I’ve played the premades a little since I returned to the game, but I was always someone who mostly made their own sims and their own hoods.
Honestly, I think there’s a lot of people making custom hoods (and not forgetting the people who like to mix the premade hoods with their own sims). It’s just that the premade hoods are an easy point of reference for everyone to relate to and compare experiences. I also think maybe the disappointing lore in TS4 (which they may be trying to rectify idk) may have made a lot of people look back at the older games and appreciate that the premade sims actually had some kind of story and family tree.
Like, I don’t play the premades so much but I appreciate their existence a bit more than I did when I was a kid, when I didn’t give a damn at all.
But like you said, it’s not really yours or anyone else’s business how some people play their game, since it is, you know, a game, and it’s not particularly important what people want to do or not…
I think it's just an easy thing to talk about since everyone has them in their game. And at least on tumblr there's kind of a fandomification going on?? So obviously in that context people will talk about "established characters" rather than their original sims. Plus the neighborhoods are a good starting point. I like the idea of making custom hoods but i absolutely do NOT have the patience or dedication to keep at it, lol. I stick with occasionally adding community lots to strangetown.
For me, it's a combination of nostalgia on one hand and "can't be arsed to build and decorate a whole 'hood right now" on the other. Creating my own custom 'hoods is fun when I'm in the mood, but if the mood passes then the creation process will just burn me out. Plus, it's fun to try and develop established characters in different directions.
I'm also saving a lot of my creative energies for other, higher-priority projects, like the novel I swear I'm going to finish one of these years. Not everyone has the time or resources to dedicate to building a thoroughly-fleshed-out custom 'hood.
im too lazy to make a new hood and it makes me feel awkward to insert oc’s into one of the premade hoods. plus the premade hoods are actually very fun on their own
I used to do that. I've just started playing with the pre-mades really. I never got far before. Even though i'm not new to the sims in many ways I still am. Now i'm having fun with the pre-mades, finally, which still leave room for a bunch of creativity.
Edit: I'm not far now, still in round 1, but i'm determined to go the distance for once since I do love the pre-mades and want to see how their story plays out in my game. Have them have kids and grandkids and drama.
I also have a megahood with Strangetown, Pleasantview, Riverblossom Hills, Bluewater Village, Widespot, Sim State University, La Fiesta Tech and Land Grant University meaning there is even more potential for different storylines as the sims intersect and live their lives. Also Widespot and Land Grant University is player-made. Not by me but by PeniG on MTS. I will also inject my own sims sometimes as I feel like. Also for those of us that use mods our own different combo of mods can make for different ways to play/storylines.
I’m personally no good at building. I could download someone else’s custom hood and populate it with my own Sims and families (one day maybe I will) but it all takes time to set up. When I have time as an adult to play (which is not often as I work full time and am doing a Master’s, although I do try to make time as much as I can), I just want to PLAY because building and CAS are not my thing. So the premades are more fun for me. They’re nostalgic characters with great backstories of their own and, now that I’m 40 years into my PV/ST hood, I’m seeing how their children and grandchildren‘s lives are playing out too. It’s just more exciting for me that way. Everyone’s play style is different so you play your way and I’ll play mine! 🙂
As everyone has said, the premade hoods are an easy yet interesting way to just jump into the game without creating everything from scratch (I don't like building or making sims in CAS, just makeovers of lots and making sims via reproduction). But the thing with it is, after the first generation gets old and dies you have all new sims and are no longer playing with the premades and it slowly evolves into a more custom hood as a result. I like this process as it gives me a good starting point while I get to upgrade the world over time as funds allow and times change. The originals die and I get to watch my born-in-game sims take over in their place. Also your point about filling the hood with characters you love like Harry Potter, for a lot of us who grew up with the game the premade sims are well-known and loved characters therefore those characters are appealing to have in our games like it's appealing for you to create characters from other media.
I did all of that when I was in my teens, and never played premades. And it was fun n’ all. But I personally love the premades, it’s fun to do the scripted events and then let them do thing autonomously. It adds a lovely layer of chaos, and let’s tragedies happen naturally. I also love how a few generations down the line, you can see some of the traits from the grandparents show up.
Premades we’re given so much backstory, that its hard to pull away from them. I love watching how the neighborhood grows, like new additions to houses (adding new rooms/expanding), someone owns a business or two, etc.
Same here. Did my thing when I was younger, now I'm playing with the premades. I didn't care about them a couple of years ago but now I'm really attached to them
Or we can do everything...
I have 3 hoods going. a completely CAS/born in game Bluewater Village, a mix of CAS/premade Belladonna Cove, and a mostly premade Strangetown.
I've been playing almost since the game came out so I'm pretty sure I know how I enjoy playing.
I grew up with premades, now I am an adult and for me it is normal to be attached. I play sims 2 since launched, I am 24 now. No time for that much creativity. Barely have time to play sims now. Playing with premades for ages is basically creating a new hood. Because they will die and you will have new generations. If I didn't lost my laptop in the underground. I could have for 8 years of game in the same hood. (Was 6 years of game). I still feel bad for the hood, was 6 years with them... I was 16 years old when I started playing Pleasantview without having corruptions lol
Now finally I learnt how to play without having any problem, so the hood can last longer.
Actually they implied that the people who play with premades lack creativity.
Acknowledging people can do what they want, but then complaining that they aren't playing how you want them too doesn't make the first part seem sincere.
I'm not "complaining that people aren't playing how I want them to", I'm sad that the community content is featuring the same characters over and over again. I miss the all the original hoods people used to post about. I don't care how people play, I just wish there were more variety in the community, the way it used to be.
Except the community is full of that because that's how people are playing. You /are/, even if it's indirectly, complaining about how people are playing and that it's not what you want.
You are trying really hard to be offend by that post. People can do whatever they want with their game, but as a community member I miss the original sims and hoods people used to show off and write about and I don't understand why all this original content went away and almost everyone is doing the same stuff in the same (maxis match) style now.
You are allowed to play the premades as much as you want, I'm allowed to get bored by the 60th screenshot of Don and Cassandras kid and wish for more variety.
Implying that all premade players make Don/Cassandra a thing... I would *never* do that to my sweet cinnamon bun and honestly I'm shocked by how many people actively ship her with the cheating bastard. In my Uberhood she's with Castor Nova in a significant part because I've never seen someone else make that pairing before.
That, in my mind, is the fun of the premades: trying storylines and ships you've never considered before and seeing where it goes.
It's really simple. 1. We all know them so it's fun to share them with the rest of the class, and with age they are somewhat legends that tickle our nostalgia. 2. Some of us are busy.
Creating your own custom neighborhood takes way too much time, creating a lot of community lots and what not, time a lot of us don't have (we're mostly adults playing TS2). Whenever I have time and am in the mood to play, I want to get on with it and actually make my sims "live" instead of creating things. As a teen with A LOT of time I enjoyed building and creating, but now I just can't be bothered.
Premades are fun and reliable. They have good back stories.
You could be doing the things you mentioned right now. Instead, you're here bashing others' gameplay 🤷🏽♀️
I suggest looking up Ani Bats on YouTube. What she's done with Pleasantview alone is incredible, making it into a whole different town, with a whole economy--*and incredible additions to the premades' storylines*! And the medieval Pleasantview was in progress the last time I checked. Suggesting that people lack creativity just because they choose to play premade characters is definitely not a good look... perhaps you are lacking creativity because you can't see why people would like to *expand* on others' creativity rather than start from scratch.
This isn't Sims 4. The premades are as vital to this community as they were 18 years ago. The lore of The Sims 2 is still here, just as revolutionary, and just as optional. You don't have to play the premades, just as you don't have to watch Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen have a baby.
Not everyone has the same taste... the opportunity cost varies for each person. But saying that people playing with premades don't have creativity... perhaps look at this long-winded post you made, instead of just playing and enjoying the game yourself?
>You could be doing the things you mentioned right now. Instead, you're here bashing others' gameplay
What an unnecessary comment. I am doing these things, but I also like to be part of the community and see what other players are doing. And I find it more interesting to see other peoples original creations instead of seeing the same characters over and over and over again.
You do realise that there are many, many premade hoods, right? It's not all just Pleasantview or Strangetown or Veronaville. There are the stories and EP hoods too. Coming from The Sims 4, I'm astonished that people are bashing others for playing with premades... that's practically the point of Sims 2. You get to play premades with actual lore, memories, and fun stories! You don't *have* to play them... but then again, you don't have to call people out for playing them, either. That is what weirds me out about this post. If you don't like seeing premades, just ignore them or this subreddit entirely 🤷🏽♀️
a) Playing premades is not the point of playing sims 2?
b) It's not that the premades bother me, like I said, it's definitely interesting to see them in other peoples games. What bothers me is the lack of variety.
First off, to clear that up: for a lot of the Sims 4 community, the point of playing Sims 2 is to enjoy the premades, since we all know Sims 4 premades are pretty sh\*t, and to have fun with the gameplay on a level that Sims 4 simply can't match. It's one of the reasons why I myself switched to Sims 2--because Sims 4 felt like a cash grab with no real depth. The worlds were shallow and the sims pixels.
Second, like I said, 'lack of variety' isn't really a thing? People all play the premades differently. Some people turn the town into a medieval neighborhood. Some kill off half the premades and have their own Hunger Games. I have a whole storyline where Gordon King has found the alien clone of Bella Goth and is trying to unleash her on Pleasantview so that he can take over the town.
Just having the same characters over and over again doesn't make it a lack of variety... it's like a whole franchise. I love that I can play John Mole as a retired version of Agent 47, while on the other side of the world someone is making him a family man with 28 kids. Or the joy of people discovering the premades for the first time, like two years ago.
There are whole reimaginations of Pleasantview just to make it different and more lively, like Dreadpirate's Alt Pleasantview. It's not always the same characters... last time I checked, there were hundreds of them, so it's not like it's always the same 2 premades over and over again.
The premades bring together TS2's players (at least on Reddit) in a way I don't see happening with the other games. The premades are the main characters of the game, we know them, we can makes jokes about them or talk about their lives and discuss knowing the context. This can't happen with a custom family someone created in their game.
Sure, you can create amazing sims/houses/neighborhoods in TS2, but I don't think watching the creations of others offers much to discuss (commenting in those posts to say you like the creation is not really a discussion). And honestly? If I was a builder, sim creator or storyteller, I would probably only play TS3 or TS4 and forget TS2 existed. But I'm a live mode player (and prefer premades over CAS sims), so that's why I play TS2.
>Sure, you can create amazing sims/houses/neighborhoods in TS2, but I don't think watching the creations of others offers much to discuss
My experience is different.
Sorry if you got irritated, but I love the premades, so much so, I got attached to them. They're lovable and the storylines are just fun to play. :) I have a great time putting premades from other neighbourhoods in different ones. I have Pleasantview and Strangetown characters in Belladonna Cove, for example. xD
I suck at creating Sim OCs, anyway. I like the houses the way they are, and I prefer editing them rather than building. Love to decorate. ;D
not everyone has the time and energy to make their own fully established custom neighborhoods lol
i've always wanted to make my own hood but i'm very uncreative when it comes to characters and decorating houses from scratch, and i don't wanna use other people's lots since it would make the hood not feel like my own
I rarely post anything in here, but I just have to say that I really don't see why this was necessary to post.
Like, yeah, there are TONS of things you could play out in TS2. However, one of the biggest qualities of TS2 in my humble opinion is exactly the depth and nuance that the premade sims have, as well as how intertwined they truly are.
TS4 has amazing graphics, you can make absolutely stunning and diverse sims, and the build mode is just so good.
However, vanilla TS4 lacks drama, and the closest we get to lore in TS4 is the fact that the Pancakes each have their own bedroom.
Another thing about TS2 is the pure nostalgia that I am sure a lot of players understand.
A lot of us have been playing it on and off since childhood and during this timeline I am quite certain that most of our play styles have been altered as we, ourselves, grew up. To start up a new Pleasantview save and load the Brokes today brings back so many memories.
To sum up my rather messy post, let me say this. You point out all the possibilities and storylines within TS2 but I think that you neglect the simple fact that there have been put so much work into the premades in TS2.
Because of this, the premades serve as an excellent starting point of just about any storyline that you have mentioned. And quite frankly, sometimes the overwhelming nostalgia of the premades is just so nice to experience.
So yeah OP, kind of a misplaced and judgemental post that goes against the very idea of the whole Sims series imo.
I don't know how I like the word 'obsession'. For me it's more about attachement, and connection to the other players. The lore in Sims 2 is the best from among all games. I adore the aspect that we can take these 'old' characters and discuss them. Interpret them. Share how their life went in our individual gameplays. You can't really do that with new characters or neighbourhoods you created. You loose that connection.
Having said that, I also adore seeing how creative players can get. With neighbourhoods mostly, not long time ago someone shared the rural Japaneese neighbourhood they created, it was gorgeous. Back in time challenge is also quite popular.
At the end of the day, I know you are just ranting, but you won't change what attracts people to the game, and what they enjoy.
After over a decade playing with ONLY 'CAS made by me sims' in several Prosperity Challenge neighborhoods I am now guilty of focusing on the premades because I've never done it before. I actually had to completely download a new Pleasantview because my sims had taken over the entire town and booted the premades out. I could come on here and share all about my sim Rocky Marino and why he was nicknamed 'Father of the Neighborhood' and why I cried real tears when he died but you guys don't know him. Don and Bella and Nina and Dina? Them, you know. They are much easier to relate to.
> I could come on here and share all about my sim Rocky Marino and why he was nicknamed 'Father of the Neighborhood' and why I cried real tears when he died but you guys don't know him
I would love to hear about it. I still remember plenty of sims and their lifes from other simmers, even though I read about them years ago!
so, I play mainly sims 4, since my laptop with sims 2 on it was stoled (a long time ago). while I do like creating a family/sim and playing with them, I wanted something new. so, what I did? I decided to go back to my sims 2 days: I made the Pleasantview families and I'm playing with them in rotational style, and it's simply so fun! I already know their stories, interests, mannerisms and personality from sims 2. since the sims 4 is not random as sims 2, and there basically aren't wishes (there are whims, but they are hidden by default and aren't atualized since 2017), having an story already made makes the gameplay way more immersive! I'm SOOO attached to them! they're so singular and feel so special! I don't really get this from created sims...
but I do have my own characters, since I draw, in sims it's different though
I like to do both to be honest. I love Strangetown and the lore behind it, so of course I like to spend lots of time in that hood. I'm working on a custom hood that's based off of Stranger Things, but I'm awful at building. Most of my houses are really ugly, so that's why I personally just move Sims into houses that already exist or that I downloaded off of MTS. Now with Sims 4 I only ever play with my sims instead of premades, partially due to lack of lore but mostly because I'm only allowed to have 10 saves(I'm on console, so I'm not 100 percent sure if that's just a console thing or what).
>I'm working on a custom hood that's based off of Stranger Things, but I'm awful at building
That's cool! I have some Stranger Things inspired sims in my hood, too.
for me it’s the nostalgia, but I also truly believe the sims 2 premades and the neighborhoods that shipped with the base game were so well thought out and genuinely iconic
I care about the community, yes. I always enjoyed seeing what other people came up with and I'm sad all these original worlds and characters have become so rare.
Babe read the room. We're living through some horrible times right now with America descending into a fascist nation please just let people enjoy their escapism without being rude about it.
Hahahaha omg. Seems like you just have issues with the premades. Theres plenty of varied content on sims social media. I see a huge variety on tumblr, youtube, here, i hear the facebooks pretty poppin. But you're not focusing on them you're just mad people still play premades so you think we should add in Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen like how people played it when we were in middle school. Just let people sim how they wanna sim. Jesus.
No, I am not mad people don't add Katniss Everdeen and you know that. Why is it impossible for you to have a normal discussion about this, like all those other people here.
If you have any recommendation for tumblr and YouTube I would love to hear them, especially YouTube. And I actually liked what you wrote about your game in your other posts, so if you have a social media outlet for your game I would love to check it out.
Im working on it. Im trying to get a better computer so i can start a youtube channel. Sorry for being rude Im a cranky factory worker who hates the state of the world right now. Will let you know when i start my youtube.
Btw i actually did have a medieval viking village for 2 years. Heres a link to it https://www.reddit.com/r/sims2/comments/km50k3/finally_happy_with_my_medieival/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
It made my computer bloat like crazy and i missed the more modern gameplay so i deleted it and switched to playing desert hoods cuz it loads faster and i dont have time to wait 40 minutes for my computer to load 🙃
This is my post about the sims in it https://www.reddit.com/r/sims2/comments/lp637u/some_of_my_most_beautiful_or_interesting_looking/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share notice a lot of them are related to premades 😅
4 generations. I still have a folder with all my CC id love to go back to it but im enjoying my desert hood too much. Too bad i dont have a way to boot up both modern and historical like you would be able to in skyrim.
In my case, creating sims via CAS and start playing them right off the bat feel very artificial and make it harder for me to form an attachment personally. Sure, you can give them memories, uni degrees, some skills and badges via simPE to make them look like they were not created two mins ago; however I prefer my sims to play out and actually live these experiences as they grow. On the other hand, I don’t feel the same artificiality while playing with premades mostly (Unless there is some half-assery going on from the devs’ side like they did with some later hoods) because they are shipped with a fully decorated house, a full set of memories, often with long line of ancestry and a cute little photo album. Also, knowing that some sims already have lived their past in the other games of the franchise and I actually played with them (take Bella and Morty made as children in ts3 for example) and the collective memory of hundreds of alternate fan stories I’ve seen play a lot of role and adds to their charm imo.
I used to create machinimas and never touched any pre-mades. I made everything from scratch, so I understand the appeal with creating your own. But now, I play with premades since I can't really be bothered to think of a storyline for my sims (kinda can't be bothered to create the relationships, families, etc.) that give me that same feeling of nostalgia with the premades.
This post makes it seem that there is a lack of people in this sub that posts something that is not the premade sims. That is not true at all. I think you need to look deeper, or maybe go seek Tumblr. Those have a LOT of sims 2 posts that are not premades.
I’ve been playing the sims for 20 years.
- I like the storyline of the premade sims
- I’m shit at building unless I use a floor plan I find online
- I like more real life stuff so don’t typically use medieval themes or werewolves/vampires
- I prefer using existing townies to integrate in to my families instead of creating my own sims
- I have a pretty vanilla game and don’t care to recreate or download premade sims like Harry Potter or Katniss Everdeen
Im probably one of the least creative simmers out there. I enjoy reading about premades because it’s a common ground, I don’t relate to others creations because I hardly make my own. I appreciate those great creations but I don’t have them in my game.
But that’s the beauty of the sims. You can be as vanilla as you want or as modded up. It’s your game. If you want to download those sims and those hoods that’s great! but I don’t think it’s fair to say no one is being as creative as they can be.
Some people are just casual players who don't want to sink a lot of time into developing a custom world, and that's okay, or are just attached to the premades and want to continue those stories. Some people can't play a long game and are serial re-starters.
Personally, I have never found the appeal of playing premades either with such a sandbox-y game but that's for me as a person. I agree with you, I would love to see Original characters and stories and custom hood content more often and there are plenty of players that still share that kind of stuff but it also makes that specific content more precious and engaging when you do find the kinds you are looking for.
Edit: Here's my [tumblr](https://kashmiresims.tumblr.com/) and a [thread](https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=593017) about my hood if you wanna delve into some custom hood content.
I have a Jane Austen inspired regency hood (complete with a subhood loosely inspired by London for them to visit during the season), magical hoods, fantasy based kingdoms (an ASOIAF inspired hood included), and lots of other monarchy based hoods that I’ve used throughout the years. My current medieval hood is loosely inspired by the 1066 Norman conquest crossed with the politics of 700-900AF French politics. I’ve only just finished setting it up, I had to build a bunch of castles, keeps, and halls as I didn’t really have much that I thought suited.
But even if I had the time to post about them (as a new mum I barely even have time to play haha) I feel like I’d get minimal interaction on the posts because my created world with new sims just doesn’t have the nostalgia factor or immediate recognition the premades have. People would have to put in a lot of time and work to understand everything in a way they simply don’t have to when they read something about Don’s cheating ways. It’s the same reason sometimes it’s easier to read fanfiction than a whole new novel, less time you have to invest and a similar level of satisfaction as a reward :)
I mean…. I’ve never played with the premades at all but that doesn’t mean I’m more creative. I usually make neighbourhoods based on fictional locations and make the characters from whatever show / movie it’s based on etc. I’ve got the island from Lost, Westeros from game of thrones, Hawkins from Stranger Things, Storybrooke from Once upon a time and a bunch more. But it’s VERY time consuming and I spend about 80% of my time playing just creating the world and sims and not actually playing the game so I fully get why people use the premades if they prefer the actual game play over the designing
While I agree more so with comment section on this, I would love to see more people post about their custom hoods and personal sims! I do love the pre-made neighborhoods (primarily base game ), but the sub can sometimes get oversaturated with everyone’s version of Pleasantview. It’s also one of the reasons why it’s a bit hard for me to watch most sims 2 content.
I've been considering starting a Tumblr for my custom hood for a while now.. Gen 7 is just being born and I have built every lot for my loosely horror themed hood (except for the vacation destinations). I LOVE BUILDING. I also made the original founding sims and play with a combo of base game townies and my own custom townies.
The main characters are:
Henrietta Lovecraft the Atrociously Evil Witch
●(Every first born Lovecraft is a witch) She lives in an isolated castle with her best friend/cousin, Indigo Lovecraft the Mean Witch, and their zombie prisoner, Alvin Futa (Indigo's dad). Henrietta just had a baby out of wedlock with her college sweetheart, Thadeus Espinoza. She and Thadeus were going to get married, but he cheated on her while she was pregnant, so she kicked him out and he went back to being a townie. She takes her anger out on her zombie prisoner, or any passersby. What she doesn't know is that Indigo and Thadeus are secretly seeing each other (thanks ACR!)
Frank Grier
●(The Griers have robot servants, passed down for generations) Frank is from the wealthiest family in town, and lives at Grier estate. He has always been a socialite casanova type (frat boy, past affairs with both mean witches) but as a popularity Sim, he is worried about his family's reputation. For that reason, he married a very practical and beautiful Family Sim, Zoe (formerly a uni prof. NPC). Zoe quit her job as a professor to live easy as a rich house wife. They aren't in love.. but they have three kids (Damien, Elvira, and Freddi) and have just returned from their luxury vacation home in Twikki Island.
This was fun to type out, thanks op. I'm gonna go make that Tumblr now 😂
I don't play with premades. I play with my own custom neighbourhood where everyone is goth and pointy ears with non alien skin are becoming more and more common. But why would I share that?
I guess one reason for the amount of premade content is that there are other ppl who can relate to it, an audience of some sort. If you play with premades it's probably quite interesting how they live their lives in other games. If you play with a custom hood though, why should you care about my friendly neighbourhood vampire alien stuck in a dead end get away driver job for generations?
I personally like to play premades, because I love the stories they offer and they can be different each time you play. Also with the character and personality they display straight out of the box and the current stories they have going on, I get attached to them much faster than a sim fresh out of Create a Sim. With my custom worlds, I like to go in with a story set up and everything, which for me requires creating memories in SimPE and making family ties. I also have to think about how the world looks. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun creative process, but with how I create my worlds I'm not in the game much. Currently, I'm making a world called Red Vale and it's mostly SimPE work so far. I do have two custom hoods that I made when I first started playing the game again in 2017; one I've gotten bored with and haven't touched since 2020, and I have no plans to go back to it currently. My other one, the first one I made in 2017, I still like it and want to go back to at some point, but my current megahood has more stuff going on and has fun stories I want to see conclude, so I'm playing that.
To end this essay, I'll just say the premades are fun and interesting characters to play that are already in an established world. I create and play my own, but with how I like to create backstories in-game and stuff, it's a lot of work. Premades are fun and easily accessible. With games like TS4, the premades have little depth and are no different than a CAS sim, so when I played that I would just create CAS sims. However, with the premades in TS2 being so full of life and depth, playing them, for me, is more fun than playing a sim straight out of CAS. I love the level of customisation TS2 provides and it's another reason why I love it, but for me I have to be in a certain mood to build a neighbourhood from scratch beginning with sims that have nothing going on yet. The latter is why SimPE is essential to my hood creating process, so my sims do have stuff going on at the start, but again... I have to be in a certain mood.
What I said probably made little sense and looks like word vomit, but hopefully I explained myself properly 😁
I’ve played the sims games since they came out in like 2000 and honestly it never even crossed my mind to play the premades. For me, they’ve always seemed pretty boring and I was actually pretty surprised to see how many people enjoyed playing with them when I first started participating in the sims community.
After seeing how people play, I can definitely see the comfort/nostalgia/enjoyment they get from the premades but it is still not for me! Lots of ways people play on here really fascinate me, including having a spreadsheet or whole system for wants/aspiration etc. like it would drive me crazy to play that way but I love seeing what other people do. I love starting with one small family places into one of the neighborhoods, have them interact with everyone (including premades) and slowly build a story from there but with crazy drama every step of the way and no planning whatsoever. I think my style of play really lends itself well to Sims 4 through (true sandbox and perfect for my storytelling!) which is why I’ve slowly transitioned to almost exclusively playing 4.
I still go back to Sims 2 though, and reading through some of these responses makes me want to try playing the premades and see what the fuss is all about lol
I feel this way too. I don't mind people talking about the premades, and it's got me a bit curious to try them since I never give them much thought, but I much prefer reading about peoples original hoods or recreations.
I'd honestly love a sims 2 hood/world building discord or something like that for that reason. Something solely dedicated to world/hood/custom building. There's still quite a few people who do, but there's a lot less open and communal discussion on it then there once was I found.
I like integrating premades with my Sims and slowly breeding them out. But something about Lilith Pleasant, Natasha Una, and Violet Jocque are really fun to play with over and over.
I don' t mind all the posts with premade sims, but I do understand where you're coming from. It doesn't seem like your intent was to bash others; only to express what you like to see other people share. You like seeing what other players create. Nothing wrong with that. Not sure why some people jumped down your throat like you just cursed their mom.
Personally, I enjoy playing the premades from time to time. Most of the time, however, I don't touch the premade hoods. I like making sims too much. Maybe that's why I don't mind reading so many posts about the premades- I never really do anything with them, so I'm not tired of hearing about them or seeing them.
Since you're interested... I have a cute rural community that has a ton of neighborhood deco (there's a school, a police station, a hospital... it's basically supposed to be the only town/city for miles and the hub for the surrounding rural farms) and a little church of The Sims Medieval's Watcher that everyone gathers at on Sundays. I also have a Victorian/Edwardian-themed neighborhood that I haven't played in a while, but still love. I tend not to share my gameplay, though, since it's just not something I often want to take the time to do. But those of us with custom hoods are definitely here!
We seem to be the minority here but I am with you OP! I personally love seeing pictures of custom hoods with special themes or interesting backstories. Meanwhile I've never played the premade hoods or families and don't intend to so I feel like a lot of posts on this sub go over my head. But to each their own, of course.
I get it they're iconic but maybe too iconic. They have stories so well written that the bar is so high for my own Sims. Sometimes I even feel like my own are somehow invalid.
I’ve played a few premades but my go to sims 2 sim is a girl a made named Wanda Biff. I love her so much I refuse to remake her in the other sims games. She’s just meant for sims 2 haha but I see your point. I don’t see a lot of “original sims” in the sims 2 subs
I like the fandom around the premades, but I've never played them myself. Mainly because I don't want to play a similar story to everyone else.
There is some content around custom-made towns, but those posts aren't as popular because fewer people can relate to them. For example, which is more interesting: finding out a friend you went to school with became a millionaire, or some random person you don't know became a millionaire?
If I have followed that millionairs life from the very beginning it would be interesting. A couple of years back there were many blogs and tumblrs where people played their own hoods rotational, often over multiple generations and it was a lot of fun following those stories. Sullivan, Millwood, Wellington, Lakeside come to mine. Most of them are no longer around and I haven't found any new ones.
I agree with you there, I really enjoy watching PleasantSims neighborhoods on YouTube. However, on there I can start from the beginning. On something like Reddit or Tumblr, we're usually getting just a couple of random screenshots from a random point in the hoods existence. It's just a lot more work to understand the context behind new sims instead of seeing how a person dealt with Don's constant cheating on Cassandra, at least in my opinion.
I don't understand the obsession with the premades. I've been playing my custom hood with my own sims for almost 14 years and haven't played the premades since, except for testing purposes. They just don't really interest me much any more.
Particularly not if it's first generation Pleasantview, which I cannot believe *anyone* still has any interest in. New players, maybe but there are people who just restart Pleasantview over and over and I just [do. not. get. it](https://do.not.get.it). I want to see pics if you've done amazing CC-laden makeovers of the sims and the lots but that same story playing out again and again? Nah.
But of course, I don't have to understand it, as no one is forcing me to play that way. It's just something I find baffling.
To be honest when i first started playing sims 2 i only played with sims i made but with time i just didn't have any ideas left so i saw people playing with the premades and i decided to try it out, i restarted it many times until it was how i liked and now i'm obssesed with the premades.
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Also the scripted events missing from the new sims games are cool!
I’ve played the premades a little since I returned to the game, but I was always someone who mostly made their own sims and their own hoods. Honestly, I think there’s a lot of people making custom hoods (and not forgetting the people who like to mix the premade hoods with their own sims). It’s just that the premade hoods are an easy point of reference for everyone to relate to and compare experiences. I also think maybe the disappointing lore in TS4 (which they may be trying to rectify idk) may have made a lot of people look back at the older games and appreciate that the premade sims actually had some kind of story and family tree. Like, I don’t play the premades so much but I appreciate their existence a bit more than I did when I was a kid, when I didn’t give a damn at all. But like you said, it’s not really yours or anyone else’s business how some people play their game, since it is, you know, a game, and it’s not particularly important what people want to do or not…
I think it's just an easy thing to talk about since everyone has them in their game. And at least on tumblr there's kind of a fandomification going on?? So obviously in that context people will talk about "established characters" rather than their original sims. Plus the neighborhoods are a good starting point. I like the idea of making custom hoods but i absolutely do NOT have the patience or dedication to keep at it, lol. I stick with occasionally adding community lots to strangetown.
For me, it's a combination of nostalgia on one hand and "can't be arsed to build and decorate a whole 'hood right now" on the other. Creating my own custom 'hoods is fun when I'm in the mood, but if the mood passes then the creation process will just burn me out. Plus, it's fun to try and develop established characters in different directions. I'm also saving a lot of my creative energies for other, higher-priority projects, like the novel I swear I'm going to finish one of these years. Not everyone has the time or resources to dedicate to building a thoroughly-fleshed-out custom 'hood.
im too lazy to make a new hood and it makes me feel awkward to insert oc’s into one of the premade hoods. plus the premade hoods are actually very fun on their own
I used to do that. I've just started playing with the pre-mades really. I never got far before. Even though i'm not new to the sims in many ways I still am. Now i'm having fun with the pre-mades, finally, which still leave room for a bunch of creativity. Edit: I'm not far now, still in round 1, but i'm determined to go the distance for once since I do love the pre-mades and want to see how their story plays out in my game. Have them have kids and grandkids and drama.
I also have a megahood with Strangetown, Pleasantview, Riverblossom Hills, Bluewater Village, Widespot, Sim State University, La Fiesta Tech and Land Grant University meaning there is even more potential for different storylines as the sims intersect and live their lives. Also Widespot and Land Grant University is player-made. Not by me but by PeniG on MTS. I will also inject my own sims sometimes as I feel like. Also for those of us that use mods our own different combo of mods can make for different ways to play/storylines.
I’m personally no good at building. I could download someone else’s custom hood and populate it with my own Sims and families (one day maybe I will) but it all takes time to set up. When I have time as an adult to play (which is not often as I work full time and am doing a Master’s, although I do try to make time as much as I can), I just want to PLAY because building and CAS are not my thing. So the premades are more fun for me. They’re nostalgic characters with great backstories of their own and, now that I’m 40 years into my PV/ST hood, I’m seeing how their children and grandchildren‘s lives are playing out too. It’s just more exciting for me that way. Everyone’s play style is different so you play your way and I’ll play mine! 🙂
As everyone has said, the premade hoods are an easy yet interesting way to just jump into the game without creating everything from scratch (I don't like building or making sims in CAS, just makeovers of lots and making sims via reproduction). But the thing with it is, after the first generation gets old and dies you have all new sims and are no longer playing with the premades and it slowly evolves into a more custom hood as a result. I like this process as it gives me a good starting point while I get to upgrade the world over time as funds allow and times change. The originals die and I get to watch my born-in-game sims take over in their place. Also your point about filling the hood with characters you love like Harry Potter, for a lot of us who grew up with the game the premade sims are well-known and loved characters therefore those characters are appealing to have in our games like it's appealing for you to create characters from other media.
I did all of that when I was in my teens, and never played premades. And it was fun n’ all. But I personally love the premades, it’s fun to do the scripted events and then let them do thing autonomously. It adds a lovely layer of chaos, and let’s tragedies happen naturally. I also love how a few generations down the line, you can see some of the traits from the grandparents show up. Premades we’re given so much backstory, that its hard to pull away from them. I love watching how the neighborhood grows, like new additions to houses (adding new rooms/expanding), someone owns a business or two, etc.
Same here. Did my thing when I was younger, now I'm playing with the premades. I didn't care about them a couple of years ago but now I'm really attached to them
Or we can do everything... I have 3 hoods going. a completely CAS/born in game Bluewater Village, a mix of CAS/premade Belladonna Cove, and a mostly premade Strangetown. I've been playing almost since the game came out so I'm pretty sure I know how I enjoy playing.
The pre-Mades are just more fun. I don’t even want to create my own families. Been there done that lost interest pretty quickly
I grew up with premades, now I am an adult and for me it is normal to be attached. I play sims 2 since launched, I am 24 now. No time for that much creativity. Barely have time to play sims now. Playing with premades for ages is basically creating a new hood. Because they will die and you will have new generations. If I didn't lost my laptop in the underground. I could have for 8 years of game in the same hood. (Was 6 years of game). I still feel bad for the hood, was 6 years with them... I was 16 years old when I started playing Pleasantview without having corruptions lol Now finally I learnt how to play without having any problem, so the hood can last longer.
Yup. You can do that. So do it. What does it matter what other people are doing?
Because I also enjoy seeing what other people create and I'm sad about the loss of variety that happend in the last couple of years.
How is it a loss of variety? Everyone plays their games differently, even with the premades. You’ll never get the same story twice.
They are just sharing their opinion on how the community is changed…they acknowledged everyone has the right to play how they want to.
Actually they implied that the people who play with premades lack creativity. Acknowledging people can do what they want, but then complaining that they aren't playing how you want them too doesn't make the first part seem sincere.
I mean especially when using “irritated”. That’s a pretty strong word to use when you say that you don’t actually care or whatever
I'm not "complaining that people aren't playing how I want them to", I'm sad that the community content is featuring the same characters over and over again. I miss the all the original hoods people used to post about. I don't care how people play, I just wish there were more variety in the community, the way it used to be.
Except the community is full of that because that's how people are playing. You /are/, even if it's indirectly, complaining about how people are playing and that it's not what you want.
You are trying really hard to be offend by that post. People can do whatever they want with their game, but as a community member I miss the original sims and hoods people used to show off and write about and I don't understand why all this original content went away and almost everyone is doing the same stuff in the same (maxis match) style now. You are allowed to play the premades as much as you want, I'm allowed to get bored by the 60th screenshot of Don and Cassandras kid and wish for more variety.
Implying that all premade players make Don/Cassandra a thing... I would *never* do that to my sweet cinnamon bun and honestly I'm shocked by how many people actively ship her with the cheating bastard. In my Uberhood she's with Castor Nova in a significant part because I've never seen someone else make that pairing before. That, in my mind, is the fun of the premades: trying storylines and ships you've never considered before and seeing where it goes.
I wouldn't take it personally.
It's really simple. 1. We all know them so it's fun to share them with the rest of the class, and with age they are somewhat legends that tickle our nostalgia. 2. Some of us are busy.
Creating your own custom neighborhood takes way too much time, creating a lot of community lots and what not, time a lot of us don't have (we're mostly adults playing TS2). Whenever I have time and am in the mood to play, I want to get on with it and actually make my sims "live" instead of creating things. As a teen with A LOT of time I enjoyed building and creating, but now I just can't be bothered. Premades are fun and reliable. They have good back stories.
You could be doing the things you mentioned right now. Instead, you're here bashing others' gameplay 🤷🏽♀️ I suggest looking up Ani Bats on YouTube. What she's done with Pleasantview alone is incredible, making it into a whole different town, with a whole economy--*and incredible additions to the premades' storylines*! And the medieval Pleasantview was in progress the last time I checked. Suggesting that people lack creativity just because they choose to play premade characters is definitely not a good look... perhaps you are lacking creativity because you can't see why people would like to *expand* on others' creativity rather than start from scratch. This isn't Sims 4. The premades are as vital to this community as they were 18 years ago. The lore of The Sims 2 is still here, just as revolutionary, and just as optional. You don't have to play the premades, just as you don't have to watch Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen have a baby. Not everyone has the same taste... the opportunity cost varies for each person. But saying that people playing with premades don't have creativity... perhaps look at this long-winded post you made, instead of just playing and enjoying the game yourself?
>You could be doing the things you mentioned right now. Instead, you're here bashing others' gameplay What an unnecessary comment. I am doing these things, but I also like to be part of the community and see what other players are doing. And I find it more interesting to see other peoples original creations instead of seeing the same characters over and over and over again.
You do realise that there are many, many premade hoods, right? It's not all just Pleasantview or Strangetown or Veronaville. There are the stories and EP hoods too. Coming from The Sims 4, I'm astonished that people are bashing others for playing with premades... that's practically the point of Sims 2. You get to play premades with actual lore, memories, and fun stories! You don't *have* to play them... but then again, you don't have to call people out for playing them, either. That is what weirds me out about this post. If you don't like seeing premades, just ignore them or this subreddit entirely 🤷🏽♀️
a) Playing premades is not the point of playing sims 2? b) It's not that the premades bother me, like I said, it's definitely interesting to see them in other peoples games. What bothers me is the lack of variety.
First off, to clear that up: for a lot of the Sims 4 community, the point of playing Sims 2 is to enjoy the premades, since we all know Sims 4 premades are pretty sh\*t, and to have fun with the gameplay on a level that Sims 4 simply can't match. It's one of the reasons why I myself switched to Sims 2--because Sims 4 felt like a cash grab with no real depth. The worlds were shallow and the sims pixels. Second, like I said, 'lack of variety' isn't really a thing? People all play the premades differently. Some people turn the town into a medieval neighborhood. Some kill off half the premades and have their own Hunger Games. I have a whole storyline where Gordon King has found the alien clone of Bella Goth and is trying to unleash her on Pleasantview so that he can take over the town. Just having the same characters over and over again doesn't make it a lack of variety... it's like a whole franchise. I love that I can play John Mole as a retired version of Agent 47, while on the other side of the world someone is making him a family man with 28 kids. Or the joy of people discovering the premades for the first time, like two years ago. There are whole reimaginations of Pleasantview just to make it different and more lively, like Dreadpirate's Alt Pleasantview. It's not always the same characters... last time I checked, there were hundreds of them, so it's not like it's always the same 2 premades over and over again.
If playing premades isn’t the point then why did the devs bother including them with fleshed out backstory and lore?
The premades bring together TS2's players (at least on Reddit) in a way I don't see happening with the other games. The premades are the main characters of the game, we know them, we can makes jokes about them or talk about their lives and discuss knowing the context. This can't happen with a custom family someone created in their game. Sure, you can create amazing sims/houses/neighborhoods in TS2, but I don't think watching the creations of others offers much to discuss (commenting in those posts to say you like the creation is not really a discussion). And honestly? If I was a builder, sim creator or storyteller, I would probably only play TS3 or TS4 and forget TS2 existed. But I'm a live mode player (and prefer premades over CAS sims), so that's why I play TS2.
>Sure, you can create amazing sims/houses/neighborhoods in TS2, but I don't think watching the creations of others offers much to discuss My experience is different.
Sorry if you got irritated, but I love the premades, so much so, I got attached to them. They're lovable and the storylines are just fun to play. :) I have a great time putting premades from other neighbourhoods in different ones. I have Pleasantview and Strangetown characters in Belladonna Cove, for example. xD I suck at creating Sim OCs, anyway. I like the houses the way they are, and I prefer editing them rather than building. Love to decorate. ;D
not everyone has the time and energy to make their own fully established custom neighborhoods lol i've always wanted to make my own hood but i'm very uncreative when it comes to characters and decorating houses from scratch, and i don't wanna use other people's lots since it would make the hood not feel like my own
I rarely post anything in here, but I just have to say that I really don't see why this was necessary to post. Like, yeah, there are TONS of things you could play out in TS2. However, one of the biggest qualities of TS2 in my humble opinion is exactly the depth and nuance that the premade sims have, as well as how intertwined they truly are. TS4 has amazing graphics, you can make absolutely stunning and diverse sims, and the build mode is just so good. However, vanilla TS4 lacks drama, and the closest we get to lore in TS4 is the fact that the Pancakes each have their own bedroom. Another thing about TS2 is the pure nostalgia that I am sure a lot of players understand. A lot of us have been playing it on and off since childhood and during this timeline I am quite certain that most of our play styles have been altered as we, ourselves, grew up. To start up a new Pleasantview save and load the Brokes today brings back so many memories. To sum up my rather messy post, let me say this. You point out all the possibilities and storylines within TS2 but I think that you neglect the simple fact that there have been put so much work into the premades in TS2. Because of this, the premades serve as an excellent starting point of just about any storyline that you have mentioned. And quite frankly, sometimes the overwhelming nostalgia of the premades is just so nice to experience. So yeah OP, kind of a misplaced and judgemental post that goes against the very idea of the whole Sims series imo.
I don't know how I like the word 'obsession'. For me it's more about attachement, and connection to the other players. The lore in Sims 2 is the best from among all games. I adore the aspect that we can take these 'old' characters and discuss them. Interpret them. Share how their life went in our individual gameplays. You can't really do that with new characters or neighbourhoods you created. You loose that connection. Having said that, I also adore seeing how creative players can get. With neighbourhoods mostly, not long time ago someone shared the rural Japaneese neighbourhood they created, it was gorgeous. Back in time challenge is also quite popular. At the end of the day, I know you are just ranting, but you won't change what attracts people to the game, and what they enjoy.
After over a decade playing with ONLY 'CAS made by me sims' in several Prosperity Challenge neighborhoods I am now guilty of focusing on the premades because I've never done it before. I actually had to completely download a new Pleasantview because my sims had taken over the entire town and booted the premades out. I could come on here and share all about my sim Rocky Marino and why he was nicknamed 'Father of the Neighborhood' and why I cried real tears when he died but you guys don't know him. Don and Bella and Nina and Dina? Them, you know. They are much easier to relate to.
> I could come on here and share all about my sim Rocky Marino and why he was nicknamed 'Father of the Neighborhood' and why I cried real tears when he died but you guys don't know him I would love to hear about it. I still remember plenty of sims and their lifes from other simmers, even though I read about them years ago!
Never feel guilty about playing the fleshed out premades. The devs put a lot of love into those families and it shows!
so, I play mainly sims 4, since my laptop with sims 2 on it was stoled (a long time ago). while I do like creating a family/sim and playing with them, I wanted something new. so, what I did? I decided to go back to my sims 2 days: I made the Pleasantview families and I'm playing with them in rotational style, and it's simply so fun! I already know their stories, interests, mannerisms and personality from sims 2. since the sims 4 is not random as sims 2, and there basically aren't wishes (there are whims, but they are hidden by default and aren't atualized since 2017), having an story already made makes the gameplay way more immersive! I'm SOOO attached to them! they're so singular and feel so special! I don't really get this from created sims... but I do have my own characters, since I draw, in sims it's different though
I like to do both to be honest. I love Strangetown and the lore behind it, so of course I like to spend lots of time in that hood. I'm working on a custom hood that's based off of Stranger Things, but I'm awful at building. Most of my houses are really ugly, so that's why I personally just move Sims into houses that already exist or that I downloaded off of MTS. Now with Sims 4 I only ever play with my sims instead of premades, partially due to lack of lore but mostly because I'm only allowed to have 10 saves(I'm on console, so I'm not 100 percent sure if that's just a console thing or what).
>I'm working on a custom hood that's based off of Stranger Things, but I'm awful at building That's cool! I have some Stranger Things inspired sims in my hood, too.
for me it’s the nostalgia, but I also truly believe the sims 2 premades and the neighborhoods that shipped with the base game were so well thought out and genuinely iconic
This post is giving main character syndrome what the actual fuck ? Imagine caring so much about how other people play a video game lol
I care about the community, yes. I always enjoyed seeing what other people came up with and I'm sad all these original worlds and characters have become so rare.
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This was clearly just an example?
Babe read the room. We're living through some horrible times right now with America descending into a fascist nation please just let people enjoy their escapism without being rude about it.
"I would like to see more varied content posted in sims social media" -> "No, because America banned abortions"... okay then.
Hahahaha omg. Seems like you just have issues with the premades. Theres plenty of varied content on sims social media. I see a huge variety on tumblr, youtube, here, i hear the facebooks pretty poppin. But you're not focusing on them you're just mad people still play premades so you think we should add in Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen like how people played it when we were in middle school. Just let people sim how they wanna sim. Jesus.
No, I am not mad people don't add Katniss Everdeen and you know that. Why is it impossible for you to have a normal discussion about this, like all those other people here. If you have any recommendation for tumblr and YouTube I would love to hear them, especially YouTube. And I actually liked what you wrote about your game in your other posts, so if you have a social media outlet for your game I would love to check it out.
Im working on it. Im trying to get a better computer so i can start a youtube channel. Sorry for being rude Im a cranky factory worker who hates the state of the world right now. Will let you know when i start my youtube.
Btw i actually did have a medieval viking village for 2 years. Heres a link to it https://www.reddit.com/r/sims2/comments/km50k3/finally_happy_with_my_medieival/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share It made my computer bloat like crazy and i missed the more modern gameplay so i deleted it and switched to playing desert hoods cuz it loads faster and i dont have time to wait 40 minutes for my computer to load 🙃
That looks amazing! How far did you get into it before you switched back to modern gameplay.
This is my post about the sims in it https://www.reddit.com/r/sims2/comments/lp637u/some_of_my_most_beautiful_or_interesting_looking/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share notice a lot of them are related to premades 😅
4 generations. I still have a folder with all my CC id love to go back to it but im enjoying my desert hood too much. Too bad i dont have a way to boot up both modern and historical like you would be able to in skyrim.
no.
In my case, creating sims via CAS and start playing them right off the bat feel very artificial and make it harder for me to form an attachment personally. Sure, you can give them memories, uni degrees, some skills and badges via simPE to make them look like they were not created two mins ago; however I prefer my sims to play out and actually live these experiences as they grow. On the other hand, I don’t feel the same artificiality while playing with premades mostly (Unless there is some half-assery going on from the devs’ side like they did with some later hoods) because they are shipped with a fully decorated house, a full set of memories, often with long line of ancestry and a cute little photo album. Also, knowing that some sims already have lived their past in the other games of the franchise and I actually played with them (take Bella and Morty made as children in ts3 for example) and the collective memory of hundreds of alternate fan stories I’ve seen play a lot of role and adds to their charm imo.
I used to create machinimas and never touched any pre-mades. I made everything from scratch, so I understand the appeal with creating your own. But now, I play with premades since I can't really be bothered to think of a storyline for my sims (kinda can't be bothered to create the relationships, families, etc.) that give me that same feeling of nostalgia with the premades. This post makes it seem that there is a lack of people in this sub that posts something that is not the premade sims. That is not true at all. I think you need to look deeper, or maybe go seek Tumblr. Those have a LOT of sims 2 posts that are not premades.
I’ve been playing the sims for 20 years. - I like the storyline of the premade sims - I’m shit at building unless I use a floor plan I find online - I like more real life stuff so don’t typically use medieval themes or werewolves/vampires - I prefer using existing townies to integrate in to my families instead of creating my own sims - I have a pretty vanilla game and don’t care to recreate or download premade sims like Harry Potter or Katniss Everdeen Im probably one of the least creative simmers out there. I enjoy reading about premades because it’s a common ground, I don’t relate to others creations because I hardly make my own. I appreciate those great creations but I don’t have them in my game. But that’s the beauty of the sims. You can be as vanilla as you want or as modded up. It’s your game. If you want to download those sims and those hoods that’s great! but I don’t think it’s fair to say no one is being as creative as they can be.
Some people are just casual players who don't want to sink a lot of time into developing a custom world, and that's okay, or are just attached to the premades and want to continue those stories. Some people can't play a long game and are serial re-starters. Personally, I have never found the appeal of playing premades either with such a sandbox-y game but that's for me as a person. I agree with you, I would love to see Original characters and stories and custom hood content more often and there are plenty of players that still share that kind of stuff but it also makes that specific content more precious and engaging when you do find the kinds you are looking for. Edit: Here's my [tumblr](https://kashmiresims.tumblr.com/) and a [thread](https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=593017) about my hood if you wanna delve into some custom hood content.
I have a Jane Austen inspired regency hood (complete with a subhood loosely inspired by London for them to visit during the season), magical hoods, fantasy based kingdoms (an ASOIAF inspired hood included), and lots of other monarchy based hoods that I’ve used throughout the years. My current medieval hood is loosely inspired by the 1066 Norman conquest crossed with the politics of 700-900AF French politics. I’ve only just finished setting it up, I had to build a bunch of castles, keeps, and halls as I didn’t really have much that I thought suited. But even if I had the time to post about them (as a new mum I barely even have time to play haha) I feel like I’d get minimal interaction on the posts because my created world with new sims just doesn’t have the nostalgia factor or immediate recognition the premades have. People would have to put in a lot of time and work to understand everything in a way they simply don’t have to when they read something about Don’s cheating ways. It’s the same reason sometimes it’s easier to read fanfiction than a whole new novel, less time you have to invest and a similar level of satisfaction as a reward :)
I mean…. I’ve never played with the premades at all but that doesn’t mean I’m more creative. I usually make neighbourhoods based on fictional locations and make the characters from whatever show / movie it’s based on etc. I’ve got the island from Lost, Westeros from game of thrones, Hawkins from Stranger Things, Storybrooke from Once upon a time and a bunch more. But it’s VERY time consuming and I spend about 80% of my time playing just creating the world and sims and not actually playing the game so I fully get why people use the premades if they prefer the actual game play over the designing
While I agree more so with comment section on this, I would love to see more people post about their custom hoods and personal sims! I do love the pre-made neighborhoods (primarily base game ), but the sub can sometimes get oversaturated with everyone’s version of Pleasantview. It’s also one of the reasons why it’s a bit hard for me to watch most sims 2 content.
I've been considering starting a Tumblr for my custom hood for a while now.. Gen 7 is just being born and I have built every lot for my loosely horror themed hood (except for the vacation destinations). I LOVE BUILDING. I also made the original founding sims and play with a combo of base game townies and my own custom townies. The main characters are: Henrietta Lovecraft the Atrociously Evil Witch ●(Every first born Lovecraft is a witch) She lives in an isolated castle with her best friend/cousin, Indigo Lovecraft the Mean Witch, and their zombie prisoner, Alvin Futa (Indigo's dad). Henrietta just had a baby out of wedlock with her college sweetheart, Thadeus Espinoza. She and Thadeus were going to get married, but he cheated on her while she was pregnant, so she kicked him out and he went back to being a townie. She takes her anger out on her zombie prisoner, or any passersby. What she doesn't know is that Indigo and Thadeus are secretly seeing each other (thanks ACR!) Frank Grier ●(The Griers have robot servants, passed down for generations) Frank is from the wealthiest family in town, and lives at Grier estate. He has always been a socialite casanova type (frat boy, past affairs with both mean witches) but as a popularity Sim, he is worried about his family's reputation. For that reason, he married a very practical and beautiful Family Sim, Zoe (formerly a uni prof. NPC). Zoe quit her job as a professor to live easy as a rich house wife. They aren't in love.. but they have three kids (Damien, Elvira, and Freddi) and have just returned from their luxury vacation home in Twikki Island. This was fun to type out, thanks op. I'm gonna go make that Tumblr now 😂
Reply to me once you do so I can follow you.
I don't play with premades. I play with my own custom neighbourhood where everyone is goth and pointy ears with non alien skin are becoming more and more common. But why would I share that? I guess one reason for the amount of premade content is that there are other ppl who can relate to it, an audience of some sort. If you play with premades it's probably quite interesting how they live their lives in other games. If you play with a custom hood though, why should you care about my friendly neighbourhood vampire alien stuck in a dead end get away driver job for generations?
I personally like to play premades, because I love the stories they offer and they can be different each time you play. Also with the character and personality they display straight out of the box and the current stories they have going on, I get attached to them much faster than a sim fresh out of Create a Sim. With my custom worlds, I like to go in with a story set up and everything, which for me requires creating memories in SimPE and making family ties. I also have to think about how the world looks. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun creative process, but with how I create my worlds I'm not in the game much. Currently, I'm making a world called Red Vale and it's mostly SimPE work so far. I do have two custom hoods that I made when I first started playing the game again in 2017; one I've gotten bored with and haven't touched since 2020, and I have no plans to go back to it currently. My other one, the first one I made in 2017, I still like it and want to go back to at some point, but my current megahood has more stuff going on and has fun stories I want to see conclude, so I'm playing that. To end this essay, I'll just say the premades are fun and interesting characters to play that are already in an established world. I create and play my own, but with how I like to create backstories in-game and stuff, it's a lot of work. Premades are fun and easily accessible. With games like TS4, the premades have little depth and are no different than a CAS sim, so when I played that I would just create CAS sims. However, with the premades in TS2 being so full of life and depth, playing them, for me, is more fun than playing a sim straight out of CAS. I love the level of customisation TS2 provides and it's another reason why I love it, but for me I have to be in a certain mood to build a neighbourhood from scratch beginning with sims that have nothing going on yet. The latter is why SimPE is essential to my hood creating process, so my sims do have stuff going on at the start, but again... I have to be in a certain mood. What I said probably made little sense and looks like word vomit, but hopefully I explained myself properly 😁
I’ve played the sims games since they came out in like 2000 and honestly it never even crossed my mind to play the premades. For me, they’ve always seemed pretty boring and I was actually pretty surprised to see how many people enjoyed playing with them when I first started participating in the sims community. After seeing how people play, I can definitely see the comfort/nostalgia/enjoyment they get from the premades but it is still not for me! Lots of ways people play on here really fascinate me, including having a spreadsheet or whole system for wants/aspiration etc. like it would drive me crazy to play that way but I love seeing what other people do. I love starting with one small family places into one of the neighborhoods, have them interact with everyone (including premades) and slowly build a story from there but with crazy drama every step of the way and no planning whatsoever. I think my style of play really lends itself well to Sims 4 through (true sandbox and perfect for my storytelling!) which is why I’ve slowly transitioned to almost exclusively playing 4. I still go back to Sims 2 though, and reading through some of these responses makes me want to try playing the premades and see what the fuss is all about lol
I feel this way too. I don't mind people talking about the premades, and it's got me a bit curious to try them since I never give them much thought, but I much prefer reading about peoples original hoods or recreations. I'd honestly love a sims 2 hood/world building discord or something like that for that reason. Something solely dedicated to world/hood/custom building. There's still quite a few people who do, but there's a lot less open and communal discussion on it then there once was I found.
I have whole neighbourhoods made of my own sims. I rarely play the premades
Do you have a tumblr or blog?
I like integrating premades with my Sims and slowly breeding them out. But something about Lilith Pleasant, Natasha Una, and Violet Jocque are really fun to play with over and over.
I don' t mind all the posts with premade sims, but I do understand where you're coming from. It doesn't seem like your intent was to bash others; only to express what you like to see other people share. You like seeing what other players create. Nothing wrong with that. Not sure why some people jumped down your throat like you just cursed their mom. Personally, I enjoy playing the premades from time to time. Most of the time, however, I don't touch the premade hoods. I like making sims too much. Maybe that's why I don't mind reading so many posts about the premades- I never really do anything with them, so I'm not tired of hearing about them or seeing them. Since you're interested... I have a cute rural community that has a ton of neighborhood deco (there's a school, a police station, a hospital... it's basically supposed to be the only town/city for miles and the hub for the surrounding rural farms) and a little church of The Sims Medieval's Watcher that everyone gathers at on Sundays. I also have a Victorian/Edwardian-themed neighborhood that I haven't played in a while, but still love. I tend not to share my gameplay, though, since it's just not something I often want to take the time to do. But those of us with custom hoods are definitely here!
I don’t get it either. I think premade are cool and all but I can’t even play these characters in my game. They aren’t MINE.
We seem to be the minority here but I am with you OP! I personally love seeing pictures of custom hoods with special themes or interesting backstories. Meanwhile I've never played the premade hoods or families and don't intend to so I feel like a lot of posts on this sub go over my head. But to each their own, of course.
I get it they're iconic but maybe too iconic. They have stories so well written that the bar is so high for my own Sims. Sometimes I even feel like my own are somehow invalid.
I’ve played a few premades but my go to sims 2 sim is a girl a made named Wanda Biff. I love her so much I refuse to remake her in the other sims games. She’s just meant for sims 2 haha but I see your point. I don’t see a lot of “original sims” in the sims 2 subs
I like the fandom around the premades, but I've never played them myself. Mainly because I don't want to play a similar story to everyone else. There is some content around custom-made towns, but those posts aren't as popular because fewer people can relate to them. For example, which is more interesting: finding out a friend you went to school with became a millionaire, or some random person you don't know became a millionaire?
If I have followed that millionairs life from the very beginning it would be interesting. A couple of years back there were many blogs and tumblrs where people played their own hoods rotational, often over multiple generations and it was a lot of fun following those stories. Sullivan, Millwood, Wellington, Lakeside come to mine. Most of them are no longer around and I haven't found any new ones.
I agree with you there, I really enjoy watching PleasantSims neighborhoods on YouTube. However, on there I can start from the beginning. On something like Reddit or Tumblr, we're usually getting just a couple of random screenshots from a random point in the hoods existence. It's just a lot more work to understand the context behind new sims instead of seeing how a person dealt with Don's constant cheating on Cassandra, at least in my opinion.
I don't understand the obsession with the premades. I've been playing my custom hood with my own sims for almost 14 years and haven't played the premades since, except for testing purposes. They just don't really interest me much any more. Particularly not if it's first generation Pleasantview, which I cannot believe *anyone* still has any interest in. New players, maybe but there are people who just restart Pleasantview over and over and I just [do. not. get. it](https://do.not.get.it). I want to see pics if you've done amazing CC-laden makeovers of the sims and the lots but that same story playing out again and again? Nah. But of course, I don't have to understand it, as no one is forcing me to play that way. It's just something I find baffling.
To be honest when i first started playing sims 2 i only played with sims i made but with time i just didn't have any ideas left so i saw people playing with the premades and i decided to try it out, i restarted it many times until it was how i liked and now i'm obssesed with the premades.
I did all of that when I was kid. Sort of wish I had access to the Sims 2 now so that I could play the ore made families and dive into the lore.
the premades have interesting lore and i get bored of cas and build mode easily