List of past and present challenges?

[miricats]

Hi there!

As an old sims2 player, and someone who just really started getting into the sims3 in the last few months, I'd really like to be able to access all the old challenges -- without having to do a search and then hunt through, sorting out which links are about the skill challenges in the game and which are new challenges.

Also, I was looking at the challenges page on the board, and when I clicked on "Tournament Roster and General Rules page" to find out the rules for entering the tournament (in prep for next year, as I'm obviously too late to really enter this year), I got the following error:

An Error Has Occurred!
The topic or board you are looking for appears to be either missing or off limits to you.

It would be nice to be able to read the rules etc.

Please help!

Thank you!

--MiriCats

ps.  If you're interested in having a list of former challenges but don't have the manpower to do it, I will do my best to find as many as I can to create a list -- it could be linked from the main challenges page.  I don't mind doing the work if I only have to do it once and can then find it again, and ideally if it also helps others, I just don't want to have to go searching and filtering every time I want to find another challenge to attempt.

[Sportsfan]

Just go through this: http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/forum/index.php/board,11.0.html
Pretty much any topic started by metro is a challenge.

[miricats]

That does help some, but it still means digging and mining.  A single page, with links to all the challenges, could even revive some of the challenges that look really interesting.  If there's *really* too many, they could be sorted by date of initial posting, approximate subject (family, career, travel, etc.), or some other sort factor I haven't thought of, not having been through them all yet.

I'm going to try to go in the order they were originally posted, and see how many of them I can do.

Thank you!

--Miricats

[Pam]

That does help some, but it still means digging and mining.  A single page, with links to all the challenges, could even revive some of the challenges that look really interesting.  If there's *really* too many, they could be sorted by date of initial posting, approximate subject (family, career, travel, etc.), or some other sort factor I haven't thought of, not having been through them all yet.

I'm going to try to go in the order they were originally posted, and see how many of them I can do.

Thank you!

--Miricats

I think that's a good idea.  We should sort them by challenge year, I think.  I'll ask our Challenge Assistant, RicaLynn, to come by and see what she thinks.

[miricats]

Because I tend to be anal about these things, and because I'm attempting to defrag a video drive that is mostly full and thus am having to move files around a lot and cannot play right now, I have created a list of all challenges either in the graveyard or the current challenges board on the forum.  No links, as I was assembling it in notepad, but they are listed by date of issuance rather than by date of last post.

Also, I was wondering why no smaller challenges are issued any more?  I saw the challenge suggestions thread, but that was for more challenges for the tournament; sometimes I just want a challenge that will take me a day or so, not something that will be big and long.  I don't know how long it will take me to go through all the challenges listed, but I also have some questions about some of the challenges from the graveyard; if I read through the threads and the answers aren't there, will any info requests in those threads get answered?  Is it even possible to post in graveyard threads?

Anyways, here's the data I gathered.  Done in notepad (brand new os install on brand new drive (not whole new computer alas)), so please forgive any formatting issues.

Oh, and I included the two or three challenges by members other than Metropolis Man, just so you know.

Original *post* date                                Challenge title
September 22, 2009, 07:55:52 PM      The Centurian's Solo Challenge
September 27, 2009, 02:02:51 PM      Renaissance Smackdown at the da Vinci House
September 29, 2009, 10:58:14 PM      who wants to be a rock star?
October 04, 2009, 10:57:19 AM      Centurian’s Couple’s Challenge
October 04, 2009, 10:07:31 PM      You’re Hired: The Trump Challenge
October 12, 2009, 03:28:45 PM      Maximum Moodlets: Do Opposites Really Attract?
October 14, 2009, 01:23:55 AM      The Sims 3 Baby Boomer Challenge
November 03, 2009, 09:41:48 AM      The MAX Skills Marathon
November 23, 2009, 05:35:52 PM      Dr. Frankenstein’s Mad Scientist Invitational
November 28, 2009, 05:57:08 PM      The Happiest Centenarian on the Block
December 23, 2009, 01:49:05 PM      The PERFECTLY HAPPY Challenge
January 15, 2010, 06:18:08 AM      Zeus and Hera’s Nectar-Making Invitational
February 05, 2010, 07:00:20 AM      The Sunset Valley/Riverview Team Upgrade Race
February 26, 2010, 06:48:40 AM      The Career Couples’ Grand Slam Challenge
March 18, 2010, 10:42:34 AM      Baby Boomer II: 50 Days of Extreme Parenting
April 06, 2010, 02:02:26 PM      Political “Traiter” to the World
April 28, 2010, 05:11:55 PM      House Hunters: Movin’ On Up!
May 19, 2010, 06:55:27 AM      The Crazy Eights Collector’s Challenge
June 09, 2010, 11:38:20 AM      The Random Wishmaster’s Quartet
July 01, 2010, 08:18:56 AM      Following Romantic Interests to the Letter
July 21, 2010, 02:50:40 PM      The da Vinci’s All You Can Make Buffet
August 13, 2010, 09:44:25 AM      The Grim Reaper’s Skill Challenge of Sorrow
August 23, 2010, 09:40:59 AM      The Sims 3 Immortal Dynasty Challenge
August 31, 2010, 04:01:53 PM      2010 Tournament Finale: Setting the Stage for Maximum Moodlets
November 30, 2010, 02:36:02 PM      Bishop Takes Head Kick: Grandmaster Quan’s Grandmaster Challenge
November 30, 2010, 12:20:00 PM      My Garden of Eatin’ Smells Fishy!
December 31, 2010, 08:20:15 AM      Stop the Presses! Write Here, Write Now.
January 30, 2011, 05:00:38 PM      Flight of the Starship Crescent Wrench: the Upgrade Quadrant
January 30, 2011, 05:03:07 PM      Peter and Jack’s Rabbit-Hole Adventures
February 27, 2011, 02:34:51 PM      Ghost Hunter Bingo!
March 06, 2011, 02:01:41 PM      Baby Boomer III: How Big is Your Family Tree?
April 10, 2011, 07:14:11 PM      A Photography Challenge? Oh, Snap!
April 11, 2011, 02:28:28 PM      Random Wishmasters II: Foster Parent Frenzy
May 21, 2011, 03:46:58 PM      Here’s a Tip: Party Like a Rock Star!
May 28, 2011, 09:20:07 AM      Mad Max Skillz Marathon: Cheaters Welcome
May 29, 2011, 07:01:15 AM      The Townie DecaDynasty
June 08, 2011, 01:13:18 PM      The Hobos to Heroes Race
August 03, 2011, 12:04:14 PM      Tournament Finale: The 4 X 4 Golden Opportunity
November 01, 2011, 08:41:53 AM      World Handyman Championships
November 02, 2011, 11:06:30 AM      Career Caps and New Digs
January 14, 2012, 10:51:31 AM      The Trophy Room — The Most Rewarding Sims Challenge Yet
January 17, 2012, 03:30:12 PM      Sunset Valley: Attack of the Clones!
March 12, 2012, 11:35:28 AM      Teacher’s Tourist Trap
March 13, 2012, 03:37:35 PM      Final Wishmasters Challenge: Wish Big!
May 11, 2012, 12:11:27 PM      The Life State Race
May 12, 2012, 02:28:37 PM      Consignment Store Quartet — the Great 28!
July 10, 2012, 10:37:45 AM      Setting the Stage for Maximum Moodlets
July 10, 2012, 08:58:53 PM      Bringing Out Your Animal Instincts
August 26, 2012, 10:07:43 AM      Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous
September 05, 2012, 04:04:11 PM      2012 Tournament Finale: Got Skills?
September 14, 2012, 12:50:14 PM      The Sims 3 Life States Dynasty

[Ricalynn]

The Tournament, Dynasties and Projects are actually three different things on this forum so usually we don't include a list that would contain all three. 

There is a board specifically for challenges made by Metro and that covers the Tournament's current challenges and has stickies for each of the Dynasties, the World Ranking, Dynasty Hall of Fame and the rules that you've been looking for.  I did give you the link in another thread but here it is again in case you don't see that before this.

As for the challenges in the graveyard, I'd have to talk to Metro - the thing about those challenges is they're not current and really our day to day monitoring is for on going challenges not ones that can't be entered anymore.   In fact, you also need to be aware that a lot of them are from before many of the newest expansions so we wouldn't be able to answer questions about what would be allowed and what wouldn't because the rules are from a different time.   Back when some of them came out, we didn't have fairies or vampires or population controls or even actual self employed careers.  So some of your questions really may not even have answers due to context and age. 

I don't mind putting together a link list of the old challenges if Metro & Pam both agree it's a good idea but I just want you to know that at this point because they are not attached to the tournament, you could do them however you wanted to do them within the rules that are set.   Your scores wouldn't count for anything other than your personal enjoyment.  Although, if you read most of the threads through, be aware you're going to see how the winners actually got their score so it could influence how you do compared to them. 

If you have any questions regarding the current challenges or the dynasties, please post those questions on their threads.  Metro & I try to keep a very close eye on the active ones so your answers should come fairly quickly.

[miricats]

Thank you, Ricalynn!

I was thinking more along the lines of a list of all challenges posted here so that people could do them -- for their own enjoyment.  An added notation (if possible) of which expansions were included, if any, could indicate to new players which functions fall within the spirit of the challenge and which don't.

What I was going to ask, though, was about the rabbit hole career challenge -- for the careers that branch, is each branch considered a separate career or can you only do one branch and then the career is completed?

Also, some of the very old challenges were not part of the tournament system at all -- is there a reason that there are no more challenges of this sort?  I like the quick, short challenges quite a lot, and they could theoretically be open indefinitely so that newcomers can have scores posted alongside people who did it back when -- with the caveat that they can't use any functionality from any expansion packs not out when the challenge was originally written.

(Aargh, I was writing a response, and then you replied and I modified my response instead of starting a new post.  Sorry 'bout that.  I deleted it and am reposting below your reply.)

[Pam]

Very soon after the Forum was started in 2009, we set up the Challenge Tournaments with Metropolis Man at the helm.  I don't recall any specific short challenges that we hosted here that were outside the Tournaments.  If there are some in the Graveyard, it's possible that a member posted it without realizing that we don't let challenges be posted randomly by members.  If you could post some links to specific challenges you're talking about, I might be able to give you a better answer as to why they were not part of the Tournament.  Metro has written shorter challenges that are part of the Tournament.  They are mixed in with the longer challenges to give everyone a break with something quick.

We can probably organize something like having topics for old Tournament Challenges, but it's not realistic to open them up for discussion for all the reasons Rica has mentioned.  They would also have to remain closed for any additional scores to be shown.  General questions, like the one about the career branches, can be asked on current challenge threads.  It's the outdated things we probably won't be able to cover.  (As for the career branches, each branch counts as an individual career.)

[miricats]

The first challenges on the list, through the Trump challenge, were all pre-tournament, and some are very short (as in, the leaderboard shows that the time required to complete the challenge was just 2-3 game weeks).  Also pre-tournament, a couple of the challenges (happiest centenarian by da vinci, baby boomer by Carl and Pam) were started by members other than Metropolis Man.

It would be interesting (to me) if there were more challenges like that posted -- quick challenges that are not part of the tournament, that are open-ended, and possibly also functionality-restricted to certain expansion packs.  But it's just an idea, of course.