Just curious! Do men and women play Sims 3 differently?

[Honeymooners]

Who are you and how do you play?

[Pam]

I'm a woman and I like to play families.  I've got a 12th generation Legacy family who owns the entire town.  When I'm not playing the Dreamweavers, I'm doing other challenges or playing through the Lifetime Wishes to write a walkthrough for Carl's site.  I get bored when I play only one Sim.  Two is not much better, but I manage to enjoy myself with at least two Sims.  I'm not very good at designing houses.  I do ok as long as I start out with a rectangle and add to it gradually, but I don't design and build the clever and creative houses.

I'm excited today because I finally got my first set of triplets!

[Kreathyr]

I'm excited today because I finally got my first set of triplets!

Congratulations on the trips Pam.

I'm a man and love playing multiple sims.
I'm not very good at the baby/toddler stage, but that's probably why I like it.
One sim is to boring for me, I usually create a single sim who gets a man/wife relatively soon.
(In the case of my legacy challenge it was a teensy bit to soon, but look what has come out of it  )

[Kreathyr]

Wow Pam, being a little sleepy?
Sure you remember the Carpenters?
You've posted quite a lot in that post 

[Pam]

Yes, just shoot me.  I hoped I had removed my idiotic post before you saw it. 

[PJSim]

What's going on here? Cover up!

Anyway, I'm a woman and I don't usually like families. I like to focus on one sim and max their skills, job, perfect their garden, whatever.
Then after doing that for a long time I might graduate to 2 sims. I like things like having a criminal and a cop in the same house, ha.

In Sims 2 I sometimes played a couple with a kid because then I could play a sim from birth. I'd send them off to college and play there and when they came back they could get a cooler job. Haven't had kids in Sims 3 yet.

[Pam]

The next question is...  how different are our Sims' lives compared to our real life?  I've had a theory for quite some time now that we tend to roleplay fantasy games according to what our real lives don't have.  For example, I don't have any kids in real life, so I usually play with a large family full of kids.  I guess because it's so drastically different from what I live on a regular basis.  And since I'm a complete sissy, I don't do killing and stuff.  That mostly leaves raising kids as my fantasy world.  And thank goodness it's fantasy because if I had triplet toddlers in real life, I'd be poking forks in my eyes by now.   

[Kreathyr]

Ah well, I guess you are a little distracted for having triplets 

I guess you can say I play a life I don't have, even one I would like to have.
In my legacy family this doesn't apply, but in 'freeform' games I mostly play a successful writer with a medium family.
(mostly 1 or 2 kids)

As you might know I'm addicted to reading stories and I would love to be able to write them myself.
Maybe you have a point there Pam.

[PJSim]

Hmm, I'm sure that's true for some people but it doesn't really apply to me.

For example I like playing gardening/fishing sims, not because of something I personally like or dislike but because I just find that gameplay more entertaining. A writer just sits and types all the time, kind of boring to watch.
And right now I'm into self employed sims, I don't think it means I want to start my own business. I just like to play with all the different ways of making money in this game, the whole "go to work; get promotion" gameplay I've done lots of times before.

I guess I see the game mainly as a simulation toy and less as roleplaying or fantasy, I'm sure for others it can be the other way around. That's why it's a cool game, it can appeal to so many people for all kinds of different reasons.

[jinhong91]

Im a guy and I play the Sims by trying to get them from 0 to hero. Like excelling at everything.
Or anything that I cannot do in real life.

[Arafel]

ok, I voted.

Female who prefers to play w/o raising a family. Although, since doing legacy, I do like to see how facial features form 2 different mesh together in the next generation.

After reading the previous posts my playstyle is a lot like PJSims. I prefer to focus on one sim at a time. I'm less likely to forget anything like opportunities and whatnot

[bshag]

Hi there...I'm a lady simmer, actually a grandma lady simmer and I usually play both ways.  In sims 2 I never got past the 3rd generation in a family because I don't know why.  

In sims 3 I'm currently on my 3rd generation and I love playing families more in 3 than in 2.  But there is so much to do and to have simmies accomplish job and hobby-wise that I have sims who strictly fish and garden.  I also have sims who strictly paint and write, and several combinations of both.  

Right now I'm hot into collecting everything there is.  My lil kid who just aged to YA is going to be my "hunter."  

Congrats on the triplets Pam...let us know how those kiddies do as I am thinking about taking the plunge.  There was a post on EA's sims3 forum about a guide on how to take care of triplets and the main thing she said was have a 3rd pair of hands to help.  

I am a squemish simmer and do not kill sims as I have this enormous guilt complex.    As it is, I cheated and killed Christopher Steel to see how "trigger age transition" worked.  It worked, lol.

[Honeymooners]

Hmmm... This is getting interesting!   I know that Carl & Metro don't do a lot of child raising I just wondered if more people preferred playing w/o kids. 

I play a lot like Pam.  Even when I try to play with only one kid I usually end up adopting a 2nd because I like it when they have a little playmate and someone to do their homework with.

[Saltypaws]

I go back and forth, some families I am just drawn to more than others and then I will find  single sime or make one and work with that more than others.  I try not to stay too long on any one sim, just weird them doing day to day things without you, have had three or four get to their lifetime wish without me and others who cant even go to work or school, everyone is different, that is what makes it so interesting.

[Pam]

My walkthrough for Surrounded by Family should help with anyone who wants to try triplets or a large family.  There were no triplets in my walkthrough family, but there were six kids and I had 4 toddlers at the same time.  I managed to do it without hiring a babysitter except for when the mother went into labor and one night when the parents went out to dinner.  Just the two parents took care of all 6 kids.

The triplets are doing great.  They are toddlers now, three blonde little girls.  They are just so cute!  I edited my town and put cribs and potty chairs at the library and the park.  Now they can potty and nap even when the parents want to leave the house.  I also keep teddy bears at the park for them to play with.  The triplets are split on their sleeping schedule and so are the parents.  Dad takes care of Lily and Daisy, while mom takes care of Rose.  It just worked out that they are awake at those times.  In between changing diapers and feedings and all the teaching, the parents do some gardening, fishing, cooking, and reading.  Dad wanted to quit his job, so I let him.  But remember, they go harvest the money trees from the garden on the family's estate.  The parents want to have more kids, but I don't know where to put them.  I'd have to expand the house or find a bigger one.  Not sure how that will work out.