Alright, so I got the coupons to dine out. so them I bring two sims there. I had one get a table. TO my demise, his lover wasn't with him. she was at another table and they were both eyeing other people (even who they have no-chemistry-whatsoever) which was annoying to me, anyways. So I said "The heck with this" and made them go back home. Any ideas on what I did wrong here?


and yes I am totally against cheating so that is probably why it is annoying. I mean, sure people do get attracted to another person, but it's once in a while not 24/7.

If you want Sims to dine together at a restaurant, they need to be on a date or part of a casual group. This is true even if both Sims are playable. A casual group can be as small as two Sims, just click on the nonselected Sim, and have your selected Sim Ask > Form Casual Group for outing or just for fun. Outings are timed and scored, like dates.

This is one of the most stupid things in the game. I like my families eating out, but it feels ridiculous that the parent has to ask his or her own children if they would be so kind as to join a "casual group" with mommy or daddy first. Yeah.

If members of the same household go to a community lot, why the heck would they eat there separately, at different tables??! Makes no sense at all. Can't imagine what the logic behind this brain fart was.

At least there should be like a checkbox when sims go to a community lot, like "are these sims forming a group?" or something; I have some large families, and if one family member has to ask everybody to form a group before they leave, it takes forever.

It's not stupid, it's freedom to choose who is going to join you in the particular activity and who is not. It does make sense, even if you fail to see how -- especially in large households. It is different to get the whole family to the Corner Shops, for example, where there are activities for almost everyone (buy new clothes, buy cell phone and video games, play pool or electronics), and another thing to dine all together in a restaurant. In the latter you need some planning in advance, especially if your family is large.

Yes it is, that's why I said there should be a choice to click "these sims form a casual group" or something like that, when you anyway get the screen where you choose who is going with the active sim to the community lot before you leave. That way daddy wouldn't have to spend half a day asking his own children to "join a group" first.

Not to mention that once the Sims are part of a casual group they remain that way until you choose to break the group up - which is very useful when you have n/ generations of a Sim Legacy and want to keep the family in contact with each other even when they don't all share the same house

Hehe...You've never met my ex. :P

zumpe, it's not stupid. What EAxis did actually makes sense.

IF you want the family or the couple to go on "dinner together", then the couple goes out on a formal date, or the family goes as a casual group. What this accomplishes is that the entire group of sims will "slave" themselves and Follow the Leader of the Outing (usually the sim that proposed the outing). They then automatically follow him/her to whatever table or wherever that person walks to. It makes the excursion a whole lot easier, trust me.

But you don't always want to have your sims go dining this way. If you want all sims that go with the full ability of free will, then you simply can decide to skip the "casual group" option. And this is exactly what the Original Poster did. That is why the OP's two sims ended up dining on separate tables.... because they were given the option of acting independently for themselves.

I know EAxis did a lot of things wrong in TS2, but sometimes you have to give them credit for having game mechanics that makes sense. I give them credit when credit is due.