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Agoraphobia - literally 'fear of the marketplace' - characterized by a fear of leaving the safety of home or venturing into the open.
This is an Internet Lover Challenge, from TSR's Forums - the rules can be found here:
http://forums.thesimsresource.com/showthread.php?t=313007
Short version of said rules - Can one sim find love solely using the computer?
This is an Internet Lover Challenge, from TSR's Forums - the rules can be found here:
http://forums.thesimsresource.com/showthread.php?t=313007
Short version of said rules - Can one sim find love solely using the computer? StefMan27: Hey Everyone
BarbieKenGurl (Private): Hey, Stef - so, you have that picture you promised me?
StefMan27 (Private): Yes, finally - Link here... StefMan27: See, I go outside. Occasionally. Ok, not often. Fine, I went outside just to take this picture, then I went back inside. Happy now?
BarbieKenGurl: Dayum, boy, what's a fine specimen like you doing holed up in your house? You have NO business being a computer geek, either, fine as you are...
StefMan27: That's...a long story.
BarbieKenGurl: One you aren't going to tell right now?
StefMan27: Got it in one, BKG
*BarbieKenGurl sighs and shakes her head. What a waste. Well, you just caught me - was about to go to work.
StefMan27: Cya
--BarbieKenGurl has logged out --Carlover88 has logged in
StefMan27: Oh, hey, Carla
Carlover88: Hey Stefan, how goes?
StefMan27: (Private) The new SSX game is out - I got a credit in the manual
Carlover88: That's great! I might have to pick it up and look for your name!
StefMan27: Stefan Magnusson, under "Tech Writers"
Carlover88: Ah, I see you're as creative as I am when it comes to chat nicknames.
StefMan27: Indeed :D
Carlover88: Can't stay long, just thought I would pop in before work and say hi if you were on..
StefMan27: Hi/bye, then Stefan got up from the computer and stretched, then headed for the easel. He wasn't very good, but it was relaxing, and "relaxing" was something he sorely needed. He'd been fast-tracked through grad school and became one of the youngest PhD's the university had ever had. Then he went to work for one of the biggest software developers in the country. And they'd burned him out in a year. By the time the therapist was done with him he was functional, but he'd developed a fear of being in situations where he wasn't in total control - which effectively meant any situation where he was outside the safe haven of the house. He'd become an agoraphobe. Work was out of the question - what do to? His father's money had bought this little house, and now here he was. He did freelance writing for money when he needed to, and emailed with his father's lawyer when he had to deal with the outside world. For the retainer that his father was paying him, the man could deal with Stefan's needs - they were few enough. Lately, though, he'd been coming back out of it a bit. Oh, he certainly didn't come out when curious neighbors came ringing his doorbell... But he was befriending the neighborhood strays, and stepping outside at other times than the dead of night when no one would be around. Mostly, though, he had the internet. He had forums and chat rooms, and he was beginning to get to know some people...and that limited contact was ok. There were two people (they said they were girls, but who knew, really?) who he especially liked to talk to - BarbieKenGurl, also known as Kendra, and Carlover88, also known as Carla. Kendra had been most useful pointing him to cooking websites, as his cooking was...well, subpar. She'd also pointed out that he could grow at least a few vegetables, and he was working on that. He wasn't that great at it, though. He was pretty well continually emailing her asking her advice on this or that. Thankfully she didn't seem to mind. He did eventually manage to get a crop, although it was, like his cooking, subpar. Even so, the tomatoes were a step up from what the grocery delivery service provided... So, with Kendra's email advice, he began expanding his garden. It was Carla, though, who had provided the most useful advice. She had told him that he needed to have backup hard copies of certain things, like how to fix his computer. That came in very handy one day when he sat down at his computer Only to find its magic black smoke pouring out of it. He couldn't imagine calling a repairman...didn't even have a phone, actually...so he unearthed the manual that he'd kept - he had mentioned that he was going to get rid of it, because all that info could be found online, and Carla had verbally smacked him upside the head and pointed out that if his computer was broken, he couldn't very well look up the info online. That had been somewhat embarassing, but at least she hadn't been able to actually *look* at him. While the repairs were not without incident, he did manage to get the thing working again. The first thing he did was email Carla and thank her.
She responded by pointing him towards a lot of home improvement and repair websites, but not before telling him that she'd missed him. It had been 12 whole hours since she'd last gotten an email from him, after all. The car repair site she pointed him to - her name was Carlover88 after all - was really interesting. He'd never really done any kind of work that got his hands dirty, and he thought that might be an interesting change. So he emailed his father's lawyer - that retainer thing, again, and got him to arrange delivery of a junker to fix up.
That certainly kept him occupied for a while. He wasn't really good with mechanical things, after all. Although the big bonus was that he got to email Carla more. She never seemed to be in the chat room anymore - she said her job kept her busy. She seemed happy enough to tell him all about the car shows she'd been to, though, and give him tips on restoring the car he had...and the best websites to order all the supplies he needed.
He began working on the junker, slowly restoring it. He gave Carla a progress report in his daily emails, and she was always full of warm encouragement - sometimes he'd read her emails two and three times - they made him glow. Eventually he had something he was quite proud of. He even got in it and revved the engine. He pondered driving somewhere...but no - that was too far from home, too far from safety. So he left it where it was. Eventually he emailed his father's lawyer again and asked if he'd arrange to have it sold. The money from that sale ended up being enough for him to live on for a full year, so he was glad he'd done it. Thanks to Carla he was getting better at fixing things...when the bathtub faucet blew he knew just where to go to figure out what to do. When he told her that he'd fixed the bathtub she told him she was proud of him, and that made him feel good inside. And these days he could fix the computer without thinking about it, really. He should probably get a new one, but this one was like an old friend. It was how he'd met the two friends he currently had - Kendra and Carla. His friend Kendra told him about her bug collection - in email, as she never seemed to be in chat either - and he decided to try that, so he caught some fireflies in a jar... And watched them for a while... But in the end he just couldn't put them on pins in a box - he took them back outside and let them go. He wanted them to be free...more free than he was, anyway. After he brought the jar back in and got ready for bed - his sleeping schedule was a bit odd these days - he realized something...he was lonely. He had to sleep now, but he resolved he'd do...something...about that when he woke up again. He woke up in the early afternoon and got online. While he hoped it was hoping he could find Carla, at this point he didn't even care which of his two friends he saw first...he just wanted to talk to someone in person...for once. He checked the chatroom as a matter of course, and was shocked to find that Carla was online!
He asked what brought her online after so long, and she said that she didn't know, she'd just had a feeling. He sucked up his courage and asked her if she was still interested in meeting in person. When she'd initially mentioned it months before he'd broken down and confessed his secret, that he was nearly housebound. She had said she was sorry and had never brought it up again. This time, it was he who asked. She asked him if he was sure, and he said that yes, he was. She said all right, and he gave her his address. She told him that she was a scant 15 miles away, and could be there in 30 minutes. Before he chickened out he told her to come on over. When she logged out he began frantically cleaning his house. Stefan was halfway through when he realized he hadn't dressed, so he threw on some clothes as fast as he could. He was just finishing up cleaning the kitchen when the doorbell rang.
Stefan turned and looked at the door, pulse racing. She was here. There was someone at his door...and he could answer it, or he could ignore it, as he had so many times before. He almost turned back to the kitchen...but no...this was Carla. He'd been emailing and chatting with her for nearly a year. He knew her...she was *safe*... So he put down his cleaning supplies and walked out the front door.
"Carla?" he said, and she turned and smiled at him.
"Stefan! You opened the door!"
"It was...a near thing," he said to her, swallowing.
"Are you ok?"
"Yes, I'll be fine," Stefan said, and smiled at her. She was still Carla, the person he had talked to about everything...the person who knew his secrets and accepted him anyway. "Oh, Stefan, your picture didn't do you justice," Carla said.
"Neither did yours...gods I'm glad to meet you finally," Stefan said, reaching a hand up and gently touching her face. She lifted her hand and took her hand in his, and smiled at him. "Are you?" she asked, and he nodded. "You're...safe," he said, "I think...if you're with me, I might even be able to go somewhere." "Why don't we start with inside? We can talk," Carla said, and Stefan nodded and followed. He'd follow her anywhere... Challenge complete! It took Stefan 35 days to complete this challenge....so I had to feed him some elixir. Thankfully he had plenty of aspiration points for it! He actually had two girls, Carla and Kendra, up over 70/70, which is needed for the instant love upon meeting...but they wouldn't come back into chat! All those points were via emails - he was sending at least five emails a day. Finally Carla did get online, so she was the lucky girl.
Hope you enjoyed this little challenge. I really enjoyed playing it!
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57 Comment(s) posted so far
On Jun 23, 2008 suzdez999 wrote:
Really enjoyed that Deagh! Having said that with your main character, you couldn't go far wrong.
Sue
On Jun 23, 2008 converse02 wrote:
haha!
I think I'll try it to, lets see how much patience I can have.
Anyways great story, loved how you wrote it, very thorough. 5++ for sure!
On Jun 23, 2008 arc1801 wrote:
On Jun 23, 2008 MsBarrows wrote:
Good story deagh! I've always wanted to try that challenge, too!
On Jun 23, 2008 maxi king wrote:
On Jun 23, 2008 KionaPlay wrote:
On Jun 23, 2008 Limefwooper wrote:
Love the title
Cool story 
On Jun 23, 2008 thekewlestnerd wrote:
Great story!
On Jun 23, 2008 Lailey01 wrote:
Great story! It was really intriguing and moved along quickly. I liked it. I've always wanted to try a challenge but then I think I'd prefer to play without them. Are they worth it? 4.0
On Jun 23, 2008 Devalyn wrote:
Great story, thanks for sharing! I want to try this challenge too, after I finished my exams - I haven't played sims since two months
Now it's only one week left, I can't wait!
On Jun 23, 2008 kezsridg wrote:
On Jun 23, 2008 SnowiJingleBells wrote:
Great story!
On Jun 23, 2008 maryash2 wrote:
That was a really good story, I really enjoyed it!
On Jun 23, 2008 Nike84 wrote:
I love it...it's great...good job...
On Jun 23, 2008 febre79 wrote:
Very nice!
On Jun 23, 2008 MrsBettyV wrote:
That was really good. I couldn't stop reading. LOL
On Jun 23, 2008 MinnieID wrote:
very nice.
On Jun 23, 2008 lulu15 wrote:
On Jun 23, 2008 estatica wrote:
Oh, this was such a great story! I haven't heard about the challenge, but it sure sounds interesting!
On Jun 23, 2008 Angela! wrote:
On Jun 23, 2008 mini me3393 wrote:
I love stories based off of challenges! This was a really good idea, and I'm glad that he found love.
On Jun 23, 2008 muggelx1 wrote:
very good story,i like it
On Jun 23, 2008 charliefell wrote:
brilliant story
loved it
On Jun 23, 2008 twinkletoe wrote:
Enjoyed the story. I like that it was based off a challenge.
On Jun 23, 2008 Thera_M wrote:
It was greatly written, It made me want to play that challenge too
On Jun 23, 2008 7hir7een wrote:
You made a very good story out of that challenge!
On Jun 23, 2008 simmergal5513 wrote:
very well written!
On Jun 23, 2008 TrailRunner782 wrote:
Great job, congrats on completing it! I don't know if I'd have the patience.hehehe 5.0!!
On Jun 23, 2008 deagh wrote:
Thanks for all the great comments! A couple of folks have asked me this, so I'll respond here - This is not a TSR Challenge, it's one of the member-invented challenges that can be found in the Community Challenges section of the TSR forums. There's a sticky thread with links to all of them, which you can find here:
http://forums.thesimsresource.com/showthread.php?t=304188
Some of them are great fun!
On Jun 23, 2008 aaa00a wrote:
Loved your story. It's one of my fav challenges. A bit suprised it took you 35 days to do, mine all finished in 8. But then, they never do much more than chat and email constantly til they meet. As long as you enjoyed playing it, that's all that matters.
On Jun 23, 2008 plyangel456 wrote:
Great job! I enjoyed reading it! -plyangel456-
On Jun 23, 2008 maryash wrote:
good
On Jun 23, 2008 bryjhiro10 wrote:
This is a great story and i didn't really think it was possible to do this. I'm definately gonna be trying this one.
On Jun 24, 2008 babygrl12345 wrote:
very nice! way to go!
On Jun 24, 2008 kinkyxchina wrote:
Very good
On Jun 24, 2008 MotoD wrote:
Funny story good job
On Jun 24, 2008 kitfu11 wrote:
Good job! I plan on trying this challenge soon.
On Jun 24, 2008 whitmartinez wrote:
On Jun 24, 2008 dwkulcsar wrote:
Wow interesting challenge and story
On Jun 24, 2008 Lauren-Alicia wrote:
wow look at the comments!! so cool i might even try this challenge!!!
On Jun 24, 2008 PAP3RxH3ARTS wrote:
Awesomeness
On Jun 24, 2008 PAP3RxH3ARTS wrote:
Oopsies forgot to rate.
On Jun 24, 2008 Megan1013 wrote:
Cool movie....loved it!
On Jun 24, 2008 wrote:
Haha, even as an agoraphobic clone, Dathan still gets the ladies.
I enjoyed this a lot, and it looks like you had fun with it too!
On Jun 24, 2008 ladiibug91 wrote:
that was pretty good. i don't really know the challenge rules here because i'm new to all the features to the cite, but that was a good story.
sorry if thats a lil insulting, but seriously, all i know are downloads and stories from the sims 2 official site.
but yea that was pretty sweet
On Jun 24, 2008 Saoz wrote:
Well done, deagh.
On Jun 24, 2008 Mikes9339 wrote:
I really like it
On Jun 24, 2008 creamkisses wrote:
You did this challenge so well!!!!!!!!
On Jun 24, 2008 creamkisses wrote:
On Jun 24, 2008 qvisn wrote:
That was very well done Deagh, thanks for the story and im off to the Community Challenges to take a look. 5.
On Jun 25, 2008 cutedazy wrote:
I loved it!
On Jun 26, 2008 finsgirlie wrote:
this was such a cute story and a inventive story line...i loved how he was afraid to go outside...LOL!!
nice job 5.0! 
On Jun 30, 2008 Giddye wrote:
What a very clever way to play the challenge! And your story made a lot of sense and was simple to read which means it was written very well! Nice work, and you seemed to have fun too!
On Jul 12, 2008 fizz bomb wrote:
Great story
On Jul 18, 2008 wrote:
With the main character played by Dathan and you as the writer, how could you go wrong?? Love it,
On Apr 4, 2009 Sn00ks1 wrote:
Very good. Sad to see that some people don't understand this is a real condition. I have had it for over 35 years. Anyway, well done.
On Apr 7, 2009 Sealee wrote:
Very very very good
Great story 