Playing God.

05.23.2009

Y’know, while we’re busy shooting each other in the jaw, saving the world from immediate destruction, foiling some grand master plan from an insane dictator, and being that one scrappy underdog who gradually comes into their hidden power..

Someone’s out there creating lives.

..and screwing with them.

I actually wish I played The Sims more, I remember being a kid and playing SimCity like a nut, however I wasn’t carefully managing the economy, building residences, promoting business, constructing a easily navigable grid, or any of those responsible things a great mayor should.

I was tearing all of it down.

Call me crazy, but it’s endlessly hilarious when Godzilla is destroying your town while a hurricane goes at odds with a tornado for most buildings flattened, during a massive flash flood and viral outbreak. The disaster slider was my friend, and it was always turned up to max RIGHT when my citizens were experiencing a golden age.

I think it’s the philosophy behind what makes The Sims so much fun to mess around with. Almost like controlling reality TV, it’s a riot to watch these guys succeed as much as it is to watch them fail. We’re on the cusp of the third one’s release, and honestly? I’m tempted. Robust customization options down to a character’s fitness, raising them from kid, the entire town being seamless (one of my complaints was that the indoors felt too disconnected from the outdoors, being less cohesive as a world), and removing the annoying traits (am I the only one who WASN’T fond of making them poop every 5 minutes?) means EA just wants us to have fun focusing on them and their quirks (Did I mention there were over 80 of those things, ranging from klepto to insane?). Given the above video, it looks like it’ll be a riot.

June 2nd can’t come soon enough..


ExpertPenguin

(Thoughts are being concocted...)

http://actualized-pixels.blogspot.com


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    The early Sims community had similar things. People were posting what they were doing with their families. One person of note made eight individuals, each had one item, and all eight were sealed in doorless rooms. The person with the refrigerator died third. The person with the toilet died sixth. The person who survived had a fireplace. He was full on neatness and energy (or whatever that stat was) and he was sent off to the military for a stunning career.

    One of my friends had a woman who spent her nights seducing the man of a different family, and spent her days seducing that man’s wife while he was at work.

    I had a family whose house consisted of three islands in a gigantic pool. The first island contained two single beds. The second contained two toilets and one shower. The third contained the refrigerator, a stove, one counter top, one table, and two chairs. There was no access to the outside. My cousins and I bet on who lived. My younger cousin, Nick, won when the grannie slept throughout the fire that ravaged the ‘kitchen’ island and consumed all those who went to fight it, i.e., everyone else.

    Then, in Sims 2, I made this one guy who lived in a shack in the woods and painted. His mission was to sleep with every woman, then paint their portrait of them in his bed. He had so many paintings, I had to build another with and a second floor for them.

    Maxis: if you’re following the rules of the game, chances are, you aren’t having enough fun.