Generation XX

When an expansion pack unexpectedly makes you seem less awful.

Istarted getting a sense that the guy I’d moved into the shed to do all the menial tasks, including fishing, was lonely when I saw him autonomously reading a book called Reel Her In. There was also the unfortunate incident involving him watering some tomatoes with his tears after no-one noticed his birthday. I could probably have moved him into the house, for those incidental moments of interaction, but the shed was closer to both the fishing hole and the garden plot. Efficient pathfinding, you know?

I had started playing The Sims 4, this time, with the aim of creating a chef who sourced all her own vegetables and fish. Oh, the amazing buffs this kind of supportive play promises. Then, I figured I’d get a passing townie to knock her up later, when the house and garden were sorted, ensuring a happy lineage. Of course, I couldn’t not attempt to max out the Culinary career, too. I’m pretty hardcore, but I quickly found this workload impossible. Hence, Jimmy.

I’ve written about The Sims 4 a few times before and how the new emotion system makes the ruthless style of play I’ve been carefully developing, for 15 years, seem especially cruel. I still can’t decide if I love the way it does this, or whether it gives me the bright yellow embarrassed moodlet. I recently added the Get Together expansion pack, however, and I can tell you that it deepens play in ways I wasn’t expecting. It also cheered Jimmy up, no end.

I mean, I’m still forcing him to look after the plants, clean the house, repair and upgrade all the appliances, fish, and raise the children, some of which ended up being his. Now, however, Jimmy can share all his tasks with

I made Woohoo a banned activity because they were meeting at the house

The Garden Gnomes. It’s a socially supportive spiral of getting things done.

Being The Sims, this requires clarification; The Garden Gnomes are the local gardening group I had him join, made up of actual human sims, not gnomes. There’s an old guy, a bossy lady and a kid with gumboots who inexplicably makes the old guy angry but pulls weeds like no-one’s business. Every morning I hold a club gathering at the house and they do everything together.

For clubs, the leader sets approved activities. I had to get Jimmy to stage a coup against the bossy lady which inexplicably succeeded the first time I tried it. He may be cooler than I’ve been giving him credit for. Then, I decided that The Garden Gnomes would be all about Fishing, Catching Frogs, Gardening, Fixing Things and Hugs. I made Woohoo a banned activity because they were meeting at the house and Jimmy is some of the kids’ father, after all.

By the way, if you wanted to make a club specifically designed for people to meet and Woohoo, I guess you could. The options are extensive. Fighting and kissing but no playing the violin? Why not? And, as Jimmy’s new minions take care of his household tasks and keep him socially stimulated without me doing anything, the club earns points to buy supportive perks. I levelled up the focused perks first, given they buff the club’s approved activities significantly.

Most interestingly, by streamlining play elements in this way, Jimmy is able to spend even more hours grafting plants and nurturing them to perfect quality. I’d never really engaged with gardening in The Sims 4 before because it is so time intensive, but it is a supremely satisfying pursuit for the achiever-player. From buying and finding seeds to tending every aspect of their evolution, there are endless decisions to micromanage.

Of course, Jimmy’s incredible fishing skill allows him to catch perfect fertilisers. As plants improve in quality, eating their produce provides significant buffs to happiness. Both the fish and produce support the chef’s cooking and gourmet cooking, with every meal turning out impeccably with minimal effort. Again, great food provides more happiness buffs, along with the fresh feeling left by the bidet Jimmy installed in the toilet. Everyone is happy all of the time.

Happy, of course, but lonely. Until now, anyway. But am I really a monster? The menu for socialisation is still, probably necessarily, clunky and prohibitive.

Get Together is the first time I’ve actually enjoyed seeing “a Jimmy” make friends because I had to contribute exactly nothing to the process. I could probably get his extremely over-cared-for children to join The Garden Gnomes so as they could come to actually love one of their parents. I think you can set homework as an activity, so maybe the bossy lady can take on that. I just want to play The Sims 4 the way I want to play it. Now, having a social Jimmy doesn’t exclude that..