The Big Trade Off

Simply an information Tumblr for the Sims 2 creating community that was previously based at LiveJournal. Now it can found at GoS.

[thebigtradeoff]

Whispers has finshed trading and there’s a whole thread full of goodies!

[thebigtradeoff]

ZeroDark opened a trade! There are two spots open.

What I Can Make: Hair re-textures with Pooklet or Twists (I can do MM, but it is not a strength), Walls, Floors, Lots, Sims, Most object recolors, paintings, some clothing re-colors My General Style: Semi-Realistic

Read the rest at GoS!

[thebigtradeoff]

Some dead downloads got resurrected, such as Nabila’s winged liners, Nympy’s curly hairs and Yuxi’s carpet! For the full rundown, check the Archive discussion thread. :)

[thebigtradeoff]

Many great things have been shared during the Palette event!

[ameranthe]

To all new CC creators

Please don’t apologize for your CC not being perfect. No one’s CC is ever perfect, even people who have been making it forever. By taking the time to learn new things and share them with everyone, you are already awesome. Yes, there is a learning curve, and no, the very first things you make probably won’t be without flaws, but don’t give up! The only way you can get better is to keep practicing.

And ignore anyone who may say your stuff isn’t good. You didn’t make it for them, you made it for you. Even if your CC doesn’t get a ton of notes or whatever, just keep on doing your thing. There are loads of people who never even try, and here you are making new things.

We need new CC creators to keep our games interesting and pretty. We need fresh talent to keep our community from going stale. We need creative people like you!

[thebigtradeoff]

Welcome to the first small event of TBTO at GoS! Previously, TBTO events were either CAS-related or Christmas Stocking Stuffer themed. I’ve brainstormed a bit with some other people and gotten feedback. With the new, sporadic events we want to go in a slightly different direction.  In the questionnaire I’ve sent out a few months ago I asked for feedback and improvement and one of the key elements that kept popping up was resources and tutorials. We have the resources and tutorials covered up by moving to GoS and point towards the tutorial section, but there is more you can do with it! Hence that the events will now (hopefully!) encourage you to try out making new custom content. Perhaps you’re a beginner and don’t know where to start at all, or perhaps you already know quite a bit and want to learn about more challenging aspects of creating custom content. These newly acquired skills can then be used in the big events GoS hosts, such as Christmas in July, Secret Santa or Blind Date. This event, the Palette Event, will be focused on Build and Buy Mode. Building houses are also okay.

Read more about this event at GoS!

[thebigtradeoff]

Happy 2016, everyone! Only one day left if you still want to participate in the challenge. On the 2nd of January I’ll make an index post with all the lovely things that have been shared already. :) 

Also, don’t be afraid to open new trades! It’s a good way to continue sharing and caring feel from december, is it not?

[thebigtradeoff]

Welcome to the first small event of TBTO at GoS! Previously, TBTO events were either CAS-related or Christmas Stocking Stuffer themed. I've brainstormed a bit with some other people and gotten feedback. With the new, sporadic events we want to go in a slightly different direction.  In the questionnaire I've sent out a few months ago I asked for feedback and improvement and one of the key elements that kept popping up was resources and tutorials. We have the resources and tutorials covered up by moving to GoS and point towards the tutorial section, but there is more you can do with it! Hence that the events will now (hopefully!) encourage you to try out making new custom content. Perhaps you're a beginner and don't know where to start at all, or perhaps you already know quite a bit and want to learn about more challenging aspects of creating custom content. These newly acquired skills can then be used in the big events GoS hosts, such as Christmas in July, Secret Santa or Blind Date. This event, the Palette Event, will be focused on Build and Buy Mode. Building houses are also okay.

Read more about this event at GoS!

[thebigtradeoff]

Child_Of_Air opened a new trade! 

What I Can Make: Sims, pets, Clothing of mostly any era, hair retextures, walls & floors, lots of any era and I have just recently begun to do object recolors. My General Style: Slightly grungy and slightly used, historically accurate, pooklet recolors, urban multiculturalism, urban decay and realism! I prefer lots that have very little CC, but I love maxis recolors.

Read the rest at GoS; there are four spots open!

[thebigtradeoff]

Now with working redirection url because I shouldn’t do things late at night.

[thebigtradeoff]

Child_Of_Air opened a new trade! 

What I Can Make: Sims, pets, Clothing of mostly any era, hair retextures, walls & floors, lots of any era and I have just recently begun to do object recolors. My General Style: Slightly grungy and slightly used, historically accurate, pooklet recolors, urban multiculturalism, urban decay and realism! I prefer lots that have very little CC, but I love maxis recolors.

Read the rest at GoS; there are four spots open!

[ts2tutorialdatabase]

Welcome to TS2 Tutorial Database!

We’ve got a database for Bodyshop defaults, object defaults, palettes, Maxis match custom content, multple databases for conversions; so if you want to download something, you should have no problem finding it. But what if you want to know something instead? Then you better have that one tutorial you need bookmarked or you’ll have to offer your first child to Google in order to find it on the 8th search page between the clothing stores and videos of people putting glue in their noses. Well, let’s make an end to that kind of nonsense.

This is the TS2 tutorial database, a place to learn about the crazy game called The Sims 2. So take the tour and go learn something you didn’t know yet!

[thebigtradeoff]

An interesting tour for all you creators out there, whether you already know quite a bit or still beginning!

*Cough, hint, cough, the build and buy section will become extremely interesting, cough cough.*

[thebigtradeoff]

The Big Trade-Off reopens! We have found a new host, which is none other than Garden of Shadows. We’re very glad that GoS is willing to have us!

Check the new rules and guidelines

Look through the Archive of past completed trades

And to give the good example, I opened the first trade at GoS.

We hope to see new and familiar faces trading soon!

[thebigtradeoff]

digitalangels replied to your post “I thought I’d tell you what resulted from the little TBTO survey I...”

So where will it move? *curious*

That’s something I won’t tell you yet - I’m setting up the rules and such, and that’s easier and faster when I work in secret. However, I’ll probably be done with that within a week, and then I can present it to you!

[thebigtradeoff]

I thought I’d tell you what resulted from the little TBTO survey I sent around a few weeks back. The concept isn’t going to change much, but there are a few things that are going to change; and these changes (or non-changes!) are the ones I can tell you for certain.

TBTO is going to move hosts, and it’s not going to be Tumblr, despite quite some people having voted for it. Reason because I included it in the poll was just because it’s one of the most popular blogging platforms for simmers and I had a feeling a lot of people would fill it in with the ‘other, specify’ option. However, with the way TBTO works, I can’t see it working on Tumblr. It’s already confusing to navigate through TBTO now, and I can’t imagine how much of a mess it will be if it’ll be hosted on Tumblr. So that’s out of the question. I have an option I’m leaning forward to, and I think it might be one of the best option TBTO has.

People cannot be guests on the TBTO, wherever it will move to, so you’ll have to have an account. It can be a bit of a hassle to register, I know, but it’s even more of a hassle when someone signs up for a trade and then disappears without a trace. With accounts, we won’t have that. Of course, for downloading only you won’t have to register. Just when you want to participate.

I will probably set up an archive (using the original downloadlinks) for all the past downloads on the TBTO, in one neat place. There are so many things on there so many people have never seen, again because of navigation problems.

TBTO will stay for the Sims 2 only. This because there is almost no overlap in simmers who create for the games. There are, of course, a couple people who create for more than one sims game, but there aren’t many. I encourage people to set up a TBTO like community for their game, such as TS3 or TS4, but TBTO itself will stay TS2 only.

The two weeks creation time will extend to three weeks - and, if both parties agree to it, they can specify their own creation time. Three weeks will just be the standard deadline, but is not set in stone. Of course, things can happen in real life, or to your files, or whatever, and it’s never a problem if you go past your deadline. As long as you communicate with your partner about it.

[voleste]

I was thinking about TBTO today. It’s only barely alive and there are a couple factors contributing to that case I’m probably one of those factors, since I haven’t done much to keep it alive. Primarily because it’s evidently not working in its current state and we maybe need to find a slightly other direction to go in. But as TBTO is a community that’s primarily made by you, the users, I thought it might be better to ask you a couple questions. First, the issues with TBTO now.

1) The Big Trade Off was created by Trapping somewhere in early 2012. The first two years went well, 2012 and 2013, then it slowly dwindled down. Reason; most simmers; LiveJournal - if they have one - is not their primary blog. We can safely say most people’s home base is either here, at Tumblr, or their own blog such as Wordpress, or even a forum. The problem with TBTO? Only open for LiveJournal users at the moment; guests cannot open or participate in trades - since we don’t know who you are - and we cannot expect people to create accounts just to participate in TBTO.

2) Let’s face it, the Sims 2 is +10 years old now. The point of me stating that is not that it is a dated game, but rather that ten years of worth custom content is a lot. I barely download anything anymore, since everything I wanted in my game is already out there. I’m not sure if other people feel the same way, but it could explain why activity has gone down.

3) Many people from the TS2 community have quit or moved to other games (either others from the sims franchise or completely different games.) While we got a couple people in return when the Ultimate Collection came out, I’m not sure those people know about TBTO and/or have the desire to create/start learn how to create. 

Despite all these ‘issues’ (it sure sounds like complaining from my side, right? I’m not, I swear) I still really love TBTO for what it is. It’s somewhere inbetween granting a wish and a secret santa; you give to each other and receive in return, but it’s as big or as small as you want it, and unlike secret santas you can discuss what exactly you desire from the other party. I really like that aspect, so I made a little questionnaire - I hope you want to fill it in! There are only a couple questions, but it gives me a bit of an idea what people want from TBTO, and if there’s still a need for such a community.

Here’s a link to the little questionnaire.  Also, because I don’t understand Google Forms entirely, I couldn’t change the language to English. If you encounter ‘anders’ in the options, it means ‘other’ (please specify.) 

[thebigtradeoff]

Reblogging for the evening!

[voleste]

I was thinking about TBTO today. It’s only barely alive and there are a couple factors contributing to that case I’m probably one of those factors, since I haven’t done much to keep it alive. Primarily because it’s evidently not working in its current state and we maybe need to find a slightly other direction to go in. But as TBTO is a community that’s primarily made by you, the users, I thought it might be better to ask you a couple questions. First, the issues with TBTO now.

1) The Big Trade Off was created by Trapping somewhere in early 2012. The first two years went well, 2012 and 2013, then it slowly dwindled down. Reason; most simmers; LiveJournal - if they have one - is not their primary blog. We can safely say most people’s home base is either here, at Tumblr, or their own blog such as Wordpress, or even a forum. The problem with TBTO? Only open for LiveJournal users at the moment; guests cannot open or participate in trades - since we don’t know who you are - and we cannot expect people to create accounts just to participate in TBTO.

2) Let’s face it, the Sims 2 is +10 years old now. The point of me stating that is not that it is a dated game, but rather that ten years of worth custom content is a lot. I barely download anything anymore, since everything I wanted in my game is already out there. I’m not sure if other people feel the same way, but it could explain why activity has gone down.

3) Many people from the TS2 community have quit or moved to other games (either others from the sims franchise or completely different games.) While we got a couple people in return when the Ultimate Collection came out, I’m not sure those people know about TBTO and/or have the desire to create/start learn how to create. 

Despite all these ‘issues’ (it sure sounds like complaining from my side, right? I’m not, I swear) I still really love TBTO for what it is. It’s somewhere inbetween granting a wish and a secret santa; you give to each other and receive in return, but it’s as big or as small as you want it, and unlike secret santas you can discuss what exactly you desire from the other party. I really like that aspect, so I made a little questionnaire - I hope you want to fill it in! There are only a couple questions, but it gives me a bit of an idea what people want from TBTO, and if there’s still a need for such a community.

Here’s a link to the little questionnaire.  Also, because I don’t understand Google Forms entirely, I couldn’t change the language to English. If you encounter ‘anders’ in the options, it means ‘other’ (please specify.) 

[thebigtradeoff]

Edited the conclusion post to include items of a trade I had forgotten!

[thebigtradeoff]

YanderePlum opened a trade

Check it out here!

What I Can Make: Bodyshop Recolors, Hair Retexture/Recolor, Clown's Make-up, Sims, Shoe Swap, Lots, Defaults, Object Recolours, Walls and Floors. My General Style: Maxis Match Amount of Participants I Want: (2/0) What I'd Like to Receive: Object recolours, Simlish Posters in Eaxis Meshes, Walls or floors -especially with Shasta's moulding, Supernaturals related Stuff, Defaults, Clothing for any age, Lilith'd hairs... i'm open to suggestions! : )