Play style?

Somewhere in the middle. I do a lot of micromanaging but not constantly

I’m afraid I micromanage my sims. Often I will put my game on hold to que up a list for each sim. I do leave free will on though, so occasionally I do get to see some cute and funny things that happen when I haven’t cued up something because I was paying more attention to another sim in the household.

I don't like to micromanage or "force stories". I tend to use autonomy/whims as a guide (I have mods improving both) and also roll with unexpected things that happen in the game. I often actually just observe what my sims do. And sure, sometimes they can be huge idiots but I find them amusing/endearing.

Other times I do have a pretty clear idea of how I’m going to roleplay a sim but it might change, heavily influenced by whatever shenanigans happen in the game. For example, I was going to play my first TS4 couple as very faithful but then BOTH of them accidentally started a romantic interest relationship because I didn't realize certain interactions were romantic. I just decided to roll with it and RP them as a couple who have a mutual open-ish relationship, i.e. flirting around is allowed but nothing more serious. I’m now glad this happened because it opened the door for some later hilarity like the husband having a love-hate thing with the Grim Reaper.

Not to say I don't micromanage at all. I'll intervene if I don't feel good about what's going on e.g. a sim behaving too out of character. Because while I am pretty open for developments and my sims might go into different directions from what was originally planned (like in the earlier example), there's still a certain basis I'll hold onto. Plus I'll happily do stuff like intentionally sabotaging the character values lol.

If I had to describe my playstyle, it would be this gif:
https://c.tenor.com/xPsTJwWJTC4AAAAC/puppetmaster-freshprinceofbelair.gif

In all seriousness, I use MCCC's control and tuning modules a lot.

When my grown daughter first introduced me to this game, she told me the pause button was my friend. I agree. But she also advised me to not use autonomy on. Face/palm As I grew better at playing (since Sims2 really was my first true introduction to electronic games) I learned that I missed out on so much due to having autonomy shut off. I now use it fully ON. I like playing large households. This way I can focus on the "Main" character, and only pause and queue up what is necessary for the rest of the household. I'm having much more fun playing this way. :)

I play with autonomy on. I do direct general outcomes, but I want my sims to make choices and do things that they want. I will intervene if their choices are out of character for my vision of their personalities, dangerous, or not consistent with my overall story. I’ve found that once a sim has some guided experience, picks up some hidden traits, and gains some extra reward traits to round out their personality, they will act fairly consistently. For example, when Morgyn watches a movie, he consistently loves the lost puppy one, and dislikes the zombie one. If we ever get zombies in the game, it’s going to be epic. When he goes to GeekCon, he will play some games or turn the big TV on to watch a movie, but if Cosplayers get too chummy, he’s out of there and I’ll find him across the street at the karaoke bar. Those types of things make them seem much more alive, to me.

"phantasmkiss;c-18186445" wrote:
When I get bored of forcing my current Sims to be happy and successful, I intend to make a save called "Chaos," in which every option including story progression is on, and I only get to control one Sim. MWAHAHAHAHA-gasp-HAHAHA!!!

That sounds GREAT! I can't imagine what it'd be like to play with Wants/Fears AND Lifestyles on at the same time (I turned Lifestyles off for my main save ages ago) - must be pure CHAOS!! Mwahaaa! :D

I used to be a total control freak. Now there days where I’m really hands on if I’m looking for something in particular for screenshots. Some actions they’ll never do autonomously, that’s where I step in. Mostly I watch, take screenshots, and see how they go about bringing my story to life. I love it when they surprise me, but there are times I don’t like the surprise or the direction they’re taking. That’s the other time when I’ll step in. I might roll things back or nudge them back on track.

Both, really. I will micromanage if I'm trying to reach a certain goal without cheats. But mostly I let them go.

Other: As well because it depends on what family I am planning how much managing I do. So I guess I am also halfway in between the two options.