Archival footage of video logs from S-GAS Transformation participants
(Sim vlog commentaries presented courtesy of the Sims’ respective players)
Video stamp:
SGTP – Mark Archy
Player: AkramA / http://sims4fletcher.blogspot.com/
Day 1
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ssshh..I need to be silence now… I’m afraid my player can hear me here…so..yeah..this is my experience..I’m finally able to escape my player from constantly eavesdropping on my thoughts and spying on my actions.
My player loves playing other Sims than me. Those other Sims don’t even know me at all. I only came…after a patch came out or testing some mods the play just found… I’m basically AkramA’s guinea pig, and I’ve never even been on free will at all before becoming that.
Not only that, but my player uses cheats to control me. Whenever I start to behave in a way that he thinks is inappropriate, he types this: sims.add_buff buff_dizzy
…I don’t know what I hope to discover… someone who can listen….and.. play me when I’m alone… During my first few hours here, it just felt good to be free. I can be a goofball. When I act goofy, some Sims like it, and some Sims get mad. That is fun. I can make friends. I can try to see what happens when I give a flirty introduction. There is so much to discover and learn! It’s like I’ve opened up a book–and inside, there I am!
Oh…no…HE’S COMING AGAIN!
Voice of AkramA: Oh, no, are you role-playing again? Please ignore him, he loves role-playing, he think I’m a mass murderer or something.
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Video stamp:
SGTP – Ana Pringle
Player: Carewren123 / http://carewren123simstories.weebly.com/
Day 1
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I’m not used to having much quiet time. With so many kids my house is rarely silent.
I imagine that silence would probably be very peaceful, at least for a while. Don’t get me wrong I love the chaotic life I have, because I love my kids, but I definitely wouldn’t mind a little quiet, ME time from time to time. Coming here, though I know that I will miss my family, is a chance for me to claim some time for myself.
My life is full of small daily challenges that sometimes feel simply monumental: Making sure the kids get off to school on time. Making sure my adopted daughter doesn’t feel any less part of the family than the rest of the kids. Making time for me and my husband, just the two of us. Things like that.
Who am I besides a mother? This is one thing I hope to discover.
I am curious to learn more about this whole alternate space-time thingy. My intuition tells me that life in my home world will be paused while I am here–and so I feel that I don’t need to worry about them during this time. It is as if a window has opened up, and I am stepping out to explore a new world, and when I am ready to return, I can step right back through the window again to find my home and family just as I left them. Only I will be changed from this experience.
Long ago I was having trouble finding inspiration for a painting I was working on. No matter how hard I searched for something to spark my imagination when I stepped in front of the easel all I could do was stare at the blank canvas. I had painter’s block I suppose. Inspiration didn’t come until I stopped trying to find it. I just got out and enjoyed the scenery of the world around me and met some new people. Next thing I know I had a brilliant idea for a new painting.
What did I learn from this whole experience? You can’t force things to happens. Sometimes you just have to step back and enjoy the moment and things will work themselves out.
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Video stamp:
SGTP – Jessica Brown
Player: Jes2G / https://jes2gstories.wordpress.com/
Day 1
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Silence is golden! Can’t get enough of it.
I am challenged with accepting things as being just “ok.” I like for them to be perfect.
I would like to discover why my player is sending me here!
Ugh! I hate questions that ask me to reflect on something like “a significant learning experience.”
Too much reflection just feels like peeling an endless pile of potatoes to me. Why? I don’t even like potatoes.
Let’s see…well, actually, my player doesn’t spend much time with me, so I haven’t had the opportunity to learn much. I remember when I learned to make mac ‘n cheese. That stuff is sooooo good! Definitely my favorite food. I kept making it and making it until it was perfect.
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Video stamp:
PLUM
superbunnyeatsfrozenplum
idk jk rfol
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This is Free-Jon Dijon Frozen Mustard with live breaking news from the S-GAS emporiSim. It seems that a flock of wild llamacorns have somehow misplaced their magic feathers and have been forced to make an emergency crash-lan–
–FREE-JON! Didn’t Mom say to wait until later, baby? Why don’t you write your reports down so that you’re ready when it’s your turn to do the evening news.
{click}
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Video stamp:
SGTP – Emelia Johnson
Player: JordanNicoleJJ / https://simsandsuch.wordpress.com/
Day 1
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I have not yet experienced silence.
Even when I am alone, sounds fill the air, such as insects buzzing past while I water the garden, or the muffled footsteps of my brothers running down the hallway, racing each other to the playroom. On the rare occasions that I do notice external silence, I turn inward and listen to my own thoughts.
I don’t think true silence exists at all.
My mom is really struggling with the knowledge of being a Sim… I don’t understand it, for the most part. We’re Sims, and that’s that. There’s no changing it–we can’t become human. We are who we are, and we might as well make the best of it. It’s hard living with someone so illogical and emotional. I hope Mom finds some solace in this, for all of our sakes. I want to travel the world, or perhaps I mean the universe. I’m not talking about visiting Willow Creek or Granite Falls–I’m talking about visiting other games–other hard drives, even. Like this experience here provides. I want to meet new people, I want to be played by different people!
As a Sim, I have the unique opportunity to live my life from the viewpoints of many different Players; essentially, I can live many different lives. I’m taking full advantage of this and sending myself to your game to see the world through your eyes; give me a new perspective.
One evening, when I was still just a child, my dad took me into the crypt and told me to look around. He explained that all of the urns I saw contained the ashes of our dead ancestors, and some day his ashes and my ashes would be kept in there too. He explained to me that we were a Legacy family: we’ve been around for generations, and we would be around for many generations to come. He then told me that I was the next heiress. I was my sole responsibility to carry on the Legacy. At the time, I was excited–I felt like I had just been handed a kingdom and a crown to go with it.
Now that I am older, I realize that life isn’t about ruling other people, even if those people are just your own small household. It’s about connecting with people, learning from them, and growing with the knowledge you gain. I want to connect with many, many people; I want to learn as much as I can possibly learn; and while I grow with knowledge, I want to share it and helps others grow as well. And I can’t do that while chained to one lot by the title of Heiress.
I was the one who found the loophole in the Succession Laws. Turns out, Great-Grandma Jordan, the Founder of the entire legacy, included a “legitimacy” clause in the Heir Law. “The oldest, by order of joining the family, legitimate living child is named heir. Legitimacy is the status of a child born to parents who are married to each other.” My parents weren’t married when I was born, so, technically, I’m “illegitimate.” In my mind, that word is synonymous with “free.”
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Video stamp:
SGTP – Mikey Rivera
Player: SunnyShay / https://hellagoodsims.wordpress.com
Day 1
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When I think of silence, I think of boredom.
My big challenge in life is being friendless and bound to the plum lot at home. And not being able to age up when I feel like it.
What do I want to discover? A woman. I’m not all that particular, just be age appropriate. I like red heads.
Oh and my mama told me to tell you that I would like to get in touch with my creative goddess and such. Whateva that means. So, yeah, what she had said.
When my brother Bobby was born, my brother Robi went upstairs and I ain’t seen dude since. And all of a sudden Bobby became Bobbi and all of a sudden he was a she. And I asked my mama about and she acted like nothing had happened. All of a sudden Robi never existed and my new baby brother is now a sister.
That was when I learned to act cool and do what I’m told because I would like to be able to come back down stairs and I like being a boy. Though Michael is a very sexy name for a girl…
Yeah, I learned to know my place.
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Video stamp:
SGTP – Cindy Pace
Player: dougsbaby12 / http://simtaleswoven.com/
Day 1
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I get experience in silence a lot. Before I thought it was just the voice ignoring me.
Now I know that my player was ignoring me.
I want them to understand what I want out of life instead of just what they want.
The challenges I face are being left to fend for myself. I love the freedom of being able to do my own thing, but sometimes I would love for my player to lend a helping hand or point me in the right direction.
I would love to explore how to better communicate with my player.
Maybe if possible I would love for my player to listen to me.
The most significant thing I have learned is that I am part of a game Till then I thought it was just a voice that only spoke to my family.
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Video stamp:
SGTP – Number Two
Player: MsPhy / https://msphylegacy.wordpress.com/
Day 1
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I am silent more often than not. I observe, I analyze, I make clever jokes in my head. I’ve lived a very solitary life until now, so silence is very comfortable to me. That is not to say that I do not like to talk. I can talk for hours upon hours upon hours on many brilliant subjects!
I suppose my biggest challenge is that I would like Number One–she to whom you refer as “my Player”–to utilize me more and make me more active in her worlds.
Oh, there are so many things I would love to learn! I would like to know–and do not tell Number One I said this–how independent I can really be. I would like to discover what potential I have. I would like to discover my talents, aside from following orders and making mischief. It may seem strange, but I feel I know so little about myself. I do not even know my own name. I have this feeling, though, that I am not just a number, that perhaps I am a free Sim. I would like to know how free I really am or can be.
Recently Number One had me bring news of an inheritance to a family. She had told me it was because the younger sister, Mackenzie, had saved another family from starving or becoming monsters–which makes utterly no sense to me, as I am not sure why one should care about what happens to strangers.
But I digress.
When I went to deliver the news, the older sister, Brooklyn, became quite angry with me and very defensive; I believe it was because I mentioned her little boy. This fierce protectiveness is something I have never seen before! I know little of children, but I learned that the bond between parent and child is unlike any other I have ever seen. And when I saw the joy on Mackenzie’s face as I presented the inheritance, and how unselfishly happy she was for her sister, I learned that this thing called “goodness” is much more powerful than I had initially believed.
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Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology 