I am restarting my game and came out thequestion :
Do you actually create community/residencial lots like factories,water station, eletricity station to make the game more real?
Do you play on the lots or is justdeco?

I don't "play" the game, but those lots are some of my favorite types to try and make look good from a design standpoint, and whenever I've uploaded something outside the norm (be it a warehouse, a shipping yard, a set of parking lots, or a hospital, people have been happy to download them, so obviously there are some people out there who at least like having them in their games!

I'll also make "filler lots" in some of my neighborhoods that I don't play, but that allow me to make things like connecting paths between buildings on a University campus, or believable alleyways behind some of my downtown businesses.

These are the sorts of things I always wish I had in my hoods but I'm far too lazy to actually put in. Unless I'm playing a Maxis or downloaded hood, my hoods are basically empty expanses with a few scattered lots and some deco trees here and there.

I play an integrated town with playables holding as many jobs that a town would need but I haven't bothered with things like factories,water station and a power plant since those don't interest me to play. I certainly have a lot of player run shops that make things such a baked goods, farm produce and toys, but nothing on the scale of a factory. I did think about a wind run lot as I have seen that done as an electricity station but it sounded kind of boring to actually play so I never took it up.

I don't play them per se, but use them for story settings. So far a warehouse and city hall. Soon a hospital and a police station/jail.

What a great question! I'm curious to read more of the answers.

I tend to play like Rosawyn -- a few Sims in a big empty neighborhood. I have thought about an auto factory on many occasions but never built one. In my last game, I used Sim employees to garden and fish and I built a two-story warehouse packed with fruit, veggies and fish. That was a lot of fun, but not very realistic as my Sims hoarded the "fresh" produce in the Warehouse for three generations. :-)

I also had a hospital, a lawyers office and was planning a bank when I had to reformat my computer.

In my current game, I made a building with a couple of engines. (mechanical skilling engines) My plan is to have that become a power source for the island. But I hadn't thought about making it a true power plant -- just a community lot built as an excuse for my shipwrecked Sims to eventually have electricity.

I have plans for a few more things -- but only on a very small "deserted island" scale. I need to stalk a few more posts so that I can better grasp how to turn a residential lot into a working school, police station, firehouse, etc.

I once considered making a residential lot that was simply rows and rows of solar panels and a small cottage in one corner for the caretaker and calling it a power plant but decided against it for some reason. Other than that, not much.

I've thought about using a power plant to sell solar power panels, but it's so big and expensive, nobody can afford it.

I like to pretend that the power grid is located underground and thus invisible. Someday I'll get everyone converted to solar and eliminate those light poles!

As for other 'public venues'-I have a police station the local cops can use to pick up extra off-duty money using a KatyPC hack ticketing speeders. The police station is open once in a while.

The doctors, if they're in need of more extensive training, go to the local hospital where they see patients for surgery and dentistry.

The town dump is also open for those who like to pick through it to make money. It too, is very expensive so nobody owns it yet.

I do want my neighborhoods to look realistic but I'm too lazy to build houses and so on. So I just downloaded a bunch of buildings which are just neighborhood deco. I do have a hospital as an actual lot and I'm thinking about adding some more playable buildings

I don't really worry so much - if I wanted any of those buildings, I would probably use hood deco too.

I use hood deco for any buildings I am not interested in playing as well, and that would include factories and power stations, unforunately. Unless a Sim owns a factory, I think that one of these would be difficult to play. I have made and played lots where a few Sims make a bunch of items to sell on-site, but I wouldn't consider those factories.

When I make or download a lot, I prefer places where my Sims can actually do stuff on it. I made a small branch bank using a variation of Monique's ATM. My firehouse has a small grill on the side where Sims can also make meals. They don't have to do a lot of stuff, but they need to be able to do something, and yes, I play these lots.

Creators make new stuff constantly, so the potential for new community lots increases constantly as well. Also, I don't have many large lots, so a power plant would not be on my list to download or create. I wouldn't be surprised if someone has thought of an interactive small power plant, though!

One exception: Zarathustra's parking lots. Those are residential, I believe, but they are still decorative in my game. I have enough real-life experiences with parking lots, thanks! They can stay as deco, even though my Sims could technically live on them, or I can rezone them to community. I think a hood looks weird without parking lots. Those zipping cars need to park somewhere!

Yeah, my custom-made neighborhoods are pretty much just homes with a few community lots and no decorations anywhere except for a few trees already implemented into the map (depending on which map I'm using). So far, I also been using the houses and single community lots I've uploaded here, and I am having fun working hard for the money to buy those homes for my lovely Sims.

Those lots are probably the best example I personally have come up with of this kind of lot, and yeah, I don't really imagine many people actually PLAY them- I kind of meant them to be decorative... which brings me to my next point- be careful rezoning them unless you have mods that'll allow the cars to show up on a community version. In a vanilla game, if you rezone them, the cars will just vanish, *POOF*

I suck at making 'hoods and lots. I get ones made for me and I don't mess with the deco on 'hoods.

I don't make (or download) community lots which are not directly useful to the Sims - there has to be a good reason for a Sim to travel to it because of loading times. I'd probably go with hood deco if I bothered at all.