The Sims was a distinctly different fare of videogame when it first game out. There was no main plot, and no true objective. Some would grow their sims into being a skilled master of creativity, through classical piano. Others would advance through the career tracks of their chosen profession. And others still, others just had fun killing sims. The following applies to the first game primarily, but can be modified to work with the other games as well.
The best parts of the game though, were the meta-games not expected directly by the developers. For example, my brother and I would, with the use of Living Large Expansion pack’s rocket launcher, create hedge mazes and see if the sims could navigate themselves out of the maze before the rapidly multiplying flames consumed them. Usually the nearly excellent pathfinding prevented the sim’s demise, and other times the hedge maze would burn in such a way that there would be newly created exits negating the maze’s design. But then, sometimes they just burned.
Another meta-game that my brother and I designed was the Fish-off. This was a very fun, cruel, and fun little activity where the player “bets” on their choice of freshly bought aquariums. Some of our basic rules were the following:
- The aquariums must be bought at the same time.
- The aquariums must be completely untouched by any sim on the lot.
- If the fish in the aquarium die, that person loses.
- The last aquarium with fish still swimming is the winner.
Good times were had watching the fish spinning around in their water-filled tombs at 3x time. Then of course there were arguments over the touching of the fishbowl by a sim. Would it even expand or changes the lifetime of the Aquarium for the better or worse? My brother would attempt to bypass the system by first buying the aquarium, and then after he bets were sealed, he would rotate the “Poseidon’s Adventure Aquarium” in buy mode. We couldn’t determine if this made a difference or not, but we loved to jeer at those who tried to bend the rules in their favor.
With these Meta-games in tow, go forth and invent your own.
Image by lledford12.
Comments from BlueZero
My meta game was having all 8 sims act like they were running a restaurant. I had them cook non-stop meals while inviting the entire neighborhood over via the Phone-> Throw a Party mechanic. The sims would chow down while one guy would play Rag-timey music on the piano. I refused to have a working dish washer and loved seeing a ton of dirty dishes generated. Then by using the hand-tool, I stacked the plates to create huge plate towers throughout the house.
Later subgames included seeing how much money the family would have to pay to have all the buffet tables and punch bowels refilled by the Catering service. It was also fun to see Drew Carey pop up and start dancing on the dance floor during a highly rated party.
