First off, let me assure everyone that I love LDW games and have been playing them since VV1 was released, back in 2006 I think. I'm not trying to pick on anyone or cause distress to anyone that thinks the game is perfect the way it is. I'm hoping it's just that I'm missing something.

Right around Mother's Day I discovered LDW had released VF2. I was very excited as the gaming world releases so few of the type of game I am interested in and I had been bored for quite a long time. My son bought the game for me as a gift. I started playing that day. But it didn't take me long to realize that VF2 wasn't going to fill my desire to play a game. You might think I should know that since I played VF1, but either I had forgotten, or I was a lot more tolerant in those days!

After just 1 day of playing all I was required to do was ... well, not much. They pretty much do everything on their own. So after a few days of diligent playing I thought I would try an experiment. I did this with 5 families at a time so I could see if there were differences.

The first morning I set everyone up so it was all perfect for them making sure they had full stomachs, no one was sick, put the parents to work, etc. Then I didn't check on them again until 12 hours later, before I went to bed. Some of the family members were sick, so I gave them meds, fed them, stocked the fridge, and put them all to bed (the ones that would go, anyway).

The next morning I did the same thing: fed them, medicated them, put them back to work. Seeing as how they didn't require my assistance in a 12 hour period I didn't return to the game until the next day, 24 hours later. No big deal. They didn't seem to miss me.

Most of my families were getting older by that point so I paused my experiment until the next generation came to be (about a day later), then I started the process again.

The first day I fed them, medicated them, put them to work, stocked the fridge, got them a kid or 2 or 4 (naturally and/or adopted) ... the normal things. Only this time I did not go back for 48 hours. Still no big deal. Most were ill, but I gave them their meds, had them make a meal, and put them back to work.

Boiling it all down, I do not see VF2 as a game to actually PLAY. Just start up your family, give them kids (if you want more generations) and that's pretty much it. You can try to finish all the challenges, but that's not "hard," just takes time (waiting). It's probably perfect for people that don't have much time to spend playing, but I find that to be very unfortunate. The families should NEED us, REQUIRE us to take care of them, to teach them, to whatever. But more than just starting up the game, feeding them, giving them medication, and then shutting it down again. I would like things to DO, goals to achieve that are more than just waiting or luck, to WANT to start up the game to play and be involved with my families.

How do YOU play VF2? What do you do to keep YOURSELF busy with the game?