#but will be useful for planning mod announcements in the future XD

[mossmx]

posting daily for a month is kinda cool to look at the stats on tumblr

[murfeelee]

My OFFICIAL Best/Worst TS3 EPs - REVISED 2019

I did a 2014 Sims 3 countdown list here, but since then I’ve played a lot more, and changed my mind about a few things. (Except the SPs -- I stick by what I said about those.)

Disclaimer: My “best/worst” is really just my personal favorites, with no real bearing on how well I think EA actually created the game, the quality vs quantity, how they executed the concepts, or anything like that.

With that said, let’s go Worst to Best this time! >:D

11 - Late Night: My opinion hasn’t really changed; if anything it’s gotten worse, especially after Boroughsburg went and dookied all over Bridgeport. XD

10 - Island Paradise: I’ve yet to even touch Isla Paradiso (I plan to...eventually), but the mermaids are meh & I was bored underwater (there’s not much to do); I don’t give a eff about resorts; and though I really like all the boats, they’re a EFFING HEADACHE to route & control. The new collectibles & items are cool, but I don’t feel my gameplay expanded all that much, as most of those objects are just a new, more colorful/tropical coat of paint on the regular stuff we already have. (Formerly #9)

9 - Generations: A huge expansion, yes, but when I’m not playing with kids (which is most of the time, outside of my Malec gameplays), I sometimes forget this pack exists. I disabled Memories & Imaginary Friends almost as soon as I installed Gen, and Story Progression on Day 1, so all I ever really use is the toys. It REALLY should’ve been basegame, or added in a free patch the way the TS4 Toddlers stuff was. Especially considering it didn’t include a new world to play in. And for all its claims, it effing ignored Elders, lbr. The new CAS & Build/Buy items get the most use from me by far, and the new sorting/filtering systems they added. (Formerly #7)

8 - University: I have zero intention of ever using the university mechanics, or going to the world at all (RL school already traumatized me enough; thanks). But I really like the Plantsims (a heck of a lot more than Mersims), and again, the collectibles & new CAS/Build/Buy items are the coolest part for me. I LOVE the harvestables, possibly even more than the ones in Supernatural. And the Buy Mode objects are effing cool -- the wealth of hobbies & skills stuff especially. 

7 - Showtime: My feelings about SHT have been conflicted since it was first announced. I still feel like it’s an expansion of an expansion (*cough* Late Night *cough* cuz it needed one -- or two *cough* Supernatural *cough* -- I’m ALLERGIC to EA’s BS!). I never used Simport, I don’t like Katy Perry, the Genie lifestate is glaringly out of place, and Starlit Shores is just ok. But the keeper for me is hands down the new professions, particularly the Magician, and I absolutely LOVE the CAS & Build/Buy items. (Formerly #6)

6 - Pets: I. Am. IMPRESSED. I think this is possibly the second best EP in the whole game (the best =/= my favorite). I’ve owned Pets & IP for years, though I was never able to run them on my old laptop, and had to wait till late 2017 before I got a new one with better specs. While IP was a letdown for me, Pets certainly isn’t; it’s so cool having pets & wildlife in the game! (Formerly #10)

—The rest I didn’t change my original ranking for, I just have more to say—

5 - Seasons: Still the best, most well-made EP out of the bunch (which says a lot, cuz it had its flaws, too). Winter is still my favorite (which is ironic, cuz I effing hate snow & cold IRL), but I still think the “holidays” mechanics & content are really bad -- EA was so busy trying to be politically correct that they watered down each and every one. At least small yet welcome additions/improvements were made in TS4, but TS2 still had the best, IMO. I miss Father Time. 

4 - Into the Future: A STAPLE for sci-fi gameplay, along with Showtime & Ambitions (and Seasons, for sneaking in the Aliens for no effing reason). But I am SO IN LOVE with the Build/Buy items, that I use them all the time. (I frikkin hate a lot of the CAS nightmare fuel, though.)

3 - World Adventures: I get tempted to bump WA up to #2, but I honestly don’t use the tomb exploration much at all, the mummies scare me, and I never cared for Champs les Sims; I think Monte Vista’s much prettier, with more interesting townies. I just love the fact that they added new cultures and lifestyles -- the worlds (plural!) are the biggest draw. 3rd best game, because they could’ve done so much more, but for the first EP out the gate, it’s a great expansion.

2 - Ambitions: Granted, I disabled Laundry (cuz eff chores); I don’t play in Twinbrook much anymore; and ITF’s Plumbbots make the Simbots look like a bad joke. But the content? The content. Dude: they’re EXPANDED. The traits, professions, hobbies & skills are sooo good. And I refuse to give up the CAS & Buy Mode items, not to mention that some of my favorite Build Mode content is from Ambitions (especially the plants). (Magnooooooooolia Crawford XD)

1 - SUPERNATURAL: Cuz duh, of course it is. XD Major flaws, particularly with the lifestates, but the content is just too integral for fanciful simmers to pass up. I have gripes with each and every lifestate (y’all know I raved a bunch about the 3rd party mod that added magic for kids), but I still have loads of fun with what we have (even the vampires, when I suspend my disbelief >_>).  

[magical-sim-girl]

SSFF Challenge 8 - Introducing Myself!

Hello! I just wanted to introduce myself since I’m still a bit of a newbie in the Simblr community, and @simblrsimplyforfun challenge 8 was the perfect excuse! So here we go =D

This is me! ^^ 🦄💕 (in a quick selfie without filters xD I hope I haven't scared you 😂)

Introduce yourself, your name, age, where you live etc. What words would you use to describe yourself and why? What words would others use? Tell us some childhood stories that you think show who you are.

My name in real life is Ailén, but my pen name since the age 13 is Piper, nowadays most of my friends call me that name and I’m really more comfortable with it, so please just call me Pip or Piper! ^^ I’m 19 years old and I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina 🇦🇷

I can describe myself as a kind person, I love meeting new people, to debate about random things with them and listening to them speaking about what they like or their plans, I’m very creative but sometimes I just run out of inspiration 😂 I’m also very affectionate! I love hugging people I appreciate and telling them I like them. Other people... I don’t know, I can’t speak for everyone 8′D but I guess they also see me as affectionate, sometimes even clingy, I act goofy at times (you can see it mostly when I talk, I tend to finish my sentences with ‘ahre’ a lot, which is an Argentinian expression to state you’re just joking), so I guess they think I have a good sense of humor as well, I love making people laugh 😄 I’ve also been called ‘cute’ or ‘adorable’ more than once and I’m proud of it! 😄💕

About my childhood... I dunno it was pretty normal, although I got bullied from 5th grade to second year of high school :( it was tough, I even developed depression at the age of 14 due to the lack of friends and the constant name-calling and pranks, but I don’t know if it would be okay to talk about it since that was on my teen years... Overall, my childhood was okay, I used to be a curious little girl, I loved to wear pink dresses or skirts xD pink was always my favourite colour c: 💟 At the age of 8 I was forced to attend English lessons as an extracurricular activity, and I ended up loving it! I’m currently teaching this language to my bff’s aunt and I’m planning on studying English at university to be a teacher ^.^ I also had a fascination for women as a child, I always created female characters for my stories, or played girl barbies with my friend, nowadays I’m a feminist and always try to defend my fellow women c: (as long as it’s an unfair situation for them, ofc) ♀️💕

Write a little about your simming time. How do you like to play your game? Which style of blogs do you like? Who are your main characters and how did you come up with them? Do you tell people in RL you are a simmer?

I learnt about sims when I was in 6th grade I think, but didn’t take interest on it until sims 4 was announced, so I started palying when I was 15 ^^ I love playing legacy style, and also use the game to take nice pictures (I’m still learning how to edit, it’s quite fun but also time-consuming ;; ).

I follow all the simblrs who follow me tbh ^^ but I love simatography blogs! Maybe one day I’ll learn how to do proper edits and poses, and then I’ll become a simatography simblr 😂

Main characters... I don’t really have, my favourite ones though are Anine and Kyung-soo. Anine was the result of a frustration night *shot* I didn’t use to have much confidence on my sims, so I put all of my effort on her, I really like the facial features of Nordic women, so I decided she’d have Nordic origins, and ended up loving her so much that I posted about her ^^ as for her personality, I didn’t have a slight idea of how her behaviour or characteristics could be, but by that time I was kind of obsessed with Overwatch, and all of a sudden imagined her in a D.Va cosplay thanks to zauma’s CC, so I thought the best was giving her a gamer/otaku likes, and her personality in general is really based off mine, she’s a happy-go-lucky girl in her late teens, always friendly and willing to help people. I had the idea of making an Asian OC the night I went to Monsta X concert, and that way I created Kyung, he’s kind of a frustrated idol lol, he’s got a really tragic story involving being rejected by his parents, friends and entertainment gorups, but is always smiling and tries his best to make people happy, kind of resembling the life of a kpop idol, who only wants to see their fans happy despite of having a tough life uwu

And yes, I usually talk about my strange obsession with sims with people, they don’t see it as something productive, but luckily I’ve never been judged badly because of it. Maybe my mum thinks it gets extreme at times, but I try to balance simming with real life activities :3

Write about your time on tumblr. Maybe some nice stories of the people you met. How you got started. How long have you been on here? What has been good and bad? What kind of things have your learnt? What kind of things do you think you can help other simmers with? Any nice stories from here? Do you still have your first sims?

(I didn’t know if I should have talked about Tumblr in general or the Simblr community... So I made a summary of both just in case)

I started using Tumblr when I was 14, my best internet friend had a blog by those times and encouraged me to make one as well. I was starting to get depressive by those years, so most of my posts or reblogs were about “dark” things (I deleted that blog long ago, lol), so Tumblr was like a safe place, where I could speak my mind out without getting judged, I even met some people who suffered the same illness as me, and they always supported me and gave me strength to keep going on (unfortunately I’ve lost contact with them :c)

Regarding Simblr, I joined in at the beginning of 2018 I think, I wanted to share my ideas with people, but I was too shy then... It was thanks to the SSFF challenges that I started getting out of my cocoon and talking to simmers, and I’m so glad I did! The people I met are lovely and I’m really happy to have them now ^^

Things I learnt are lots of... From meshing or modding, to social values. I mean, it’s always good to have basic knowledge of informatics (it helps a lot, especially where I live), and I’m very grateful for all of those tutorials who taught me so many things. But I learnt one thing or two about people in general, I always used to put words into others’ mouth, I always thought they didn’t like me because of my looks or my behaviour, that they thought I was weird; now, I understand that they might be like me, they’re simply too shy to talk, and I won’t know what they they actually think about me if I never go and say ‘hi’; and now thanks to that ‘hi’ I met wonderful people, people who are creative and won’t judge me... That’s the most precious thing I learnt 😊

I don’t think I could help other simmers from a technician point of view, but I’m always here to talk and share my little knowledge, I love hearing other simmers’ ideas (one of my best friends irl isn’t a simmer, but loves to create OCs and stories, and I’m always there to listen about them c: ), suggesting some other things for their stories, etc. I think I could offer more of a friendship than technical help, but it’s something as well! 😂

And yes, I keep my first sims! In a folder so full of various saves that I must erradicate someday *shot* I had them for three generations, if I remember correctly, the legacy began with a pink-haired sim named Jenna, she married a vampire townie from Bridgeport, they had a daughter, Emilie, Emilie married a townie from University, who was a Plantsim, so they had a plantsim daughter, Wynn, Wynn had an imaginary friend named Percy (who’s also a fairy) and they’re now in University, they’re a couple. I made such a chaos when I was 15 xD

Write about the people you have met here. Do you take part in discord chats? Met anyone in RL? Which simmers influenced you? Do you do RPs?

I don’t take part in discord chats, I made a discord user a few days ago but tbh I don’t use it a lot ;; I’d love to be in a server tho, it’s just that I don’t talk much when I’m in a group ^_^’

I haven’t met any simmer irl, I’d love to, tho! It seems to be a little hard to find simmers where I live 😂

The simmers that influence me the most are marshmallowsims, gruesim, theseprettylittlepixels and lehma! I want to develop my own style though, they’re my biggest references and hope to inspire people as much as they do someday ^^

And I’ve never done RPs, but I’d love to do some! Actually, I’m working on an AU with a sim of nonsimsical ‘s, it’s really fun to plan, and I hope I can do more of them in the future ^^

I think that's all. I want to add that you can always come and say hi! 🖐🏻💕 we can chat about sims or whatever you like, and also, if you got any other question for me or for my OCs (although their character sheets are still pending ;; ) don't hesitate to ask 😊

PS Excuse my horrible English ;;

[nationalpark-rp]

Announcement & Updates

Hello, everyone!  Manectric-mod here.  I’m so glad you’re reading this, because Meowth-mod and I have some very exciting news to share with you.  It’s big—no, it’s HUGE news.  This news could knock the socks right off your feet if you were wearing any!  These last few months have been quite the eye-opener for us mods.

Summer is upon us, and we’ve been doing quite a lot of thinking on the future of our fantastic group.  Questions like, “How can we make this group better?” and “What can we do that’s fun and exciting?” crossed my mind on more than one occasion, and our dear Meowth-mod had to listen to me ramble off all my ideas before we came up with something concrete.  And I am so thrilled to tell you that our efforts have finally reached their climax: our brand-new, never-before-seen ideas are coming into play RIGHT NOW!

We mods have tasked diligently over the past few months and now we’re ready to make them live.  So sit back, relax, and read the following post; there’s a lot of new content ahead.

★  NEW THEME  ★

That’s right, friends!  The National Park has a brand-new theme!  I’ve worked very hard on updating our theme, and that not only includes new graphics, but new coding, as well!  Rach, the mun of our very own Giovanni and Prof. Kukui, has gone above and beyond helping me with the more intricate aspects of theme, and honestly, none of these changes could have been made without her help.  Thank you so, so much, Rach!

Here’s a quick run-down of all the new changes:

New theme

Updated pages

Rules

Masterlist

Resources

Group chat (we have a Discord!)

Brand-new mod pages

Isn’t the theme beautiful?  I worked very hard on it.  Gone are the flowers of yesterday, here lies a tribute to the upcoming Pokémon: Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon games! Would you believe me when I said I’d planned on making the sun and moon motif before those games were announced, because I did!  Our old theme was sorely outdated, so I am very happy to have replaced it.

Not only was the theme updated, but every single page on the hub has been revamped to some degree!  The most important of these pages include the Rules, Masterlist, Resources, and Group Chat pages.  Don’t forget about the new admin introductions!

The Rules page has undergone a major overhaul!  They should now be written clearly and concisely, making them much easier to read where they were not before.  The only rule that has been changed is our minimum requirement: players must now write a minimum of six (6) sentences in a roleplay post in order to be considered active.

Both Masterlists, desktop and mobile, have been updated to include characters from Pokémon Colosseum/XD and all of the Pokémon Ranger games. Players now have the opportunity to explore their rosters at length, as well as the chance to write for their Trainer Classes.

Our Resources pages is better than ever before!  Today’s update brings about a more in-depth look at all of the resources available for writers.  Each link has a description as to what each link is about, so you can be confused no longer!  In addition to this, there is more variety of resources to choose from.  The world is your oyster!

The group chat page has also been thoroughly rewritten, so make sure you freshen up on our rules.

We mods have introduction pages!  You may find them on the not-so-secret hidden links on the hub.  Just click on our names!  I have written Meowth’s, and my darling partner has written mine.  We’re like Jessie and James, only cooler and more productive.

  ★  DISCORD SERVER  ★

You heard that right!  Like I mentioned above, the National Park now has a Discord server! Our group chat page has been updated to reflect the new changes, so be sure to go over the rules carefully.

Some of you might be asking “Why the switch?” but others might be wondering what took us so long to get to this point.  For a long time, Skype has been one of the go-to programs for group chats and instant messaging, although now it is easily outclassed by many others.  The most popular chat program now is Discord, and many users have already made the switch. We’ve familiarized ourselves with it, and now we’re ready to make the switch for the National Park, too.

What does this mean for the current Skype group? Well, we’re still going to have one, however it will not be the “official” group chat any longer.  A few members cannot get or use Discord, and must continue using Skype, and so for their inclusion, we are keeping that Skype chat open.  Members are still allowed to join the Skype chat, but our new and official chat is now hosted on Discord.

We encourage anyone who is interested in joining our new Discord server—or if you cannot get/use Discord, our Skype chat—to message us stating that you’d wish to join.  We’ll get back with you and add you to the chat(s) as soon as possible!

★  EXTRAS BLOG  ★

Last but not least we have our extras blog.I have been on the edge of my seat excited to announce this one!  Lovingly called National Park MORE, our extras blog is an all-in-one blog dedicated to you, our lovely members.  This sideblog is a branch of the hub, and will post periodically everything that our hub and event blog couldn’t.

You know those characters we don’t have, but that we really want to write with?  We’ll advertise for them!  Need a little pick-me-up after a hard day?  We’ll cheer you up every week with a little positivity!

Features of the National Park MORE blog:

Character requests

Positivity quotes

Character development prompts

“Can we really request characters?!”

That’s right!  One function of our MORE blog is dedicated to requesting characters!  This means that everyone can go to the MORE ask box and ask nicely for a character to join our group.  Not only will we answer it, but we’ll publish an ad as soon as possible!  Both Meowth-mod and I can name a few characters off the top of our heads that we’d love to see within the group, and I’m sure you can, too.

Members are allowed to request characters via the MORE blog.

In order to request a character, simply state which character(s) you’d like to see.  It’s as easy as 1-2-3!

Waiting is the hardest part.  Try promoting interest by reblogging these ads.  The more exposure, the better!

“What’s this about positivity?”

I’m so glad you asked!  This is a feature that almost came as an afterthought.  There are a lot of positivity blogs around on Tumblr, but Meowth-mod and I wanted to create something more personal, something that is dedicated solely to you wonderful members.  The quotes we’ve chosen are specifically to help you create confidence in yourself.

An example of a positivity quote would be something like, “Bad days are only days that are bad. You can get through this.” It’s personal in its own way, and it’s something that we need to remind ourselves about.  As long as we know we can get through a rough patch, we will.

Things will get better; you just have to believe it.  This is the type of advice we want to give, and so we will be posting a positivity quote every week.

“Hold on—did you just say ‘character development’?”

I sure did!  We have a lot more up our sleeve than just character requests and positivity quotes!  There’s more! My dear friends, you’re in for a real treat tonight.  This blog is also dedicated to character development.  Meowth-mod and I know just how much you all love making headcanons and developing your characters, so we came up with a way to help you in that endeavor!

Each month we mods will provide a new character development topic for you all to enjoy.  This will give you a chance to think about and develop new ideas that you may or may not have considered before with your muses.  We hope that with these prompts, your characters will become even more three-dimensional than before!

These character development posts will cover a wide range of topics, including your character’s personality, their past, as well as exploring their intrapersonal relationships.  This way, you can consider all factors of your muse’s life—isn’t that exciting?

Here’s how these character development prompts will work:

We’ll provide you a set of questions and scenarios for you to think about.

You can choose to answer one, some, or all of the questions/scenarios listed. If writing a drabble in response to the prompts is more up your alley, we encourage you to use your creativity and explore your character to their fullest!

There is no limit to what you can do for these prompts.  You are allowed to write in any style you wish, whether it’s a answering the questions, writing a drabble, or any other format you like.

The first character development prompt will post on July 1st, and then on the first of the month from there on out.  Prompts will be numbered and linked in the navigation page on the MORE blog.

Please tag all of your character development prompts as “ #np prompts ” (without quotes).

These character development posts are completely optional!  You can write as much or as little as you want, so let your imagination go wild! Have fun!

Unfortunately, these prompts are supplementary and do not count towards activity.

The idea behind these character development prompts is for you all to be creative.  You should write about what seems fun, and write about what you want to do with your characters.  These prompts exist to aid in your character’s development—so you should enjoy your time doing it!

Meowth-mod and I are beyond excited to see what wonderful works you all can come up with.  We sincerely hope that these questions can help you develop your muse even further than they are already.  And with the amount of talent and passion you all put into your writing already, we know that you will blow us away.

★ STAY TUNED  ★

And that’s all we have for you tonight, friends!  A lot of brand-new ideas have made their way to our humble group, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally be able to share this with you.  Meowth-mod and myself will continue to work hard to make the National Park a great place to be.  These new additions are just the start of it.  We hope that with these new features, your experience here can be even better.

July is a very important month for us, too!  Not only will our first character development prompt post, but it’s also the time for our second summerniversary!  We have a lot of cool ideas for that event, too, so stay tuned for more news!

We hope that you have a wonderful rest of your day!  See you soon!

~ lots of love from the mods at the National Park ❤