The Sims 4
The Sims is a series of video games that should not be as fun as it is.
Regardless, countless serious and casual gamers have a fond nostalgic attachment to the experience of spending hours controlling the lives — and sometimes the deaths — of their own fictional household.
The appeal of the games is easy to understand: They’re like playing with a dollhouse. Unlike with a real dollhouse, however, you are not restricted to re-enacting typical scenes from domestic life or playing with the designated “mom,” “dad” or “child” figures. In The Sims, you are allowed to design the life of your choosing and live out a variety of wacky scenarios.
Don’t want to play in a sterile family environment? No problem. Set up a Friends-style house full of young adults and let the good times begin. Your Sims were almost always ready to party, flirt, or “woo-hoo” — just be careful not to “try for a baby,” or your house might just get a little more crowded.
The Sims gives players the freedom to customize almost everything in the lives of their Sims; their looks, families, homes, relationships and even towns are all subject to the imagination of the player. For this reason, The Sims has been a part of my life on-and-off for years now.
As a middle schooler, I loved the opportunity to get creative, and I designed a variety of dream homes for my numerous Sims families. The game made me feel powerful as well; when nothing else in my life was under my control, I was able to create and enact ideal scenarios for my virtual families. I used cheats to give my Sims unlimited cash, which allowed them to experience luxurious, leisurely lives.
I would even download modifications so I could enact Real World-like scenarios with characters from a variety of TV shows, movies or books. My friends and I would play together, taking turns controlling the characters until we cried from laughing so hard.
I revisited the series a couple years ago on my boyfriend’s computer. Though The Sims 3 was different from The Sims 2, which I’d grown to love, the game was like revisiting an old friend. I enjoyed completing little tasks to help my Sims achieve their goals and throw even more elaborate parties for all their virtual friends.
One day I decided to play The Sims while taking a break from studying for an exam. While I was excitedly prepping my Sims to go on really nice dates, I accidentally broke the fictive dream of the series. As I chose new formal attire for my Sims, I realized that all this energy I was putting into the fake universe was ultimately for naught. I wasn’t building real relationships or skills, even though my Sims’ skill points had grown considerably. There were no real parties or dates on my horizon. All I had to look forward to was an exam the next day. The real fun I was having was the joy of being in control of something for a change, rather than being overwhelmed by schoolwork.
Though I haven’t played any of the games much since then, I can’t imagine a world without The Sims. Our generation grew up on the series; I’ve been to several parties where people were brought together by reminiscing about the sheer silliness of the games.
However, the age of The Sims might finally be coming to an end: It was announced this week that Maxis Emeryville, the studio behind SimCity in 1989 as well as the original The Sims in 2000 and the fantasy creature creation game Spore in 2008, has closed its doors. While the latest Sims game, The Sims 4, will still be supported by EA, it’s tragic that such an important institution in gaming has met its end.
I guess there are some things that can’t be controlled.
