MilliCal has recently become obsessed with computer games. Especially those that have to do with animals – she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. So she got a Pet Vet computer game, and ones for taking care of Puppies and Kittens*.
Then she got Sims 2 Pets, with her own money. She soon found out she couldn’t run it without Sims 2, so she got that. Now she’s become obsessed with the Sims themselves.
What’s interesting is that the Sims imply sex, I’ve found. This is potentially heady and serious stuff for a nine-year-old. as I’ve mentioned elsewhere (and recently) on the Board, MilliCal has read books on sex, and knows the mechanics, and even some of the genetics of sex. But she still doesn’t get the human element. Puberty hasn’t hit yet (although you wouldn’t guess it, from looking at parts of her)
She thinks its cute when chracters have their First Kiss, and goofy little hearts with faces on them swirl around. But it bugs her when two characters start making out.
“Why are their clothes coming off?” she asked, with annoyance.
They the “camera” shifts up to the green jewels over the characters’ heads, and they start spinning and shaking, and fireworks appear. We are going to have to explain that this is not exactly what happens in everyyday life.
She’s actually more interested in the birth that comes sometime later, stork and all. And the incredibly clean way you change diapers, and just throw them in the air and the dirty ones disappear. I wish it DID work that way.
You’d think four REAL cats would be enough. Not to mention a goldfish she’s supposed to be feeding but usually doesn’t. Maybe we should get her a virtual goldfish to give her the idea.
Awww, I think that’s cute. It’s funny the odd ideas kids get about sex, even with the best intentioned of parental education. My little sister (at 10) asked me if you could accidentally get pregnant just from lying down beside a boy.
Reminds me of my nieces (aged 11-12 at the time) who were playing the game “Leisure Suit Larry”. It’s an adventure game, and the goal is to get Larry laid. (not immediately obvious at first, if I recall, but still). When they got the talk about the birds and the bees, they already knew that condom use was a good idea. (In the game, not using a rubber during sex is an instant gameover, on account of an extremely flesheating STD.)
IIRC, a Sim can choose whether or not he wants to WooHoo (Sim term for sex) without attempting to get pregnant. There’s an option to WooHoo and another to “try for baby” (which, like in real life, always doesn’t work.) Only married Sims can try for a baby, but any Sim can WooHoo another Sim (even a gay Sim, I believe)- no unwanted pregnancies in the Sim world.
Unmarried females Sims can most definitely try for a baby with whomever they please. I started out my first Sims 2 game that way - my single female got knocked up by the postal worker.
You cannot have a male Sim impregnating females Sims on the lot that you aren’t controlling though.
There is a slight glitch (very, very rare!) where a female Sim can become impregnated by just WooHooing. It’s speculated that it might have been an early error in the pie menu - it looks like you’re clicking WooHoo, but you’re actually in Try for Baby territory. Like perhaps the areas to click overlapped a pixel or two.
Same sex Sims can Woo Hoo.
I guess the best ‘family’ thing about the Woo Hoo is that they at least have to be in love* before they get the Woo Hoo option.
As for ‘no unwanted pregnancies in the Sim world’, try telling that to my poor Sim that got rejected for ‘Try for Baby’ in a dressing booth with a man she hardly knew and still ended up pregnant.
Again, that’s a glitch. Nightlife introduce ‘Chemistry’ to the game and the Sims in question had Max Chemistry for each other and had the TFB option with almost no relationship score. Just for giggles I tried it and got rejected like I thought she would. Then came the lullaby. :eek: 'Course, then it was time for her to return home where she had some serious 'splaining to do to her husband.
As for a sex ed tool, if she already knows the basics then this should be more tame than most stuff I seem to be catching on prime time TV. They only strip to undies after they’ve Woo Hooed. They’re fully clothed right up until they jump under the covers.
*100/75 in the relationship status bars…if you have a daytime/lifetime score - Lifetime score was introduced in NightLife I believe so I don’t know if it comes with Pets too.
Oh, my, that’s funny. I was fuzzy on some of the details since I haven’t played the game in months- it’s still true- there’s more drama in a single life of a Sim than there is in a decade’s worth of soap operas.
Tell me about it! My poor Sim’s semi-accidental pregnancy resulted in a divorce and many, many kicked over trash cans.
Plus there are so many hacks out there that do so many different things, sometimes it can be hard to remember what is a SOP game function and what’s happening because you have a hack.
CalMeacham, I’d have her keep her male Sims away from any high priced telescopes unless you want to have an even stranger conversation than the one you’re anticipating about birds, bees and the Woo Hoo animations.
CalMeacham, you’re lucky that Maxis pulled the nudity filter patch off websites. It allowed that blurriness over simpenises, simvaginas and simbreasts to be removed.
Me, I had to uninstall the game since playing it nearly took over my life. Plus, I turned SimLush Puppy into the town whore.
Sims 2 is rated Teen for a reason. With Sims 1 you were able to remove the love beds and prevent WooHooing. I don’t think it’s possible with Sims 2 because it doesn’t just happen in beds. To prevent them from being so amorous, make sure they have a knowledge aspiration. Then they’re not quite so active.
She’ll really flip when she goes to Strangetown and the guy has an alien baby.
They’re still out there, along with ‘natural skin’ downloads and all sorts of add-ons if you like your men a little more 3-dimensional down there.
That lawyer (Jack Thomas? Thompson?) did give Maxis a scare so they changed their coding to disable existing patches at the time, but it was hacked again within a month (if not a week).
Still, Sims only have Barbie doll features unless you download replacement skins and stuff as mentioned above.
I think The Sims 2 is too mature for a 9 year old, personally. I agree with the poster that mentioned the first version of The Sims. You had to very intentionally try to get them to have sex, and it was not particularly easy to do. Maybe that’s a better game for her.
