What Makes You Play?

Brianna McKenzie · Post by **Brianna McKenzie** » 18 years ago

Sarah you've said it best.

I remember the silly haze I was in for like 2 day when Emily told me the sim was coming back. I had kept all my notes because I couldn't bare to throw them out (pack rat!) and I started reading them right that second..

I'd been having quite a bit of fun playing another game, but since this game has come back those horses have been neglected. I didn't train for at least 3 weeks. Then I just entered everything after getting them back in shape, and the darn ghost horses didn't get entered or something. Which just made me mad at the waste of an hour entering, and alot less likely to bother with them again for a week.

Tammy Fox · Post by **Tammy Fox** » 18 years ago

I agree with Susie. THis is a game for regrdless of whether you or and old pro or new player you can end up with a star in your barn for a little bit of nothing. I will never forget the excitement I felt each time Moved To Tears was racing or the heartache I felt when she lost to Fiji Night. I will never forget the thrill of seeing her win the Hong Kong Vase twice or being Euorpean 3 year old filly and Older mare eclipse award winner.
Even now I get a rush of adrenanlin each time her daughter races. I wonder if this is the day she loses or will she win. Also, I love the element of surprise of having a horse I thought wasn't talented turn around when I finally hit the right surface/equipment, etc combo.
The auction is always exciting and wondering if the horse I just spent x dollars on will be another MTT.
Plus I like the games simplicity. I also like how you can devote as little or as much time as you want to the game. With my hectic schedule including a full time job and a very active 4 year old daughter, I don't have several hours a day to enter or train horses. I like how when I do have spare time I can research breedings or look over my horses and try to figure out what I can do to improve their performance.
I also like how you are always there to chat with us and fuss at us when we mess up. As someone said a lot of times you don't have the creator/owner of the game readily available. Plus this game is full of friendly people and you don't see a lot of back stabbing etc unlike other games.

Sara Kendall · Post by **Sara Kendall** » 18 years ago

For me....it gives me an escape from real life. With everything going on in my life...this game is a very, very , VERY good thing! The family atmosphere here is just totally awesome. I have played a couple of other sims and NONE can EVER compare to this one. This sim is just so well ran and so well organized compared to the other ones. It's easy to play, but yet there are complex issues that have to be dealt with (breeding, equipment, surface, etc). It's a challenge that I have basically taken to heart lol.

I like the fact that if I want to put HOURS in this game I can....and right now with my work being over for the summer...guess what lol

I remember getting a rush on results day evertime that Awesome O would race. Now...it's Mi Corazon, Runtoapremont, Affirmative and Confirm. If they don't do well, I am pretty bummed lol.

It comes down to the saying that's on the bottom of the main page.....It is not the horses that are real, it's the emotions. So very, very true.

And that is why this game is the best.

Ronda Figal · Post by **Ronda Figal** » 18 years ago

Em....

The heart and soul she has put into this game has made my horses "real" to me....lol, and in real life I\ll NEVER be able to affored to have over 400 horses....

IsaP · Post by **IsaP** » 18 years ago

Whether you know me very well or not, I don't have an issue telling why the game is so important to me. You are all my friends in some way, shape or form.

The game is an escape.. a way for me to be someone other than who I am. At a time when I'm down and out in my life, looking for direction and acceptance without the ability to own a horse of my own (though I would despirately love one), here's the SIM. The triumphs make me feel pride and happiness in a time when I'm trying hard to turn around the bad to good. It powers me on to know that things can be just as great and will be some day. It helps me gain hope. It gives me the ability to look up and not view the world from hunched shoulders.

I come for my friends. For Em and Amanda, for Stephie Wephie and Ara (and that will always be your name, I don't care how long I know you), for everyone. I love to see my friends do well and be able to dance a little dance on results day. And in a way, the horses are old friends, too. I'll still should and scream and run around the house in joy when they win or their children's children win.

I come for it all. When the SIM was down, I would come to the closed site and read Lokite Magic's history because it was there and helped me relive it all. I have old notebooks from when Tropicaldepression first ran that I'll read from time to time. I love it.

I come for the complete love of it all.

Ali Weasley · Post by **Ali Weasley** » 18 years ago

As a brand new player, I bought was Onwardsilvercharm for $25,000 off the sales page, and he went on to win over $10 million for me. That's one of many reasons this game is great. You don't have to be a veteran to get nice horses. If you're lucky enough, you can just pick up a champion.

Like many others have said, it's a release form reality. I just finished up one of the most stressful semesters of my life. I was basically doing two in one, and it was beyond more than I could handle. Among the papers and independant studies and exams and matrices and everything else, I always found time to enter my horses and plan breedings. I needed the time away from what I suppose to be real life, and it was such a break from reality to be able to come here and enter a world where I own a couple of millionaire horses and new babies I hope to be champions one day.

I used to be embarassed to admit I "play with fake horses" but now I realize it's no different than any video game. Except that it's much, MUCH more. We're friends and we run in circuits and our horses actually mean something to us. Wally will forever be my first champion and even if he never sires another winner, I will keep him and treat him special until this game no long exists. And I'm sure I'll think of him even after Em turns her comp off for the last time.

When in Tucson, I lived with two other players (Susie and Ryen Hanna) and we would sit around discussing breedings and race stategies and what-not into the wee hours of the night. No doubt one, if not all, of us would have to be up in 4 hours or so. It was more important to discuss who's going to what race, etc, than getting the appropriate amount of sleep.

We're one big happy family here! And that whole-heartedly includes the horses!

Ara Davies · Post by **Ara Davies** » 18 years ago

Ali LaDuke wrote: Wally will forever be my first champion and even if he never sires another winner, I will keep him and treat him special until this game no long exists. And I'm sure I'll think of him even after Em turns her comp off for the last time.

Awww Ali, that's how I feel about Rainy and Sport. I actually cried when I found Sport (pensioned, of course) back in my stable. Shortly after the SIM reopened I was at work and trying desperately to remember stuff about the old SIM, like what we called Onwardsilvercharm. I pondered over that for HOURS. Then I suddenly announced "WALLY!" People stared at me. So it's not just my own fake horses I think about when I'm supposed to be doing other things, it's OTHER people's fake horses.

El Peg is mad at me now for insinuating that he's fake. He wants all the mares to know that he is ALL REAL.

Becca Banner · Post by **Becca Banner** » 18 years ago

I play because this is the closest to the racing industry I'm ever gonna get. I go with Amanda to the races sometimes but thats few and far inbetween, I don't get a chance to keep up with horse racing so I rely on her and Em to keep me informed. I'm a professional chef in a state-wide acclaimed restaurant, there just isn't time to play. So SIM helps me to feel like I'm not completely out of touch, it helps me learn more about the sport, and its nice to have something to look forward to at the end of the long night. Saturday nights are the worst, I work from 10:30 in the morning until 3 am the following morning with very little or no break, its nice to think to myself "Yes, after this shift, I can check results!" SIM also allows me to bring my dream horses to life. Yamikishi, my little two year old sprinter, has been my dream horse since as long as I can remember. I would've just been happy to have him but the fact that he's doing well is just caviar on the salmon mousse. Then Angie (Upon Angel's Wings), she was a dream to have, she may never have broken her maiden, but she's still very close to me. None of my friends, outside Mandy and Em, are apart of SIM. I chat about SIM with them, and I name yearlings after them and promise them the chance to name any offspring those might have, but I don't think any of them are the right kind of people for SIM. They like horses, but they're not horse crazy, and whenever I talk about FuPeg, Man O' War, Mr. Prospector, Barbaro, Winning Colors, ect., I almost always get the response "Who?" with the occasional "*?". Any ways, thats what I got to say, sorry if its been said before.

Daryl Dennis · Post by **Daryl Dennis** » 18 years ago

Most of the online games I play are simply time killers. Games with certain goals that you can reach through time and, well, more time. This is different. Games that require skill and luck are hard to find and this game does just that.

I had a ton of luck when I came into the game. Had the moniker of "up and comer" for a while and then the game ended. Probably a good thing because I think I picked up on the skill portion of the game. I made some nice crosses, but really got shafted on a few I thought I had really figured out. Of course, those missteps keep one coming back.

Now the Sim is back and I have stuck to a pretty unique strategy that befuddles most. How in the world can someone manage such a huge stable? Well, I want to experiment with crosses, and numbers is the only way to do it. I also can pay back the veteran owner generosity that I experienced when I started by helping the new set of players in whatever ways I can. I still have the mentality (and the win %) of a newbie, so it kinda works out

Daryl

Sarah Chase · Post by **Sarah Chase** » 18 years ago

The Steward wrote:Many of you will say the horses have personality, but *what* makes them have personality?

*giggling uncontrollably and pointing to Gentle*

Maiden debut (won): nervous to gate, delayed start, broke fast, pulled ahead, green stretch
3rd race, NW3 (won): Wouldn’t leave paddock, balked gate, speed, drew away, weaved but impressive
4th race, stakes (won): Spooked badly post parade, ran off, shaken, broke slowly, rushed to lead, prevailed
6th race, stakes (won): On lead, dueled stretch, pulling away, went through rail after

Am I the only one who finds that hilarious? *keeps giggling maniacally to self*

Edit: It's not funny she hurt herself, just overall, her nuttiness

IsaP · Post by **IsaP** » 18 years ago

Ali LaDuke wrote: As a brand new player, I bought was Onwardsilvercharm for $25,000 off the sales page, and he went on to win over $10 million for me. That's one of many reasons this game is great. You don't have to be a veteran to get nice horses. If you're lucky enough, you can just pick up a champion.

Heehee! I bought my first millionaire, Tropicaldepression, for $7500. And he resents being called "fake", too!

Sara Kendall · Post by **Sara Kendall** » 18 years ago

Awesome O...my one and ONLY millionaire was bought for 10k

Brianna McKenzie · Post by **Brianna McKenzie** » 18 years ago

yey Gentle! It's sad her name didn't fit!

All the trainers here have pretty vivid personality's.. And training traits, which would NEVER come out in another game. Even people who don't play anymore like Jess and Brandy, I still remember and respect.

Ali Weasley · Post by **Ali Weasley** » 18 years ago

Ara Davies wrote: I pondered over that for HOURS. Then I suddenly announced "WALLY!" People stared at me. So it's not just my own fake horses I think about when I'm supposed to be doing other things, it's OTHER people's fake horses.

El Peg is mad at me now for insinuating that he's fake. He wants all the mares to know that he is ALL REAL.

Uh, yea... Today I was my first day at my internship at Los Alamitos and I was supposed to be writing a script for a TVG thing and I'm staring out of the press box at the infield where one lone mower is cutting the grass in the entire thing and I'm pondering about all things SIM! (that was the longest sentence ever)

I was thinking about who to breed No Matter What to at the end of the year and all this stuff and imagining Birthday in his earmuffs. I had to really shake myself up to get back into the game and start typing!

Needless to say, I'm addicted!

Teri Lawrence · Post by **Teri Lawrence** » 18 years ago

Well, I bought Les Batons Magique for 20k at auction. My joke is that she was literally overlooked...at 15hh. I bought her as a broodmare prospect, figured I'd try her on the track first...retired her two years, two million dollars and four stakes wins later.

And you know what? I was right the first time...this little mare has progeny earnings of over /six million dollars/ from just five foals. Every one of her foals has won at least one stakes race. Her son Le Dauphin Noir racked up half of those earnings on his own and was European Three Year Old of the Year.

It's hard to believe she isn't real...and I know the Dauphin would *bite* me if I accused him of it, being a big, dark bay stud and all

.