I let Joe sleep in. I think being mauled by a bear can be considered as a bad night and so worthy of a late start. Despite the teeth marks in his legs and all the weirdness in the graveyard he is currently at 14,282 lifetime happiness points. It's at this point that I start looking at some potential lifetime rewards (little perks you can spend your Sim's lifetime happiness points on). There is one that I am particularly aiming for; 'Super Green Thumb' which increases Joe's chances of growing perfect plants and therefore leading him a step closer to his lifetime goal. It costs 20,000 points, so there is a little way to go yet.
First thing I make Joe do is sell all the stuff he found down in the catacombs of the mausoleum the previous night, that is even before I make him tend the garden, I know... I'm a maverick. The money goes straight into the finance for furniture fund (catchy name for a fund raiser I think), and we are getting closer to finally replacing that crappy charred cooker with a decent one.
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| Double negatives are never not bad. |
Right, that's the catch up sorted, now to the important stuff. Once all the usual chores are out of the way I take a look at the 'perfect' Death Flower Bush in the graveyard and find it is ready for harvesting. I dispatch Joe to collect the valuable seeds. As he is making his way there I spot something else... Shan is still there. This leads me to two conclusions, either Shan has gone home and come back to finish his book in the peace and quiet of the graveyard, or he has been there all night. This in turn leads me to two possible explanations of Shan's behaviour; either I am making a bigger deal out of this than I need to for narrative and comedic effect or Shan is actually undead. I think, obviously, it is the latter, because clearly I am not funny. There are two other people with him who seem to be in the middle of some sort of argument, so I make Joe steer well clear as he makes his way home again. Eternal life is great and I'm sure Shan is a riot to be around in the small hours of the morning but for the sake of this project Joe is more likely to be successful if he avoids the pitfalls of being a member of the living dead. I'll still make him trample their flowers though, its the only sensible thing to do in this situation, but ill make sure to do it in perfect sunlight. I still have to find out where they live though so I leave that mischief on the back burner for now as I'm too excited about Joe's first perfect plant!
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| That's right my pretty, grow. Grow big and strong... and potent. Mwhahaha |
Joe plants the Death Flower Bush, slightly unsettling name in the light of recent discoveries but a possible explanation for Shan's zombie-ism, as soon as he gets home. I make him plant it away from his vegetable garden as I find the notion of a Death Flower Bush growing next to a primary food source makes me uneasy. It is a proud moment. Joe's first perfect flower. I wish it was an apple tree instead of what I presume is a poisonous plant, but it can't be help, time is against me, I need those perfect plants! I also try and plant a Hamburger bush but suddenly realise that Joe can't because he is unable to cook a Hamburger to then shove in the ground. Bloody broken cooker, curse you!
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| Should I be worried about the Army Officer hanging around in Joe's garden? |
The next two days pass quickly, with Joe spending the time collecting, fishing and tending to his garden. The end of day sixteen sees Joe's happiness at 17,010 and at the end of day seventeen it's 18,704. We are slowly making our way to the money we need to improve Joe's appliances but otherwise nothing of significance happens on these days, apart from one small thing. Just before he goes to bed at the end of day seventeen a special new wish pops up between his dreamy romantic wishes regarding Tamara. He wants to max out his gardening skill. He is already at level 9 in gardening and only has one point to go before his is a master gardener. The reward for completing this wish is 7,500. I am really chuffed at first, then I make a sudden and sobering realisation.
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| Look! Lines and dots and dotted lines... its all so clear. |
As is shown in the graph it is not going to take too long for Joe to reach 27,296 Happiness points and achieve our goal of being a happy and self sufficient Sim and beating the score achieved by my control character Selina (I have just realised that other than a quick glimpse in the park, Joe hasn't met her yet). But over the course of Joe's story my goal has shifted slightly from 'winning' to helping him achieve his lifetime dream. If Joe fulfils the wish it makes it unlikely that he will achieve that dream before the end of my experiment as it will push him to within a breath of 27,296 points. It's a hard decision, the idea of not achieving Joe's lifetime goal makes me a little despondent, but I am so close to fulfilling the purpose of this whole lengthy challenge! I could turn his wish into a promise, therefore securing the reward, or ignore the wish and let it slip by unattained. I still haven't decided what to do even now...
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