Should I include a saved game file with my next map?

Very few people like saved games. It's why no one downloads them. If a world is to be populated, players would prefer to have it be populated from the outset than to use someone else's save game because they like the idea of starting fresh. I know it doesn't seem to make sense but with a save game, people feel like they're getting a used copy of your world. And as awkward as it may seem, players may not necessarily have the same plans for your sims as you do. Creators will go through this effort creating all these elaborate scenarios for a specific family that they adore, not realizing that players may not even like those families and delete them as soon as they see them in-game, or have a completely different path they would like to lay out for them.

Why not just populate your world? It's not that hard, honestly, but people seem intimidated by the process. I wrote a tutorial here: http://www.thesimsdepot.com/sims-3/sims-3-help-center/create-a-world-master-class/caw-tips-and-tricks-populating-your-world-and-beyond/. I know it seems like one more step you'd rather not take, but it's better than using a save game, IMO.

@ts1depot
Thanks, but I have enough trouble with the game as it is without installing mods. I also don’t really care that much if people play with all of my households, or even if they delete them. Even if they do play with them, but not the way I intended, I don’t care either. It’s a sandbox after all.

@Damienf519 : You don't have to use the mods while playing the game. You just use them in CAW/EIG when populating, then get rid of them when you're done. And I have used those particular mods (NRAAS) for years without issues.

The point of me talking about players not using your characters the way you played them is that I feel that it's kind of a wasted effort to create something that no one will really care about. For example, I have read people create save games with the logic of wanting to create this extra special world of characters and scenarios, as if they were crafting a really elaborate soap opera. But the thing is that players don't play a world to play your characters and scenarios but their families and their scenarios, and so they won't care about whatever elaborate setup you have put in your save game. This issue is why, once again, no one downloads save games and why it's better to just populate your world. If you are really hung up on this idea of creating scenarios for your characters, then populate your world and write bios in the family description.

I’m not so much hung up on making everything exactly the way I want it, as I am, making sure my game works, and I will still have to play test the map before release and than continue to play test it after release, which means that the mod will have to stay in there at least until after all the play testing is done, in case something is wrong with one of the households, or something else that only the mod can fix.

I also don’t play with my characters much before the release of my maps, except for play testing purposes.