FuryRed Says...: The RubytheFuzzled Interview

Guten tag meine liebe, and welcome to another exciting installment of 'FuryRed Interviews...'!

Today's interviewee is the wonderous RubytheFuzzled- writer of Ruby and the Grim, murderer of innocents, and all-round ace Simmer.

Let's get to it shall we...

Hai Ruby, you’re looking nice today- how are you?
Blargh, I'm sick, and overemotional. I must look uber sad as well, because a mad scientist spent about an hour asking me what's wrong. To be honest, I think I just need a lot of caffeine.

Now most people probably know you from your forum story Ruby and the Grim, but for those who are unaware could you explain a little about the story.
Ruby and the Grim is about me, having the Grim Reaper's kids, whilst being crazy.

What inspired you to start this malevolent tale?
I was bored and I couldn't sleep one night, so I started thinking about the Sims, and the Grim skinned kids, and how I wanted them, and how weird it would be to make my Simself get with the Grim. I mentioned the idea on the forums one night, I think I managed to get a bit of enthusiasm, so I went along with it.

How do you feel about the fact that your story has gained such a huge following?
I used to read Sims 2 legacies, and wish I was as awesome and popular as them, so now I feel sort of "Wow, I got what I wanted from over a year ago, go moi!" -ish. It was definitely unexpected and awesome.

Would you still be writing it if you’d hadn’t received such great feedback?
Of course, writing is brilliant fun when I feel like actually writing, and even if people had've thrown rotten fruit at me, I probably would've just lived out a bizarre dream of mine that involved swimming in rotten fruit, and continued writing.

If you had to pick one of your Grim children as your favourite, who would it be and why?
If I had to play favourites... I don't know. I think that Despair would be the most fun to poke, so I guess I pick him.

Despair is just all kinds of awesome.

In recent times the story has taken more of a dramatic turn with the deaths of some key characters, what made you decide to go down this route?
This whole turn itself was a long time coming, I had known since about a week after I started what I wanted to happen, and I tried to delay it for a while, but in the end, I did it for myself, to keep things interesting.

Do you ever feel guilty about anything you do to the Sims in your story?
I felt quite guilty after killing Grim, but they are just pixels, so I don't feel that attached.

A few months ago when the maintenance of the TS3 site happened the result meant the forums were down for a week, and then new sections were added that could only be seen sporadically.
Your thread- Ruby and the Grim- was moved to one of these new magical mystery sections, meaning that you could no longer access it.
Do you think this had an effect on your story- either by reducing the number of people reading it when it did come back or by making your own interest in writing it wane?
Argh, yes. It happened at a time when I was both inspired and had a bit of free time up my sleeve, and since I couldn't post, I let the moment go, and couldn't update for ages. I think that contributed to people losing interest, because nothing new had happened for months. Also, it made me hate on EA more, and made me detest their forums.

What can we expect from Ruby and the Grim in the future?
Not much more, to be honest. I'll probably only write another chapter, then I have other things I'll be going on with, as well as a hell of a lot of real life.

In December 2009 you were permabanned from the TS3.com site. Now due to the wrist-slappage that occurs when you discuss bans on the forums most of us only heard a little bit about what really happened, though I’m lead to believe it had something to do with Awesome Mod.
Could you elaborate on what events caused you to be banned?
I was stupid, and mentioned the no disc needed for TS3 with Awesome Mod thing.

Had you previously ever been temporarily banned or received warnings of any nature?
One warned and temp banned, for the same offense. Apparently, if they warn you that you did something bad before you get banned for doing that *one* thing, (which was a rant post in an invisible thread, by the way), it can count as two offenses.

Do you think the Guru’s acted fairly when they chose to ban you?
Yeah, it didn't really bother me much that they had perma'd me, more that they said specifically in another email that I only had received a three day suspension, liars.

What made you decide to come back, this time as RubytheConfuzzled?
Boredom, the fact that I have an attention span of about three seconds and couldn't decide on not coming back. So I did. Also, I couldn't be bothered reposting all of my story elsewhere.

Have you noticed a change in the atmosphere of the forums in recent months, and if so what’s changed and how do you feel about this?
Yes, definitely. It really doesn't seem alive any more. In the beginning, I could go on through the "quiet" hours of the forum, and still have loads of people to talk to, and tonnes of craziness. But now, if I go on, it's dead. A lot of the people I liked talking to have been kicked out, and a lot of the others have tired of returning to EA's mess. And, some people (like myself) have chosen to spend more time with real life.

All in all, now if I go on, I see the Gurus trying to install some life into the place with bare minimum effort, and they fail dismally. I see the same old questions being asked repeatedly, the same ideas being bragged about as if they are unique "Hay guyzz, u no wat no1 els3 h4s evar thouht bout? WE NE3D petz 4 sims 3 lol!!!!1!" and it's just boring now.

What do you think could be done to improve the TS3 site?
Ah, that's the problem with me, I bitch about stuff, but I never know how to solve it.

I s'pose it would help if the mods had a clue before they started dishing out the permabans. And, maybe tried to make the forums work in the first place. And have a clue about what's going on, joining in on regular threads more, rather than starting their own special club.

What is your favourite method of Simmie murder?
Fire. The "On Fire" moodlet is just precious. Although, I'm slowly being converted to the electricity side.

If you could introduce a new way for Sims to die into the game, or bring one back from older Sims games, what would it be?
Even though I love the cowplant, I feel as though the game is distinctly lacking in explosions. So, I'd probably bring in epic exploding cowplant, that eats Sims and then explodes. Or explodes, then eats Sims.

So let's imagine you wake up one day and *BAM* you’re a Sim- plumbob and everyfink. There’s probably a lot of things you can do in the Sims that you can’t do in real life- what would you do first?
Oooh, muhahaha, play with Dexter! I'd also probably edit myself in CAS, make myself taller and turn myself purple. I'd definitely find Cycl0n3 Sw0rd, I *so* want to poke him (no, I *totally* don't have a weird obsession with poking people). I'd motherlode myself, and pig out on expensive food, live in a castle... but first, I'd have to try and capture my plumbob. I want it so badly, hanging *just* out of my reach...

I think if I were a Sim I think I'd download a hottie, use testingcheatsenabled true cheat to drag our relationship all the way up, then head to the boudoir ; )
Of course I'd probably have to download that penal attachment thingy Cele has...

If you could choose any mythical type character to be introduced to the Sims franchise (vampires, elves etc.) what would it be and why?
Dragons. Or flying bunnies. I can't decide!

Is there anything in particular you’d like to see in future expansion packs?
Multitasking. It seems weird that Sims focus so intently on one thing at a time. If Sims pass each other, they could casually say hi and have their relationship increase. Also, superpowers. I want to see someone throw a car over the diner, it would make my day.

I think that's the best idea for an expansion pack I've ever heard- I would love to have Superheroes in the game! Let's hope EA takes note :)

What mods do you currently have in your game, and how have they made your gaming experience better?
Dexter, Chaos painting, Twallan's Supercomputer and Story Progression, and a thousand little ones. Dexter just gives me happiness 'cause I'm all evil and Sims killing other Sims makes me laugh, Chaos is my savior when I *need* a certain picture, and Twallan's mods for making my game happy and playable.

I get the feeling you'll like the new Weapon's System mod at MTS that let's you use firearms to shoot and kill Sims. I saw it and thought of you ;)

Do you think any of these mods are things that EA should have included in the game in the first place?
Story progression working from the start would have been nice, as would have the options of the Supercomputer (why did they take out the uber boolprop anyway?).

I wondered that myself- boolprop was useful for so many things, though I heard that if you used it too much it could destroy your game... O_O

Are there any mods you’d like to see made in the future?
A mod that turns every food into pie, and ... I forgot where I was going with this ... mmm pie.

If you could ask the EA anything, what would it be?
I would ask them to teach me Simlish, so I can confuse people.

Is there anyone you’d like to suggest for me to interview in the future?
I'd love for Hydra to answer questions, but I think that wish stems from me wanting to yell at her. Same with Poptart. Out of genuine interest, anyone who can make machinima. Machinima is shiny.

And finally today’s readers question is sponsored by BittenAngel:

It’s a game of Marry/Woohoo/Kill, but this time with a Mod flavoured twist. Out of the following three, if you were a Sim and if you had to, who would you marry, who would you woohoo, and who would you kill?

Your choices are SimGuru_BGY_11, SimGuruBrent, and Nichaedemus.

Here's a picture for those who need a looksie at their visages:

Ooooh, woohoo Nichaedemus, because he's the most smexy. Kill BGY, because he seems like the kind of Sim I'd kill, and marry Brent, because I don't know much about him, and divorce is always an option.

You mean murder is always an option doncha? >: D