Play Style: Cheats or no Cheats?

[Wai]

There would seem to be more cheats than I ever knew existed.  I learned only a few days ago about Constraining walls (CFE?) but haven't used it.  I do a lot of building.  Are there other building cheats?

I use cheats when needed to reset my sim(s) or to move objects, sometimes these can't be avoided.  I also occassionally cheat right at the start to change the traits and/or the LTW of a previopsly made sim to suit the game I intend to play.   Making new sims each time you start a new game can be tedious.  Occassionally I like to start a game with a teenager which technically is not allowed.  However the sim can be aged down in CAS and the game will allow lone a teenager created this way.  I also keep a sim in my library who owns one of those special fridges, he is totally broke (Household funds 0).   He is my fail-safe for if I ever lose my special fridge through no fault of my own.  I never use him just to start the game with that fridge.  Oh, and one other, after losing several consecutive sims to meteors I now place a harvestable death flower on my lot for each adult sim and get them to harvest them right at the start.  Strange, I haven't seen a meteor since I started doing this!

Otherwise, I find cheating spoils the game.  I quite enjoy seeing how quickly I can raise the sim's funds, popularity and skills.  So I always start with a sim who lives more-or-less in a shack or even a tent

[MoMoll]

I'll always use the Motherlode cheat in the very beginning, just because I get more enjoyment if my Sim isn't living in squalor with appliances that are constantly breaking.  But I only ever use it in the very beginning of a new game, and just to get a Sim set up.

I used to use the motherlode cheat at the beginning for the same reason. Now I have a mod where I can make "realestate free". Once my sim moves into the house I turn off the free realestate.

[Leto85]

I used to use the motherlode cheat at the beginning for the same reason. Now I have a mod where I can make "realestate free". Once my sim moves into the house I turn off the free realestate.

What does 'free realestate' do again? I got the feeling I knew it once, but have forgotten about it.

[Ricalynn]

If you use free realestate, in Edit town mode, you can place a family with any amount of money into any house. So if you made a household in CAS via Edit Town and they only start with §21,000.  You can still move them into say the Landgraab Mansion without needing anymore money if you entered the freerealestate cheat in correctly. I can't remember but I think you have to enter it in the main menu before you select a game though.

[MoMoll]

You have to set it up before moving. I have a town I started using, that has no sims. I use "free realestate" to put families I made or stole from other towns. You place the family and they don't pay for the lot. Once Ive placed everyone, I let immigration take over for the other lots. Then I turn off the "free realestate".

For your active sim, you have to go to edit town and evict them, then place them. They cannot move by phone to get the free realestate.

[FrostFlower]

I used to cheat a lot more than I do now, but I found it made the game kind of boring. I don't even like to use the LTRs like Steel Bladder and Hardly Hungry.

I do, however, often use freerealestate at the start of a game so they can afford a decent house, simply because by the time my Sim can afford the house I have my eye on, someone's usually moved into it. So I'll compromise by moving them into an unfurnished house and then setting their funds at little or nothing. They still have to work their way up but I don't have to worry about someone having already snagged the house I want when they're finally able to afford it. I rationalize it that they've inherited the house or something. 

[jeanamariex3]

LOL I think I figured out the biggest reason why I'm a huge cheater. Now, before you call me off topic, yes, discussing my first venture into Sims is the reason behind it.

As you guys on this forum may or may not know, my first venture into Sims was SimTown, the kiddie version of SimCity. It was in the third grade, computer class, and I didn't care for my media center teacher much, (no one did, she yelled at us, and what one considers "mean" ). Well, it was a two person project, (my partner was one of my friends anyways), and our grade was obviously based on how well we managed the town. So, that naturally took the joy out of disasters, and what not. Playing anything Sim related took the fun out of the game, with the educational perspective, and learning to earn/work for stuff. Playing at friends houses, was great at that point.

If I were to play challenges, to where my Sims have to earn their giant mansion, friends, etc. or from a more realistic standpoint, (no occults, no cow plant, no social bunny), it will take me back to elementary school, where my media center was yelling at me, for disasters striking. Plus the fact, that the game was never about being realistic. Contradicting for a life simulator, but true. And besides, this game was never meant to be educational, because it's T for Teens. It's nice to have that feeling where I could cheat their social needs down to zero and get the Social Bunny, (I sure do miss him!), and motherlode to give my Sims as much money as they desire, and make them celebrities. Even if I were to play with a family, from a realistic standpoint, there has to be that one, twist. Either they're a normal Sim family, with a pet unicorn that live next door to a vampire, or the other way around.

And this, folks, is exactly why I feel the need to cheat in the Sims Series, and always have.    

EDIT: I'm cheating of course, on my Little Red Riding Hood story.

[TheTripWasInfraGreen]

HideHeadlineEffects On. I can't play without it, and I definitely can't take screenshots without it.

I'll use TestingCheats for my freeplay games, but there is a lot of fun in not maxing out motives and making my sims earn their keep.

[Joanne]

I only cheat on rare occasions, like then a baby's needs drop and the babysitter don't do his job. I will pause the game and rescue the little one with testing cheats. I don't use money cheats, it take the fun out off the game. My sims must earn their money.

[jeanamariex3]

I think Sims earning their money just takes me back to my first (and rather unpleasant) venture into the Sims. I mean, yeah in reality, we have to work for our things, but I feel like making my Sims work for those things, will make my game a little too realistic/educational. I'm a 22 year old woman who graduated from elementary school two years ago! However, I did have my moments of disappointments, when I cheated a Sims social meter down to zero, when I first started playing (little after LN), I did find myself disappointed that the Social Bunny didn't appear. I really do miss that guy.

EDIT: LOL, Hit the wrong key! 

[Shadow]

I used to use motherlode all the time - lacked the effect  for saving for a mansion
Ironically it was only after discovering the forum that I stopped cheating and I must admit it's way more fun to play without the cheats and I can also play longer games too.

[Chuckles_82]

Since becoming a builder and world builder I 'cheat' a whole lot more than I used to. For actual game purposes where I'm not on a challenge, which is rare, I only cheat to compensate for game glitches (and building 'cheats').

[Vanillin]

I'm not fond of using money, skill or career cheats, but I do use cheats.
I use testingcheatsenabled true at times and CAS some of my sims. I kind of play the game as a roleplay, so my sims who are working as an actress or are fashionistas or rock stars sometimes gets CAS-d, just like most of the celebrities in real life gets surgery to get some parts of their face fixed.
Other than that, hmmm, I sometimes play around with their needs, espicially when they're doing oppurtunities such as the painting and writing ones. 
I also use some mods like the ones that enable sims to get impregnated or abort at the hospital and teenagers getting pregnant and marrying to get more drama in my games. I think those also count as cheats.

So yes.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I only use the moveobjects cheat. I rarely use the testingcheatsenabled one, but only when my Sim has a baby/toddler that belongs to a different family (to add a crib).

[Janna]

I decided to see what my response had been and see how differently I feel now after playing for several more months (five or six).

Pretty much the same, I use some cheats, but generally only to fix some problems, traits not being given, and have used it for a couple of sims who were adopted or married and had conflicting traits with LTW.  Wants to have a perfect garden and hates the outdoors type of conflict.  I also use cheats to reset sims (which I don't see as a cheat), move objects and buydebug to build my community garden, or for the realism it adds to a home -- flower beds and no butterflies?  Unheard of.  My sims are not allowed to catch the insects or get any fish for financial gain.

I stll use the motherlode cheat at the beginning.  Hubby and I struggled enough at the start of our marriage (now 31 years) that I don't want the reminder of how hard it was.  My sims get the home I dream of; they inherited it from that rich uncle who now lives in the poor house 

They have to earn their skills, any items of higher quality, fridge and such, but the house, number of rooms, flooring, walls and such are what I want.  I do give the authors a nice computer, desk and chair, however.  And I did cheat with the death flower, so each of my sim has it in case of an accident.  I decided to do that when my female founder died but she had a death flower; she would have lost the chance to see her grandson, and be a free babysitter      Now they all have one. 


I need to find out about the teleportation; as it would be helpful to a sim who is collecting and is at one end of the town, home at other, and low on needs. 

So, so far it is depends and sometimes when I use a cheat.