ABOUT ME
BACK STORY:
I have been a fan of The Sims since I was introduced to the franchise back in 2000 at a sleep over. My friend had just gotten the game and wanted to show me how cool it was. She let me make a family, and decorate a house and even though she had fallen asleep, I stayed up well into the wee hours of the morning playing with my new pixel people. I was hooked, and I knew just what to put on my Holiday Wish List that year. Luckily, my parents indulged my request and my new found hobby.
Once I learned about mods, a new excitement and interest in the game ensued. These were the days of Dial-Up, so I would wait until after 9 p.m. when it was considered "rude to call" to go online. With no chance of being kicked off the internet at that hour, I would spend late nights downloading new things, trying to turn my game into the landscape for the story that has always been alive in my imagination. Sadly, my ideas and interests didn't seem to have
enough of a target audience for Modders to create for. Disappointed with not being able to find what I was looking for and lacking the knowledge to create anything myself, I gave up on my Sims and the story in my mind. I returned with the Unleashed expansion, but resigned myself to only playing with modern era content, enjoying the animals and gardening aspects that had been added. Occasionally, I would break away all together, stepping into the world of Fantasy RPG to satisfy the need for something more enchanting. While a game of myth and magic was highly entertaining, it secretly fed ideas into the swirling concept that was the story alive in the recesses of my imagination.
ENTER THE SIMS 2:
When commercials for the next generation Sims hit the airways, I remained skeptical, but the new graphics and expanded character creation enticed me. It wasn't long before I was checking system requirements and preparing my computer for the game. With Sims 2 came the Exchange, and like with it's predecessor many late nights were spent downloading extra content to make my game come to life the way I had always envisioned. I was especially enthralled with HappyMoonBelly's creations. Her whimsical fantasy style lent very well to transforming my game, but it wasn't until the release of University with it's few medieval style buy/build objects and the Magick Modders: A Midsimmer Night's Dream that my play style was finally able take shape. A few years later The Guild Masters: The Dark Project added even more to the medieval fantasy world I had been trying to build. Even though custom content was catching up to my preconceived play style, it would still be years before the jumbled notes and scribbled scraps of ideas came together as anything recognizable.
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JUST SAY NO:
After spending at least a couple hundred dollars on The Sims 2 and all it's Expansions and Stuff Packs, there was absolutely nothing about Sims 3 that made me want to give up all my progress just to move back into square one on a new model. The notion of another restart to try to turn my twirling thoughts into something tangible wasn't just unappealing, it was down right insanity. But also knowing the Creative Community could ebb, causing my growing world to come to a halt the way it did when Sims 2 became the favorite over Sims 1, had me worried. Luckily, many Sims 2 fans were highly disappointed with Sims 3 for various reasons and continued to build and create long after EAxis would give up on it.
A SUNNI SANCTUARY:
In the Spring of 2011, I discovered that one of my Favorite Creators I had been following on ModTheSims for a little over a year, had founded her own Medieval Safe Haven. Little did I know there were many more Simmers in the community set on building and playing an Era Specific game than I had realized.
The Plumb Bob Keep has become a home to so many like minded Simmers since the moment its' gates opened and I am glad to call it home. While Creative Depression is my own little spot, it was born at the Keep and among people of encouragement. It will be the place where my story finally becomes words on a page, as well as a repository for brainstorms, and a link to downloads; but most importantly, it will stand as a reminder that in art there is healing.
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