So presuming you don’t like college, but like the instruments (for sake of example), you keep Uni installed and put up with the annoyances.

EVERY TS2 EP did this, mainly through those persistent wants to go on a date/buy a pet/hire so-and-so/go on vacation etc.

I’ve been thinking about how this relates to telling a neighbourhood storyline.

The added features seem to create the need to ‘write them into’ the story somehow. I really resent how TS2 compels you to add a college, or if you want to go all-out build one from scratch. Each EP added superfluous features which I personally didn’t enjoy (can’t speak for you of course) and over time build up to create a sense of ‘gameplay bloat’. Maybe they were fun the first time, but not the fiftieth.

“I’ll buy a pet for this family. Oooh, they should go on a honeymoon vacation! Let’s join the secret society. She wants to start a business – let’s run it out of her living room”.

Yes, it’s optional, and you can reduce the annoyances with mods, but I ended up taking the drastic approach. The last time I installed TS2 I stuck to the EPs I liked the most – University (for instruments!), Nightlife, OFB, Seasons and Freetime. I didn’t add any sub neighborhoods. I was mostly happy.

I want to play a computer game and be creative, not put up with bloated gameplay.

TS3 will, no doubt, come with close to a dozen expansion packs in the next few years. I’m going to be happy playing a streamlined, EP-free base game for a while.