Sims 3 - stupid questions

[Lanceor]

Since it's on sale, I was thinking of buying Sims 3 for my girlfriend.

 

Here's the problem - she doesn't like complex games. Having ADHD, she's reluctant to concentrate for more than a few minutes unless she has to (e.g. for work).

 

Does the game have much reading? Can she get straight into the game without going through long tutorials? Can it be played "brainlessly"?

 

Games that she likes:

- Plants vs Zombies

- Smurfs Village for iPhone

 

What she doesn't like:

- Skyrim / Oblivion

- Diablo II

- First person shooters

She'll play the above games if given an invincible high level character (or cheats) that can smash through everything without regard to tactics. The exploring / investigating / levelling / tactical aspect of these games doesn't interest her though.

 

Sims 3 or no? Or any other suggestions?

[Vagrant0]

Since it's on sale, I was thinking of buying Sims 3 for my girlfriend.

 

Here's the problem - she doesn't like complex games. Having ADHD, she's reluctant to concentrate for more than a few minutes unless she has to (e.g. for work).

 

Does the game have much reading? Can she get straight into the game without going through long tutorials? Can it be played "brainlessly"?

 

Games that she likes:

- Plants vs Zombies

- Smurfs Village for iPhone

The easiest way to explain The Sims series is to show someone a doll house and some dolls that move on their own (usually in a way totally different than you want them to). Can it be played "brainlessly", sure. But having sims that don't end up pissing themselves constantly or light their whole neighborhood on fire by accident can take a rather large amount of micromanaging, and usually requires a good deal of planning since the default houses seem to have been designed without regard to what possible furniture might fit inside, or even how characters might path through. Maybe the patches and expansions have improved this some in the last 4 years, but like all EA products, that means shelling out additional money and usually feeling disappointed.

 

Frankly, to see if it's something she'll like, you're better off getting the Sims 2. It'll probably cost less, even with expansions, actually plays better, has a vast amount of more mods and modded content, and still looks pretty good if you have a decent videocard. And if not, since it's just a CDkey sort of thing (or should be) you could probably just auction it off on E-bay or give it to a neighbor/friend.

 

 

But, my money is that it would probably bore the hell out of her unless she downloaded cheat mods just to screw with the helpless characters caught in her world... Which is perfectly fine, and pretty much the only reason I spent any time with the game (yes, I am a confirmed and acclaimed sadist at heart). The real question here however is what she is trying to get from gaming. For you, it's perfectly natural because that's the sort of thing you've gotten into from a young age. For her however, gaming is something new and extra, so she would have different intentions for why she might want to play a game, regardless of being ADHD (Just about everyone is). A better place to start would be to have an actual, deep conversation about what actual aspects she likes or dislikes about various games. The other part would be for you to accept that as long as it isn't competitive online play, some manner of cheating is fine since it can enhance the personal enjoyment of playing a game (and getting through the boring, teadious parts). Instead of considering "brainless" play games, maybe consider games that are calming but still interesting, like Solar 2. Or maybe introduce her to MOBA (league of legends) style games if she's wanting the sort of game where you constantly have to change and adapt playstyle, which can work well with people with overly active minds since they can actually use more than one thread of thought at a time. Even Borderlands might work well even though it is a shooter since the style of play has less to do with tactics, and more to do with hectic running and gunning.

[Lanceor]

But, my money is that it would probably bore the hell out of her unless she downloaded cheat mods just to screw with the helpless characters caught in her world...

 

I think that pretty much answers the question. I don't think micromanaging is really for her, and it turns out that Sims 3 isn't really the casual game that I thought it was at first. If she wants to screw with a town full of helpless characters, I could easily whip up an Oblivion mod for that (or download one of a million "silly" mods here at Nexus). :D

 

As for what kind of game she might like, it's hard to tell as she's not a gamer. As a person, she's one in a million - she knows that I'm a modder and avid gamer, and eagerly wants to find a common interest in this area. But at the same time, I don't want her get into gaming just for my sake or play games that she doesn't really enjoy. I guess I'll keep downloading free games of different types and maybe one will pique her interest and point me in the right direction. :)

[bben46]

My GF has a short attention span also. She got hooked on Angry Birds and now she sits for hours without talking to me playing it. She also likes the logo game. She constantly interrupts me to show a logo on her phone and ask what company is this? ( It is 3 letters, starts with an I and ends with an M. oh, yeah, and it's blue. I thought it was BMW, but I already got that one. ) http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f351/charonn0/ohgeez-1.gif

 

Or tells me to quit playing that stupid Oblivion game for a few minutes, I gotta look up this logo on the internet. She doesn't have the patients to power up the laptop for that.

 

She does not care for Plants vs Zombies though.:whistling:

[Vagrant0]

As for what kind of game she might like, it's hard to tell as she's not a gamer. As a person, she's one in a million - she knows that I'm a modder and avid gamer, and eagerly wants to find a common interest in this area. But at the same time, I don't want her get into gaming just for my sake or play games that she doesn't really enjoy. I guess I'll keep downloading free games of different types and maybe one will pique her interest and point me in the right direction. :)

You know, part of what sounds like what is going on here probably has less to do with her wanting to develop an interest in gaming, and more of her wanting to spend time with you and understand what you are all about, or how you can spend dozens of hours at a screen totally engrossed in whatever world you're peering into. She might simply be wanting to see less of the back of your head, and want to spend more time with you doing something together.

[kasaidraco]

Casual and mobile games are soooo boring. lol