This week in Designing In Downtime (DID), I want to elaborate on a couple of key points about the newly discovered joys of tagging, as well as discovering the “New in the Old of the Yearbook.”
One is pretty obvious, the other only really reveals itself when you are in the process of taking on our new pastime, “Tagging All Of Your Neighbors.”
Both are great ways to deal with “Downtime Lulliness” in TSTO, which may or may not be the “new normal” for the game. In either case, it is a great way to “keep the action lively” when you are bored.
During the great “To Tag or Not to Tag” debate that took place over the past couple of weeks, I made the suggestion of adding a “Add Me As A Tagging Neighbor” to offset the “Graffiti Free” section we already have…which makes me nuts…because it is so whiney, but I digress.
As Ebron is one of my neighbors, I was pleased when she suggested that she was going to go on a “tag every neighbor spree,” as it was clearly an act of defiance against the “Graffiti Free” set. I loved this idea. In fact loads of people loved this idea. In fact…it would seem that almost ALL of my neighbors loved this idea. I got (and continue to get) tagged profusely!
I loved it! And, wanting to play along, I commenced to doing the same with my list of neighbors, which brought about the need to write the very post you are now reading!
In my rampant tagging spree, I noticed several “Tagging Truisms” about the process of attempting to “Tag Everyone.”
1. Tagging everyone takes a TON of time and dedication! As there are only four buildings that are “Tagable,” out of the hundreds of structures and decorations in our game, unless the town you are hoping to tag is “Tagvenient,” it can take a long time to find them all. I have 100 neighbors. Full boat. Now, do the math. To Search And Tag (SAT) all of them, even if it only takes me 30 seconds for each neighbor…I’m looking at 50 minutes. And the fact is…some of these took WAY more than 30 seconds.
2. There is a difference between being “Tagvenient” and “Tagomodating.” The former actually makes tagging easy…the latter just puts up with it. You can make it easy to tag, by placing your tag-able buildings near one another. That is Tagvenient. Tagomodating is simply putting up with tagging, and not deleting or deriding someone for doing so. It’s kind of like the difference between being Tag Tolerant and Tag Accepting…or Tagolerent and Tagcepting. But, both are still acceptable.
I am almost 100% Tagvenient. My tagables are all pretty much clustered as they have been since their inclusion in the game. You’ll find Moe’s, the Police Station, and City Hall, all within “Ground Zero” of our towns. I call this area “Ground Zero” as it is the core of the organic growth that most towns took (with obvious personal variations”) during the first few levels of the game.
During Downtime (when we don’t have a major event going on), when you visit a neighbor, it almost always opens up to the Simpson’s House. If your town is Tagvenient, the tagable buildings are somewhere close to the opening screen.
I call my town “almost 100% tagvenient,” for the reason that while three of the four tagables are close (as pictured above), my Springfield Elementary is not. In fact is is a long way away from Ground Zero.
On a side note- I have noticed that a ton of my neighbors have opted to turn their Springfield Elementary Schools into the “Crypto Farm” versions. I’m not a fan of crypto currency, or garish displays of national colors, or oil wells. So I show this only as an example.
3. Ploppers are ironically Tagvenient. For many other functions, having neighbors that are ploppers is kind of a waste of space for me. However, in this case, it is WAY easier to find tagables, as everything is just plopped in one place, and the spray cans stand out. If they are ploppers, they clearly aren’t bothered by the appearance of a tag. BOOM! Tagged. Move on.
4. Bonuts are still a Bonus…but not a reason for tagging. During my hour-plus-tag-fest, I actually got 6 Bonuts (free bonus donuts), while tagging. Pretty cool, and better than a poke in the eye with a spray can (which is just a weird visual…no matter how you look at it). But, it is not a good REASON to tag. As a casual donut farmer…who is near at 1,000% in Bonus XP…it takes me about 45 seconds to earn 6 donuts. So, while Free is good, it should not be the motivation for visiting/tagging neighbors.
5. A Cleared Town…Except Tagables…is Telling You Something. Basically, when you see a town that is completely cleared, with nothing left to tap except tagables…this is a person who DOESN’T LIKE GETTING TAGGED. The word is out. Their neighbors get it. I of course didn’t care…and tagged them. I didn’t go back yet to see if they have deleted me or not. I don’t really care. I have been pretty specific that I am decidedly in the “TAG ME-TAG YOU” camp. I’ll say it again…”get over it.”
On Another Side Note-
If You Don’t Want To Be Tagged…Make It Difficult!
This should be obvious. If you really hate being tagged…don’t whine about it…make it hard. Spread your 4 tagable buildings all over your town. Then move them randomly…perhaps getting up at night to move them indiscriminately to places that make no sense, during times when your neighbors can’t detect your clearing patterns! Keep them moving, and they’ll be harder to SAT!
Or…just get over it.
There are likely other bits of info I learned and could pass along during my “Tag-A-Thon,” but I’ll hold off for now, as I want to do a bit more research on the topic. Bwahahaha!
The Other DID Topic Today is one that should be obvious to anyone who is using the Yearbook to get old decorations and characters. In short, if you didn’t already have it, even if it has been around for years, when YOU get it, it’s NEW!
As you can tell by my screen grab here, with all of the downtime, and casual donut farming, I have gone back and bought a ton of character/building combos for my town. Some of these go back years and years….
I was trying to figure out why there were so many gay characters in my Yearbook, and then remembered that I had pretty much missed the Pride events due to travel. So, no…this isn’t a huge new revelation about inclusiveness in my town…it is just a tip of the hat to my laziness.
It also reminded me why I had passed on the Chief and the Indian Casino. The dialogue is pretty abysmal and ugly. I won’t dive deep on this…but, I do find it interesting when a bunch of entitled Ivy League writers (as many of them are, including the main show runner) show their indifference to intolerance. But, that is a topic for another time.
However, I do love playing all of these Questlines…because there is hilarious dialogue in many of them (which is why I forgive the writers when they are insensitive).
Ironically, with the New/Old yearbook content and questlines, I almost found the actual update short, and boring. Which would also describe some of the writers (*Rim Shot*).
In conclusion, it is pretty obvious that there are still LOADS of ways to play the game, stay challenged, have fun, and mess with your neighbor’s heads!
We’ll see if the current Downtime is another extended period of Lulliness…or if it just fell too close to a holiday (because I’m sure that the programmers and writers all needed a break after all of their hard work…pfffffttttt).
In any case…keep on tappin’! Have fun! Tag a Friend!
My many years long tagging buddy 🙋
Wow. I rarely ever post/comment because I “talk” enough in real life (I’m a teacher by day, child and family therapist in the evenings), but this whole conversation is silly. Clearly Patric says, multiple times and in multiple ways, “play the game any way you choose.” And I feel the same way. But, I could care less if there was a graffiti page or no graffiti page. Make it all one page and tag me if it’s your thing, or don’t if it’s not. I’m a pretty tolerant person. And I’m not trying to take sides here, but if a little digital tag on a little digital building that could disappear in moment’s notice bothers a person that much then perhaps that person needs to take a closer look at his or her own life. Don’t get me wrong, I have personal preferences too, and I don’t like the monorail in the middle of my roads, or those damn squares that happen when a road doesn’t intersect just right (and that’s why to I try to avoid that) but sometimes it happens. However, I’m going to keep it in perspective, as I’m guessing Patric does, because there are children in the world struggling to get an education and people are whining about a digital tag on a digital building…”and that’s all I have to say about that.” Pass the box of chocolates.
**Standing and Slow Clapping!**
Man. The good news, is that every once in a while, people like you (and my wife) come along, who actually have perspective, because they see the best and worst in people every day. My wife…also a teacher and counselor. She keeps it real.
Thanks for coming out from behind the chalk board (which is actually a smart board these days).
Thank you, sir. I deal with a lot of children (and parents) who come from trauma (not to mention I have 2 adopted boys of my own) and, as I’m sure you can guess, they are not coming to me upset because someone tagged one of the buildings in their game. That is the least of their worries.
Agreed!
Deb juggles a ton of kids at school, with a huge array of issues. Mental health, physical health, crappy home lives…and don’t get me started on some of the parents.
Yep, tagging pretty far down her list a well.
Funny – I had never realized there were so few taggable buildings, much less known exactly which ones they were! (Prolly because I don’t generally tag, I’m more in the just-don’t-like-it camp, it’s like cilantro or asparagus….) But it’s great to finally KNOW which buildings are on the list, so now I can check my town’s TVQ (TagVenience Quotient)… I’m sure it’s not bad, since all the old buildings are in “Old Town” Springfield, near Evergreen Terrace’s favorite resident… Yep, looks pretty good; Patric’s Big Three (Town Hall, Police Station, and Moe’s) are indeed near city center, with the Elementary School further west, near Homer – out in the ‘burbs.
And yes…as you are one of my neighbors, I tagged you (even though you have a lovely golf course).
I saw that. Willy sure was b*tching as he pulled out the mop and pail….
LOL! I’ll keep that in mind. You’re safe. It takes me too long to do everybody every day. But, don’t be surprised if you see a random hit job once in a while.
Now…I’m heading out to play some REAL golf!
I was trying to be funny! Tag away, Patric! I like it when you tag me, ’cause it means you’re having fun. Don’t worry about Willy, he complains about _everything_!
No worries, Mark! It’s almost the end of a very long week. My funny bone is bruised! LOL! It really does take a lot of time…which is something I don’t have a lot of right now. So you and Willy are safe!
Again, it isn’t the drop in righteousness that bothers me. Nor do I sit and worry about it. I just don’t like it.
I dare everyone here to pick the thing that they hate to eat the most. The thing that makes you gag when you even look at it. The thing that even your mom couldn’t get you to eat because you detest it.
Get one and eat the whole thing.
I dare you.
Pics or it didn’t happen so no claiming you did it without proof!
It was in the original post.
And sorry… coddling people who “just don’t Like it,” opens a huge can of worms. Play the game how you wish… but stop looking for special treatment from the rest of us.
People like this make me nuts. I don’t Know why…they just do!
Lol!
I guess I’m in the “Live and let tag” camp. I’m not going to go tagging some newbie and tank his Righteousness Rating, which he might actually *need* to get the most out of his bonus… but it doesn’t bother me in the least if someone wants to tag me; I’m hiding quite a few Training Walls in various places around my town.
Plus, even if someone did manage to take my Righteousness Rating down a star: I also have a crap-ton of Jet Engine Bikes, as well as a bunch of other bonus-encumbered decorations, so that half-a-percent drop in my bonus isn’t going to hurt quite so much. So at this point, I’d probably just sit back and laugh, if my five-star rating somehow actually took a hit! 😉
Tagtastic attitude! And no. 1/2% doesn’t do squat diddly to your earning power.
Great fun, lost a few neighbor’s this week, hadn’t played for months so feel free to add me sandytoes and Kyle b, 😁
You have been added…and tagged😉 hope you enjoy my town😁
😁 let the tagging commence hehe
Welcome to the insane asylum!!!
On Another Side Note-
If You Don’t Want To Be Tagged…. Make it Difficult!
This should indeed be obvious. What you should do is get your neighbours from a thread that is for precisely that purpose.
Oh wait. That won’t work because Patric will tell them to tag you anyway.
Uhm… no. But I will tell you not to whine if they do. I believe I am simply advocating equal representation for those who DO like tagging.
I am not telling people to tag. Just to enjoy tagging as an added pastime.
Once again, you’re making me laugh out loud, “Uhm…no. But I will tell you not to whine if they do.”😂😂😂! I dont know why that strikes me as hilarious but it does. You’ve been on point lately, sir, and I’m enjoying it!
Glad to be of service…we all need an evil chuckle now and then.
Umm yes.
I suggest you revisit your comment to Teresa on May 27th on your Friday Filler post.
I’m sure neither of us particularly care about batting this back and forth.
I don’t care about stars or losing percentage. I just don’t like it. Same way as I don’t like my monorail in the road. It’s just a personal preference.
The only church I like is a broad one where there is room for all.
This is not looking like it.
Again…… read this slowly.
You can play the game any way you choose. Just like the rest of us. You don’t like tagging or being tagged? Cool. But giving you a special place for your special bias? Not cool.
Coddling tagging segregationalists? Really not cool.
Look. I tend to agree with you, but put your money where your mouth is or you’re just being two faced. The no tag add friends page is still there. Either delete it or stop insulting people who use it.
Oh….trust me. If it was my decision, it would have been gone a long time ago. This is ultimately Alissa’s decision. And yes…I will be lobbying.
But it’s her site so it’s incredibly annoying to see you posting all militant like and arguing with people, while she has stayed relatively mum and not removed it. Please just get your acts together, make a decision about the future of the thread, and then respect it either way. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. This is just stirring things up in a downtime, and for all those who love it, plenty don’t. And I’m not talking about tagging or not, I’m talking about the drama pot stirring. As long as that page is there and people keep any whining to it, I say let’s all just shut up about it already. Anything that is over the line doesn’t get pushed, just like any other posts. I’m sick and tired of seeing this community divided because certain people are bored. Even if the page stays, this isn’t coddling them. It’s just giving them their own space to find like minded individuals. Talk about needing to grow up! The opposite ends of a spectrum are very close together if you bend that line into a circle.
Yep. Couldn’t agree more. I am hoping for resolution on this very soon.
You may be annoyed…but, after a half million comments moderated, you can only guess how much of a hair trigger we have.
But, here’s a great solution for you. Just. Don’t. Read. It. As a moderator I don’t have a choice. But you do. Just, turn away…don’t engage.
That was my birthday, thanks
I hate to think I’ll lose people over virtual vandalism. I mean….i could be doing this on the side of someone’s garage if they prefer? Lol
Its time consuming….but makes visits fun again😁
King Toots should be next to Moe’s since they fight over a dumpster.
Inquiring minds want to know how long it took your genius mind to come up with the word “tagvenient”?
It took longer than you think. I had to narrow it down from more than 137 similar words. But I do the time so I can make the rhyme. Or something like that. I think Tagvenient is tagtastic!
Oh I got tagged over my weekend break from TSTO (I had a good laugh on Monday, then tagged a few of my Neighboreenos) 😂👍
I finally got Sherri and Terri (and their Mom with a Needle Exchange Building), along with a few more nuggets from the Mystery Box (it’s nice to get some Character Building Combos I completely forgot about – why? I have no idea, perhaps the time I wasn’t interested, but I am enjoying the funny dialogue). 😀
And yes I enjoyed National 🍔 Day 😊 but I still got plenty of rearranging within my Springfield.
I Remember this post about tagging when I started Tapping..still here
https://tstoaddicts.com/2014/12/02/tappers-101-vandalism-tagging-spray-paint/
Sideshow Bob point has been forgotten I think.
Here’s the thing. Dearest Bunny was not great at Math. You lose 1/2 of one point. Point Five. NOT five. Infinitesimal. Tiny.
I showed you my screens.
And… it returns back to “normal” in a couple of days, whether you do anything or not.
Also. As I pointed out— at this point in the game it means nothing as almost everyone us was say past the opening XP bonus levels she was writing about.
And finally….Righteousness is waaaaaaaaaaaay overrated.
I stand by my posts. Real tappers tag. Only crazywhinerbabies care.
Tag on!!!! Get over it!!!
I was a newbie once.. “at this point in the game it means nothing ” Training walls helped me a lot when I started. Probably 1 or 500 tappers still there lol.
Anyways I tag plenty and encourage it. I just remembered that post helped explain tagging to me, a few years ago is all Pat. Wasn’t an attack.
I know…I admit to reacting more to the author than the content.
After years and years… I have to wonder how many true newbies are out there?
The article does explain the concept…but greatly exaggerated the penalty.
“Righteousness is waaaaaaaaaaaaay overrated”
Obviously you do not have a mother of certain STRONG religious heritage.
(I know, the previous statement reeked of stero-type assumptions)
Lol! Well… ironically…the guy who that religion was based on, preached the danger of letting righteousness become hubris.
“Luke 16:15
And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”
Righteousness is a slippery slope! Lol!
I’d love to tag my neighbors, but due to the usual server errors, they have all vanished today. Hopefully they will be back tomorrow ….sigh
It was too hot, so we all went to the beach!😆
I have just visited and tagged my friends who have posted that they are happy for it to be done. So far this is only Sandytoes, Keith1, KyleB and yourself.
I am gradually going through all my friends and have made a point of tagging 3 so they know it is deliberate and not accidental. If anybody wants to unfriend me as a result I am ok with it as it will give me more time looking for buildings I can tap in those that want to stay friends!
Ah…your militancy is showing! I love it… But, I may have to go the way of Ebron and just tag once per town. It takes soooooo long with 100 neighbors!
Like so many others have commented this pretty much the only way to have any real neighbour interaction that makes you feel good about each other. I am really loving it !
I never really understood your feelings about it being a daily way to say hello to people you don’t know wherever they are in the world, but I do now!
I agree with ebron’s idea of only tagging one building so there are buildings left for others to tap. In your case I find that only the school is left when I have visited the last few times so I have only one to tap anyway.
My friends are not really tagging me and I think that this is because I post as Jack and they do not recognise who I am. Any friends who have jackiehyat20 please feel free to tag me.
Uhm…and I did. LOL!
Thank you!
Think i got u today!!!!😁😁😁
I was on the same page with trying to make my town convenient to tag. I have a central park with a tagable building along each side. This park used to be my actual town center until they focused on the Simpson house as the entry point, so I moved the house even closer to the school with a recent town overhaul.
I’ve always loved the tagging because it was a way to get money from buildings that don’t otherwise generate income. That seemed super important for my first few years of playing, like always having characters in premium skins.
All good! Nice job…
Just visited all my remaining neighbors for the first time in ages and I’m happy to report they (mostly) all got tagged! I forgot how much I enjoyed seeing other towns and I particularly like finding the lemon tree and looking at squidports!
Your #5 is hilarious, “I of course didn’t care…and tagged them.” 🤣 I guess I fall into that camp as well because I tagged the crap out of everyone and actually got deleted by someone! Hey, no problem, to each one’s own, but someone is taking this game *way* too seriously if my tag bothered that person that much. Relax. They make a medicine for that, it’s called cannabis.
When I started this, I was tagging 3 buildings with no trouble…now I’m lucky to find one left untagged. Soooo…as a courtesy to my tag-crazy neighbors, I’m going to only tag one building in each town (so that everybody else gets to play “El Barto” too). A lot of my neighbors are also each others neighbors, so the tagging in our neighborhoods has spread pretty quickly…we have an outbreak of El Barto Fever! Good fun!🎉🥰🎉
PS…my town is pretty tagvenient…all 4 buildings are within a couple blocks of the Simpson house. Who new this would become a positive design feature?👍😄
Ha! The upside of visiting your town, is that even if there’s nothing to tag… There is plenty to look at!
…that’s kinda how I feel about my town, can’t believe someone deleted me over tagging! Whatever, anyway, just out of curiosity, Patric, did you get to check out my golf course? It’s all the way at the end of the water and up a little bit (I’m not even getting into the the east/west thing). I’m not a golf player so I took a little inspiration from you and what knowledge my husband was able to provide before, “How does this look?” got really old really quick and I was on my own…Guess my golf course was part of my DID😁
Whoa….how did I miss this? What’s your username, Lisa?
Oh….wait….KyleBranmble….right?
OH MY!!! Your golf course is “Schmanzy!” Love the water features and landscaping. I need more flowers… Love it!
Thanks🏌️♂️😁
I also have a golf course (18 holes), so I wanted to get in on this. I tried to add you as “kylebramble”, so if you got the request, I’m who it’s from! Game name is “wilsoncpu”…. real name, Mark.
And a LOVELY course it is!
Lisa (Kyle b.) – BTW, I found your course – very nice! Mine is basically almost as far to the “northeast” (to the right and away from the water) as you can get… only “almost” because Shelbyville is at the far northeast corner. I use one “golf hole” for the practice green, but the others are cobbled together from other decorations. I’ve got to get the Lee Carvalho character onto my course like you did – what task is that?
I’m sorry, I’m just seeing this now. I checked out your golf course, super creative! I think it’s Lee Caravello’s 12 hr task that I keep him on out there, along with Ike ( 4 hr task). I try to keep them out there and playing everyday🏌️♂️
I may have to move Lee over to my course. That is a great idea. He is currently part of my vast “kid distraction zone” near my casino area.
Forgive my ignorance, but how do you “move” Lee (or Ike) to your course? When I try to move a character, my only choices are Store or Cancel (X). For some tasks (like Grandpa/Mona and Feed the Birds), they go somewhere (the nearest park bench), and other tasks are associated with particular locations/buildings, but Lee and Ike’s golf tasks seem to be right-in-place: wherever they’re standing when you assign the task, that’s what you get. Do you have to wait until they happen to be in the right place (!), or is there some trick I’ve managed to miss all these years?
This is a tricky one. You can only do it with characters that have buildings. So…with Lee, you have to first “store” the castle and Lee, then place the castle on your golf course…once he comes out, start his 12 hour task, then you can move the castle back to where ever it was before.
Then……. you have to be careful to just keep him doing that task…forever…so, you have to be careful when you clear his task, to put him right back to work.
If it is a single character with no building, (like the parson), you just have to keep storing and placing him over and over and over again…which is a pain. So I don’t do it.
I’ll give a bit more info on my next DID. There are a lot of weird ones that I do…but it adds to the fun.
I think I get it… the 1-hour NON-visual task is at the Golf Castle. Move the castle, set the task, and voila, he’s at the castle. When he finishes that task, send him on the 12-hour visual task (Show No Love), right?
(As for Ike, yeah, his tasks which are location-specific are for places like the Town Hall or the Maison Derriere, which I don’t want to move… so he’d be a longer-range project!)
Just move the building there long enough to start the 12 hour task…then move it back. He’ll stay in place.
Lisa (Kyle b.) – PS: I found your course – very nice! Mine is basically almost as far to the “northeast” (to the right and away from the water) as you can get… only “almost” because Shelbyville is at the far northeast corner. I use one “golf hole” for the practice green, but the others are cobbled together from other decorations. I’ve got to get the Lee Carvalho character onto my course like you did – what task is that?
Hi Kyle! Thanks for visiting (and tagging 😁)
Hi 😁
I understand there is no vaccination for this… I’m OK to be a carrier.
Hey ebron, loving the tagging “mini event,” gives me a reason to log in…haven’t been able to tag you in a couple of days though, hope that means you are out having fun🥂🎉
Once the taggables are tapped, they don’t reset like the other buildings do. I’m trying to remember to check in every few hours (like it’s an event) to mop up the tags, so they’ll they’ll be available again. Sorry you’ve been missing them, but I’m running into the same thing with bunches of my neighbors…El Barto has already come down the chimney 😆.
Feel free to tag me anytime doesn’t bother me a bit. 😎
Thanks, will do 👍😁.
Tagvenient, my ground zero hasn’t changed a great deal since the beginning for me so makes it easier to tag me and I can see who’s tagging, 👍 love it, noticed some are harder to find which mean I have to hunt them down 😁👍, some have already been tagged, 👎, can’t you leave just 1for me, as for the time it takes i tag while watching a fav program or film and passes very quickly, think this new concept is great, tag away 🏷️🔖
I know…I have almost taken to charting some of my neighbors on a spreadsheet, just so I can keep track of where their tagables are.
Think we should form a tag club lol call it tag-a-day100 hehe 😁😎