The American preoccupation with prudery may seem a little odd to much of the rest of the world but her in Britland we have an even dafter preoccupation regarding freedom of speech. It is called The Representation of the People Act whcih stipulates that broadcast media (TV & radio) must give equal air time to the parties contesting an election and more bizarrely that media persons may not promote one party or candidate ahead of any others in case "susceptible" persons are brainwashed into voting for someone they would not (in their right mind -- presumably ) ordinarily choose. A friend of mine who works on national radio said to me, "oh if only I had that much power ... " Society is doomed in my opinion until people stop taking offence at words and ideas and all aspects of biology. OK the detour in thread has ended. Please enjoy the rest of your journey. Sorry for any inconvenience. Have any kind of day you want.
Yes, well, you see, the end result is that American children are more stupid that children in other areas of the world. Note how in the US, children should be 12 to play the game, whereas in other parts of the world, the game is considered to be within the grasp of 6 year olds. Basic mathematics would suggest that American children can thus be calculated as being twice as stupid, a figure that appears to be largely accurate from empirical observation. I do believe that in America, there are similar rules on electional debates, although I'm not sure at what level they're enforced from.
My daughter is seven and figured out some things about the game before I did. Don't know if that means I'm the stupid one. She has a firm grasp on it but gets easily bored with it ... she likes making clothing, families and houses but then doesn't really care to follow through. She'll play a family for a little while and then run off to do something else. Which is fine with me ... I'd rather have her playing outside anyway. Her little friends have no problem learning it, either, so I think the "stupid" label is the marketer's perception and not reality. It's also probable that the "birds and the bees" aspect of the game made them squeamish. Some people in America are a little weird about that. Personally, I think the game has taught my daughter one extremely valuable life lesson without having her having to find it out for herself the hard way: never have more children than you can handle. (Plus, of course, she's learning Photoshop.) Maybe the game should be mandatory in schools, you know, along with lifetime planning classes or whatever they're called. Kids could have an assignment to raise 6 sim children on a dishwasher's salary. Might make them think twice before trying it in real life ... As for electional debates in America, they're managed from the level of who can be manipulated the MOST not the other way around. Oy vey. Don't get me started ... And on a final note, not all Americans are prudish. Some prudes just have really loud voices. I think our culture of "violence is OK but bodies are indecent" is dangerous and wrong. If everyone I loved wasn't right here in America I would seriously consider a move overseas. But if all the intelligent non-prudes leave, where does that leave America? I figure I have to stay here and speak up. Which I do as often as I can.
Nowadays, everyone knows about "the birds and the bees" a lot earlier than we actually start getting Health classes. It gets pretty iritating because all of the boys say all kinds of really, REALLY inappropriate things during lunch and in between periods, and even write on the bathroom walls, just to get attention. I personally believe they overdid it a little with the Woohoo cutscene, because when I first got the game, I started off with a married couple. I wanted them to have children, and I figured it'd be like in Sims 1, with some moving lumps underneath the sheets. However, I was just about to click 'Try for Baby' when I saw 'WooHoo', so I clicked on it out of curiosity. Suddenly it becomes a little movie! I was pretty excited, because this was the first cutscene I had seen...but then my mom came in. Sigh. I have the worst luck. She started yelling at me for looking at inappropriate things... Now I just altogether try to skip the WooHoo movie, because I rarely make Romance sims.
Doesn't sound like your parents are the sharpest knives in the drawer here. If you're lucky, it's as a result of severe blows to the head received earlier in life, and not a genetic condition. Meanwhile, go and play a nice, wholesome, family-oriented game like Grand Theft Auto and beat up some hookers.
Oh Pescado! You are a bad boy. Hi, 123, I was sorry to hear your mom caught you copping a free look at some woohoo ... I know exactly what you mean about the bad luck. I get very depressed sometimes when I realise that the folks I grew up with have turned into boring old farts. I always knew that I wasn't gonna do that and my own mom was of the same mind about herself. She was a very strict and starit lace mum when I was a kid but as I've grown older I've found that she is as wacky as I am. She is now in her eighties and she recently said a very rude word that sent me into a fit of roaring hysterics. I guess what I'm saying is that parents have a job to do and it's a tough one and there's no way they can take their kids back for repair if they get the "care" instructions wrong. If they're doin' their best no-one can ask more than that (except for Pescado who doesn't count cos he doesn't care about anything except his own hide and its safe-keeping )
*EDIT! Thread is Re-open. But if the discussion heads to Real Life matters, it will be closed.* If you see anything inaproprite, click the red sign with a | next to the post (Left side)
You're right, Mirelly, it's very hard to raise kids and be open but not expose them to inappropriate things. Each parent has to use their own judgement. Personally, I'm glad that my son does not like to play the "mushy" stuff when he plays TS2 because then I'd have to wonder about how he's reacting to it. He would rather just worry about careers and building houses. He leaves the Woo Hoo'ing to his Mom. But Human Sexuality is a fact of life. I understand why your mom would react that way, 123, but isn't it better to have an honest conversation with a teenager instead of just "freaking out"? And Slim, don't worry about the inapropirate talk on this thread. There's several adults and at least two Moms (that I know of) posting here, so I think that we can keep it PG 13.
ON a side note ... but staying with puke ( ew ) Babies throwing up (when played with) seem to be somewhat less than purely random. I don't play the game with a slide rule but I swear that boys are more prone to "de-possetting" than girls (no-one in my family went within a mile of our male heirs under 3 if we were wearing decent clothing ... with some of the little blighters an acid resistant oilskin cape was the preferred outfit ) Seriously though I wondered if simfant chucking-up is linked somehow to something (eg the degree of its mother's ante-meridinal emesis ) Cues drum-roll and awaits definitive explanation from the Flying Fish with lips puckered up ready to make ripping them off easier for him ... he's getting on a bit, you know, and his grip is weaker'n it was.
Them's fighting words, Mirelly ... I'd watch your back if I were you. Sorry, didn't realize we weren't allowed to discuss the real world at all ... shall try to be good but well-behaved doesn't fit me that well. Honestly, having a kid and not teaching them the "facts of life" is like giving them a car and not teaching them how to drive it. Nuff said. I shall be quiet, except to say a loud HEAR HEAR to Pescado's "wholesome game" quip. I couldn't agree more. And now I shall endeavor to be good. Sigh.
Baby-upchuck when played with is determined based on the baby's present hunger level. It ranges from "Yes" at hunger 100 (full) to "No" at hunger 0(halfway) and below. You can calculate the safety margin with a calculator if you want, or the Automated Baby Controller can perform the calculations (invisibly, behind your back) for you. As a general rule, playing with babies should only be attempted before, never after, feeding. The upchucking is not dependent on any other factors except the baby's hunger score.
Well of course I knew that. It is still the case that some aspects of the game are sometimes a little too real for comfort and it is that which causes a feeling that deeper levels of design parameters are at work. In other words my gut feeling tells me that some simfants seem more likely to share their lunch with whoever plays with them. My popularity sim (wants 5 service personnel as best friends) had Calista the nanny over for a shindig the other night. The daft old bat thought she working rather than socialising and couldn't work out how to go home cos her blue van wouldn't show up to get her. I had tears of laughter running down my face when the famiuly and other guests crowded around her slumbering carcass to have a good chuckle at her expense ...
You're falling prey to the human tendency to see more than there actually is. Humans tend to want to believe more is at work than there actually is, so are easily deceived into believing that something is intelligent, when, in fact, it behaves according to very simple rules with no variation at all. The fact is often exploited by con artists. Don't fall for it. Always look for the simple answer. It is possible that personality has an effect on motive decay even as a baby. You can't normally see a baby's personality until it becomes a toddler, but if this were the case, it is likely that a lazy sim would be more likely to puke due to slower hunger drain, and therefore, reduced likelyhood of running on an empty tank when picked up and harassed. Conversely, an active sim's faster hunger drain could also produce this effect, if you feed him frequently as a result and thus he has a full belly when you insist on unwisely badgering him. It could also be entirely user error. If you always pander to a sim's wants, no matter how unwise or poorly timed, this is probably why your babies hurl chunks. I haven't had a baby hurl ever since I figured out the formula guiding it. Note that the "cuddle" myth is false. Cuddling a baby, no matter how many times you do it, will not make the baby cease hurling on you when finally played with: What it WILL do is chew up a lot of time until the baby's hunger falls low enough to cause it to be less likely to hurl on you, but the two are completely unrelated, and the only thing you're really accomplishing is to waste a lot of time, as repeating a social interaction without two intervening interactions which are different is useless and cuddling has no effect other than relationship-building, so repeating it is a waste of time and effort.
And what an appetizing thread this is, so early in the morning ... Personally I think it's funny when my sims get upchucked on ... call me weird.
I think it's funny, too, except when it happens just before work and there's no time for the sim to shower. And you actually like that sim. Then it's just depressing.
"Kids are like soda cans. Shake them up and then hand them to someone you don't like and watch them spew": My Hubby. Okay, back on topic: I have this routine with my simfants (cool moniker, Mirelly!). 1) Pick up from crib, 2) play if baby is middle or below on the hunger line, (3) change diaper, (4) feed bottle, (5) cuddle (6) have another family member come by and speak to the baby (if applicable) (7) cuddle again, then put back in crib. Because of this routine, I keep the spewing down to a minimum. Of course, there is much more involved with Toddler care, such as teaching to walk, reading to baby, etc. But for an infant, that's pretty much it. If Maxis had REALLY wanted some reality, they would have some babies with more "needy" personalities that needed held and cuddled much more than other babies, and have them cry desperately every time you put them into their cribs! Not only do I KNOW many babies IRL like this, but I mothered two of them, both boys. I am always amazed at people who are able to put their little ones on a schedule soon after birth and not hold, rock, and cuddle them almost non-stop until the child is old enough to play in the floor or playpen. (I credit my youngest's son clinginess to my addiciton to the Sims. Because I couldn't do anything else, I'd sit with him on my lap and play TS1 and TS2 and he'd be happy.) Speaking of realism and child care, didn't any of the programmers at Maxis ever hear of a "burp cloth"? Geeze!! What parent of a newborn does not go around with a burp cloth, towel, or cloth diaper on their shoulders at all times to keep their clothes clean? That would definately keep those hygene levels from crashing if the baby did spew!
And wouldn't it be funny if they forgot to take the burp cloth off before they went to work? Hey Joe Sim, nice look ... As for avoiding upchuck before going to work, I just don't play with the baby if I'm going somewhere ... cuddling seems to do OK. Bathing the baby is also big for social points, so if simfant is smelly green for more than a milisecond, and simparent has the time/energy I bathe them after changing the diaper and feeding them again. I try to have simfant and at least one parent become best friends before toddlerhood, or at least shortly afterwards. That helps with the kid's social points once they become toddler ... or maybe Pescado will tell me I'm just imagining it. I had to hire a nanny last night because simmom wanted to go shopping for fancier duds for her kid before she became a toddler. I invited non-live-in dad over and the game said there was no sitter. What's up with that? I knew he'd still be there when I got back ... anyway. I hate nannies but I wanted clothes and mom really needed some time away to rejuvenate so I said what the heck. Well, the crazy old lady wouldn't leave. Just kept cleaning everything when I got back. I had to chase her around the house saying Dismiss ... and then disaster struck. I set simfant down because she wouldn't age (nanny and Dad had gone home) and she got stuck on the kitchen floor. Mom couldn't interact with her at all! Yipes. So I exited without saving, started over with mom getting home from the store, decided crazy old bat could stay if she wanted to, the house was a mess and I don't have a maid (single moms need to be frugal ) so I had mom "take infant to cake" immediately upon returning home. Dad was there for the party, baby transformed, everything was fine. Whew. One little gripe: I wish you could click on the wardrobe/dresser for toddlers ... or at least have the baby change into everyday after a bath. I bought her these cute clothes, put a changing table in to plan outfit, deleted changing table, and now she's always in her jammies! Grrr ... (no room for changing table in that cute little house ... plus, as I said, she's trying to be frugal)
Hm. I've never seen the babies puking on their moms in my game yet. I'd really like to, though, and take a lot of pictures...
Just click on "play with baby" when holding an infant. They get puked on fairly regularly, as discussed in this thread ... I can't remember if toddlers do it ... if so it's been awhile for my sims.
