I reali,e and respect the fact that there are players who want nothing to happen other than what they made happen, like playing with puppets or dolls, but integral to gameplay for many of us, is the element of surprise, and the chance to discover what might happen in the lives and relationships of sims, other than just what we make them do or expect to happen.
I was convinced neighborhood stories was going to be terrible because I like story progression in sims 3, but I'm the idea of having my sim asked to decide major life decisions by sims who are mere acquaintances seemed stilted.
It's not as bad as I feared, though it's still a weak way to try to emulate story progression. Better than nothing, though: was pleased to see a new baby in the fyres household, haven't checked yet to see who the parents are, but it brings the neighborhood more to life than having my played household grow and change while everyone else is in suspended animation aging but not changing.
