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ivyetteSo my sims game has highlighted another social issue for me. See, the game relies on thousands of files on your harddrive to run properly. Some of these are character files for each sim. Smart gamers try to keep the numbers of these files low so the game will load faster. This can include deleting useless townie characters and npcs. So for me the easiest way to keep the number down, because I'm not that well-versed in sims editing programs, is to keep track of the number of characters *I* created. So I tried to create a family tree, so I could see all the sims of different ages and how they were related so when it was time for teens to get boyfriends or girlfriends, instead of making someone new I could find someone not related and get them together.
The quest for a program or website has proved more difficult than I thought. See, loads exist. Lots of free programs and at least one free website. They're all very traditional. Each family begins with a mother and a father. They automatically assume the gender. There is no place for step-parents, as second-marriages are not displayed.
I guess this is okay for historial family trees, where you could assume a family would have a male head and a female head. But what about modern families? With different configurations? With gay parents or super-involved step-parents?
I play my game with a lot of same-sex couples, and I have one house that has three people living together, all flagged as married to each other (I like cheats, mmk). My same-sex couples often have biological babies (again, yay cheats! The game's original code is easy to manipulate). Family tree makers just CANNOT comprehend a family with two male parents, or three parents, or whatever. You know, despite how many families exist nowadays like this.
It's frustrating to me and the family I'm charting (my entire gigantic neighborhood, actually, but all the families are intertwined) doesn't actually even exist. Imagine if my real family was like this how upset I would be.
I'm going to have to do it by hand, I guess. Sigh. (And that's not even mentioning how married same-sex couples are not married, but rather classified as having had a "joined union". Argh. There's a hack that will change this, but come on.)
-1:20 AM
The quest for a program or website has proved more difficult than I thought. See, loads exist. Lots of free programs and at least one free website. They're all very traditional. Each family begins with a mother and a father. They automatically assume the gender. There is no place for step-parents, as second-marriages are not displayed.
I guess this is okay for historial family trees, where you could assume a family would have a male head and a female head. But what about modern families? With different configurations? With gay parents or super-involved step-parents?
I play my game with a lot of same-sex couples, and I have one house that has three people living together, all flagged as married to each other (I like cheats, mmk). My same-sex couples often have biological babies (again, yay cheats! The game's original code is easy to manipulate). Family tree makers just CANNOT comprehend a family with two male parents, or three parents, or whatever. You know, despite how many families exist nowadays like this.
It's frustrating to me and the family I'm charting (my entire gigantic neighborhood, actually, but all the families are intertwined) doesn't actually even exist. Imagine if my real family was like this how upset I would be.
I'm going to have to do it by hand, I guess. Sigh. (And that's not even mentioning how married same-sex couples are not married, but rather classified as having had a "joined union". Argh. There's a hack that will change this, but come on.)
-1:20 AM
