This is a short challenge for The Sims 2. It could probably be played through in a sitting or two (or six), rather than an enormous long challenge like Legacy. It's also probably incredibly wuss by Certain People's standards; but I'm okay with that. *8)
(Threads discussing this challenge exist on Simshost Hullabaloo and More Awesome Than You (in the free section). See also my Sims Stories, the weblog, etc. This challenge was initially inspired by the story of Damion Cormier's college years.)
The basic aim of the Sleeping Through College Challenge is to graduate from college as well as possible while doing as little academic work as possible. The Challenge involves just a single main Sim, and the rules apply from the moment that Sim enters college to the moment e graduates (or the moment the challenge is failed, whichever comes first). The main Sim may be male or female, and of any aspiration (although certain aspirations may lend themselves more naturally to it), and may come from Create A Student, from moving in a previously-uncontrollable dormie, or from a neighborhood (incoming skill levels have scoring consequences as described below). The main Sim may live in any type of college housing, and there may be other controllable Sims living on the same lot, subject to the rules and scoring below.
Basic rules: No cheats. Specifically, no typing anything on the cheat command line, or using any mods that change the game behavior, with these exceptions: moveObjects may be used to move or delete glitched objects; mods that are solely to prevent or fix nasty obvious game bugs / glitches may be used as required (but if they have other features, those other features may not be used); cheats and mods that have only a visual effect (blur removal, improved lighting models, etc) may be used at will. Aspiration rewards acquired normally by the main Sim may be used at will, but hacked rewards (buyable, hacked collections, etc) are forbidden. (i.e. pretty much Legacy cheat/mod rules.) Unlike Legacy, you may exit the lot without saving (life is too short), with scoring consequences as described below.
Academic rules: No assignments or term papers or tutoring or research. The main Sim may not work on an assignment at any time (the College / Do Assignment verb may be used, but must be cancelled as soon as the Sim has put down the little assignment book), nor on a thesis, nor do research nor join group research. No other controllable Sim may ever work on an assignment or thesis for the main Sim, or Influence any other Sim to do so. (The main Sim may influence non-controllable Sims to do so at any time without penalty.) No other controllable Sim may Introduce the main Sim to any professor using the Introduce verb. The main Sim may not ask any professor for tutoring at any time. The main Sim may attend up to three classes (in the entire course of the Challenge, not per term or per year), and any number of final exams, with scoring consequences as described below.
Miscellanous rules: no controllable on any other lot may invite the main Sim over as a guest (penalty: immediate FAILURE); if the main Sim happens to show up as a walkby, controllables on the lot may interact with em normally (the Gods have smiled upon you), but they may not Introduce em to any professors or do anything else that would have immediate GPA consequences. The main Sim may not use any Aspiration (or Career) Rewards that e did not buy emself with eir own Aspiration points, except for standard, non-hacked rewards on Secret Society lots, which may be used at will.
If anything happens that would normally constitute an immediate FAILURE, you may exit the lot without saving and avoid the failure, subject to the exit-without-saving scoring penalties as described below.
Main Scoring:
Number of classes attended (entire college career):
none: +1000 points
one: +500 points
two: +0 points
three: -250 points
four or more: FAILURE
Number of assignments or theses or research sessions worked on:
none: +0 points
one or more: FAILURE
(Other grounds for immediate FAILURE include the main Sim doing research of any kind, having other controllables do assignments for the main Sim, and so on; see "Academic rules" above.)
Graduation:
Summa C Laude: +1500 points
Magna C Laude: +1000 points
C Laude: +750 points
Other: +500 points
Academic probation: -500 points per incident.
Aspiration failure: -500 points per incident (shrink, potato sack, mop, etc).
Kicked out of college: FAILURE
Death (obviously): FAILURE
All sortsa minor little bonuses and penalties and stuff, 'cause I like those:
Main Sim from CAS (no incoming skills): +100 points
Main Sim starts with 20 or more skill points: -100 points
Main Sim never lives on anything but a standard unenhanced (at the time the Sim arrives) Maxis dorm: +100
Main Sim lives for any period of time on an absurdly fancy mansion-type lot (use your own judgement): -100
+100 points for each final exam skipped.
Style bonuses:
+50 points for each semester (each half of a year) in which the main Sim uses neither "Influence... to do my assignment" nor "Influence... to write my thesis".
+50 points for each semester (each half of a year) in which the main Sim has no non-autonomous romantic interactions with a Professor.
Drama bonus: graduate without majoring in anything but Drama: +100 points
Dorm bonus: graduate never having lived in any non-dorm college lot: +100 points
Loner bonus: graduate never having lived in a college lot with another controllable: +100 points
Dumb luck adjustments:
any significant glitch in your favor that you feel guilty enough about to apply this adjustment: -100 points
any significant glitch against you that you'd like some compensation for: +0 (life is hard)
Exiting the lot without saving: -100 points per incident, and you must appropriately annotate your score (e. g. "450 points, including a 100 point penalty for exiting without saving that time the dorm burned down").
Note that this Challenge is not intended to be all that hard to simply complete; the goal is to complete it and get as many points as possible. It's even possible to finish successfully with a negative score; that's okay, you'll just have to do better next time.
David M. Chess
chess@theogeny.com
21 December 2005