I'm a 30 year old Stay-at-home Wife who has been Simming since before the first expansion of Sims 1. At the time it was common to have box art that was MUCH better that the actual fact of the game. I remember seeing the Sims 1 at Walmart and thinking that the game didn't ACTUALLY look like that. I was shocked when my husband told me that it was the actual Sims. It all seems so laughable now because of how blocky the Sims were, but the only game series that I had played through on my own before that was King's Quest or maybe some Nintendo games...

I have been a gamer most of my life in one form or another but towards the end of Sims 1 I finally caught the modding bug after one of the sites I visited (now long forgotten) said that she used Milkshape and Photoshop Elements (because it had layers! *laughs*) I knew that I would like doing 'computer artwork' because I would sit for hours on the weekends, in my free time when I was about 12, shifting pixels in the paint program that we had on my mom's first computer (a black and white Mac Classic.) If you take a piece of computer paper and fold it in half width wise, the screen is smaller than that. I was really frustrated though with getting started so late into the modding for Sims 1 because there was a lot that I felt I was hugely behind everyone who had been doing it for years.

When I found out about the release of Sims 2, I was nearly bouncing off the walls for months. I was like a kid before Christmas, reading everything I could find about it in gaming mags. The only down side was we didn't have access to the net at that point in time and by the time we did, I felt completely lost all over again. Photo skinning was becoming a bigger deal, alpha layers we being used all over the place, and new clothes and hair that was unimaginable in Sims 1 could be found everywhere. I slowly came to realize that I wasn't necessarily behind everyone, I'm just bad a clothes! Once I started down the path of meshing, I've never looked back. I love it!

In all honesty, I was not looking for Sims 3 to come out. I liked the seamless neighborhood idea, but was revolted by the EA pic of the plaid car... Give me a break. I thought that they had ruined the objects and how they were made. The whole hood aging at once I was not fond of either because I like to micromanage all my Sims. So I actually waited two months after the release before having my husband get it for me as a 10th wedding anniversary present. *Grins* Addicted? Only if I admit it...

Now that I'm having a chance to look at the game I'm blown away by the possibilities. I made a LOT more meshes for Sims 2 than I ever got around to publishing, either because feeling that they wouldn't be good enough to get through other moderation ques, or having no idea what textures and whatnot would attract interest to my objects. Now with Sims 3 (once I learn how the textures work now) I am completely thrilled of how this has been reworked. I have been amazed in my own game of how I can truly make custom clothes for my Sims for however I'm feeling at the moment.

Why TSR?

#1) Beginners have a chance. From what I have read of the upload policy as well as some of the Sims 3 downloads available that I have seen, everyone is not forced into a mold of what we should like for our game. The list of 'guidelines' on Mod is enormous! I do not think that word means what they think it means. Guidelines are general boundaries, not high walls blocking in a vary narrow path. Mod has ceaced being friendly to the new players, or just the inexperianced modders. I like a mix of realistic and cartoony styles of Sim stuff, but Mod is getting so heavily into the 'Realism is better, non-realistic is crap!!' I just don't play that way. I have seen some stuff that has been rejected (by a new modder) that I would have LOVED for my game, but it was rejected because it wasn't realistic enough.

#2) TSR Workshop. I want to spend my time meshing and making things for our Simmies to love, so if something can be done easier and faster, I'm there! I appreciate what WesH and everyone else is doing on the objects front, but I'm getting SO tired of it being such a mess to get an object made.

#3) The crayons in my box have multiple colors. I have been on a lot of the major sites for quite some time and just recently realizing that they have their own color (in a metaphorical sense). I also realized that I have a different color that really is not the same as any of them, but TSR from what I can see at the moment is at least similar.

#4) Divide & Conquer. I came to TSR to check out the Workshop. Even though I had a month subscription back in 2004 I have not come here except a very few times since. This time I decided to stop and look around and was very surprised at what I found. Not only do they have a profile page for me, I can post my screenshots and a ton of other things. On Mod they have gone out of their way (it seems) to keep the social part of human nature seperated from the stuff for a game. That seems very silly to me and often made me feel very alone on a huge site. Everything has to be kept in a very strict box there, and if you veer from that, someone will grouch at you (it seems to me anyway).

#5) Snobbery & Camaraderie. The longer I spend my time on Mod, the less I feel welcome. All I want to do is to make stuff for the Sims games and share it with like minded players. What did I see when I was there today? Another modification to their rules for uploads. Didn't they think the list was long enough already? Being dyslexic, I can't read through the whole exsisting list and still comprehending it once I'm finished. This makes me feel like I could NEVER do anything that would be "Mod worthy" as I refer to it when I'm talking to my husband. Despite the fact that I know I can mesh exceedingly well, my problem usually is having to reduce the faces and vertices because to get things to look like I want them too, the counts are rather high. You can do either very high quality, or you can do something that will work for 'everyone' despite the fact that there are always people running the game on computers or laptops that are not up to the task. I'm also someone who could be called a texture snob, because I like higher quality textures that look great in the game, not pixelated. Even just the short time I've been on TSR, I feel completely welcome, and it has blown me away! I feel like I might have a chance again to do stuff for TS3 and be able to actually share it. So much stuff I kept to myself before because I was daunted (and honestly horrified) by the expectations of Mod. I feel like on TSR I have the chance of being part of a community, not just a gear in a download site. For being a free site, I'm shocked to realize how snobby they have become even in the last few years.

#6) The FUN of gaming. TSR has actually made me pumped about modding again, feeling like I am someone important. I can have a whole community around me and actually feel very welcome to contribute. For goodness sake, I uploaded four pictures and actually got comments on them! I posted a pic in a thread on the Mod social site and was grouched at because I accidentally made it the wrong size. I want my game to be fun, if it isn't what's the point?

Am I still scared about being 'sub par' on TSR as well? Sure, but that's only been because of the experiances elsewhere. I have two houses uploaded on Mod are not the greatest of things. Am I really that bad at building? It's not one of my strong points I admit, but both of the ones that are there are from requests that had very specific guidelines that the person wanted for the lot. I am rather proud of my 'family home for eight' because the person wanted a single floor house for her family of eight. It was rejected the first time I tried to upload it because the back corner of the lot was left undecorated. I had done that on purpose. I know I don't really download lots because they are too heavily decorated and I would often have to rip out half of the landscaping before I would be happy with it. I have been building lots again in Sims 3 and seeing how I can expand my building abilities and hopfully at some point upload them to TSR. I have made lots for myself in Sims 2 that were leagues beyond what I uploaded to Mod.

I have been modding for years but still feel like a noob. I'm hoping that TSR will give me the room to grow and learn that I need to build up my confidance to be able to do the stuff I hope to eventually create.

Thank you TSR for making me feel welcome as a modder again. I'll try my best. :D