I like when it ties into the existing Sims lore, characters, or some aspect of the game. I very much don't like TV shows, cartoons, etc from outside the game. For one thing - it should all be in Simlish. For another - it has no relevance, in the case of SpongeBob I disliked all of it. I've been looking for travel posters for CAS. I want Sims world locations and Simlish, NOT real places in Europe etc. The Sims has its own world to build on, why drag in outside stuff that has no relevance at all? I think holidays can be adapted, like Christmas, which is as much about the weather as any religion now. None of the Bridgerton rewards were interesting to me because I had no interest in the TV show itself. I heard about it in commercials but never watched any of it. I like history but I like REAL history, not fiction. The Sims already has its own history/ lore I would far rather see more of that and have it develop more.

There is far more clutter than needed in this game. I love elements of the game, like having a REAL looking reflection in a mirror. I think that's brilliant and it is one of the things which I admire about The Sims game. But, it gets aggravating to have to spend more and more and now that marketplace. I feel like a fool for spending as much as I have on this game. I don't feel appreciated at all as someone who has put so much (money and care about) this game. But, that is how it goes. I would like future events to cater to players, to include the Sims game with Simlish and other things created as this game - this world, this storyline/ lore, these characters and those from the past which are never heard from after past versions of the game. Does anyone there really care or is it really all just about the buck/dollars? I'd like players to have more control of the game, not just options sprinkled out here and there in expensive packs/kits. I know it sounds like a Hippie but what happened to the love which this game seems to have had in the beginning - the people who created mirrors with real reflections, the little touches which makes it all come together and feel like a treasure, a much loved creation. I play less and less because the $$ I've spent bothers me a lot, the game crashes or does not load too often, and its kind of boring. So much stuff already in CAS but a lot of it I have no interest in. Meanwhile things I have from modders add a lot to the game but take so much time to check, update, find errors, etc etc etc. This all makes the game tedious! Not enjoyable. Fixing your own errors in the game is good, should be done. But, now with the marketplace too, I just feel EA encourages modders but does not support them as far as making all of it work in the game. Why not take ideas from modders, their fixes and add them to the core game for everyone. Make them work in the game rather than relying on others outside the game and hoping it will work when players load the game. Anyway, does anyone read this? Have I written too far past the allowed characters? Probably. But, I wrote it anyway.

It was nice having a crowd of people (online/ virtually) there. There were quests to follow along and a few items along the way. Now, AQ has also become bland with too much so called collectibles, legendary items, etc. Its BS. They are all little image files which players do not own, even if they have paid money for them. So its all like a giant Facebook game in the end. Out for the take, producing garbage and making people feel they must have it. I don't play many games online any more. More likely to play Fallout Shelter (which has begun having events), Bejewelled 3 (no events), Stardew Valley (live event/ concert) than other games I have via Steam or CD (older games). I feel happy when I play Stardew Valley, its the only one that I feel happy playing.

An event to explain or showcase previous packs/ kits might help your sales and help players find something they didn't know they already have. There are details in the various worlds which people make videos about - EA itself doesn't highlight all these little interesting things as they could do. Mostly, I would like events that bring something new and worth having into The Sims4. Something relevant and useful and usable. NOT CLUTTER!!!!!!! Add more scenarios too. Look at the goofy, fun, oddball stuff people are making videos about and use those ideas for events, scenarios, whatever else. Bring life back to The Sims. It has become pretty bland, a bit too much like real life: go to work, change shitty diapers, kids bawling, feed it so it can shit again, bawling, sleep, go to work, do laundry, more shitty diapers.... zzzzzzzzzzz Once I have an infant there is no time for the Sim to have a job, travel, have an adventure, or explore. One infant and the Sims become all about the dullness of everyday life. The infant/toddlers drag down the game. A lot of people choose not to have them. I have left at least one to go feral in the forest. It was awful, if it were real, but it made the game fun to do something bad. Its a game, not reality. Too much reality is taking the fun out of the game. Why not add an event all about infants? Make them fun again. Bring in new poses for the event, poses which stay in the game after the event. Poses for adults too, for romance, for traits, for careers, all of it.

These are my answers from the most recent player survey for EA's The Sims4.

I'd add that people who play The Sims don't seem to be looking for an extended real life. I think The Sims is an escape from all of that. People who want real romance can do all that in the game, invent their own lovers, run the story, life the lifestyle they would like to really have. You can also be bad: do wicked things, do what you wouldn't really do, have petty revenge, all of it. EA should understand their game, their players, better and run with what really does work for The Sims. It's not about having more clutter, its about having more fun! One thing about all the clutter is how it bogs down the game, making it slower, but worse, giving too many options and making it overwhelming with too many choices. This could be fixed by adding more controls to the game. Instead of relying on modders who are making fixes and creative solutions, EA could create them and add them to the core game. Let people have a universal control - which I've written about before. A universal control could choose all the CAS you want, by style, by time period, etc. Also, all the NPCs by race, age, gender, all of it. Yes, some players would eliminate all or most of various genders, races, ages, in order to create the world they want to run. It is a giant doll house. Did you think it was something else?

Enough blabbing about a game. If you play the Sims, be a little bad when it hurts no one. Just keep it in the game.

Humane and inhumane.

"Must I prove my humanity by destroying my peace?" Quote from Laura Elliott, in her book Awakened.

Like ripping off a sticky bandage knowing it will hurt - someone other than yourself. Making that choice, or taking that action, for/ on the part of someone else. Not so different from real science and scientists making choices, decisions and taking actions which could seem questionable, less humane. But, having that iron backbone to do what needs to be done even though it isn't easy or popular.

In fiction mad scientists get stereotyped as being misdirected, inhumane, and even cruel. Bumblers on the other hand, not cruel but doddering, fumbling and thoughtless.

Is it fair? Or is it over critical to see them that way while also depending on their (so called) inhumanity to give us the research into disease which we benefit from?

Should they cry and stress about the harm and stress they cause while ripping off that sticky bandage? Or can they be given the benefit of being able to work without feeling inhumane?

I think there should be a middle ground. I think there needs to be a middle ground. To work in science without awareness, or some kind of respect, for the individual pain and suffering would remove a limit that should be there. It creates a frame of reference versus having no guide or limits at all. Science needs to be curious but it also needs to be measured in order to continue to be science.

Maybe that is the boundary between science and art.

What do you think?

I'm feeling sad today. Yesterday my Mom and I went out for a drive. She likes going out, driving around, looking at this and that. Usually we find old buildings, wildflowers, something I take photographs of. For her its a plant and a rock to bring back for the garden. Its a lot of time talking/ listening about our family, about houses and lives and children we see. Things I don't have, will never have now. So, it just makes me feel sad.

Mom wants me to write about everything on our adventures. I know she is feeling her age and wants our adventures and generally as much as can be, recorded. Mementos written about her life and her children and what she has done. I understand, I feel the same: older, less time, less potential, less healthy, a lot of less with things younger people will only begin to know about when they are old enough.

I try not to let myself feel regrets, or sad, or angry about myself, my life. But, its not easy. It doesn't change or fix anything so there is no point in feeling anything about it. So I put my time into other things, distractions but also real things that can take over the sadness and push it out of the way.

Last night I had a dream about Mom getting things together, with my help, she was going to sleep in the basement. She was leaning over her walker, as she does these days, and standing at the door to the basement, saying "Good Night" in that way she does now. I can't think of the right words to describe it, sad but not sad. Maybe a quiet happiness, something like that. The thing is, we have a finished basement but someone else is living there. Also, how would Mom possibly get down all those stairs? She couldn't. If she did - getting back up would be incredibly difficult for her and myself however I would figure out some way to get her back upstairs again. It was an odd thing to dream. But, dreams can be odd. Sometimes I have odd dreams I don't understand so much but later they come true and then they make more sense. So, this dream is bothering me. Of course Mom isn't going to live forever, none of us do. But, I'm not looking forward to her last day. For either of us. It would actually be the day after her last day, you don't know on the day of.

We don't drive as long or as far as we used to, even just a few years ago. Maybe the car accident is part of that. I think we both feel differently about the car itself now. (The accident was not our fault, we were sitting at a stop sign, waiting for traffic and deciding which way to turn).

I'm thirsty, thinking I will stop here and make coffee. Good Night, Good Evening, Good Morning, Good Day!

I've lost the original source for this. Originally posted in 2013.

1. Smile, not just a small smile. It makes you look lighter in every way.
2. Breathe. Holding your breath is not going to help.
3. Step away form the camera. You look bigger when you fill most of the picture.
4. Watch your posture, stand tall with shoulders at relaxed right angles.
5. Don't stand with you arms pressed to the sides of your body.
6. Turn to the side, the angle gives you some depth versus the wider head on look.
7. Stand with one foot in front of the other.
8. Put your tongue against the roof of your mouth.
9. Push your jaw a bit forward or back to match up your front teeth, top and bottom. 
10. Angle your chin up, slightly. 
11. Camouflage your trouble spots by standing in front of something or someone or hold something in your arms. Set your laptop, purse or other bag at your feet to hide ankles.
12. If possible have the camera angle come from above you, nothing drastic, just enough to be slightly overhead.
13. Romantic, soft or dim lighting will help blur lines of your face and figure flaws too.
14. Wearing black is a long recommended way to look thinner, but wearing colours will actually help brighten up your look and make you seem happier and thinner.
15. Avoid tight clothing but don't wear something over-sized either. Baggy clothes make you seem bulkier.