Rookie mistakes you made when first playing the Sims 3

[kiko94]

Well I havn't played TS1 or TS2, but befor playing TS3 I read the guide completely, I also still forget to spend the LTHP and to fullfill the wishes of my sims even if they are very simple

[Cheezey]

Sims 3 was my first sims game, and I'm not a fan of tutorials, so I jumped in and blundered my way through a lot.

I think the worst mistake was in my first game, when I didn't realize you could use edit town to move in other families. I thought you had to start with a family, and set them up, then switch households to add someone. I also didn't know you could turn story progression off... so I'd get really upset when I'd switch houses to set someone up and then go back to someone I set up before, and find out they got into a relationship or ruined a relationship with someone in their house.

I also didn't realize you could custom-color outfits for a while, or that you could change hair in the mirror. I know about the dresser, but ugh, my sims had some hideous hairstyles for a while.  I also didn't know toddlers could use the dresser at all, so I usually cringed when I saw how my babies aged up.

[Sportsfan]

Well I havn't played TS1 or TS2, but befor playing TS3 I read the guide completely, I also still forget to spend the LTHP and to fullfill the wishes of my sims even if they are very simple

Yeah I'm the same. I forget to check how much LTHP they have.

[jessiethedog]

I always think of "rookie mistakes" as simple mistakes that seem larger than they are to an inexperienced person.  But I've played The Sims since the very beginning, so I'm rather experienced.  So when I got the Sims 3, I didn't make simple mistakes...I made very complex mistakes.

Another very complex mistake was that I bought my first couple the "fertility treatment" LTR as soon as they had the happiness points for it.  At the time I didn't really realize how easy it was to actually get a sim pregnant, so I thought "well, if it exists, there's probably a reason for it."  And for some reason, they just seemed to adore children's radio (and they weren't even childish).  You can't imagine the stress triplets caused me as my very first sim procreation.  Chaos reigned in that household until the first generation started school, let me tell you.

Exactly! I don't believe I ever had triplets in TS2 except by usuing cheats, but in TS3 I got triplets on my first try, too. I thought I was just extremely unlucky, so when they had aged up to Teens and my Sims were almost elders, they had one last baby...or should I say, batch of babies? Another set of triplets.
I found the mood relatively easy to control, I think after The Sims 1 you have to be good at not killing them.
Create A Pattern confused me, until I found the Guide.

[thesimslover828]

I've been playing for several months and only just now realized you can put the television on "mute" -- wish I'd known that when I had a couch potato Sim in the Wishmaster Challenge who loved the kids' channel.

Thanks for saying something because I didn't know either.

[Asleep]

My very first family had a house fire. The next day when I clicked on their maid, there was an interaction called "Fire". I assumed it meant talk about fire or something, so I clicked it. Then I didn't understand why she got mad.

[Sportsfan]

My very first family had a house fire. The next day when i clicked on their maid, there was an interaction called "Fire". I assumed it meant talk about fire or something, so I clicked it. Then I didn't understand why she got mad.

Oh my gosh thats hilarious!

[Sophie98]

My mistakes could fill a book.
I didn't know how to set relationships. My brother and I made simselves and they got rather inappropriate wishes.
I didn't know how to use Create a Style
I didn't know how to recolour furniture
I always used that wavy base game hair, coloured bright red. Now I avoid it.
I put bedside tables right next to the bed
I didn't know about the mirror and dresser
My friend told me about the cheats, so none of my Sims died of unnatural causes...intentionally.

[Seabody]

I kept pressing "T" to get a birds-eye view of the property. And I still do. (T activated Top Down view in TS2 - birds eye view basically)

[Choccolatee]

Oooh! Also, I had no idea how to use Create A Style and I hated the limited choice of colours in clothing.

[imaGleek]

My very first family had a house fire. The next day when i clicked on their maid, there was an interaction called "Fire". I assumed it meant talk about fire or something, so I clicked it. Then I didn't understand why she got mad.

Haha, I didn't even know about fires, so my very first sim was cooking something and then went to bed before taking it out of the oven, so in the middle of the night a fire started and I had no clue what to do.

[trublgrl]

I've only been playing TS3 for about four months, and until today, I thought you could only have one playable family in your town!  I actually still play TS2 because I prefer a town full of characters I've created with their stories and events and blah blah blah.
I never read the part of the manual that said "Switch active Family", and even so, I would have assumed you could only play an already extant family such as the Goths.  Uh-Doy!
Also, I've never used "Edit Town", because I sorta thought it must be 'cheatie'.  I never even looked at the options.

[Saltypaws]

Welcome to the forum trublgrl.  It takes some getting use to, to actually change active households, but it is so much better than sims2.  The more you play the more you learn.  I am still learning things from this game and from this forum.  Hope you find this site useful and fun.

[Katluvr]

Oh, and I thought you could only have 4 saves at a time. I thought trying to save more would blow the game up.

Me too!!

I was really lucky that I found this guide and forum very quickly after buying TS3 10 months ago, so I was able to avoid a lot of rookie mistakes.

The one that sticks out in my mind is trying to figure out how to marry Agnes into my Starr Dynasty (which I started after only playing TS3 for a month and with no previous Sims experience - what was I thinking?!) and get her to bring her car along with her.  I finally figured out I had to invite her away from her house and marry her in order to reap the full benefit of Agnes as dynasty spouse.

[Lesleyxxx]

I only found sims almost a month ago. I'm still very very much a rookie bumbling along making a multitude of mistakes. I finally found out yesterday that you can pause the game and que up 'to do' lists.  I thought clicking something else would cancel what they were already doing duh!  I still have no idea how you play multiple families.  I still don't know how to properly manage multiple sims, I went from single sim play to trying a ranch with 3 animals and a sim, and totally couldn't manage it. Thankfully I did find this forum just a few days after starting, so I did know about edit town, edit patterns and colours etc. However I'm still wading through reading and finding out things I didn't know. And I still have a lot to learn!