Stolen Weekend Entertainment: Sims 2 Edition

[cameoflage]

*ganks DE for the weekend with an idea I've been sitting on for a while* Today I bring to you a DE based on my favourite game.

My favourite part of The Sims 2 is the aspiration system. Your Sim can have Knowledge, Family, Pleasure, Popularity, Romance, Fortune, or Grilled Cheese as their aspiration, which shapes their wants and fears and therefore pretty much their whole attitude towards life. (The last couple of expansion packs added secondary aspirations, which is basically the option to minor in a different aspiration; it adds wants and fears from the secondary aspiration into the wants and fears from their main aspiration.)

A Knowledge Sim wants to know and experience as much stuff as they can. They get wants to either study up on their skills or experience various interesting events, which can be anything from seeing hail to being abducted by aliens. Knowledge Sims also tend to be a little weird; they want to do the wacky supernatural stuff -- seeing ghosts, turning into vampires, the aforementioned alien abductions, it goes on -- that other Sims are afraid of and don't enjoy.

A Family Sim wants to be part of a big happy family, and if they've already got one then they want their family members to succeed. If they're single they want to settle down with somebody. They get the most 'have a baby' wants.

A Pleasure Sim just wants to have fun. Anything that's fun, they want to do it. In play, they seem to live for the little things; they get a lot of wants for simple pleasures like eating their favourite food or jumping on the bed.

A Popularity Sim wants to have lots of friends who adore them. Their wants revolve around making friends, boosting their relationships with the friends they've got, meeting new people, and throwing parties.

A Romance Sim wants lots of lovin'. They want to have as many lovers and as much sex as they can. (Which is a pain to pull off in-game because, barring mods, The Sims doesn't have either casual sex or polyamory; your Sim will have to sneak around to have their multiple love affairs. But that's beside the point.) They also have the quirk of being afraid of being tied down; most Sims want to get married once their relationship gets sufficiently serious, but Romance Sims fear marriage and babies.

A Fortune Sim wants to make lots of money and own lots of expensive stuff. Their wants revolve around making certain amounts of money, buying expensive items, and securing promotions at their job so they can climb the career ladder and make more money.

And a Grilled Cheese Sim wants to eat lots of grilled cheese sandwiches. That's really all there is to say on the matter.

...also, children and toddlers have the Grow Up aspiration, but that's almost more like the absence of an aspiration, since it's specifically there because they're not old enough to know what they want out of life yet.

What aspiration of Sim would your pup be? Would they have just one aspiration, or would they take a secondary aspiration?

Comments

[cameoflage]

I'll lead in with my own pups! Aradia works best as a Knowledge Sim, given that she's fond of archaeology and dead things.

I think all the OCs of mine who you've met are Knowledge Sims, too.

...I have a type, yes.

[a1enzo]

Hmm. Interesting. Enzo is definitely Family. I'd say his secondary is probably Popularity, though he's very into Knowledge as well, thanks in large part to Milliways.

The Grow Up aspiration seems to closely parallel what we've got regarding sprite children who don't have their format yet. Until they do, their format is just Child, and their function is basically to grow up and find a format.

[cameoflage]

Huh! Neat parallel.

[not_my_sandbox]

I think Amascut may fall into Knowledge, because of dissect all the things.

Evil Chicken is Grilled CheeseChicken.

[sky_child]

...humn... I think he'd fall into Family.

[gorgonfondness]

Mia is most likely a Knowledge Sim. She's a voracious reader, has an interest in creatures most others would want to avoid, and will almost always jump at the chance to explore new places. But she'd have a secondary aspiration as a Family Sim. She wouldn't rule out future children (even if she kind of wants a break since she just had Scorpius) and she wants Draco, her children, and her students to succeed.

Lucas is still a kid in a lot of ways but I can see him being a Family Sim. It's what he grew up with and what he wants to be part of again. There's a significant portion of Mother 3 family fanart and some of the most bittersweet shows Lucas seeing himself as being a family with Duster and Kumatora. Ragtag bunches of misfits ALWAYS make the best families.

And I'm glad someone finally put my aspiration in words. I'm a Grilled Cheese Sim. With maybe a secondary aspiration as a Pleasure Sim.

in which the parenthesized bit is several times longer than the rest of the comment

[cameoflage]

I personally am a pitch-perfect Knowledge Sim, with Popularity for a secondary aspiration. (For the longest time I couldn't figure out if my secondary aspiration was Popularity or Fortune, but then one day it suddenly hit me that I love being in a big group of fellow nerds and get a huge thrill from being the centre of attention. And somehow I manage to be like this despite being shy.)

[evil_koala_626]

Is Stitch a Family Sim or a Grilled Cheese Sim? Stitch defies your attempts to label him! In all seriousness though I would say he's got a primary ambition of Pleasure with a secondary one of Family. He is first and foremost a creature of impulse. Thanks to Lilo's influence (Now there's a Family Sim if ever there was one), he's latched onto the concept of ohana in a very big way. It's just that his lack of foresight coupled with the fact that he's still being guided make me think of it as a secondary trait.


Follows-Chalk is a Knowledge Sim through and through. Whether this comes back to bite him on the ass remains to be seen. Given his world, that's kind of a sucker bet though.


Maximus (who still won't go away) is a Grilled Cheese JUSTICE Sim.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Seriously, Follows-Chalk's canon is Fallout. EVERYTHING comes back to bite you in the ass in that canon. EVERYTHING.

[saphyria]

Yrael is most definitely Knowledge with a secondary aspiration of Pleasure. He wants to know, and he wants to have fun. Always. (I tend to have him want to be a Rock Star, if I make an Yrael-sim in Sims 3.)

Zelgadiss is... well, he's seeking very specific knowledge, so he can eventually settle down with the person he loves, so maybe Knowledge-Family? (I tend to have him be a Renaissance Sim in Sims 3.)

Sunshine... just wants to survive and save the world, at this point. There's no talk of riches, fun, family, romance, popularity, or knowledge. Or grilled cheese. Maybe cinnamon rolls, but she makes them for others, not generally for herself. (I give her a Celebrated 5-Star Chef lifetime wish in Sims 3, with a side of paranormal investigation. ^_^)

[bjornwilde]

Ben, despite his seeming obsession with popularity, is a Family Sim. As is Thalia.

Hank is Knowledge with a secondary of Family.

Palamedes at this point is focused on Nobility which you don't have a trait for but ultimately it's Family for him as well.

Julie is a kid so Growth but I would add Popularity as a secondary, at least in her recent past.

Beast Boy is another kid but Popularity or Family are competing for secondary.

Kate...tough call. Maybe Pleasure since you don't have an Honor or "Serve Your Fellow Man" aspiration.

Mars...another tough one and to be honest he's just laughing at me even trying.

[cameoflage]

Beast Boy's a teenager, isn't he? That's the first age group stage thingy* with a proper aspiration. (The Sims 2 has teenagers, unlike Sims 1.)

*I should be sleeping right now

[bjornwilde]

He's just skirting into teenhood at 13, so I guess he'd be Family with Popularity as a second.

[kd7sov]

...Um.

Felix is... sort of crushed-Family, with elements of Knowledge?

Kain is... sort of a combination of Family, Popuarity, and Romance? I dunno, he's really not a good fit for these descriptions.

Fluttershy... ... ... ... ... ... ... Inverted Popularity or inside-out Fun, maybe?

And Cranky... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

...


...

[cameoflage]

I'm not entirely sure if I got what you were intending to say or just sort of projected my own meaning onto it, but "crushed-Family" kind of sounds like Felix is a Family Sim (with Knowledge as a secondary aspiration) whose aspiration meter's in the red. This happens when a Sim's fears come true, and low aspiration makes a Sim start coming apart at the seams. First they do ridiculous things (for a Family Sim, that would be rocking and cuddling a flour-sack baby with a face scribbled on it) and then when they hit rock bottom they go into the gibbering breakdown of aspiration failure. (Then an imaginary psychiatrist that only they can see drops out of the sky and hypnotizes them into a functional state of mind. It's that kind of game.)

So yeah, that could be SimFelix. I don't know a damn thing about his canon, so I am guessing wildly.

[kd7sov]

To be honest, knowing the canon wouldn't actually help here, on account of it's all stuff I've millicanoned into happening years after the canon itself.

But that sounds about right. His actual reaction was more along the lines of "hide from the world for a while", but I could see a SimFelix freaking out like that.

Possibly I should try this game. I did enjoy the original, for a while...

[cameoflage]

You can get Sims 2 pretty cheap and with like every expansion in a handy box set, now that Sims 3's taken center stage. I recommend it!

[kd7sov]

*checks a couple of sites* Would that be the Double Deluxe thing?

[cameoflage]

*checks also* *promptly facepalms* I was thinking of a Sims 1 boxset. There doesn't appear to actually be a Sims 2 boxset with all eight expansion packs in one collection. Double Deluxe has the base game plus the second expansion pack (Nightlife) and some other stuff, so it's still a pretty good start. If you want to actually have secondary aspirations, you'll also want the FreeTime expansion pack, if nothing else. (FreeTime does a lot to flesh out individual Sims' personalities; that's kind of its schtick.)

Still, though, the part about Sims 2 and the expansions being super cheap now that Sims 3 has taken the spotlight holds true! Though I think someone forgot to tell Amazon, which is still trying to sell a number of the expansion packs for full price. Don't buy them from Amazon.

[shinyhappygoth]

THAT is a pup we need in Milliways! Sudden Imaginary Psychiatrist!

[cameoflage]

OMG WANT. I hadn't even considered it from that angle.

[gavin62truck]

Tommy would probably be torn between Family and Romance. He does love his family and would do anything for his kids, but getting him to commit is the most frustrating, impossible thing ever.

If there's a secondary aspiration for Booze, then that would be his. Or maybe Danger (would wanting to put himself in danger fall under Knowledge?). In any case, totally Booze and Danger.

[lt_shea62truck]

Oh, and Kenny is a Grilled Cheese Sim. He asks why isn't there a Cake and Donuts Sim, but he'll take Grilled Cheese.

[cameoflage]

Knowledge is probably the closest thing we've got to a Danger aspiration, considering that some Knowledge Sims appear to have a death wish. (Sometimes literally, since I've seen them roll wants to become zombies.) On at least one occasion, one of mine rolled a want to get struck by lightning.

Though it's not like Sims have a strong survival instinct in the first place.

[aberration]

Elle isn't really used to the whole "life aspirations" concept (she's really had one considerable aspiration of her own in her entire life, but it was something she could complete (like a lifetime wish?), so), but the Grilled Cheese aspiration's sounding pretty good to her.

Leslie's more of a Knowledge Sim, but if I were playing her in the Sims 2, I'd choose Popularity, as that's usually the starting point for a political career, and my Sim Leslie would definitely be angling for Leader of the Free World. And possibly also be an angler.

Manny's dead, so he thinks the point is moot. But even so, he's definitely more of Fortune Sim, not even for the money so much as his general competitiveness. He just generally likes to be in charge, so he'd definitely be a Sim that was constantly wishing for a promotion.

(And in sandboxy/possible future characters, were I playing Asami as a Sim, I'd probably choose Knowledge for her, but she's definitely got the Fortune side, too.)

[jjprobert]

Erik is very much a Knowledge Sim (you know, scientist, and all that).

Jack? Jack is probably also a Knowledge Sim, though he definitely has (or maybe, gets) Family as a secondary.

[ihavemyflaws]

Kara Thrace would have to be a Pleasure Sim, possibly with a secondary Romance aspiration. Whether it's pulling off daredevil rescues or punching her XO or drinking too much and making out with the nearest guy she's attracted to, Kara often doesn't have much of an "oh, but I shouldn't" filter from moment to moment. Also, she isn't interested in getting married and she definitely doesn't want kids of her own.

Of the choices available, Kate Austen probably has the Family aspiration, but she hasn't been in the green much over her last three or four years.

Faye Valentine is a Fortune Sim all the way, but sometimes she secretly has Family aspirations and wants to belong.

[ceitfianna]

Will is a Family Sim with an secondary aspiration of Pleasure.

Charles is a Knowledge with Family.

Demeter is Family with Pleasure or possibly Romance.

William is Family.

Moist is Fortune with Pleasure.

Sameth is Knowledge with Family.

Jane is Knowledge with Romance.

Tumnus is Family with Knowledge.

The Pirate King is Pleasure.

I think I have a type. Editing to add that I think I'm Family, Knowledge pretty even between the two.

[bcgphoenix]

Gaeta is definitely Knowledge, though he also has a bit of Family in him. Connections like that were always important, but they became doubly so after he lost his whole family.

The Trickster? Pleasure all the way, baby.

Olivia...ugh, that's tricky. I think she's also a mix of Knowledge and Family, but it's a much more even mix than Gaeta. She wants to learn as much as she can about the world's weirdness for the sake of protecting those she cares about -- and the population in general, too, but you know what I mean.

Mac is unquestionably Knowledge.

Usually I'm Knowledge, too, but right now I am Grilled Cheese. Derby training = INHALE HALF THE KITCHEN. Or, um...order a pizza in this case, because my fridge is frat-boy bare.

[inlovewithwords]

Well then, I'm actually on the computer, so here goes:

Coming-Real-Soon-As-Soon-As-RL-Stops-Kicking-Me-In-The-Teeth + MM Usual Suspects:
Henry Mills and Jason Lane: Despite being kids and therefore with 'Grow Up,' they're totally Family and Knowledge, in that order.
Des: Also mixed Family + Knowledge; it's unclear to me which is stronger, though.
Mako: SO BEHIND ON CANON I AM A TERRIBLE PERSON but last I knew, he's totally about Family.
Angleton: Knowledge.

Real Pups:
Lois and Tavi are Knowledge, secondary Family. I would argue that for Lois, especially Smallville's, 'family' extends to heroes in general. Tavi's notably proprietary protective streak is partially a side effect of his two.

Also, man, I'm sorry I missed the family-relationships DE; Tavi's relationships with parents/parent-figures is so full of twisted special...

And, er, I think you can guess what I am, based on this. *sheepish*

[leeshajoy]

Twilight is utterly Knowledge, which should come as a surprise to no one.

Alyx is mostly Family with Knowledge as a secondary thing.

Luna is Popularity, as she badly wants her subjects to like her in spite of everything she did as Nightmare Moon.

The cat, like all cats, is pure Pleasure.

D0G... um. I really don't know where he falls into this framework.

[cameoflage]

Grilled Cheese, obviously.

I dunno, maybe Family since his prime directive of sorts is to look after Alyx? (If he actually was a Sim I suppose he'd be either a Servo - a robot Sim, basically - or an actual dog.)

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo and John are both Family, all the way.

[minkhollow]

Cata and Sam are cheerfully defying categorization under this. XD

Claudia: Knowledge, with Family as a secondary (she's less about the marriage/kids but very much about the family in general).

Apollo: Some kind of mashup of Romance and Popularity (god, yo; I think it comes with the territory), with Knowledge as a close second.

Imp: Pleasure. Music should be free as the air, see.

Regulus: ...I have no idea, actually.

Red and Ruby both fall under Pleasure, no question. (Ruby edges a little into Romance.)