Author Topic: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories Updated 12/2021  (Read 193281 times)

Offline SSDSSDSSDSSD

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #165 on: September 08, 2015, 10:50:09 AM »
Can I have an affair in my story? I don't know if that violates the family friendly aspect?

Offline Trip

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #166 on: September 08, 2015, 11:26:14 AM »
Yes, because affairs are allowed by the game. At least several pre-made sims have cheating or affairs written into their story and set up in the game.

Just be careful about WHAT they do in it. :p
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Offline experience

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #167 on: October 07, 2015, 08:58:10 PM »
Hi guys,

I've been reading through the past few pages here, reading the rules for the fifth time, and I have some questions, concerns and even some discussion starters. The following seems to be getting a lot of attention:

From dictionary.com:

Quote
friv·o·lous  [friv-uh-luhs]
adjective

1. characterized by lack of seriousness or sense: frivolous conduct.
2. self-indulgently carefree; unconcerned about or lacking any serious purpose.
3. (of a person) given to trifling or undue levity: a frivolous, empty-headed person.
4. of little or no weight, worth, or importance; not worthy of serious notice: a frivolous suggestion.

An example of a frivolous post would be one that says only a couple of words that really don't mean much of anything.  Like, "Great update!" or something similar.  We just like for posts to have some real content for people who take the time to read them. 

Reading this made me start thinking. "Great update!" to me is not frivolous. "LOL" is frivolous and useless. For somebody like myself who wants readers to check out my stories, I also want to hear what my readers think, what their opinions are. I have a couple hundred views on my stories in the little time that I have been here and I love coming and reading what everyone says about it, whether good or bad. "Great update!" could be seen on the same level as "Not happy where the story is going." when speaking about the term of frivolous. Both of them generate the same amount of discussion, yet both can make or break a thread. As a story creator, I want to hear what other members think of my stories, what they liked and didn't, but I believe this rule could actually scare off members from posting in threads for fear that it could be seen at frivolous.

I also have some questions about the no violence/keep it teen rating rule.

I understand this rule for many mods that can be found around the internet. There are gory mods, nude mods, mods that allow your sims to smoke. I also understand why we don't want that kind of stuff on this board. However, I do question why a death of a sim (choice of the player) is frowned down upon. Death is inevitable in The Sims and is just a part of life. I understand it to be unacceptable if you have a gory mod that makes the death a brutal show, but to have a sim die because I wanted it to happen, or for another sim to execute it, that's unacceptable even if it's not shown? I can't even talk about it in my text? I am sure I will get the response about how we need to keep it a teen rating, and I get that, but let's look at teen ratings. Tomb Raider where we shoot anything that moves, James Bond games where we use a sniper and if we die, blood pours down our screen. We could even go into children shows like Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z where characters are killed and these shows are for children, not teens.

I have also seen the reply that if it's happens in the game without mods, it's okay, and the game doesn't allow the ability to kill a sim. I would like to remind everyone about testingCheats, a code that came with the game to give the player the ability to kill off their sims. A code the creators of The Sims not only left in the game (they could have removed it if they wanted to, especially since it's been in the game for two generations, maybe three. I haven't played sims 4), but also opened their mouth about it online and in the readme file. It's not something they were trying to keep hush hush. And even without testingCheats, we can still put a wall around the pool to keep the sims from exiting which results in death. It's been in all games, something the creators know about and don't do anything about. We still have the ability to make a wall around the pool without any issues how many years later.

Please understand that I think the mods and admins are doing a superb job at keeping this forum running smoothly, and I hope nobody sees this post of my questions and concerns rude or condescending. That is not my intention, and I am sorry that I can't type emotion. I know why rules are put it place and why we must follow them. I used to run a few forums myself before I got busy with work.

I would love to hear what the staff think and their reasonings. :D

Offline MarianT

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #168 on: October 21, 2015, 07:50:01 PM »
I can give you some historical background on the "no frivolous posts" rule. When the first Immortal Dynasty stories came out for TS3, they were very popular and attracted a lot of commentary, much of it similar to "Great update!" People trying to read the story would have to page through -- literally -- pages of these posts to follow the story. But I don't think anyone has been given a warning about making a frivolous post, at least not recently.

With the "no violence" rule, we're going for a family-friendly atmosphere rather than a teen rating. In addition, most of our challenges have a rule against intentional killing of a sim to make room in a household or because of some strategic consideration. I'm sure you can find some deaths in stories on the Forum that were from something other than old age; in fact, we have a Black Widow challenge on the Projects board.

If you're concerned that your story might be considered too violent for the Forum, you might try putting it on a blog and linking to it.
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Offline Carl

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #169 on: October 22, 2015, 02:11:30 AM »
@experience I'm coming in a bit late here, but realize others may read this in the future. The other aspects of your question were answered, and Marian did a great job on the death issue as well but I will add that it's mostly issues where a person is expressing sadism of sorts by deliberately killing Sims without it being a major storytelling element. You could have a Sim die in a fire and make that part of the story, but toasting them for fun and making your Sim a deliberate killer is not OK for a family-friendly atmosphere. Most deaths in the game have to be forced - they are not a part of regular gameplay, though many of us have triggered them. Otherwise they just come from accidents. Those accidents for storytelling are not an issue, nor setups that serve a purpose - but a story about a murderer or simply documenting their deaths and commenting on it is not really storytelling.

Offline experience

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #170 on: October 23, 2015, 09:31:46 AM »
Thank you so much for replying, the both of you. Both replies are brilliant and have cleared up everything. Thank you so much again!

Offline EtnaFan666

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #171 on: November 06, 2015, 08:39:33 AM »
This is the only time I will bring this up and use stuff that is slightly inapprop, so please forgive me. I won't say it again.

I am not sure if this was addressed, but when you mean "no sexual content", I assume that any story that shows a screenshot of the WooHoo is not allowed. I do not know why this got past the programmers - if they were trying to make this a family-friendly game and hide the act of WooHoo being truly Sims have sex, they should have caught that and removed it from the game.  :o

Edited to remove non-family-friendly material. This was way over the top -- Moderator.
I play The Sims 4 for fun, so I don't care if I never end up being interviewed for the Dynasty Hall of Fame; people who play for keeps burn out too easily and don't enjoy playing the games, so I am going to not sweat the details.

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Offline Trip

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #172 on: November 06, 2015, 10:12:39 AM »
We've never banned people showing what is in the game. My best advice is to be careful with the words that accompany it. We either know what's going on based on the animation alone or we don't, and readers that don't probably shouldn't read an in-depth explanation. And obviously don't post your screenshots of any third-party content that goes further.
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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #173 on: November 06, 2015, 11:10:54 AM »
I think Trip has answered this question perfectly.  A child that is aged 12 and under can easily access these forums and we wouldn't want to change that.  Therefore, be mindful of the potential audience and post accordingly.  If anyone isn't happy with the listed restrictions because they want to be more graphic, then I would suggest a different platform for your stories.

Offline Carl

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #174 on: November 06, 2015, 03:13:08 PM »
This is the only time I will bring this up and use stuff that is slightly inapprop, so please forgive me. I won't say it again.

I am not sure if this was addressed, but when you mean "no sexual content", I assume that any story that shows a screenshot of the WooHoo is not allowed. I do not know why this got past the programmers - if they were trying to make this a family-friendly game and hide the act of WooHoo being truly Sims have sex, they should have caught that and removed it from the game.  :o

Edited to remove non-family-friendly material. This was way over the top -- Moderator.


@EtnaFan666 Let me say it here so it answers it for others who may wonder on this topic. It's not necessarily a family friendly game, but we are a family friendly community and don't need explicit descriptions. That is the distinction. If storytelling relies on that, it's trying to be 'edgy' and there are plenty of other places for that on the web. It is up to a parent what their children and teenagers play, but we want them to be safe to read on our boards. There are also adults who prefer not to read things that are inappropriate or overly descriptive. I do not know what was in your post exactly, but it clearly crossed the line. Please do not do so again or I will have to restrict posting ability.

Offline EtnaFan666

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #175 on: November 14, 2015, 09:41:33 AM »
I am writing this after a self-imposed exile from the forum. I realize what an idiot I was and promise not to violate the terms of service again. In fact, I won't even talk about Woohoo anymore out of fear of overstepping my bounds. I frequent a forum whic is filled with a lot of profanity and forgot that not all forums are the same. I promise from hence forth never to say anything that would even be mildly offensive.  :-X
I play The Sims 4 for fun, so I don't care if I never end up being interviewed for the Dynasty Hall of Fame; people who play for keeps burn out too easily and don't enjoy playing the games, so I am going to not sweat the details.

"With great ability comes great taking into account of one's actions!" - spoken by an NPC in Lego Marvel Superheroes

Offline mpart

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #176 on: November 24, 2015, 07:48:43 PM »
I have a quick question about teen pregnancy in stories. I know that in most situations it does not have the best outcome. Though because this is modded I thought it would be wisest to ask you guys first. I would not in any way being making fun of it, and there would be no inappropriate content in my story. If this question is perhaps a little over the line I completely understand if you guys edit it or delete it. Thank you for the wonderful forum as always.  :)

Offline Carl

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #177 on: November 24, 2015, 11:20:12 PM »
@mpart I feel that as long as it's done as tastefully as you say it will be, it's OK. Our stance on modding is much-relaxed as compared to the past. Teens getting pregnant is a reality of our world and EA probably kept it out for PR reasons, but I don't feel the concept breaks the Teen rating at all. Just keep it as clean as you can and you've got the go-ahead.

Offline mpart

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories
« Reply #178 on: November 25, 2015, 03:46:45 AM »
@mpart I feel that as long as it's done as tastefully as you say it will be, it's OK. Our stance on modding is much-relaxed as compared to the past. Teens getting pregnant is a reality of our world and EA probably kept it out for PR reasons, but I don't feel the concept breaks the Teen rating at all. Just keep it as clean as you can and you've got the go-ahead.

Thank you Carl, I will definitely keep it clean.

Offline Ivywl_

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Re: READ THIS FIRST - Rules for Stories Updated 12/2021
« Reply #179 on: December 09, 2022, 02:49:08 PM »
Hi

I'm new on this comunity and I just started a Sims Reality tv show based on Big Brother.

I checked the tutorial to create links and stuff but I'm still not sure about where I need to tap to create the episodes. Should be a new topic? Or do I just need to reply my own post? (Keep in mind that I already create the first post introducing the show and the contestants but I'm not really sure how to start creating the episodes correctly. If I have any assistance I will appreciate it.