Apple's Virtual Families application allows you to produce or adopt simulated children.
Virtual Families is an Apple application by Last Day of Work and is compatible with Apple products, such as iPod Touch. In this simulation game, you adopt a family, feed and clothe them, and help them build a family of their own. But family members aren't just biological; you're given the chance to adopt children at random points during game play. While it may seem like an added expense to take on an extra child, they may help you in the long run when it comes to winning the game.
The Purpose of Offspring in Virtual Families
In Virtual Families, your goal is to keep your family healthy so that generations upon generations are created. During game play, you win trophies, all of which you aim to obtain before your family---for one reason or another---no longer produces offspring that can start a new generation. Once your married couple can't produce a baby, you can no longer carry on to another generation and have more time to obtain trophies. If you're in this predicament, adopting a child is beneficial. It allows for an offspring when one isn't coming along naturally or with the "baby" shot, a medicinal shot administered to mother or father to increase fertility.
Biological Offspring vs. Adopted Offspring in Game Play
There is no difference between raising an adopted child in Virtual Families as opposed to raising one that came from your adult family members. The only difference is how they're brought about. For instance, by dropping one adult family member over the other adult family member, you initiate a waiting ceremony in which these adult members relocate into the bedroom and wait for baby to appear. If successful, you'll see a baby in mother's arms until the child is 3 years old. If not successful, no baby will appear and the act will end. For adopted children, you receive a "pop-up" on the screen upon opening the application. This screen will inform you that a child has knocked on your door and has asked to join your family. You are then given the option to accept the child or decline the child's offer. Past this stage, raising the child houses the same experience as raising a biological one.
Benefits of Adopting
Adopting the child means you get another chance at carrying on the family. In doing so, this gives you more time to earn the required 100 trophies to win the game, which include collecting certain items that magically appear in your lawn, obtaining copious amounts of money, selling any additional collectibles and buying all upgrades in the home. In addition, adding a child gives you more options when selecting one child to carry on the generation. As some children don't want to have kids when they're older, having more children to choose from when selecting the heir to the house means having a higher probability that one child will, in fact, want children. Wanting children is essential for family members, as it keeps the generation going.
What to Consider before Adopting
Note that the consequences of not adopting a child depends on your situation. You may like to adopt just in case your adult members don't produce babies. If your adult members are older than 40 and have received the baby shot to no avail, adopting the child is ideal as the chance of your adult members producing offspring is slim. However, if you have offspring already or your family is young enough---ages 21 to around 40---to where they will likely produce offspring, you may not see any reason to adopt the child. While there won't be any misfortune, like lowering your food supply and leaving more socks around the house, you lose the higher probability of carrying on the generation.
Tags: Virtual Families, adult members, your adult, adult family, family members