Simming

My name is Rhiamom, and I’m a Sims 2 addict.

Being a Windows using Sims 2 addict in the US is easy. When a new expansion pack or stuff pack is released, you just run out to the store and buy it. If you are a Mac Simmer, it’s harder. You have to wait for Aspyr to port each and every expansion pack and stuff pack. The last I heard, Aspyr and EA were involved in Negotiations over the licensing of the rights to the remaining expansion packs and stuff packs. Will EA bother to license the rest of the Sims 2 series for porting to the Mac, now that The Sims 3 is coming out, as both a PC and (Intel) Mac app?

While I prefer to play the Mac version, I have both. Why? I don’t just play the Sims. I also create custom content for the game. The main tools to do this is are Windows-only applications, SimPE and HomeCrafter. So I play on the Mac side, and create on the PC side. I need to have it all twice. This drives my husband crazy.

I have more issues. Nobody will ship computer games bought online to Thailand. I have been getting my Mac games through the kindness of friends who carry them back here in their luggage when they return from a trip to the US. The solution to my Windows Simming woes is much easier. I acquire the pirate version of the game, in English. I then buy a legitimate Thai language version of the same game. I install the pirate version, using the legitimate serial number. As a bonus, I use the cracks that came with the pirate version to play without the CD in the drive and without Securom. I need to go to Bangkok and hunt down the last three expansion/stuff packs – my local shop doesn’t have the non-pirate versions – and my Windows game will be complete. My Mac game already is, as much as has been released.

The picture is one of the many Sim houses I have created. It’s sort of a white brick Italianate style Victorian. There are people out there who create much prettier and more elaborate houses than I do. While pretty, those houses usually have sacrificed game functionality for esthetics, and you can’t use them in the game. I make houses for the average Simmer to actually use in game.