Meet the Spencers

Before we dive into the Abandoned Kids Challenge, let’s learn a few things about the Spencer family. When I complete the challenge, I’ll check these stats again to see how the family fared after their (mis)adventures. Currently, none of the sims have any skills.

Emma is a teenager who has taken on the guardianship of her younger siblings, Cole and Kylie, after the loss of their parents in a tragic car accident. Although it’s not obvious from looking at her character values, Emma will do anything to keep her family together. She gets a slight boost in conflict resolution from being naturally outgoing. Emma loves the outdoors, which should make her happier as she fishes, harvests plants and forages for collectibles.

  

When the challenge begins, Emma is enrolled as a freshman in high school. Emma had aspirations to go to college, but life has thrown a monkey wrench into those plans. Her focus has shifted to being sure her siblings graduate from grade school, even at the cost of her own education if necessary. She had enjoyed helping her mom with the family’s vegetable garden and realizes that a garden could help put food on the table and money in their pockets. So, her new aspiration is to become a Freelance Botanist.

  

Kylie and Cole are fraternal twins. Kylie is a good kid, giving her a boost in empathy. Of course, as a child, she hasn’t yet dealt with adversity. She’s due to start grade school and, as a social butterfly, she’s anxious to make new friends. This will serve her well in the challenge.

  

  

Cole is a creative child who is a blank slate in the character department. He and Kylie get along like two peas in a pod, though Cole is less likely to approach strangers and start conversations. He wants to be an artistic prodigy, which will be a challenging aspiration to achieve. Buying an activity table isn’t high on the list of priorities when you have no food, shelter or income.

  

  

Let’s take a brief look at game setup since it has bearing on the story. The Spencers will live in Oasis Springs, specifically in Pebble Burrow, a 30 x 20 empty lot that was their only inheritance from their parents. The strong sun in the desert town makes it imperative to find shelter, and the dirt lot looks desolate, which seems appropriate given the family’s situation.

The Sims Lifespan is set to Normal (13 days until everyone ages up), and auto aging is on for all sims. Sims have full autonomy, so I’ll have to watch the family carefully to be sure they don’t break any challenge rules.

I’ve chosen to start my game in Spring, with a standard, 7-day season length. All precipitation and temperature effects are enabled. With only 13 days until the ‘official’ challenge ends, only Spring and Summer will be in effect. If I choose to extend the challenge, the seasons will continue forward.

The challenge begins on a Sunday at 8 AM. When I started the game, the Spencers looked fine. Considering they’d lost their parents recently, that didn’t seem right. So, I used MC Command Center to cheat their mood to sad. Here are the results:

Before:

    

After:

    

That’s more realistic. So, I guess we’re ready to begin! Let’s see what Day 1 has in store for the Spencers. Will they rise to the challenge?

If you’d like to review the full set of challenge rules, you can find them here.