A Community Space

Tae Navarro (Aug 31)

I thought August 30th was the last day of the month, so Tae and his smaller household were packed up and ready to move to Ondarion yesterday evening. Although today (Aug 31st) is actually the last day of the month, I don’t want to advance Tae’s in-game calendar by playing his household because I always (except once) start the new month on a Sunday.

Instead, I’d like to share the “community space” I created on the 17x40-tile area on the left side of Tae’s residence within their 64x64 lot in Bellacorde.  

First of all, here’s a look at the surrounding area next to the communal social space. To match this sparse look, I added plants at the front and back of my communal space but it’s otherwise pretty sparse. Okay, you caught me. I’m using the surrounding environment as an excuse not to landscape.

Here’s a front view of the community space.

At the front left is an area for attaya, which is the traditional West African (Senegambian) social ritual of drinking a specific variety of green tea. Once Tae’s family moves into the lot, Kenji will place one of his crafted (unbreakable) ceramic tea sets on the low table. A household sim will occasionally come here to brew tea and socialize.

Behind the attaya circle is a shisha (hookah) setup which adds another group activity. The Lilacs and Lanterns tree's lanterns look so lovely at night. Behind that is a public toilet. My test sim is able to "Use Bathroom" and, even with zero Natural Living skill, “Sponge Bathe in Bathroom.”

At the right side of the area is a wooden Don’t Wake the Llama set under a sort of pergola, not culturally authentic but a fan group acitvity all the same. Behind that is a small grill with picnic tables. My sims will come grill food from time to time to leave on a picnic table. 

Since I didn’t want to build a residence that spans the entire 64-tile width of the lot, this small public area is designed to attract passers-by and visitors. Maybe it will give my sims opportunities to socialize and meet new sims without leaving their home lot, haha. If it doesn’t work as I’d hoped, I’ll just convert the space to something else.