Sims 3

Opportunities (Let’s Make Not So Much Money)

One of the random things that pops up in The Sims 3 are Opportunities. These can come from work, an acquaintance or based on your reputation/skills. They give various rewards when completed, sometimes including good old-fashioned moola. As Ferris has continued to cook, his skill has improved to the point where he actually successfully prepared waffles that were not burned black. Hooray!

This, in part, led to him getting asked to make a group dinner for some neighbor and deliver it. I couldn’t figure out how to do it. I think I lacked a proper group recipe or ingredients or something. All I know is Ferris never runs out of cereal or waffles but neither is apparently acceptable for a group of party guests at the neighbor’s. Oh well.

Eating and dousing flames

Continuing on the food theme, Ferris’s eventual success with waffles may have made him overconfident, for his next meal ended up with the stove on fire. As you might imagine, this is not a good thing, as expressed by Ferris’s reaction below.

Fortunately, Ferris keeps his cell phone in his boxer shorts and called the fire department immediately. He then ate ice cream on the couch for dinner instead.

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Getting Ferris a job was easy. He searched online and chose a medical career that is described as ‘organ donor’ and talks about working with bedpans. I am kind of glad the description doesn’t go into more detail than that. I think he’s supposed to be a candystriper. I wish I could login to a computer, click Choose Career and get started in a shiny new job. Stupid reality.

Once Ferris had a weekly routine imposed on him, things began getting trickier. For example, he was always sleeping until fully rested, which rarely gave him enough time to prepare anything beyond a bowl of cereal for breakfast. He likes to eat cereal, usually in his underwear. And not just for breakfast, almost anytime he’s hungry.

Several times I had him attempt to make waffles. For some reason he puts them in a pan and tries to bake them in the oven. Each attempt has resulted in something blackened that almost set off the smoke detector.

Charcoal waffles, anyone?

He has had more success with Mac & Cheese and delicious grape pancakes. While Ferris is a mediocre cook, he is an even worse cleaner. The first batch of briquette waffles were left to fester on the counter until the odor was making him nauseous and bringing him down. I then instructed him to clean up and he obediently did. I’m hoping that he’ll eventually get into the habit of doing it on his own. His autonomy slider is all the way to the right, after all.

Wishing

Periodically wishes appear in your, uh, wish bucket, which can hold up to four at a time. They offer lifetime happiness points when fulfilled and enough points lets you buy a perk from a menu like this:

In this case I chose the somewhat sucky Office Hero, which makes everyone at work like Ferris all the more. If Ferris continues to burn more than cook I make get him Discount Diner next — free meals at restaurants forever!

The wishes range from things like Read 3 Books to Visit the Art Gallery or Cook Waffles Without Destroying Them (actually, that last one is not a wish, just a vain hope). Ferris has visited the local graveyard, art gallery and more as part of his wish fulfillment and has taken tentative steps in learning how to better cook and do simple repairs. The latter has seen limited success, as evidenced below.

This resulted in a call to the plumber, though Ferris did mop up the kitchen floor on his own and without setting anything on fire in the process.

Artistically, Ferris is working on a painting (after getting an easel) and a novel, The Loneliest Yeti. I expect great things from these, especially after getting a lamp to put next to the easel so he could actually see what he was painting.

Socially, he has chatted with a few people and they are now listed as acquaintances, including Stiles. I had Ferris call Stiles up and invite him over, but bumbled the whole ‘going to the door and letting the guest in’ part because I thought Ferris would do that on his own. By the time I figured it out, Stiles had left for work. Oh well, he can always hit on him later.

Er, I mean, invite him over for a nice drink. I should probably get Ferris a stereo so he can play soft music, but he’s getting a bit low on funds. Cleaning bedpans doesn’t pay well.

Finally, the shower. I discovered that you don’t need to follow the normal morning shower ritual, just shower when the ol’ hygiene bar gets low and the reports of stinky start coming in. And yes, I applied the nude patch. Not because I have a prurient need to see naked video game guys, more because I wanted to see if Sims were virtual Ken dolls. Turns out they are. I think I was better off not knowing.

I bought The Sims 3 when it came out over a year ago and like most games let it promptly gather dust. It seems I’m more a collector than a player.

That said, I recently re-installed and patched the game and decided to give it another go. I like sandbox games as a rule, so being able to create and manipulate some poor slob’s world has an undeniable appeal to me.

I created a young adult Sim named Ferris Wheele. I’m a sucker for bad names, so I make no apologies here. Ferris was given five traits, ranging from Good Sense of Humor to Artistic. His favorite color is blue. His favorite food is sushi. He loves computers and longs to become a world famous author. He seems very easily excited.

After being given $16,000 in starter funds, I bought Ferris a dumpy little house in Sunset Valley for about 12 grand and moved him in. The tutorial advised that Ferris wanted a couch. As the house was unfurnished, I bought him a couch and had him sit on it. This made him happy. Ferris is a simple man.

He then wanted to go grocery shopping because there was a 20% off special that day at the store. Apparently Ferris is psychic, too. So I went and bought him food fit for a king:

An impoverished king banished from his kingdom, that is. Hey, I needed to save money for the rest of his house’s furniture. Ferris has no job!

After buying the groceries Ferris bumped into Stiles, another young man. Ferris told him amusing stories and made funny faces. Stiles was entertained and I think they may be friends now. Aw.

Once home, I bought a desk, chair and computer so Ferris could begin his writing career. Instead he sat down and began playing a computer game.

With barely enough food for a single meal, a nearly unfurnished house, no job and no prospects, Ferris was very happy. Ferris is a strange man. I fear his bubble is going to burst soon.

Next time: Ferris and his wishes, trying to get a job and having a shower.