The Island

[hazelnut]

Yes, this is the same story I started posting a few days ago and then took down: my computer crashed three times just building the set and then, a few minutes after I’d started to play, Error Trap flagged up 2200-plus errors in one go and everything came to a halt again (judging by the ones I looked at, all of errors involved the same Sim, one outside the active household).  At the next attempt, it was the contestants who kept glitching out – which meant they disappeared and then rematerialised on the edge of the lot, off the island, which rather spoilt the game.  At this point I gave up.

But I’m stubborn (and addicted to Sims, of course  ) – and I really liked the idea of trying a game where the Sims were all behaving autonomously while I sat back and watched.  After a day or two, I tried again, without Error Trap, and it seems to be holding together so far.


The Rules
The Contestants
A Dramatic Start
Week One
The First Elimination - and Fun Day
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four
Week Five
Week Six
Week Seven
Week Eight
Week Nine
Week Ten
Week Eleven: The Finale

[hazelnut]

The Rules

I’m mostly playing by Sportsfan’s Survival of the Fittest rules, although missing out the pre-merge stage – it’s a single island, with every Sim for him/herself, from the start.



I’m using mods to start with twelve Sims instead of eight.  Their traits are random but I did tweak the appearance of some to get more variety and their clothes aren’t random at all.  I split them into two groups of six and played each group for a single day before saving them to the library ready to begin the main game.  As well as having makeovers during that day, all of them attended a charisma class.

I found in testing that a single fruit or vegetable per Sim per day generally left them too hungry to do any skilling by the middle of the day, so a few extra fruits and vegetables (nowhere near enough for everyone) will be scattered around the island at midday on some days, entirely at my whim.  Herbs will also be included on occasion, just to add to the randomness.

I’m going to count progress in a skill level as well as the number of actual points in deciding each week’s winner of immunity.  If there’s no clear difference at noon on Friday when the skilling period ends, there will be a tie-break competition, related to that week’s skill.  This will take place on Friday afternoon/evening.

The loser will be voted off immediately after this and will leave the island once they’ve finished repairing and cleaning the bathroom facilities.  (Well, getting kicked off the island seems more like a reward than a punishment.  I like the idea of them getting their hands dirty first.)

Another addition: Saturday is Fun Day for the survivors.  Various entertainment items will appear on the island and there may also be extra food and/or drinks.  Since they’re Sims, this probably won’t make them feel worse when they go back to normal on Sunday…

Since I want the week’s most successful Sim to have more of a reward than simply staying on the island, there will be a ‘Head of Island’, as in the Head of House from AnnBeiFong’s Sims 3 version of Big Brother.  The Head of Island will be given the keys to the only building on the island and will enjoy relative comfort for a week.


The Set

The island is on the 64x64 lot behind the fishponds in Monte Vista.  I’d have preferred a real island but Island Paradise has made it far too easy to escape.



Sleeping facilities at the start consist of two groups of three tents, plus two sleeping bags.



There are two toilet cubicles and a single shower for the twelve Sims.  Let’s hope they’re not asked to do anything that will get them hot and sweaty  .





The Head of Island’s hut luxurious abode has a full bathroom, complete with rubber ducky and bubble bath, a comfortable bed, books and an armchair to read them in.  The kitchen has a coffee maker, a fridge for quick meals and a dishwasher for cleaning up afterwards.  Any plumbing or appliances that break will be replaced immediately.



The chest by the front door holds the food stores for the entire game.  Fortunately, Sims never seem to notice that sort of thing on their own .

[hazelnut]

The Contestants

The lucky twelve have been alphabetically named for my convenience.  No-one said this was real life – or even real-life reality TV .

Alan Archer



Angler/Hates the Outdoors/Hopeless Romantic/No Sense of Humour/Unflirty
LTW: Reach Max Influence with All Social Groups (!)
For a contradictory set of traits, I could hardly have done better if I’d tried.  He’s going to be interesting.

Betty-Belinda Brown



Childish/Family-Oriented/Handy/Insane/Unlucky
LTW: The Fairytale Finder
Betty-Belinda and her peacock-patterned wellies are ready to take on all comers.

Charlie Curzons



Adventurous/Animal Lover/Brave/Computer Whiz/Evil
LTW: Great Explorer
Charlie’s probably going to be disappointed that the desert island’s not quite as isolated as he’d been led to believe.

Dilys Davies



Daredevil/Light Sleeper/Loner/Slob/Unflirty
LTW: Professional Author
Quiet Dilys keeps herself very much to herself.  Will she be able to bond with the other inmates housemates?

Elaine Evans



Bookworm/Heavy Sleeper/Loves to Swim/Natural Cook/Vehicle Enthusiast
LTW: The Culinary Librarian
Elaine loves food and water.  Sadly, food’s in short supply and the water around the island’s unsafe for swimming…

She was the only one to show any independence during their day of pre-game training/refurbishment.  She somehow managed to sneak away from the salon when I took my eye off her and was discovered at home with her nose in a book.

The Hon. Freddie fforbes-Farquharson



Ambitious/Avant Garde/Cat Person/Loser/Snob
LTW: Living in the Lap of Luxury
There have been allegations that Freddie isn’t really as aristocratic as he claims – but really, would anyone else wear tweeds and a kilt to an occasion like this?

Gertrude Grissom



Good (ironically enough)/Kleptomaniac/Lucky/Photographer’s Eye/Shy
LTW: World-Class Gallery
Through an unfortunate accident of birth SimBin saves, poor Gertie bears a startling physical resemblance to a certain Sim Who Shall Not Be Named but would like to point out that she’s totally different in all important respects.

Herbert Hill



Charismatic/Friendly/Genius/Hates the Outdoors/Star Quality
LTW: Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous
Herbie claims to be really good with people – if only he’d get out and talk to them.
(I love that the nerdy-looking one rolled those traits.)

Isobel Irving



Absent-Minded/Disciplined/Grumpy/Loner/Schmoozer
LTW: Physical Perfection
What can you say about Isobel?  (Apart from having another odd set of traits.)  A clone of Ebony Wood I?  Proto-Goth?  Maybe.  Dark and brooding?  Probably – if only I had Supernatural installed.  We’ll just have to wait and see…

Jancis Jones



Coward/Frugal/Neat/Neurotic/Technophobe
LTW: Surrounded by Family
Sweet, hippyish Jancis is another SimBin clone.  She really ought to be eco-friendly but the random numbers didn’t roll that way.  A desert island sounds ideal for a technophobe – but how will a neat coward cope with primitive sanitation and limited lighting?

Ken Kanaka



Clumsy/Diva/Nurturing/Rebellious/Social Butterfly
LTW: Vocal Legend
Starstruck Ken thought he was entering for another reality TV show altogether…
(I thought rebellious and nurturing were conflicting traits.  Obviously the normal rules don’t apply when they’re all rolled at once.)

Lawrence Lewis



Athletic/Great Kisser/Inappropriate/Mean-Spirited/Perfectionist
LTW: Perfect Mind, Perfect Body
Hunky Lawrence hopes to win over the ladies in the audience with his ripped abs.  Whether the ladies (or men) on the island will also succumb is anybody’s guess…

[hazelnut]

A Dramatic Start

The contestants arrive on-set just after eight o’clock on Sunday morning and gaze across the strangely impassable stream to their new home.



And then, as if by magic, they are all transported across to the island.



Most walk around to inspect the facilities.



Herbert tells a ghost story.



And then Isobel wonders why it's getting dark in the middle of the morning.



Even for me, this is a record.  A meteor strike only two hours into a game?

And I promptly break the rules, sending them all running off to the far side of the island.



On the other hand, permanently eliminating contestants on the first morning isn’t really in the spirit of the rules either.  This isn’t the Hunger Games, after all .

It takes a surprisingly long time for the tell-tale shadow to appear.



Fortunately, no-one is nearby, because this happens immediately afterwards:





Left to themselves again, most of the Sims cope well with the fires...



…and soon everything is under control.



For once, the sale of the space rocks and scrap more than covers the cost of repairing the damage.  (It’s strange that the wooden wall survived the blast when the toilets were vaporised )

And finally, twenty minutes late, the first week’s skilling objects appear.

[Malley]

I think a dramatic start is an understatement for sure  .  Looking forward to the rest of the challenge, sans the meteors, of course.

[KRae]

Whoa, what a way to start! I'll be reading as I'm a real sucker for this sort of story.

[MarianT]

Great start! -- although not quite what you'd planned.

[hazelnut]

I think a dramatic start is an understatement for sure  .  Looking forward to the rest of the challenge, sans the meteors, of course.

Whoa, what a way to start! I'll be reading as I'm a real sucker for this sort of story.

Great start! -- although not quite what you'd planned.

No, not at all what I planned!  I knew that Sims living outdoors seem to attract meteors but having it happen right at the start is just ridiculous.  Funnily enough, one of the pre-game households had that pop-up message about the house having been hit by a meteor and would I like to deal with the mess?  (I turned down the opportunity.)  I hope this isn't going to become a theme  .

[hazelnut]

Week One: Athletic

Elaine and Isobel head straight for the climbing wall and become the first two to get athletic skill points, despite their struggles (I’m pretty sure they both selected ‘medium’ rather than ‘easy’).



Most of the others pick up frisbees and balls (and are soon gaining jock influence).



It’s been a tough first day and people start to drift off to the tents in the early evening.  They’re not happy campers.  By midnight, all the portraits have yellow backgrounds, apart from Dilys’.  Hers is orange.  Despite their bad moods, Alan and Betty stay up late, pillow-fighting.



The following morning, Isobel and the Honourable Frederick decide to give the poor pillows even more of a battering.



Others are getting on less well.



Much less well.



And they block access to the loos so effectively that Herbie has an embarrassing accident.


By Tuesday, most have at least one point in athletics and friendships are starting to form.



The bathroom area is the social hotspot, even though one toilet is now blocked and it doesn’t seem like the pleasantest place to be.



Finally, someone tries out the golf tee.



Maybe Isobel posting a course record triggers something, because golf becomes quite a popular activity from this point on.  Lawrence, who has been surprisingly slow to pick up the athletic skill, given that he’s the only one with the trait, has a go on the mechanical bull – and fails miserably.  Thanks, Lawrence.  Dilys needed cheering up: with her light sleeper and loner traits, she’s definitely the least happy of the bunch.




Wednesday: time to stir things up a bit.  I scatter some fruit and herbs around the island – including two sprigs of buzzberry, which boosts athletic skill gain.  Freddie immediately walks over and picks one up.



I think he’d have preferred fruit.  Obviously ignorant of the herb’s effects, he goes off to chat to various people.  Eventually, he does try a couple of golf swings but then decides he’s too tired and has an early night.

And as for the other buzzberry…




Friday morning dawns.



Jancis and Freddie get in one last game of frisbee...



…and Herbie gains his first athletic skill point at last.  Everyone now has at least one.  Now he’s tried it, Herbie has obviously decided there’s something to this exercise lark, because he manages to get a second point before the morning is over.

And midday arrives.  Time to stop skilling.  Who’s made the most progress?  And who is least popular?


Unsurprisingly, athletic Lawrence has done well after his slow start and is on a solid level 4 – but he’s not the winner.  Elaine is also at level 4 and has almost gained another point, so she's clearly ahead of him.  Already at level 5 (just) is Jancis – but the surprise winner is Dilys, who is more than halfway to level 6.  Yes, Dilys.  The light-sleeping loner who consistently had the lowest mood has somehow done a lot better than her happier housemates.  Maybe she spent extra time skilling to avoid having to socialise.

So Dilys becomes the first Head of Island and is safe from elimination.  With her own room and a comfy bed, she might even get a decent night’s sleep at last.

And now it’s time to vote.  Who will be first to be kicked off the island?

[hazelnut]

The First Elimination - and Fun Day

And so to the voting, starting with our newly-appointed Head of Island:

Dilys: “I hardly know any of them.  Can I abstain?  No?  OK then.  Lawrence.  I think he’s the one who’s woken me up most often.”

And then the others:

Alan: “Lawrence!  No question about it.”
Betty-Belinda: “Charlie, of course!  Oh, the one I like least?  In that case, Jancis.”
Charlie: “Ken.  He thinks he’s so wonderful: all that showing off and talking about himself.  What an idiot.”
Elaine: “It’s a tough decision but…  Gertrude, I think.”
The Hon. Freddie: “I’m sorry to say that I very much dislike that Ken fellow.  Yes, his beating me to a pulp probably does have more than a little to do with my decision.”
Gertrude: “I hate to speak badly of anybody but I have to say I haven't warmed to Lawrence.”
Herbert:  “Lawrence.  Probably.  I think.  Yes, I'll go for Lawrence.”
Isobel: “I barely know some of them but…  Ken.  He’s such a diva.”
Jancis: “I’m sorry but I’m not all that keen on Betty.  She’s strange.”
Ken: “Can I vote for three of them?  No?  OK, then.  Lawrence.”
Lawrence: “Ken.  And then Alan next week.  What do you mean, no advance voting?”


So that’s one vote each for Betty, Jancis and Gertrude, four for Ken and five for Lawrence.



And, while the others do nothing in particular, Lawrence is sent off to repair toilets and cancel papers (which I forgot to do at the beginning) before teleporting off the island, while Dilys settles into her new personal space.



At first glance, I thought that Ken would be voted off, despite his constant wishes to make friends with the others and the ‘All About Me’ moodlet he seems to have whenever I switch my attention to him.  Despite that fight by the loos, his relationships with Lawrence and Charlie are worse than with Freddie.  (He and Lawrence have a completely red relationship bar, although they’re still at ‘Disliked’ status rather than ‘Enemy’.)  Lawrence was unlucky, really.  His was the lowest relationship with Dilys and Herbert by the tiniest of margins.

With the exception of Betty-Belinda and Charlie, who have somehow become best friends behind my back, nobody has gone beyond a high ‘Acquaintance’ level yet.


I was planning a bonfire party for the first Fun Day but it seems a little tactless, given their fiery start . Instead, I’ve gone for water.  A swimming pool miraculously appeared overnight, together with a sauna (which works fine outdoors – well, this is The Sims), a hot tub and a massage table.  There’s also a picnic basket for extra food later in the day.


As soon as she’s awake, Jancis heads for the hot tub – and stays there for most of the day.  Charlie has a relaxing soak and Dilys, surprisingly, offers Alan a massage.



Everyone ignores the swimming pool until mid-morning, when Gertie belly-flops off one of the diving boards and starts a new fashion.





Dilys continues to forsake the delights of solitude in favour of the exciting new experiences on offer:



And, as the shadows start to lengthen, most of them are drawn to the picnic…





…although Dilys ignores it in favour of giving Alan another massage  ...



…and Gertrude and the Hon. Freddie spend the evening relaxing together in the hot tub.




I had a panic attack as evening fell: I thought another fire had started.



Fortunately, it turned out to be the setting sun lighting up the steam from the sauna.  Phew!



Incidentally, does anyone know how to remove Sims from an overstuffed household, other than by killing them?  The normal moving process and Edit Town won’t work because more than eight Sims are left in the house.  At the moment, Lawrence is still part of the household.  I keep sending him off to the fire station, where he should have everything he needs to survive, but he keeps coming back home and standing looking forlorn on the banks of the stream  .

[KRae]

Is there any way to merge him with another family? I'm assuming you already tried kicking him out via his cell phone.

[hazelnut]

Is there any way to merge him with another family?

I don't think so.  Any kind of normal move runs into the problem of more than eight Sims being left behind.

I'm assuming you already tried kicking him out via his cell phone.

Yes, I did.

I've just reached the end of the Week 2 skilling period in-game (this thing is so quick! ), so it looks as though it won't be all that long until I'm down to eight on the island anyway and can kick out several Sims together.

[LenaLJ]

I don't think so.  Any kind of normal move runs into the problem of more than eight Sims being left behind.

Yes, I did.

I've just reached the end of the Week 2 skilling period in-game (this thing is so quick! ), so it looks as though it won't be all that long until I'm down to eight on the island anyway and can kick out several Sims together.

Hazelnut, there is a way to do it with mods from nrass, cant remember the names for sure though.

[hazelnut]

Is there any way to merge him with another family? I'm assuming you already tried kicking him out via his cell phone.

Hazelnut, there is a way to do it with mods from nrass, cant remember the names for sure though.

Thanks, Lena.  You're both right, in fact.  I hadn't realised that Master Controller's 'Add Sim' could be used on any house, not just the active one.  Lawrence has now moved in with Gino Ferrari, who deserves better after being a dynasty slave for the Golds  .  At least they have their athleticism in common.

[hazelnut]

Week Two

Week two is relatively uneventful – and not just because of a lack of meteors.  It starts, of course, with chatting outside the toilets (and yes, one of them is blocked already)…



…and pillow-fighting by the tents.



Then the skilling objects appear…



… to be greeted with an overwhelming lack of interest.  After an hour or so, Betty wanders over to an easel, stares at it for a while and walks away again.



At last, a few people start using the equipment.  Charlie picks up a sketchpad and Isobel and Gertie sit down at drawing boards.



Elaine and Alan obviously prefer pillow fights to painting.



Honestly, I’ve never seen such an unartistic bunch of Sims.  I thought painting was supposed to be a fun activity.  This lot couldn’t care less.  It’s well into Monday before anyone picks up even a single skill point.  As in week one, it’s Isobel who gets the first one, although Gertie is only minutes behind her.



With the exception of Dilys, who is enjoying the benefits of being Head of Island, everyone is in a noticeably worse mood than in the first week, which may be why they’re making such slow progress on the skilling.



There’s a lot more socialising, though.



Betty and Charlie are still the only pair of best friends but quite a few friendships have formed and some have progressed to good friends.  Ken, though, is busy shooting himself in the foot.  He manages to upset Alan, who was close to being a friend at the end of week one, and insults practically everyone else.


As the end of the week approaches, Freddie takes a sudden interest in the drawing boards…



…and produces this sketch, which I don’t remember seeing before.



Jancis half-finishes a painting and gets her first point, while Betty-Belinda picks up a sketchpad and appears to be making good progress – until she decides she’s bored and wanders off to talk to herself instead.



When Friday lunchtime arrives, some of the easels are still unused and only Charlie’s managed to finish a painting.  Four of the contestants have failed to gain even a single skill point and the winner is the only one to have made it to level 3.

And the second Head of Island is…  Gertrude.

This week’s elimination is a foregone conclusion.  Dilys, who’s hardly spoken to anyone all week, hesitantly votes for the Hon. Freddie and Ken, after some thought, decides he currently hates Isobel the most.  Everyone else votes for Ken.


Slobby Dilys has made a complete mess of the Head of Island’s hut.



There are flies buzzing around everywhere – and she’s managed to break the shower during her last morning in residence.  If I get Ken to clear up this lot as well as fixing the broken toilets, Gertie won’t be moving in for hours.  So I make Dilys clean the loo and deal with the rest of the squalor myself.

Ken, I have to say, does a good job of the toilets.  Maybe he could have got through all of the cleaning in time.



He leaves the show in style, too, waving to his fans (assuming he has any) and blowing kisses as he finishes teleporting to the shore.



Meanwhile, back on the island, Gertie enjoys her new library.



Thanks to her comfortable bed, she’s the first up on Saturday and, still in her nightie, heads straight for the PlasmaPunch Gyroscopic Conductor.



It’s the star attraction of this Fun Day (along with the bar  )…



…but not everyone thinks it’s a good thing.  Technophobic Jancis manages to sabotage it and I have to buy a new one.



Gertie and Isobel have a go at karaoke and are, frankly, terrible.  They get a mixed reaction from the others.

]

Nobody uses the dancefloor (maybe it’s one of those things Sims can’t do autonomously?) but Dilys discovers the bubble bar during the evening and spends several hours blowing bubbles and hiccupping…



…while Gertie has a second go on the Gyroscopic Conductor – and falls off.



But you can’t beat good old-fashioned entertainment, at least according to Alan.  He ends the week as he started it – with a pillow fight.