'The Sims' Players Remember The Twisted Sh*t They Did To Their Characters
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Featured Image Credit: EA, Maxis
The Sims is 21 years old, meaning it would be able to buy beer and gamble in Las Vegas in the United States. It took the simple structure of a dollhouse and transformed its playful premise into an outlet for creativity, letting players design their Sims' houses and decide their life paths from cradle to grave. Some Sims lead fulfilled and pleasant lives... some are struck by inexplicable misfortune every step of the way. These are their stories (told by the people who made all of these terrible things happen to them).
Right, there are a few things that you'll need to know about Sims players as we progress through these posts. Firstly, Sims players love a good grudge. "Lily Feng [a random NPC] stole my food that I paid for at a festival," said snorlaxmom666. "I invited her over, planning to lock her in a room and let her die. But then her husband was walking by so I locked her in a room with the bare necessities and a large window looking into my sim's bedroom. Then I seduced her husband while she watched, and I let her go. Maybe you'll pay for your own food now, Lily."
Secondly, Sims players live for drama. Honestly, it's like the Real Housewives of Monte Vista here. Affairs, alien abductions, missing persons cases, whirlwind romances, unplanned pregnancies, and occasionally, all of these at the same time. "I don't like to use money cheats but wanted my sim to get rich quick," began AhemExcuseMeSir. "She seduced Mortimer [Goth, an NPC], convinced him to leave Bella [his wife], married him, and then I spent a good 5 minutes cackling when the split household screen came up and I was able to move Bella and their two children into a small one-bedroom starter while my sim moved into the Goth mansion with Mortimer." One player replied in kind, and even added that they sent Bella to work to support the family instead of Mortimer and his new partner.
Ice cold. Ice. Cold. Thirdly, Sims players are commendable for their creativity, and that's not limited to building and decorating enviable apartment spaces. "I once had a Sim who pissed me off so much that I locked her in a room with those wall speakers that only play Christmas music," said peasant007. "Inside that room was a wall sized television and I forced her to watch the cooking channel while she slowly starved to death. peasant007 ensured the Sim couldn't sleep due to the noise, and that she couldn't relieve herself because there was no bathroom. "I refused to let her change the channel on the television. Only cooking, day and night," they continued. "Fun fact: It takes a Sim about three days to die from starvation."
This one is from Droid85, though I suspect they have a little puppet in a black suit who typed this story out for them. "I downloaded a mod that lets me place negative mood emitters so I created 'The Simferno,' with each room dedicated to a specific negative mood (Depression, Anger, Embarrassment, etc.)," said the player. "I created seven individuals and backstories on why they deserved to be tortured here. Anyways, I played the evil torturer with the evil and mean traits, made his needs static, and proceeded to torture the other individuals. There were seven of them, but I made only one bed, some uncomfortable chairs, one toilet, one sink...
"My torturer sim made enemies with all of them, even one who was a child (although it wouldn't let me fight the child). Any time they were having enjoyable interactions with each other, my sim would interject and use mischief or evil to ruin their mood. Any time a sim fell asleep I would wake them up (except when they would briefly pass out on the floor - I didn't have that option). I tried to keep all the sims just barely alive but I did lose one to hunger."
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Droid85 ended the experiment because they got bored. So, are these stories extremely disturbing and a clear showing that there is no hope for humanity? Not completely. In an issue of The Sims Official Magazine, psychologist Dr Jamie Madigan explained that subjecting Sims to the worst things that the game has to offer isn't that odd. "People may simply be curious about what happens when they create these situations, and the results can even be seen as funny," said Madigan. "There are many different ways of playing the game, and these endless choices are what bring about enjoyment." Continuing to add that achieving those green feedback loops are what attracts players to the game, they elaborated that people might unconsciously use The Sims to work on their insecurities.
"People who used particularly tall avatars tended to be more assertive in negotiations both inside of a virtual world and in the real world immediately after turning off the game," said Madigan. If only "motherlode" worked in reality, though.
