Shooting Screenshots in the 1st Person Perspective – Sims Writing

English and Creative Writing was always a pain. As much as I love creative writing, there’s always something about the different points of view in story-writing.

Anyone who has taken writing courses knows that there are four POV that are generally used by writers:

1) First Person POV – a storytelling technique where the narrator is a character in the story and shares their experiences, thoughts, and emotions with the reader. The narrator uses first-person pronouns like "I," "me," and "my" to convey their perspective or a peripheral character telling the protagonist's story.

2) Second Person POV - a narrative technique where the narrator addresses the reader using the pronoun "you". This makes the reader feel like they are part of the story, as if they are the protagonist or another character. This POV is much less common because it’s tricky to pull the reader into a story and make them feel as though they are a character within the story. Generally used by advanced writers.

3) Third Person Limited - a narrative technique where the narrator only has access to the thoughts and emotions of a single character in the story – it is much like first person except that the main character is referred to in the third person as if the reader was looking at the person from outside yet still felling their emotions and thoughts like an x-ray or a mind-reader.

4) Third Person Omniscient - a narrative point of view where the narrator is all-knowing and can access the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of every character in the story. This allows the narrator to move between characters, interpret events from different perspectives, and share information that other characters don't know.

I generally tend to write in Third Person Omniscient, but I felt that this time my legacy would have a bigger punch when I write in First Person as it deals with recurring instances of narcissistic behavior – and how it has affected the main character growing up as well as the ramifications of that abuse into adulthood.

However that in itself has limited my ability to take screenshots of any of the peripheral characters when they are not in the “same room” as the main character. Because mainly, when they are out of sight...they’re out of the character’s mind. For example the above shot where River is out selling a painting to her friend Bebe Hart. The only way that I would be able to take any shots of the character that are in line with the story is when the main character thinks of what the other person may be doing. In this way first person POV is limiting when it comes to screenshots of my Sims games and knowing when to take those shots is key in putting together that story.

When choosing a POV to write a story in, you have to tailor the screenshots to what the limiting POV will be. If you're in a 3rd Person Omniscient POV then go crazy with the C key. As the omniscient all-seeing narrator of the story, you can be anything, everywhere...all at once... Ha ha..and it's not just a movie title.

It's just a point to think about when you're choosing your POV in which to write your story.