A park in The Sims 3
A community lot is a public lot which serves as the basis for commercial or recreational buildings/facilities in a neighborhood, such as shops, parks, etc. These lots often provide important services for a neighborhood, such as selling clothes, groceries, and magazines, and providing a gathering place for the community. Townies and playable Sims alike often appear on community lots to browse the goods, socialize or just hang around, so community lots are great places for Sims to make friends. Community lots are great places to meet the hard-to-find service Sims as well. Some (commercial only) objects can only be placed on community lots, and likewise some objects can only be placed on residential lots.
Community lots will spawn their own set of NPCs to tend to certain objects or establishments, such as cashiers for cash registers; dining hosts, servers, and chefs for restaurants; and DJs for DJ booths.
The Sims
Community lots first appeared in The Sims: Hot Date. Each The Sims expansion pack after Hot Date introduced a new sub-neighborhood with its own community lots. In order to visit community lots outside of Magic Town, Sims must call a cab, and may have to pay for the ride. (Magic Town's community lots may be visited by using the Hole in the Ground.) When Sims visit a community lot, their residential lot is saved, and will not change until they return home.
All community lots in The Sims have an NPC who serves as a janitor. This NPC does general clean-up and repair work on the lot. Vacation Island lots with a hotel will also spawn a maid that will clean the indoors area of the lot. Janitors also appeared in The Urbz: Sims in the City.
Community lots will not have a mailbox, but will always have at least one telephone booth that Sims can use to call a cab to leave the lot. They will also have at least one communal garbage bin, rather than the curbside trash can found on residential lots. These objects are usually located within the lot's boundaries, and can be moved around the lot by the player.
Except for Vacation Island lots and family members on Downtown lots, non-controllable Sims on The Sims community lots cannot be interacted with until they are either greeted, or autonomously interact with a controllable Sim.
Babies cannot visit community lots, and Sims will not be able to visit a community lot if that would leave a baby alone in the house. Children can only travel to community lots on Vacation Island and Old Town if they go with their entire family. Children can travel to Magic Town on their own if they use A Hole in the Ground. Neighborhood children and pets will only appear on Old Town community lots, and will always appear along with their entire family.
Players may build on community lots for free. In all neighborhoods except for Old Town, the lot boundaries extend all the way to the edge of the road, allowing the player to modify or even remove the sidewalk. Magic Town lots do not have roads, but will have an empty plot of land that players cannot modify for the Balloon Cab to land on.
The Sims (console)
In The Sims for console, there are 6 community lots that are unlockable in the game. Unlike in The Sims PC games, Sims cannot travel to community lots during normal gameplay. Community lots can only be chosen from the main menu, and all of them can only be played in multiplayer mode, where 2 players can challenge each other in a certain minigame.
These are the community lots in The Sims for console:
- The Handyman's House
- The Park
- The Museum
- The Frat House
- Taylor's Place
- Club Abhi
- The Maid's House
- The Party Motel
Note: The Handyman's House and The Maid's House are technically residential lots, since they are the homes of the Repairman's family and the maid's family. However, they are unable to be played as residential lots, and they have their own minigames.
The Sims 2
As in The Sims, residential lots become static when a Sim visits a community lot. Sims do not age while on community lots, but their aspiration level will still decay. Babies and toddlers cannot be brought to community lots, but children can, if they are accompanied with older household members. If a child is taken to a community lot, neighborhood children may appear with one or both of their parents, while townie children come alone.
Much like The Sims, all community lots have at least one telephone booth and garbage bin. By default, these are located outside of the lot's boundaries and cannot be moved without the use of the moveobjects cheat. However, additional phone booths and garbage bins may be purchased from buy mode and placed anywhere on the lot. Sims cannot build skills on community lots, but can build fitness. However, there is a mod that allows Sims to build skill on community lots.
Travel to community lots is not instantaneous, and the game clock will reflect this. Since time stops on a Sim's residential lot while he or she is visiting community lots, this is primarily for "color", and has no real effect on gameplay. Sims must leave community lots using the same method of transport they used to get there. For example, if a Sim called a cab to get to the lot, they must call a cab in order to leave the lot, and cannot use a car or walk to get off the lot. Likewise, a Sim who walks to a community lot must walk off the lot, and cannot call a cab to leave.
Bon Voyage introduced the Unsavory Charlatan, a pickpocket that may appear on any community lot at random. He will attempt to greet Sims and may successfully pick the pockets of those with a low logic skill. Apartment Life introduced high witches that may appear on community lots at random, usually accompanied by special effects depending on their alignment.
Until Apartment Life, non-controllable Sims on community lots did not need to be greeted before being able to interact with them. Starting with Apartment Life, Sims on community lots need to be greeted before other social interactions become available, much like The Sims. Sims may also autonomously attempt to greet Sims they have not greeted yet.
Starting with The Sims 2 and being carried forward to later games in the series, community lots will not spawn a janitor or other NPC to clean or repair objects on the lot. Sims will need to clean up or repair objects themselves.
University
Young adult Sims are able to build skills on university community lots. If FreeTime is installed, they are also able to build hobby enthusiasm on university community lots. University community lots cannot be visited by Sims in any other age group unless they are invited by a young adult Sim. The semester timer continues to run while a young adult Sim is on a university community lot, but time on the residential lot will still be stopped. However, if a young adult Sim visits a community lot in the base neighborhood or in another sub-neighborhood, the semester timer will pause until he or she returns to the university sub-neighborhood.
When young adult Sims are on campus community lots, the time on the community lot will affect when they go to class. Young adults can also go to all final exams except their last semester's final while on a campus community lot. The Sim will walk off the community lot, and will return to it when the class or exam is over.
When a Sim in a college household gets the five-hour notice for his or her last semester's final, all interactions which allow travel to community lots will become unavailable, and will remain unavailable until that Sim has graduated. If that Sim is on another residential lot as a visitor or walkby, interactions which allow travel to community lots will be unavailable until that Sim has left the lot.
If a Sim gets the notice for his or her last semester's final while on a community lot, the player will be told that the Sim needs to go home. If the Sim is still on the community lot when the last final is three hours away, the player will be given the choice of saving and sending the Sim home, or of leaving the community lot without saving. Sims who are five or fewer hours away from their last semester's final may still appear when Sims from other households visit campus community lots.
Nightlife
Nightlife introduces the ability for Sims to have cars, which they can drive to community lots. It also changed the way players select which community lot Sims will travel to. Instead of clicking on a lot in the neighborhood view, a dialog box will allow the player to select either the base neighborhood or a sub-neighborhood, and then directly select a community lot in that area via a list. The player can still go to the neighborhood view and select a lot in the old fashion by clicking on the neighborhood and, without clicking on a lot, directly clicking Accept.
Open for Business
Playable Sims can buy community lots, and establish businesses on them. A lot's owner, and members of their household, can build skills on that lot, though the progress bar will not appear. When the player sends a lot's owner or a member of their household to that lot, those Sims' inventories will be accessible, build and buy modes will be available, and the player will even be able to save. When a household has been saved while they are on an owned community lot, other households will not be able to visit the lot until they leave; loading a household while they are on an owned community lot will resume gameplay at that lot, not on their home lot. When the household of the owner leaves the lot, they will automatically chase out all employees and customers, and will not leave until all visitors have left the lot.
Pets
If Sims take their pets to a community lot, stray pets may appear on that lot. Prior to The Sims 2: Pets patch, stray pets would appear even if the active household did not bring any pets to the lot.
Bon Voyage
Bon Voyage introduces the ability for Sims to walk to community lots. It also changed the way players select which household members will go to a community lot.
Beginning with Bon Voyage, when sending a Sim to a community lot, the player will be able to choose which other Sims and pets in the household will go along. The Sim who initiated the "go to community lot" action must be the first to enter the taxi, car, etc. or walk off the lot, and the action will be canceled if that Sim is route-blocked. Players should note that Sims chosen to go along to a community lot can be left behind if they take too long to get to the taxi, car, etc., or if they are blocked from reaching it.
FreeTime
Sims are able to build skills and hobby enthusiasm on secret hobby lots.
Apartment Life
Apartment Life allows Sims to visit community lots using a helicopter, if they own a helicopter and helicopter landing pad. If the Sim is a witch or warlock, they can use the option "Fly to" to go to community lots. They take out a broom and fly to that lot.
Pets for Console
Unlike in the PC version of Pets, in the console version there is only one community lot in the whole game, that being Town Square. The park is a place where Sims can take their pets to interact with other Sims and pets, where all the events are held, and also where all the shops are located. Pet Points are used in this community lot instead of Simoleons.
The Sims 3
Sims can perform the same actions on community lots as they do residential lots. Babies and toddlers can visit community lots with an adult Sim. Community lots can only be placed on designated areas in the neighborhood. Time is no longer held static when a Sim visits a community lot. Several community lots are rabbit holes. Sims can be a partner of certain rabbit holes, but can own any community lot provided they have enough money. These options are only shown when the household has enough Simoleons to perform the action. Sims can visit community lots by walking, riding a bike, or taking an automobile. There are no loading screens when a Sim visits a community lot. Other Sims in the world can freely visit community lots in real-time, and will usually be pushed to visit lots where a Sim from the active household is currently visiting.
In the base game, with no expansions or updates, Sims get deeds to the community lots they own. These deeds give the Sims the ability to receive money from the shops. These deeds can be passed around the household, as long as the Sims receiving them are teenagers or older. If a Sim carrying a deed dies, their deeds will go to the eldest household member. If a Sim carrying a deed moves out of the house, the deed will go with them, and the household will have to buy it from the establishment.
After updates and expansions are installed, the deeds will be removed; Sims can easily buy lots through the phone or computer, or by going to city hall. The ownership of an establishment will go to the whole household, and teens and above can go pick up the money.
Lot assignments
There are several classes of community lots, largely determined by lot assignments. Upon release, the game determined these classifications according to the objects on the lot, but a patch altered this. They are now set either in the Create a World tool or from a drop down menu in edit town mode.
Tags
The Sims 4
A Generic venue is a community lot that the NPC townies don't visit similar to "No visitors allowed" lot from The Sims 3. It can be use as a Club Hangout but it can't host parties. Players cannot edit them in either live or build and buy mode.
Other community lots are classed either as parks, gyms, bars, libraries, museums, nightclubs, restaurants, retail stores, police stations, science labs, hospitals, cafes, pools, ancient ruins, island bluffs, chalet gardens, spas, rentals, karaoke bars, art centers and vet clinics. Players can also access build and buy mode and buy whatever residential items they want for these lots when their Sims are on these lots except for the police station, hospital, and rental lots. In order to travel to these lots, Sims can use the travel function on their phone or click on the lot itself if it is within the vicinity of the Sim.
Sims can only own a retail, restaurant or vet clinic lot. This can be done by clicking on a Sim's phone, computer, or the Owned Businesses icon. Ownership is tied to the residential lot, not necessarily the Sim who initiated the purchase or the household. If the last teenage Sim or older passes away or if the household wants to move to a new lot, any retail, restaurant or vet clinic lots that they own will be released back to the community. Owners who wish to buy these newly released lots will only be able to get them as unfurnished lots.
The Sims Medieval
The Sims Medieval is different from other sim games. The houses that are occupied by Hero Sims can (with some exceptions) only be furnished on the inside. Lots don't exist in the way they do in other Sim games.
Most Hero Sim houses have at least one room that is meant to be open for the public. For the surgeon it is the waiting room, for the bard it is the tavern area and for the monarch it is the whole downstairs area. This can be changed.
There are also a few lots that are not owned by a Hero Sim. Some of them exist from the beginning, namely the forest, the path to the village, the docks, the judgement zone, the cave/cemetery, and the town square. A training area will be available after the barracks have been built. The player can change the furniture on the training area, but it is unclear who owns it. After enough buildings have been placed in the kingdom, the reception hall is also available. It is an extension of the throne room and it seems that the monarch is the owner.
There are also structures that can be built, but aren't owned by any of the Hero Sims. These are the Watcher pavilion, the lighthouse, the wind- and watermills, and the Kingball court. The lighthouse and mills are purely decorational.