Hi! I love your gameplay posts, you immerse yourself in each neighborhood lore so well. I actually am having trouble with that because Iβm trying to βfixβ every βbadβ situation I see. Do you have any tips for.. being less of a control freak I guess :D? Also, what theme fitting subhoods, downtowns, unis would you recommend for aondaneedlesβ Oak Hill?
Hey! Thank you so much! This sweet message made my day.
First, I want to say that there's no wrong way to play, and if you're having fun with "fixing" the scenarios, that's really valid.
But since you're asking, I'm going to assume you want to spice up the stories a little, and I can offer my perspective and some additional tips that may help.
I'm also a big control freak tbh. The way I approach gameplay and storytelling is to get a really strong sense of who I think each sim is. I'll read their bio, look at their personality, their interests, and their relationships. I also take a lot of inspiration from other storytellers in the community, blending my favorite parts of their characterization of some of the premades. I'm not above nudging personalities, interests, or changing aspirations if I get a certain sense of sim's character that doesn't mesh 100% with how they were created. A good example of this is Herb Oldie. I always make him a Pleasure aspiration, not Romance, because my view of the Oldies is that they're adventurous and spontaneous and love to have a good time (especially together). Once I have a sense of their characters, I direct my sims to do things based on who I think they are. Sometimes I do make them do things based on their wants. I also make them do things based on the wants they don't roll (for instance, John and Jennifer Burb got divorced because they weren't rolling wants for one another, John was rolling wants for more children, and Jennifer wasn't). I also force the realization of some of their fears. So, for me, how I make my sims engage with the world is a combination of what they want, what I believe their personality to be, and what will cause them to experience ups and downs in their life. There's also the added randomness of ACR, but I generally haven't had that cause too much havoc for relationships. I know some simmers find ACR to be too much, but I keep a pretty tight leash on sims that I feel just wouldn't cheat, so it's mostly a tool for letting sims partner of their own volition when I don't direct them towards a match I'm shipping.
The other thing that I think can really help if you're wanting to add something new is Random Occurrence Scenarios (ROS). You might have seen this done by other simmers, but this is basically a way to randomize some events that can happen to a specific sim or household. You use this tool in combination with a ROS file. Lots of simmers have posted their files and/or what's in them... here are just a few. I find that the scenario you roll can cause you to have to consider how to make it work within the story, or think about how other sims would react, or put sims in a new situation that gets you as a player out of your comfort zone. I usually use ROS when I don't have a plan for a given household in a rotation. I can get inspiration, or something really dramatic might happen. And the great thing is you can still have a measure of control, because no one is going to judge you if you say "nah, I don't like that scenario for this family," but it also invites you to go, "I didn't think about this as a potential event, but I'm going to roll with it and see what happens." It's that little push to, like I said, put you out of your comfort zone.
For Oak Hill, I've currently only thought about adding Riverblossom Hills (I'm actually in the process of prepping those families to add them to the rotation). I think it's a great addition due to the similar vibes and the potential for plantsims in play alongside witches and werewolves. I don't have great suggestions for uni or downtown. To be honest, I've only ever used Downtown (or rather @katatty's makeover) in neighborhoods that aren't Nowhere County. In Nowhere County, I use Copperhead City. So, for me, if I added a downtown to Oak Hill, it would just be the Downtown (an empty version). I don't often play uni, and I don't think any of them fit the vibe of the neighborhood perfectly, but people can go to college anywhere, so my suggestion would be think about which sims you think would go to college and what sort of school they'd want to go to. I personally feel like most of the teens in Oak Hill give me state school vibe, so I'd attach SSU. Alternatively, because I added Riverblossom Hills, Jules O'Mackey gives me major fancy liberal arts school with a slight European vibe, and that's AcadΓ©mie Le Tour in my book. It also comes down to if I want to add sims or not. I'm more likely to download an empty university if I just want my teen sims to get that experience together and with randomly generated dormies, but if I have ideas for how the premade YAs fit into a neighborhood, I'm more likely to add a premade uni.
I hope some of this is helpful for you! Once again, I really appreciate such a thoughtful message.

















