Making A Simmer with TanicSims2

Making A Simmer

featuring

By Ivana

One of the rising stars of The Sims community, SimmedUp is delighted to chat with Tanic Sims 2, or Tanny, a young and tech savvy content creator from United Kingdom. If you’re one of the simmers who’s into researching Sims 2 corruption, then you’ve probably encountered this gem of a creator on YouTube. Get to know the creator behind the famous Sims 2 corruption chronicles below.

Tell us something about yourself.

I'm Tanic Sims 2 (also known as Tanny) and I'm an autistic 24-year-old content creator who believes corruption was the secret ingredient to creating the greatest PC game of all time!

How did you start playing The Sims?

The Sims has always been the most persistent constant in my life; I don't really remember a time where I wasn't playing in some way. It must have been around 2003 or 2004 when I was introduced to this world, because I remember playing The Sims (1) and The Urbz on my brother's PlayStation before playing The Sims on PC. I had a collection called Triple Deluxe which was released in 2004 apparently and, if I were to describe my experience with The Sims as a kid, I would use the word 'enchanted'. It appealed to my creative side, especially since I was a storyteller who loved writing from a young age. Then, one day in 2005, my best friend showed me a cool new game she had on her computer. It was The Sims, but it was so different to the one I had at home. She showed me the Specter household in hopes of summoning the ghosts and, among my fear, I just remember being in awe. Everything was in 3D! There was an elder sim, AND a teenager. And they were related! It captivated me. That was the moment I realised I was smitten. I went home and begged my parents to get The Sims 2. Now I'm here, still playing it and very much still involved in the community, almost two decades later!

You're known mostly in TS2 community for your corruption chronicles videos. What got you interested in this topic in the first place? What fascinated you about TS2 corruption?

Like most players of The Sims 2 back in the day, I dabbled in all the wrong things. I added the Grim Reaper to households, tried to kill Mrs. Crumplebottom, and moved Bella Goth from Strangetown to Pleasantview in hopes of 'reuniting' her with the Goth family. After I got University, one of the first things I did was head to a neighbourhood that I knew was full of graves - Veronaville - and played with the new Resurrect-O-Nomitron. Though not exactly corruption per se, I remember resurrecting Olivia Monty and discovering her fake pregnancy. That was my sort of first foray into ancestral sims' oddities.

Somehow, I managed to never see the consequences of my actions, probably because I never played hoods or families long enough to see symptoms manifest. So, I have only experienced the horror stories vicariously. I frequented the BBS often as a kid and remember being fascinated by

threads about glitches, especially pre-patch ones that completely brought the community to its knees, such as the Crittur or Ottomas pregnancies. I would spend hours reading threads, trying to understand why these bugs happened.

It wasn't really until 2014 when I learnt the word 'corruption' in this context, however. It must have been around the time The Ultimate Collection was released, though I can't remember exactly what led me down the Sims Wiki rabbit hole. It may have even been because I started playing The Sims 3 in 2014, and became obsessed with save errors and bad CC. The article about Avoiding Corruption was probably the first I read, and it fascinated me. Aside from

knowing universal NPCs should not be added to households at that point, I was not aware there were two types of corruption, let alone that hood corruption existed at all. Then, somewhere down the line, I found Knut Futa's article. It was so... bizarre, so horrifying, almost. Since he doesn't have a grave, I'd never encountered him in game, and I didn't start using SimPe until I was in my 20s. I thought it was so creepy how this sim was so... borked. And I started growing frustrated, because I desperately needed to know why his data were so messed up. At the time, I was also very interested in computer glitches, especially ones caused by viruses, and I had started learning about debugging and fixing them. I think I saw a parallel between computer viruses and corruption in The Sims 2, and so it was a perfect mingling of two of my interests computer bugs, and The Sims 2. So, I think that's what fascinated me at first.

What inspired you to finally get into content creation around Sims 2 corruption and LPs?

In my last few months of university, I started watching channels like Marticore and PleasantSims, who inspired me to play The Sims 2 in a new way; they revitalised my love for the game. Before finding them, I would only play my own custom hoods, and I micromanaged everything; I manufactured storylines and drama, and never played with

Free Will on. It was the way I had played for years - over a decade, even. Their videos (PleasantSims' videos especially) encouraged me to play the premade hoods and sims, particularly Pleasantview, with Free Will on and mods that... rely on autonomy, shall we say.

March 2020 rolled around and, well - we all know what happened then. On top of the entire world flipping upside down, I was dealing with some demons. Playing The Sims 2 was how I escaped. I graduated from university without a ceremony, and I found myself just... stuck. Instead of opening doors (like I thought graduating would), it was like they were all being slammed in my face. The

only job for which I was qualified and had any experience in became redundant due to the pandemic. I felt so hopeless, directionless, purposeless. It was like I was just existing from day to day and not progressing with my life.

Throughout 2020, I toyed with the idea of starting my own YouTube channel, but ultimately brushed it off because I believed I was far too shy. I dismissed the thought as a desperate measure to prove I belonged in this world - like at the very least I was doing something. Too many apprehensive thoughts clouded my mind. I thought I wouldn't be funny enough, or that my personality wasn't captivating enough, and ultimately questioned why would - or really, should - anyone watch me? There are so many talented and incredible creators in the community far more deserving than I what can I offer that they aren't already doing? Around that same time, channels like Calipers and Tongs and MONI were blowing up, as were wider discussions about corruption. What had once been a niche pocket of The Sims 2 community was pushing its way to the forefront.

I don't know what exactly was the catalyst for finally making the Tanic Sims 2 channel. I thought I had left the 'what ifs' in 2020. But the thoughts persisted, and started overriding any fears I had. My brain refused to give up on the idea. So, in April, I made the channel, thinking just signing up would be enough to appease my brain. Or, more accurately, I hoped it would put the thought to rest, because I worried that I would be unable to cope with making content for anyone to view and judge. I still have moments where I worry about not being good enough; I often feel like I'm not sure I deserve any success I've had. But never for a second have I regretted humouring my brain back in April 2021.

At first, I tried a playthrough for The Sims 2 PSP game, but I was so nervous. I was trembling the entire time and messing up the gameplay. I also struggled to tell jokes and form coherent sentences. I almost gave up entirely. Then one day, I decided to try making corruption content, because it was one of my favourite subjects. I wanted to make the content that I wanted to watch, and I realised so much information about the hoods shipping pre-corrupted (and corruption in general) was scattered across forum posts. I thought it would be helpful to both myself and others if I tried compiling all this information into one place. I was also becoming interested in clean templates, as they were completely new to me when I started playing Pleasantview in 2020. I am the type of person who needs to know why something is the way it is, in as much detail as possible; reading 'this hood ships pre-corrupted' never satisfied me. I needed to know how exactly they were corrupted, why, and what to do about it. And so, the How Corrupt is... Anyway? series (and the Corruption Chronicles as a whole) was born.

As for the LPs, I never would have had the courage to share my Pleasantview if it weren't for the wonderful people who expressed interest when I started teasing the idea! So, my inspiration for sharing my hood (and possibly more hoods/ playthroughs in the future!) is this beautiful, supportive community!

What were your expectations when you released your corruption chronicles & LP videos? How did the community react to them?

Honestly, I did not for a second expect more than maybe a handful of people to find me. My knowledge and experience of video editing was limited to some Club Penguin videos I made in the late 2000s, and I have a type of hearing loss that means my hearing depends on whether my ears are obstructed or not. It can be fine one day then disappear for weeks. At the time of starting my channel, my hearing was probably the most limited it's ever been. I knew my videos wouldn't be perfect, but I wanted to give it a go because I wanted to feel useful again. I thought my videos would be so poorly made that the community would shun me. Still, I tried my best with the tools I had at the time - a free editing software and mic I got for free at the start of university - and honestly, I mostly just made my first video, How Corrupt is Pleasantview Anyway?, for fun, and for my own reference. It gave me something to do, something to focus on. I sent it to my friend from university mostly like, 'Hey, I've been working on this thing for the past few weeks. You wanna see?' He told me it was interesting, and that compliment meant a lot.

Then, out of nowhere, I guess the algorithm picked me up because all of a sudden, the video's views started climbing and I was receiving comments, plus people were subscribing to me! It was a huge shock - as if I had blinked and suddenly, I had over a hundred subscribers before I even released a third video. Then two hundred. Three hundred. Six months to the day I released my first video, I reached the 1k subscribers milestone. I am still trying to process that. It was - and still is - so difficult for me to understand why so many people wanted to watch me.

I am truly just so thankful for and blown away by this community's interest in my videos. It still feels like I am standing in a corner watching someone else succeeding. Every now and then I see threads on places like Reddit where people ask for YouTube recommendations, and sometimes I see /my/ channel name brought up and it's so dizzying. Everything that's happened is beyond anything I ever expected. I had hoped maybe a few people would watch my videos and think, 'Oh, that wasn't a total waste of time.' That would have made me feel like I had accomplished so much, but I

“I am mostly involved in the Sims 2 subset of the community, but I would like to think that the Sims community as a whole also embodies the spirit of The Sims - that anyone can play, everyone is welcome here, and we all deserve to see ourselves represented in this game.”

never imagined I would get to where I am right now, doing an interview. It's incredible.

What's the most mind-blowing info you discovered while looking through the game files or while playing the game?

There are very few discoveries I can take credit for. This game is going to be old enough to vote this September, after all! But the recent theories of Viola (possibly 'Monty') and original versions of Pascal and Lazlo Curious being deleted sometime in development have probably been my most favourite things to research so far. I've also been digging into the objects.package file a lot lately because I've been studying SimAntics and working on a video about scrapped BHAVs that still exist in the base game code, as well as researching for another video about buggy memories. There are some pretty hilarious (if not mildly concerning...) BHAV names in there, like 'woot crash baby crash' or 'Skunk - Wander Like An Idiot'. I can't remember the exact file, but there's a package file under the Wants folder in the installation files containing what I assume are scripts related to wants for premade sims, as they are titled things like 'IAmCuriousVidcund'. There are also some referencing characters Basil and Sybil Fawlty from the British 70s sitcom Fawlty Towers. I'd like to do more investigating there to determine what exactly this file is used for. Remnants of development still left in the code will probably always be the most mindblowing finds for me.

What is your top favorite neighborhood in The Sims 2, and why?

Oh, gosh... this is the hardest question. I love the three base game hoods the most, but in different ways; it would be impossible to choose a top favourite. I enjoy playing Pleasantview because the drama and storylines remind me of soap operas, which is another special interest of mine. With Strangetown, I love the aesthetic, lore, and sims, as well as the fact that the architecture perfectly represents each family - the Specters in a Gothic mausoleum, Curious in a laboratory/observatory, Smiths in a 'perfect' suburban American home with the green lawn and white picket fence, Beakers with their evil scientist castle, and the Grunts in the barracks... just from seeing each family's houses, I can understand who they are and their stories. It's masterful storytelling. Veronaville has a special place in my heart because it introduced me to my biggest writing inspiration, Shakespeare, and I have fond memories of playing it all the time as a kid. If I really have to pick, I would probably have to choose Pleasantview, if only because it is the hood I have been playing consistently for two years now.

What other Sims games do you play?

Other than The Sims 2, I do also play The Sims 3! Though I haven't really played it much lately because I've been so focused on The Sims 2. I only have a few EPs and one Stuff Pack so I feel I haven't really had the full Sims 3 experience yet. I also really enjoy playing the PSP version of The Sims 2 and hope to do a playthrough someday!

What are your favorite and least favorite things about the Sims community?

There are so many things I love about this community. I love how supportive and encouraging everyone is, especially towards

new and smaller creators. Probably my most favourite thing though would be the fact that there has been a surge in Sims 2 players, and it fascinates me because so many new members are younger than the game itself! This game is truly timeless, and somehow, we've managed to create new ways to play after all these years. In my own personal experience, I've definitely felt very accepted and welcomed here, and the community has shown me so much kindness and compassion that it is an absolute honour to be giving back in some way. I am mostly involved in the Sims 2 subset of the community, but I would like to think that the Sims community as a whole also embodies the spirit of The Sims - that anyone can play, everyone is welcome here, and we all deserve to see ourselves represented in this game.

As for least favourite... I really have to reach for something! This isn't exactly exclusive to the Sims community, but I think there can be a tendency to forget that this is a sandbox game sometimes, leading to frequent arguments about how people choose to play the game. As long as no one is doing anything actively harmful, there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to play. I think it's mostly increased now because the current playstyle for The Sims 2 in particular is very focused on playing the premades rotationally, so we are all given the same sims yet play their lives out so differently from one another. That's the beauty of this game. I get it, we can be very defensive when it comes to our pixel people! I know I am. But I think it's important to step back and remember all our playstyles, headcanons, and general opinions are valid. We don't have to fight so much.

All in all, though, I owe a lot to this community. The vibe is definitely different now to how it was in the 2000s, but overall, it's a very comfortable place that I personally consider a safe space for me.

What are your other hobbies and interests besides The Sims?

I'm a writer! I'm also a longtime K-pop fan. The Sims will always be my ultimate special interest, but I'm also into soap operas - namely the three main ones here in the UK - and computer viruses, as well as cartoons and TV history/TV pres. Right now, I'm also into The X-Files!

Thank you so much for your time with us. Where can others find you on social media?

Thank you so much for having me! It was an honour and I had a lot of fun answering. You can find me on Twitter and Ko-fi (both under the handle tanicsims2) or my blog, where I mostly post updates for my Pleasantview series!

On that note, we have come to the end of the interview. If you haven’t yet, follow Tanny on YouTube and Twitter for more updates and if you’re into Sims 2, especially its corruption and oddities!