One feature that really amazes me about the sims is that they are created with an almost life-like characteristics. The game designers ensured that these virtual people can show a full range of facial expressions, as well as simulate human motivations to the extreme.
One time, I created a sim with a bloated face and a tiny pointed nose. He had long blonde hair and a black penciled moustache that resembled that of Salvador Dali. He was loved by everyone and had even married a supermodel who lives across the street. Unfortunately, before he got his wife pregnant, this sim died of electrocution after attempting to repair a malfunctioning TV he bought at a local surplus shop. It had been sold to him by a neighbor who ran the shop and unfortunately coveted his wife. External objects, like the surplus shop, are only possible when the player has installed the Open for Business expansion pack.
As for Brandon Camino, he is now ready to start a new life in Pleasantview. A bum and a bachelor who had a bitter past in the violent streets of Sim City, his aspiration is to have a family someday. A Sagittarian by heart, his deep understanding of the simulated world where he exists, and his eagerness to pursue creative activities is what makes him different from other sims who live in the neighborhood.
I configured his personal background. How he would react and “evolve” as a character would be determined by him.
The game begins with Brandon moving from the family inbox to the Pleasantview map screen. With only 20,000 simoleons, (this is the standard currency in Sims 2) he must find an affordable house in which to live. All start-up players begin with this amount of money so it is impractical to buy an expensive house at the risk of leaving nothing left to buy the essentials that will ensure Brandon’s comfortable existence.
Brandon buys a two-story European townhouse close to the community center, which cost him $12,000. Since the house was barely furnished, I clicked the buy mode screen to purchase a cheap single-person bed, a standard fridge, a telephone, a toilet and a shower cubicle and then finally a TV set worth $500 simoleons. These objects are essential for Brandon’s well being.
In order for a sim to live comfortably in the game, a player must look after his sim’s needs represented by a set of bars. These bars turn red when the sim’s specific need is ignored and turn bright green when the need is fully addressed. These needs are hunger, energy, bladder, hygiene, comfort, fun, and social and environmental well-being.
Hunger is addressed by eating meals whenever a sim’s hunger bar dips below normal levels. A fridge, together with a stove or a microwave oven can provide this need as long as your sim has the funds to buy groceries in the community supermarket. Ignoring this need will certainly cause your sim’s death. Bladder and hygiene can be addressed by a quick trip to the bathroom, provided that there is a shower cubicle and a toilet nearby. Comfort and environment go side by side. Having a sofa in the living room, a tidy house without any flies circling or cockroaches marching across the floor and ensuring regular appliance maintenance will guarantee these two bars’ full level. Finally, getting some sleep in a warm bed or even in a flea-infested sofa will replenish your sim’s energy needs. Ignore this bar and you will find your sim dropping stiff like a log, whenever the energy bar turns zero.
In my game, Brandon is currently busy watching his favorite cartoon in front of the television. By now, all his funds had gone to purchasing everything from a wooden dresser to a lone daisy painting nailed against the kitchen wall. As far as his physical needs are concerned, everything seems to be in perfect order. However, his aspirations have not yet been met. Brandon wants to work in the Military.
Soon, a sim paperboy arrives with the daily newspaper. Brandon goes outside to get the paper. While scanning the job listings, he finds an opening in the local branch of the military. The ad shows that the military is looking for new recruits and Brandon is qualified for the job.
By late afternoon, our sim’s hunger needs significantly call for attention. In a very peculiar manner, he stares blankly into the screen as if addressing me directly. Then he starts to grumble in Simlish (a kind of blabber-talk which is actually the sim’s way of expressing their thoughts and needs) that he is starving. His fridge is stuffed with groceries. I click the object and choose the option “have lunch.” A new submenu appears, allowing me to choose what available meals Brandon can prepare according to his cooking skills.
As the game progresses and your sims grow older, their skills can also improve depending on the career fields they have chosen. Brandon, who dreams of becoming an elite soldier someday, must improve his charisma, mechanical and body skills. These could be achieved by purchasing a mirror, a book case and an exercise machine that are readily available with just one click of the buy mode button.
In his sim-life, Brandon is trying to figure out how to cook a grilled cheese sandwich when the doorbell rings. The sim outside his house is one of his neighbors and she dropped by to welcome him to the neighborhood. Sims 2 will never be the game that it is without the interaction of your sim with another sim. This is where the “virtual dollhouse” concept of Will Wright achieves a full circle. The first meeting between your sim and another sim sets the drama and storytelling feature of the game.
Brandon was so engrossed with his neighbor who dropped by for a visit that he almost burned his grilled sandwich. This wasn’t surprising, because the visitor was none other than the gorgeous Caliente sister Nina. The Caliente sisters are one of the pre-made families that come with Pleasantview.
According to the neighborhood’s background story, Nina and Dina have this reputation of charming any guy that hits their fancy. Dina Caliente once dated both the patriarchs of Goth and Pleasant families, also one of the pre-made families in Pleasantview – until Mortimer Goth passed away due to dubious reasons. Daniel Pleasant was caught by his wife Sue as he flirted with their maid Katrina and was banished from their house. Nina on the other hand, has an ongoing secret relationship with Don Lothario – the so-called Casanova of Pleasantview - behind her sister’s back.
The current state of affairs among the characters in Pleasantview may drag Brandon right at the center of an inter-family conflict. Character for character, Sims 2 can compete with any telenovela anytime.
It must have been Brandon's hidden charms or their compatible astrological signs that convinced Nina to stay the whole day in his apartment. They talked about subjects ranging from fashion, sports and even alien sightings across town which are represented by thought bubbles. They joked around, complimented one another and exchanged gifts before Nina finally called it a night. Gifts are very important in boosting sim to sim relationships in the game. In another game, I once instructed a sim to give a sports car to one of the gorgeous townies and soon after, they got married. Who would have thought that even material objects have a bearing in a simulated environment like Sims 2?
As Brandon’s life progresses, Nina’s relationship with him grows to absolute bestfriends status. The program notices this sudden spike in their relationship. Consequently, Don Lothario begins to make frequent passes by my sim's apartment. He doesn't drop by for a visit even if Brandon is inside the house. But any player, depending on the vividness of his imagination. may feel the growing animosity between them. One false move from Brandon and a fight will ensue between him and the Don.
As I spend more time playing the game, I begin to notice the changes in Brandon Camino’s life. First, his apartment, which used to be the least interesting to visit in the neighborhood, has now become the envy of town. He had gone to the top of his career track in a fraction of the time I receive my bi-weekly paycheck in real life.. His income has now allowed him to buy any object available in the game; he was getting richer and richer, and becoming more and more socially adept.
While life remains stale for me, Brandon’s life basks in the opulence of his wealth.
Throughout his entire lifetime - which can last from one human week (if I spend 5 hours a night playing the game) to a whole year, I will witness an entire life cycle passing in front of me. In such short passage of time, Brandon may have dated five other sims, including even Don Lothario himself (every sim is programmed to have a bisexual orientation); fathered four children from different mothers; adopted a cat or a dog from the pet center using the phone, (With Sims 2 Pets expansion); been abducted by aliens while gazing at the stars through a telescope; gotten bit by a vampire who parties all night in Downtown (With Sims 2 Nightlife expansion); or attempted to become intimate with a female robot from Bluewater Village (With Sims 2 Open for Business).
Looking at all the possibilities that could happen in Brandon’s life, I realize that Sims 2 is a simulation designed to imitate more than what real life can offer a person in a lifetime. The longer one plays a sim character, the more real life begins to feel so boxed-in and drab.
Playing Sims 2 gives a feeling of massive control, an almost supernatural ability to thwart outside forces. Much more than this, it provides hope to the player that all dreams, wants and needs can be met, even if only virtually.
In short, it is like playing God.
As the game designers strive for game development, will there come a time when the sims will eventually be given the power to think, decide and act on their volition? To have free will?
It is possible. But when that finally happens, I will stop playing Sims 2 once and for all, uninstall the game from my computer and keep the boxes which include the expansion packs and the objects catalog, hidden for all time.
When free will finally comes to Sims 2, it can only mean that the sims would no longer need actual human configuration. When sentience is realized, virtual lives would start to blend in with what is real.
Maybe I won’t wait for that time. Maybe it’s time I started to focus more on my own life.
For as addicting as Sims 2 is, simulated gratification can never be hope to be equal to actual real-life fulfillment.
One time, I created a sim with a bloated face and a tiny pointed nose. He had long blonde hair and a black penciled moustache that resembled that of Salvador Dali. He was loved by everyone and had even married a supermodel who lives across the street. Unfortunately, before he got his wife pregnant, this sim died of electrocution after attempting to repair a malfunctioning TV he bought at a local surplus shop. It had been sold to him by a neighbor who ran the shop and unfortunately coveted his wife. External objects, like the surplus shop, are only possible when the player has installed the Open for Business expansion pack.
As for Brandon Camino, he is now ready to start a new life in Pleasantview. A bum and a bachelor who had a bitter past in the violent streets of Sim City, his aspiration is to have a family someday. A Sagittarian by heart, his deep understanding of the simulated world where he exists, and his eagerness to pursue creative activities is what makes him different from other sims who live in the neighborhood.
I configured his personal background. How he would react and “evolve” as a character would be determined by him.
The game begins with Brandon moving from the family inbox to the Pleasantview map screen. With only 20,000 simoleons, (this is the standard currency in Sims 2) he must find an affordable house in which to live. All start-up players begin with this amount of money so it is impractical to buy an expensive house at the risk of leaving nothing left to buy the essentials that will ensure Brandon’s comfortable existence.
Brandon buys a two-story European townhouse close to the community center, which cost him $12,000. Since the house was barely furnished, I clicked the buy mode screen to purchase a cheap single-person bed, a standard fridge, a telephone, a toilet and a shower cubicle and then finally a TV set worth $500 simoleons. These objects are essential for Brandon’s well being.
In order for a sim to live comfortably in the game, a player must look after his sim’s needs represented by a set of bars. These bars turn red when the sim’s specific need is ignored and turn bright green when the need is fully addressed. These needs are hunger, energy, bladder, hygiene, comfort, fun, and social and environmental well-being.
Hunger is addressed by eating meals whenever a sim’s hunger bar dips below normal levels. A fridge, together with a stove or a microwave oven can provide this need as long as your sim has the funds to buy groceries in the community supermarket. Ignoring this need will certainly cause your sim’s death. Bladder and hygiene can be addressed by a quick trip to the bathroom, provided that there is a shower cubicle and a toilet nearby. Comfort and environment go side by side. Having a sofa in the living room, a tidy house without any flies circling or cockroaches marching across the floor and ensuring regular appliance maintenance will guarantee these two bars’ full level. Finally, getting some sleep in a warm bed or even in a flea-infested sofa will replenish your sim’s energy needs. Ignore this bar and you will find your sim dropping stiff like a log, whenever the energy bar turns zero.
In my game, Brandon is currently busy watching his favorite cartoon in front of the television. By now, all his funds had gone to purchasing everything from a wooden dresser to a lone daisy painting nailed against the kitchen wall. As far as his physical needs are concerned, everything seems to be in perfect order. However, his aspirations have not yet been met. Brandon wants to work in the Military.
Soon, a sim paperboy arrives with the daily newspaper. Brandon goes outside to get the paper. While scanning the job listings, he finds an opening in the local branch of the military. The ad shows that the military is looking for new recruits and Brandon is qualified for the job.
By late afternoon, our sim’s hunger needs significantly call for attention. In a very peculiar manner, he stares blankly into the screen as if addressing me directly. Then he starts to grumble in Simlish (a kind of blabber-talk which is actually the sim’s way of expressing their thoughts and needs) that he is starving. His fridge is stuffed with groceries. I click the object and choose the option “have lunch.” A new submenu appears, allowing me to choose what available meals Brandon can prepare according to his cooking skills.
As the game progresses and your sims grow older, their skills can also improve depending on the career fields they have chosen. Brandon, who dreams of becoming an elite soldier someday, must improve his charisma, mechanical and body skills. These could be achieved by purchasing a mirror, a book case and an exercise machine that are readily available with just one click of the buy mode button.In his sim-life, Brandon is trying to figure out how to cook a grilled cheese sandwich when the doorbell rings. The sim outside his house is one of his neighbors and she dropped by to welcome him to the neighborhood. Sims 2 will never be the game that it is without the interaction of your sim with another sim. This is where the “virtual dollhouse” concept of Will Wright achieves a full circle. The first meeting between your sim and another sim sets the drama and storytelling feature of the game.
Brandon was so engrossed with his neighbor who dropped by for a visit that he almost burned his grilled sandwich. This wasn’t surprising, because the visitor was none other than the gorgeous Caliente sister Nina. The Caliente sisters are one of the pre-made families that come with Pleasantview.
According to the neighborhood’s background story, Nina and Dina have this reputation of charming any guy that hits their fancy. Dina Caliente once dated both the patriarchs of Goth and Pleasant families, also one of the pre-made families in Pleasantview – until Mortimer Goth passed away due to dubious reasons. Daniel Pleasant was caught by his wife Sue as he flirted with their maid Katrina and was banished from their house. Nina on the other hand, has an ongoing secret relationship with Don Lothario – the so-called Casanova of Pleasantview - behind her sister’s back.
The current state of affairs among the characters in Pleasantview may drag Brandon right at the center of an inter-family conflict. Character for character, Sims 2 can compete with any telenovela anytime.
It must have been Brandon's hidden charms or their compatible astrological signs that convinced Nina to stay the whole day in his apartment. They talked about subjects ranging from fashion, sports and even alien sightings across town which are represented by thought bubbles. They joked around, complimented one another and exchanged gifts before Nina finally called it a night. Gifts are very important in boosting sim to sim relationships in the game. In another game, I once instructed a sim to give a sports car to one of the gorgeous townies and soon after, they got married. Who would have thought that even material objects have a bearing in a simulated environment like Sims 2?
As Brandon’s life progresses, Nina’s relationship with him grows to absolute bestfriends status. The program notices this sudden spike in their relationship. Consequently, Don Lothario begins to make frequent passes by my sim's apartment. He doesn't drop by for a visit even if Brandon is inside the house. But any player, depending on the vividness of his imagination. may feel the growing animosity between them. One false move from Brandon and a fight will ensue between him and the Don.
As I spend more time playing the game, I begin to notice the changes in Brandon Camino’s life. First, his apartment, which used to be the least interesting to visit in the neighborhood, has now become the envy of town. He had gone to the top of his career track in a fraction of the time I receive my bi-weekly paycheck in real life.. His income has now allowed him to buy any object available in the game; he was getting richer and richer, and becoming more and more socially adept.
While life remains stale for me, Brandon’s life basks in the opulence of his wealth.
Throughout his entire lifetime - which can last from one human week (if I spend 5 hours a night playing the game) to a whole year, I will witness an entire life cycle passing in front of me. In such short passage of time, Brandon may have dated five other sims, including even Don Lothario himself (every sim is programmed to have a bisexual orientation); fathered four children from different mothers; adopted a cat or a dog from the pet center using the phone, (With Sims 2 Pets expansion); been abducted by aliens while gazing at the stars through a telescope; gotten bit by a vampire who parties all night in Downtown (With Sims 2 Nightlife expansion); or attempted to become intimate with a female robot from Bluewater Village (With Sims 2 Open for Business).
Looking at all the possibilities that could happen in Brandon’s life, I realize that Sims 2 is a simulation designed to imitate more than what real life can offer a person in a lifetime. The longer one plays a sim character, the more real life begins to feel so boxed-in and drab.
Playing Sims 2 gives a feeling of massive control, an almost supernatural ability to thwart outside forces. Much more than this, it provides hope to the player that all dreams, wants and needs can be met, even if only virtually.
In short, it is like playing God.
As the game designers strive for game development, will there come a time when the sims will eventually be given the power to think, decide and act on their volition? To have free will?
It is possible. But when that finally happens, I will stop playing Sims 2 once and for all, uninstall the game from my computer and keep the boxes which include the expansion packs and the objects catalog, hidden for all time.
When free will finally comes to Sims 2, it can only mean that the sims would no longer need actual human configuration. When sentience is realized, virtual lives would start to blend in with what is real.
Maybe I won’t wait for that time. Maybe it’s time I started to focus more on my own life.
For as addicting as Sims 2 is, simulated gratification can never be hope to be equal to actual real-life fulfillment.
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