Generic Lots - What are they?

They’re lots that you can make anything of

I guess it’s for if you want to make something different that’s not available, such as a photography lab or a ceinma.

It describes them as "this lot has no requirements" or something, so it's probably just for making a public venue that you don't want any restrictions for building (i.e. you can make a gym with less equipment/no showers or a new type of lot not available (cinema or photography studio, as mentioned above)).

A Generic lot has no item requirements when building. The only thing that agrevates me is that they don't attract other Sims and they aren't available as an scheduled event destination. For instance when I want to throw a bday party it won't be an option in the location category.

"leetamme;c-16845647" wrote:
A Generic lot has no item requirements when building. The only thing that agrevates me is that they don't attract other Sims and they aren't available as an scheduled event destination. For instance when I want to throw a bday party it won't be an option in the location category.

So, no one visits a generic lot if I don't travel with them?

I use it for my cemetery and for a church, and for a wedding venue, I just have to change the lot to bar when I want to have a wedding. So, like @leetamme mentioned it's frustrating that you can't use generic lots when you go to have a wedding.

If you are in a neighborhood with your sim that has a generic lot when if you click on it to travel it will say "visit the isolated venue with.."
You can invite others to travel to it with your sim or call and invite them later.
I use it for home away from home areas, storytelling, picture taking ect.
I like that it's secluded because you can control what sims are there.
My main beef with it is that you can't set up or bring clubs there..

This was always my understanding: A lot type usually has requirements because the game is coded to have Sims behave a certain way there. E.g. a bar requires a bar, Stereo and TV, because Sims are coded to show up there and use those items, get drinks, dance, watch TV, different interactions. A generic lot has no requirements, therefore no coding. It also attracts no other Sims for this reason, they would just be standing around and/or all using the object on the lot that is the most fun and there would be no variety in their behaviour.

i only ever use generic lots for private family cemeteries, otherwise i dont bother. it's frankly ridiculous that you cant host social events at them

For me, generic lots are super useful when making film. Say I want to record a scene in a museum. The Museum lot will attract lots of non controllable sims, mostly they will run in front of "camera", ruining the filming. If I use the tag "Generic" just for that filming session, no sims outside my control will visit the lot, meaning I can control the situation 100%. The Council house in my series "As Sims Go By" is actually tagged as Museum because I want sims to come there when I play my game, but it's mostly set to Generic when I record.

In game play Generic means a quiet lot with none or very few visitors. The San Myshuino Meadows Park is an example. Good if you want to host a wedding or want two sims having a private date without lots of strangers joining in on their chatting :)