Hah hah, I got in before you did, Jo! *blows raspberry*

Aaaaand now I'm wondering what ground-up undead llama would look like. Or smell like...

Well stone the flaming crows, she did!

To return the thread on topic - here I am again, playing TS2. Again! This happened how many times by now?

Way back when, when I last stopped playing it, I had really good reasons that had nothing to do with the game. But coming back to it has everything to do with the game - it's simply the best simulation among the Sims games and I love it. The Sims it boasts are the most detailed, most carefully crafted characters there are in the entire gaming world.
And the community here is amazing: helpful, tolerant, funny. No place like MTS for hanging out with fellow Simmers. Very chatty folk, they'll tell you in detail what you need to know when you need to know something; they'll point you in a million and one direction to find new stuff when you think that all the cool stuff is gone; they'll give you gameplay ideas that will keep your game fresh for years to come (not that it needs much freshness - it's the least stale of all the games I've ever played).

In other words, dear OP, if you feel lost, you've come to the right place.

I think on one level, there's a misconception that Sims 2 is just too old to be fun. Given that EA has dropped the game from support and that they've been pushing Sims 4 hard is part of it.

They've in essence disowned it and locked it away in the attic like some old hand-me-down.

What EA doesn't realize is that they perfected the game with Sims 2 and they've never exceeded it with Sims 3 and 4.

Because every time I start my game, I'm always amazed that it works perfectly well as it did the last time I opened it up. Consistently.

I don't have to worry about a patch blowing it up, CC destroying it or Origin not working. You can't surpass it.

The community knows this and we all love to get on here and share what we know and create for the game that is the solid bedrock of the Sims franchise. We're smarter than EA and a lot more loyal.

I see you got undead molten llama instead of official derailer, iCad. Though I suppose an undead molten llama would change most conversations, so it still works

OH WOW. Okay, which admin gave @iCad that title.

As another very late adopter (I got Double Deluxe in November 2012), I've always felt the Sims 2 community here is very much alive. If it really was so much more alive back then that anyone could feel it is dead now, part of me just wishes I could go back in time and experience it. Sometimes when I look at (and download) stuff on the Graveyard, I wish I could have seen those sites when they were up and running. Like Provocative Pixie, where my Veronaville (ex-)townie Romance Sim April Hutchins got her seduction outfit. And I sometimes look at the old official site in the Wayback Machine, and wish I'd been there when it was all active and working properly. And I really would like to have looked through the stories there, just two see what captions other people had added to the pre-mades' story pictures that Maxis supply.

On the other hand, I'd probably have downloaded a lot of rubbish from the Exchange, deleted Sims, moved occupied houses, smashed urns, and generally wrecked my game half a dozen times. As Peni says, there advantages to coming late.

Tumblr is extra proof that the TS2 community lives. It's so big that it can't possibly fit in one place - it has to go into every major web format reasonably accommodating it, just to fit all the creativity it contains.

Actually, I had started yesterday a similar post as yours, but then thought 'neeh, never mind' and deleted it.
But I agree with you. I found it noticable as well that you open a topic to ask a question and then starts with that you think the community has been dead and buried.
Okay. If you think that, then why open a topic and ask a question. Why think you will receive an answer then if you're convinced or at least act like you're convinced all members have left the building.
Sounds so unlogical to me.

Simsica, nice to see you back. I remember you because of your avatar.

Besides, I'm happy there still are collegue simmers around. Who else can I turn to when I need to talk about my sims.

Oh, gosh, iCad, Jo, I'm laughing so hard I'm crying. Shame on you! Now I have to explain to the kids . . . nosy little creatures that they are.

Another aspect I think is appearing more now is second generation simmers. I've got kids playing sims, and the oldest is nearly old enough to be allowed to join here. I think. Scary, huh? (He's like me, only more sarcastic.) I know iCad's mentioned a kid who sims, and Jo has . . . and theirs are older than mine. (I'm kinda jealous that iCad is done, DONE! with college admissions and I'm trying to figure out when and how to start. Okay, more than kind of jealous. When is the big problem, you know?)

Anyway, I think there are a whole bunch of youngsters who are just reaching the ages when they might get involved with the community who grew up with parents playing Sims 2, playing with parents, asking their parents to get them sims custom content (which reminds me, I need to get the bunkbeds moved over to Third Son's user), and so on. As long as Microsoft puts out computers that can play older games (7's compatibility mode was a genius business move) I expect that, even with the tons of new games produced, there will be kids growing up and into their parents' games and gaming communities.

Well, I tried to create a second generation of sims players. I had two kids lined up for it.
I failed. They both have played so it was going into the right direction, but then it all went sour.
The oldest started to prefer fight games and my daughter is more of a phone game player at times.
I did what I could, but there is only so much you can do, you know.

My niece is 5 years old and she plays sims ... the one on android. She took over my sisters game on her ipad. Me, I still have my old compaq with Vista and all the disks :D

Mirjam, you aren't enough of a family sim! (I have six. Clearly, I am a family sim.) Each to their own, after all, and once my kids have enough disposable income they probably will change their minds about what to play, but for now, the games we pay for win. "$70! They want $70 for a game! Mom? Oh, okay, I'll play what we've already got."

That must be it then. I didn't breed enough kids ánd I have a multi aspiration. Maybe pleasure and family (as a second) so the scale went more to the pleasure side.
And I thought I did good by giving my son the games he wanted to play. I should have put my foot down on that.
'Want to play a game? Here you go. Sims 2. There is no better game out there. No. There really isn't.'
Okay, then I now have put my hopes onto your kids, Sunbee. With six 'in tha house' you can't go wrong in creating new sims 2 lovers, lol.
Always have admired people who have so many kids. You probably could have swept me off the floor and hauling me off to the loony bin if I had gotten more than two.
I had a son with a psychiatric disorder and he counted for at least two and when he got his sister wound up, well then I had like four.

*explodes in giggles at shiny new title* Great, this just confirms that I am actually a llama. And now everyone in the recording studio is looking at me funny. Apparently, my new title is NSFW. (And I'm betting it was Nysha, @Alpal425. She's Wile E. )

But yes! Second-generation TS2 freaks is what we need to cultivate, definitely. That's one of the benefits of an older community, I think: We're actively procreating. (THE HORROR! ) Some of us even have *thunder crash* grandkids! (I've got 4, myself.) Although in my particular case, it was my daughter who got me into the game, not the other way around. So the pressure is on Family Sims like Sunbee. Brainwash 'em! Brainwash all the sprogs! It's your parental duty!

(Seriously, Sunbee, I don't even know how you do it. How do you even have TIME to play Sims, especially since you homeschool...unless you're sort of lazy like me and have gone more the Unschooling route? I sure didn't have time for much fun when my kids were younger, and I only raised two. But then, folks with big families usually become masters of time management, and I'm just...not. Way too much of a Pleasure Sim. And as for college? Well, I lucked out in that my son was completely uninterested in college and was all "GO ARMY!" and my daughter was so self-motivated and obsessive determined that she did most of the work all by herself. And I didn't raise my eldest, only kind of re-inherited him as a mostly-adult, once his adoptive parents had done all the work of raising and educating him. See? Laaaaaaaaazy!)

Anyway, I do actually think it'll be Microsoft that eventually kills the game, with "improved" versions of Windows that can't run the game. There were enough problems with Win 8 in terms of running TS2. I can't imagine what terrors future Windows versions will rain upon us. I'mma hold on to my Vista machine as long as I can, but you just can't fight entropy, you know? Eventually, it'll break in a way that won't be practical to fix and die. And then...Well, that will be a very sad day in Molten Undead Llama Land. Although Win 7 works pretty well with the game, so maybe I'll be able to snag a machine with that on it when my current one dies....Or maybe I should start buying and hording install discs for Vista and Win 7. Hmmmm, now there's an idea....

I was figuring it was Nysha . She's pretty hilarious and a bit sneaky. Unless it was HugeLunatic? :O

Don't worry @iCad ! They brought back Windows 7 do to complaints or whatever. You can still buy Windows 7 online (not sure about stores though)! We can hang on to the Sims 2 cord for a bit longer. We're in this together, Simmers hand-in-hand! And once there is only one working computer in the entire world that can run Sims 2, we'll all share it, every single Sims 2 player will share the computer. 1 second of play time each rotation. That sounds pretty fair.

Edit: THEY REMOVED IT FROM THE SITE?! Maybe the Windows 7 was a limited time only type of thing?

Slander!

Thank you

I had a long pause this time around, and then a long stint with TS3, only to come back to what is my One True Hobby. It really is like coming home, getting back into this game. But not just any home - the one you love to return to and wonder why you ever left.

Well, it's not reaaaaaally off-topic. In fact, I just found a nice default replacement skin for zombies so you see... completely on-topic, even.

Actually, Nysha, since it's in print, it's libel. I knew it was you. Or Lunie. But I was leaning more towards you.

And yes, welcome back Simsica. It's good to see your avatar again. Really, we need to go out and find all those lost sheep who've wandered away from the TS2 herd, and bring 'em all back, kicking and screaming if necessary. Between procreating and brainwashing offspring, actively re-recruiting TS2 players, and hording install discs for older versions of Windows, we'll keep the game alive.

@Alpal425
I don't know...I'm not known for sharing or playing well with others. I think we just need to make sure we keep alive older Windows versions. You can still buy copies of XP on eBay and such. They're expensive, but...It'll be worth it! Off to shop!

I have to admit to only breeding two, for the shame, but I did start late! Very late! Only my daughter who really does like sims has gone over to sims 3. The horror! It has horses! And my son? He's only into Star Wars! *Hides under rock at her very bad attempt at making sims 2 players*

Never mind @Sunbee just explain that you are talking to an Undead Molten Llama and a crazy Australian cat lady and they will understand!

Horses? But TS2 has horses! OK, so they're not the same...but they also don't run wild through suburbia. Seriously, the first time I saw that, I was like "What the...?" I mean, I live in Cowboy Central and we don't even have wild horses roaming around.

Anyway, I can't say that I was successful at breeding Sims players, either. I didn't raise my eldest, since he was adopted at birth. And, as I said, my daughter converted me, not the other way around. And my son...Well, when my daughter got into it, he was at the stage where he absolutely couldn't be interested in anything that she liked. It was law for him. So, Simming was way, WAY beneath him, and he was never much into video games, either. He was too busy with social things and sports and climbing mountains and skiing and hunting and stuff. How I bred two entirely opposite children, I will never know. I got an uber-jock and an uber-nerd.

I know it's not allowed to say it, but this is for the future existence of the Sims 2 (important enough to risk it) when we're going to be saddled up with a windows version that refuses to get our game up and running, but psssst and that one definitely is compatible with Sims 2.

Simsica, it's always nice to see people returning after an absence and that someone notices that and welcomes you.
Like I had a couple of times after a six month absence and got my welcomes both times.

'I'm too young to be a grandmother!' *did she say threatingly to her adult kids* (1993 and 1994)
But I should keep my mouth shut. When I had their age I already both had them. I was a teenage mom. Got my first when I was 19.

There is a vibrant community for all 4 Sims games.. Even Sims 1 has a large and loyal community that you can find on sites like CTO Sims. A lot of us are on tumblr, LJ, dreamwidth, blogspot, and wordpress because we don't always feel like uploading content at MTS, or GOS.. BPS lost a lot of their funding and had to close their dl section but the community is still there and their creators will still be around on other sites (check out their Sims site links section under Sims discussion). Yes a lot of popular creators like Adele and Buggybooz moved on but some have come back with TS4 (Bienchen is creating again for both TS2, and TS4) and new people like PrincessBliss are coming up with some pretty cool things for TS2. Some of us like me enjoy all 4 games for different things (e.g. Sims 1 Quirky and Fun, Sims 2 tons of CC, great gameplay, Sims 3 CAST, Sims 4 short loading times smoother gameplay) ..You just need to look for us a bit harder than you did before.