The Island

[strongsoylatte]

That was a fun week. They got nothing done but so many things happened!

[saltpastillen]

Oh the drama,  I really like this story:)

[hazelnut]

All those poor gnomes, destroyed by the meteor...I think it is because of Monte Vista. I had three or four appear on my lot in my lifestates out of the blue.

I also loved the shot of Jancis admiring the flames. Awesome.

Yes, I think it's probably a Monte Vista thing as well.  I don't remember the Golds acquiring any extra gnomes but my Household Skills family woke up one morning and found gnome tombstones everywhere.  I seem to remember reading somewhere that there are gnomes somewhere in town - probably in the art gallery.

Is the rebel influence hidden skill going to be next weeks thing

No, although hidden skills will count at a later stage.

That was a fun week. They got nothing done but so many things happened!

That's a very good way of putting it .

Oh the drama,  I really like this story:)

Thanks .  It's mad (and sometimes frustrating) but fun to play and write.

[Charlotte]

Just read through all six weeks and I am completely in love with this story and idea! It really makes me want to try my own "Reality TV" Challenge, although, being a micromanager, the thought of letting eight sims run wild makes me want to tear my hair out

[hazelnut]

Just read through all six weeks and I am completely in love with this story and idea! It really makes me want to try my own "Reality TV" Challenge, although, being a micromanager, the thought of letting eight sims run wild makes me want to tear my hair out

I'm a total micromanager as well .  I have to admit to yelling at the screen occasionally, when the idiots won't do what I'd like, and I certainly wouldn't want to play this kind of game as anything more than an occasional change of pace.  That said, it is interesting to play in a totally different style - and this is definitely one of my funniest Sims games .


Week 6: Martial Arts

Another Sunday, another set of skilling objects.

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It turns out that I needn’t have bothered buying the contestants a training dummy each.

As so often, Isobel is the first to show an interest in the new stuff.

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She quickly finds that the dummy fights back.

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Then Charlie wanders over for a chat and interrupts her training.

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Alan and Herbie don’t need martial arts to spar.

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Conversation finished, Isobel gets back to fighting a wooden post (like an Egyptian?)…

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…although her skirt’s really too tight for effective kicking.

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By the end of the first day, she’s acquired a much more practical outfit.

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This sets the pattern for the rest of the week.  Isobel trains for a few hours a day, while everyone else carries on with their usual pursuits full-time.

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Freddie finds yet another gnome tombstone.

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By mid-week, Isobel has moved on to board-breaking, which gives the others a new source of entertainment.  It’s looking less and less likely that anyone else will pick up even a single point – they’re far too busy being impressed by her.

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Hopeless romantic Alan has been wishing for his first kiss and I think for a while that he’s going to get it – but it turns out that Jancis is just giving him a friendly hug.

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He’s still the most popular Sim on the island, despite his tendency to bore people to death.

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With so little happening this week, Friday lunchtime seems to roll around very quickly.  The Head of Island is a foregone conclusion:  Isobel’s up to level 5 and nobody else has even taken a swipe at a training dummy.

The voting is getting closer as the weeks go by.  Almost all of them are friends now; it’s getting hard to choose someone to vote off the island.  This week, there’s a tie for the first time.  Isobel votes for Gertrude; Jancis, Herbie and Charlie all pick the Hon. Freddie; with Isobel exempt, Alan goes for Charlie, as do Gertie and Freddie.  So that’s three votes each for Charlie and Freddie.

I give Isobel, as the new Head of Island and the only one to pick neither of them, the casting vote.  I hadn’t noticed until now but her relationship with Freddie is quite low: they’re barely acquaintances, while Charlie is an old and close friend.

So the Honourable Frederick will be next to leave the island – after he’s repaired the loos, that is.

It takes ages.  He keeps moaning and stopping work.  Apparently, fforbes-Farquharsons do NOT clean lavatories.  They have staff to do that sort of thing for them.  It’s almost completely dark by the time he teleports to the shore.

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And so, on to another Fun Day.  This week, they have outdoorsy, athletic-y kinds of activities.  (And again, Seasons is temporarily switched on.)

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I could have left Seasons off.  In fact, I wish I had.  The football goal turns out to be largely a waste of space.  Isobel (who else?) takes a couple of shots at the net but all of the others ignore it.  I realise after a while that it must be hotter than a couple of weeks ago. That time, I remembered to shift-click the ground but found that the temperature was already a comfortable 69°F.  (And why can you opt for °C elsewhere but not in the cheats?)  This time, it’s 92°F.  I quickly issue everyone with parasols…

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…but it’s too late for (literally) white-skinned Gertie.  While the others have been getting tans, she’s now badly sunburnt.  And then this happens:

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Fortunately, Charlie is nearby – and friends are clearly far more important than meteors.  He rushes over with an extinguisher.

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Disaster averted.  Gertrude is charred but still alive.

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Charlie puts up his parasol and goes over to talk to Jancis.

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And Gertie, unfazed by her brush with death, has a go on the trampoline.

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[Malley]

Way to go, Isobel!  A congrats to her from a fellow martial artist 

And also, nice work to Charlie for saving Gertrude!

[Lisa46]

I remember that I tried this project and I had that exact problem with the sims watching each other. It was worst when I did music, one sim started playing and then no one else would do anything.

[strongsoylatte]

Whoa. I didn't know they could catch flames from sunburn!

I'm glad pillow fighting isn't a challenge or everyone might be head of the island.

[Charlotte]

Laughed out loud at the shot of singed Gertie jumping on the trampoline

And also, way to go Isobel! I had the exact same problem with sims watching each other in my immortal dynasty, one of the spouses would be playing guitar and all of the sudden everyone was crowded around them instead of skilling!

[hazelnut]

Way to go, Isobel!  A congrats to her from a fellow martial artist 

You do martial arts?  Remind me not to annoy you  .

And also, nice work to Charlie for saving Gertrude!

He was very quick.  I told Gertrude to get in the shower as soon as the camera panned over but Charlie was already in action.

I remember that I tried this project and I had that exact problem with the sims watching each other. It was worst when I did music, one sim started playing and then no one else would do anything.

I was worried about that but it turned out not to be a problem.  They did watch each other occasionally but far preferred jamming.

Whoa. I didn't know they could catch flames from sunburn!

I knew it could happen but haven’t seen it in one of my games before – and I certainly didn’t expect anyone to catch fire so quickly.

I'm glad pillow fighting isn't a challenge or everyone might be head of the island.

I think Alan would have the edge there but, yes, it would be close .

Laughed out loud at the shot of singed Gertie jumping on the trampoline

It’s the obvious thing to do  .  Maybe her thought was that the shower would be there all week but the trampoline would disappear at midnight.

And also, way to go Isobel! I had the exact same problem with sims watching each other in my immortal dynasty, one of the spouses would be playing guitar and all of the sudden everyone was crowded around them instead of skilling!

It happened in my Immortal Dynasty, too.  Guitar was a free skill and five out of the eight immortals maxed the skill (three of them supermaxed – opportunities were much easier to come by back then).  Watching them play – usually under the stairs, for some weird reason – was a very popular activity.  I don’t remember it interfering with skilling particularly, probably because I was micro-managing the current heir  , but it certainly caused a lot of missed sleep for the immortals.  The chef and the thief often went to work exhausted.


Week 7: Sculpting

Week 7’s even less eventful than week 6.  Gertie, now fully recovered from Saturday’s mishap, is the first to try out the new objects.  (Given her wins in the painting and music weeks, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.)

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Jancis and Charlie, who also did well in those weeks, soon join her.

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The other three couldn’t care less about sculpting.

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By the end of the week, the island is decorated with a grand total of five completed clay sculptures.  Charlie has started a wooden sculpture but then abandoned it; the other two haven’t tried anything other than clay.

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Gertrude seems to have lost interest towards the end of the week and hasn’t quite made it to level 3.  Charlie is some way ahead of her but this week’s clear winner is Jancis, who has developed something of an enthusiasm for sculpting over the last couple of days and is close to level 5.

The voting is very close again.  Jancis and Alan both want to vote Isobel off; Isobel and Charlie want Gertie to go; Gertie and Herbert pick Charlie.  It’s a three-way tie.  So, on to second choices.  Again, Jancis and Alan agree: if they can’t get rid of Isobel, they’ll settle for Charlie.  Isobel, surprisingly, votes for Alan (I thought he was everyone’s best friend) – and the other three pick her.  Being Head of Island hasn’t worked out well for Isobel – she’s been indulging her loner trait by staying inside, reading, for most of the week and her relationships have deteriorated as a result.

So Isobel fixes the plumbing.

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She keeps looking as though she’s about to throw up (and I don’t blame her – the loos really are in a revolting state) but she does a quick and efficient job.  Maybe she’s viewing it as a chance to learn a new skill.  Still gagging, she teleports off the island.

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This week’s Fun Day is pub-themed.  Gertie gets to the pool table first and, rather ambitiously, tries a trick shot.

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It doesn’t go well.

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Jancis and Charlie head for the refreshments (in fact, they get through so many drinks during the day, it’s a wonder the plumbing is still holding up under the strain).

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It’s a pleasant, sociable sort of day.  No sunburn, no fires; just pool, darts, drinks, snacks and chatting.

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And also the odd pillow fight, of course, but I’m bored of taking screenshots of them  .

[saltpastillen]

Oh darts, I used to have my sims play that constantly when late night came out. I don't do it enough anymore. Maybe I shall try to get my sims intested in some of the more low tec ways to entertain themselves.

[hazelnut]

I keep finding things I've hardly used when looking for new Fun Day objects.   I think the Golds had a dartboard in the basement in Barnacle Bay but I've not played with it since.

[Malley]

Wow, a fun day with no meteors or fires?  That's a new one 

[hazelnut]

Wow, a fun day with no meteors or fires?  That's a new one 

Amazing, isn't it? 


Week 8: Riding

Week 8, surprisingly, is almost devoid of pillow fights, probably because this week’s visitors to the island can’t take part.  Credit the Sims with courtesy at least.

Visitors?

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Yes, this week sees five new Sims join the Islanders (even though it looks like just one initially.)

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Welcome, Viking, Womble, Xerxes, Yasmin and Zorro (not in that order, in fact: from left to right, the screenshot goes Y, V, X, Z, W).  The human Sims lose no time in scattering hay for their new companions.

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Jancis is the first to get on a horse – but doesn’t seem too happy about it.

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Gertie, in an astonishing act of selflessness, gives her apple – her only food for the day – to Viking.

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I decide at this point to scatter extra rations around the island, regardless of the normal schedule, and Gertie, thankfully, picks up a lettuce.

Herbie is also bonding with the horses.

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For a while, I think Alan is being as generous as Gertie – but then spot that he’s only feeding treats…

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…and he even gets something back from the horses.  One of them has dug up a potato and Alan eats it, whole, unwashed and uncooked.  Ew!

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As evening falls, Charlie becomes the second Islander to risk mounting a horse.

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He doesn’t do much to advance his skill that evening, but is keen to try again on Monday morning…

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…with limited success at first.

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Alan, true to form, doesn’t risk riding but is busy making friends anyway.

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Herbie also makes a slow start on equestrianism…

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…but does eventually pluck up the courage to sit in the saddle, kitty slippers and all.  (I can’t help feeling that this isn’t terribly safe.)

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The horses, like the human Sims, are a varied bunch.  I didn’t roll for random traits but did give them a mixture of good and bad ones.  Playful Womble is a particular delight…

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…although the others have their moments.  Why is Xerxes thinking of fishing?

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And is Yasmin really intent on murder?

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(Apparently not – she veers off at the last moment and Charlie sleeps on undisturbed.)

Herbie and Xerxes get rather too involved at one point…

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…but everything is sorted out amicably.


And so the end of the week arrives.  The new Head of Island really should be Zorro, who has reached level 4 in jumping and a solid 1 in racing.  Womble and Yasmin aren’t far behind.  But the rules say the winner has to be a human – and so Charlie becomes the first male Head of Island.

Again the voting is close but, with Charlie immune from eviction, Jancis is voted off by the narrowest of margins.  Out of curiosity, I see how the horses would have voted.  Three of them like Charlie the best.  Viking still loves Gertie (as he jolly well should) and Womble has bonded with Alan - pure cupboard love, I'm afraid.  Four out of the five horses would have voted Jancis off.

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Despite being the first to get a skill point this week, Jancis has spent too much time enjoying her plumbing and cleaning up after everyone – even the blocked toilets are relatively inoffensive, for once.  Unsurprisingly, she makes short work of the repairs and cleaning (she may even be the first one to enjoy being evicted).  Nevertheless, she looks disconcerted to be teleported off the island.

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The horses go with her – I’ve built Jancis a small house on a large, horse-friendly lot – but someone else also comes along for the ride.

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(In fact, according to her action queue, Gertie was about to start jump training with Xerxes – the first time any of the human Sims has done anything other than sit on a horse’s back semi-passively.)  Xerxes, obviously realising that she shouldn’t be there, bucks her off…

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…and Gertie is teleported back across the stream.

[hazelnut]

This week’s Fun Day is all about Winter Sports, largely because I’ve only just discovered that they’re available all year round and it seems too silly to pass up.  (I did remember to check the temperature, by the way: it’s pretty cool for summer but I still think that the ice would be melting in real life.)

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Have-a-go Gertie is first out on the rink.

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She doesn’t do badly but soon decides there are more exciting things on offer.

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That dress is the obvious snowboarding outfit .

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Despite the long skirt, she does remarkably well until her feet suddenly slide out from under her.

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Ouch!

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Undeterred, she climbs up to try again.

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Eventually she goes back to skating, accompanied by Charlie, and then settles in for an early night.  Meanwhile, and rather surprisingly, someone else is climbing up to the top of the half-pipe.

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I would never have pegged Herbie as a snowboarder.  At first, he does quite well…

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…despite the odd effect on his bodily proportions…

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..but then he crashes in quite a big way and decides that sleeping might be a better idea.

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