Mistakes made in Sims 3

[SmotherGirl]

My sims aren't allowed to have gnomes. Ever. Not one. If one shows up, I sell it out from under them in no time.

I don't trust the gnomes on this game. And there's a reason.

You see... A gnome murdered my sim.

I started a new game, made this beautiful sim woman, and immediately moved her into a house. She spent her first few days getting employment and leveling basic skills like cooking and charisma, and even a few secondary skills such as sculpting and inventing. Everything was going well, and my sim was steadily making a name for herself. She'd earned a promotion or two at work, and had even begun selling her inventions and sculptures for the extra dough. All of them except one. A gnome. It was one of her first creations and I felt it a poignant reminder of her beginnings, so I plopped him by the front door as a keepsake for my sim.

Then one day, as she'd done several times before, she decides to spend the afternoon inventing. Then *BAM*, a fire breaks out on my sim's behind! She's on fire! What can I do? I rush her into the bathroom, only to find that little gnome laid out in front of my shower, a smugness in his posture. My sim is seriously freaking out, and can't seem to conceptualize stepping *over* this little wooden inconvenience, so I decide to send her to the local pool which is only two lots away.

She succumbed to the flames a mere three feet from the pool's edge.

None of my sims have owned a garden gnome since.

((Do I even need to mention that I hadn't saved since my sims creation?))

[marwolfer]

I never learn to save periodically! It never fails that I'm in the middle of a big building project, or falling in love with a particular sim/family when BAM! the game freezes and crashes. I always think, "Hey, I should save soon," but then get so caught up that I forget or don't want to wait for it to save. >.< It's my biggest shortcoming with the sims, especially since I've been playing from S1 and know how it has always loved to randomly crash.

[dtaymoore]

Mine would be using cheats. Sims never needed to go to sleep or do anything but I would get way too bored just watching them level up their skills or do mindless tasks for an extended period of time.

Another is not spending the money on alarms. It seems that almost every time I started a new sim or moved a sim into a new home, my house would get robbed that night. And I have terrible luck because I rarely get a cop in time or one that beats up the robber.

[Randox]

Cheats and Saving would be the big ones for me. Back when I was young and playing the first sims, I used to cheat my heart out, and essentially wound up playing a house building game, completely nullifying the actual game. For the Sims 3, I do not save often enough, though the game has been quite stable for me (hence not saving often enough). Someday though, I am going to lose the game, and 3 hours, and I am going to be able to say to myself "told you so".

[ToniSimbot]

Probably micromanaging them.

If they do something I didn't put in their queue and I catch them, most of the time it ends as "action deleted". This doesn't even make sense for me to do since I play all my Sims with high free will. But it's usually circumstances that make no sense. I've had sims who just painted when I didn't tell them to and it's okay, but some sims go to bed in the afternoon when their rest meter is full, or eat when they aren't hungry and they don't have traits that would influence that behavior.

The worst one I had was a sim who wanted to learn fishing, so I sat him in front of the TV to skill up (I wasn't going to send him outside to be attacked by zombies) and he just kept turning off the TV. He wasn't tired, or hungry, or needed to pee. So I sent him outside with the zombies... where he got abducted by aliens. 

[Shirin]

The worst one I had was a sim who wanted to learn fishing, so I sat him in front of the TV to skill up (I wasn't going to send him outside to be attacked by zombies) and he just kept turning off the TV. He wasn't tired, or hungry, or needed to pee. So I sent him outside with the zombies... where he got abducted by aliens. 

I'm sorry, I'm very sorry, I completely understand your frustration with this scenario...but I have to tell you, I just about fell out of my chair laughing, as I pictured it so clearly.

It's midnight, he's bored with the TV fishing show ("I can fish better than THAT guy!"), so he finally goes outside amongst the zombies. "What is wrong with all these people? Bizarre neighbors! Shambling like horrors from a nightmare, and...heyyy...what's that in the sky?" *Yoink!* And he's stolen.