after imploding a neighbourhood doing just about everything you're not supposed to do (OH, you can't just delete those creepy townies, I get it now!) I had my computer rebuilt from scratch to handle the direction my game was heading: BIG!
I play my custom hood, Palm Beach, with 13 residences and 32 characters. I've installed some great mods (surfing, casual romance, no getting fat/burning food/random visitors etc...) and amazing CC (hair, clothes, food, furniture, houses, plants) and a couple of sims I've tweaked so they don't exactly resemble a celebrity, just to supplement my own. Palm Beach is tropical and lush, summery, friendly and just about everyone knows everyone! I play the game fairly safely: most of my sims who hooked up in uni are still together but there's a few committment-phobic singles who "casually romance" other like-minded singles they meet at Velvet (the nightclub) or Pagoda and Mariners' Tavern (restaurants) or at Pacific Beach and the Coral Bay surf break. I just ignore the townies, though They wave and try to gate-crash the conversation or pool-game but my sims just give them the cold shoulder!

G'day Sport, howtheyhangin' and welcome to Sugah's Place.

Nice to meet you. That's my middle name BTW! I love these smiley animations. The dancing kitty looks like my cat when she watches the nature docos on TV: Hey, where did that little critter go??

Welcome, Jayce, and thank you for the great introduction!
I enjoyed reading about your passion for our beloved Sims 2.

Glad to meet you and have you here with us at Sugah's Place.

By the way Jayce...your foray into the wild world of simming, sounds very much like mine! For me it was Barbie dolls, and like you, I wrote out their stories: bios, physical descriptions, their likes and dislikes...the works!

to Sugah´s Place!

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. It's wonderful to meet people who play our game with such devotion and imagination. Believe it or not, only one of my friends is into simming (nowhere even near the extent I am!) and the rest think I'm a bit strange, so you can imagine how elated I feel that people, at last, get what I'm talking about!
The few gamers in my social group prefer those war games like "Call Of Duty" etc, which I've never enjoyed playing. I find the violence, which you're supposed to be somehow disassociated from, kinda disturbing. It's funny, I didn't realise this when I started playing about 3 years ago (I was just trying to get the hang of the game at that point) but Sims 2 is completely open-ended. There are no limits to the depth and scope of the game. Sometimes I've been shocked at how authentic my sims' feelings are about something particular to them. I had to remind myself they were "computer-programming." Or were they? How can I feel this attachment to them and be this involved in their lives? Why does it make me happy to see them happy in that joyful over-the-moon way they get?
Yes, I feel a deep affection for my sims. Sometimes when you close in for a photo-op, you catch them with a look. Not just in their face, but in their eyes. I think you all know what I'm talking about...

AB-solutely! I totally get what you're saying Jayce! Ditto! Ditto!

Welcome, Jayce! As a relative newcomer, I can guarantee that you'll like it here.

Now, can someone direct me to the thread where I can read about how you guys played with dolls and such before the sims?

Thanks for the cheery welcomes, gang! I'd love to direct you to the thread but I was so busy reading everything that night, I can't remember! I think there may have been some references in ilikefishfood's "Christophe Harbour" story - someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
My family still make a joke of me apparently sitting in my high-chair making a couple of spoons talk to each other so maybe I started way back then! I did spend a lot of time in my room as a kid playing with Lego, creating neighbourhoods and families who lived there. It wasn't really until the Star Wars figures that my imagination went into overdrive and I actually began to invent lives: little bios in a notebook. I keep a notebook now for my sims to keep a track of what they're doing (careers, skills, those friendships starting to blossom etc), it helps me feel organized.
And on the subject of Christophe Harbour to ilikefishfood for taking me into your world. It was amazing. I can't wait to start on your next chapter!

Jayce, you totally rock!

Twerplina...there isn't a specific thread for how we graduated from dolls and figurines into the sims. There's a multiple-page thread where I share the goings on in my game (and where my Christophe Harbour story got it's start) and in it, I shared my tales of writing bios for my Barbies. There's even a picture of a page from one of my notebooks that I scanned and shared! Yes...30 years later, I still have all these old notebooks crammed with detailed biographies. I think I may've mentioned it as well in the early chappies of my LJ story.

Maybe we should start a "How did you get started playing Sims"?" thread!

Jayce, I'm intrigued by your spoon people. I did that with pencils when I was bored in class! Which was a lot by the way! lol! When I was really, really bored...I'd pretend that the classroom was a busy newsroom, and we were all working on important projects. Too much TV I think.

Interestingly...I actually am now a journalist! Who by the way, is at this moment in the newsroom pretending that she's working on an important story!

I think we all had the Sims in us somewhere. I love that the game re-awakens the childhood imagination we had to leave behind when we grew up and got all sensible! What with jobs and paying the bills and life and all...
I love seeing how everyone at Sugah's brings their sims to life. Some of the sims in the stories and updates are truly breathtaking to look at and knowing that they have such rich, detailed lives in their creators' hoods - with families and jobs and long-standing friendships, passions and ambitions, feelings, opinions - well, you can't tell me that they're not real!
ilikefishfood: i have a day off tomorrow. I'm going to go for a swim down the beach in the morning, do my laundry then make a big cup of coffee and absorb myself in the Harbour!

Hi, Jayce, and welcome to Sugah's!

Jayce wrote:

Believe it or not, only one of my friends is into simming (nowhere even near the extent I am!) and the rest think I'm a bit strange

Jayce wrote:

How can I feel this attachment to them and be this involved in their lives? Why does it make me happy to see them happy in that joyful over-the-moon way they get?
Yes, I feel a deep affection for my sims. Sometimes when you close in for a photo-op, you catch them with a look. Not just in their face, but in their eyes. I think you all know what I'm talking about...

Because you're a simmer. We all know what you're talking about. And non-simmer just don't get it.

Jayce wrote:

I think we all had the Sims in us somewhere. I love that the game re-awakens the childhood imagination we had to leave behind when we grew up and got all sensible!

Speak for yourself! I haven't grown up yet and I'm certainly not sensible! Hee heee!!!

Jayce wrote:

I'm going to go for a swim down the beach in the morning, do my laundry then make a big cup of coffee and absorb myself in the Harbour!

Enjoy your swim and your visit to Christophe Harbour.

By the way, I borrowed the name from an undeveloped development here on my island, which due to the economic crisis has been stalled for years. I never expected my little story to gather a following! I think my story is doing better than the real thing! I hope my tale doesn't get so well-known that I get sued!

Of course, all I 'borrowed' was the name...I imagine my version to be a bit like New Orleans...sub tropical, with a rich and somewhat mysterious multi-cultural history. Here's the real thing: Christophe Harbour, St. Kitts.

Thanks for the clarification.

The good news is that you have a pile of bios to draw on, should you need one in a hurry

Jayce, I can relate to what you're saying.
I don't have any immediate friends and fam who play TS2.
Two of my daughters did for awhile, but they go in spurts with it and have such busy lives.
My Sissy has played, on occasion, but not of late.

I have never been into those intense action games either.
Too much blood and guts for me, plus all that fast action makes me anxious!

Jayce wrote:

Sims 2 is completely open-ended. There are no limits to the depth and scope of the game. Sometimes I've been shocked at how authentic my sims' feelings are about something particular to them ... Why does it make me happy to see them happy in that joyful over-the-moon way they get?
Yes, I feel a deep affection for my sims.

I can't tell you how many of us can relate to that.
We are SOOOO with you there.

Jayce wrote:

I love seeing how everyone at Sugah's brings their sims to life.

We would love it if you'd start your own thread, Jayce.
Please feel free to share your gameplay with us.
We are thrilled to welcome members who are still passionate about Sims 2 and who love sharing what's been going on in their virtual worlds as well as reading about what's going on in ours.



You can read the guidelines for doing so HERE.
Simply start a new thread to share what's been going on with your Simmies in this section.

Thanks for all your comments (Astral Faery, Ullwera, Autumnelle, twerplina, ilikefishfood, Sugah). You guys make me feel so welcome to chat away
Sugah, I'd love to start a thread about my game, so thanks for directing me around the site. I'm a bit Stone Age when it comes to technology (I only just sent my first email last year haha) and this is the first forum I've ever checked into, instead of just reading, so bear with me while I figure out how to upload some pictures!

Perhaps this little tutorial by Soloaris might help with posting images at Sugah's Place, Jayce.
Click HERE.

Remember, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Wow, thanks for the advice, Sugah

The tutorial by Soloaris was really helpful and easy to understand. I'm really amped to get started on a story now!

Yay!!! That's great, Jayce!
So glad Soloaris' image posting tutorial was helpful.



Remember, you don't have to share stories, per se.
Anything that's going on in your game ...
Whether you just want to share your Sim fams' antics, pics of any decorating or building you've done, or just some fun captures of your Sims ...
We'd love to see them all!

Thank you, again, for being here with us.

Welcome, Jayce. It's always nice to meet someone else who is passionate about their sims. Like you, I don't have anyone in my life outside of the internet who sims. I had a roommate in college who played the sims too. That was the original game, before TS2 came out and my brother played both games briefly. I think we chipped in together to get the first game and he borrowed my copy of TS2 at one point. But he doesn't play now and one time he accused me of talking about the sims too much. It's definitely nice to find other people online who know what you're talking about.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about your simming adventures!

Sugah, everyone here is just so lovely and ... SIMpatico! How did you collect such a beautiful bunch of people in one place?!
SimEm, thanks for your nice welcome. Every time I saw one of your comments when I was reading ilikefishfood's "Christophe Harbour" story here at Sugah's, your profile picture (the redhead version) reminded me so much of a friend of mine, it was uncanny! I laughed out loud when you said your bro says you talk too much about Sims I've learned to (ahem) curb my enthusiasm.

In my first hood (which ended up a black hole that ate my computer), I finally married off Jack Diamond and Georgia Merriweather, a long-term relationship couple who had Family second-aspirations and, since they were so nesty and in love, I decided to gamble on that option "Try For a Baby" which I'd only done once before (a disaster: twins, so stressful I abandoned the family and returned ages later once I was a better dad). When Georgia and Jack had their baby, Sam, do you think I could talk about anything else for days?! Talk about eyes glazing over and people thinking I was more socially-retarded than normal!

Which profile picture? This one?

That is Judith from my sim story Arrendale Heights.

The one I had before that with the darker hair was my simself. (I can't find that picture right now.)

It was several years ago when he commented that I talk about the sims a lot. I took it to mean too much, so I pretty much stopped talking about them to other people. I had to tell my husband the other day that his new haircut reminded me of a style from The Sims. I don't think he knew what I was talking about. I'm not sure he knows what sims are.

The first time you get twins in the game is really exciting. I'm not surprised you wanted to talk about it.