Playing god with The Sims
If you have not played it before, "The Sims" is a stupid computer game where you get to play god – controlling little people who exist within the game. As against games such as World of Warcraft (which I dare not play) where you play marauding maniacs firing magic spells out of your backside, the Sims is rather more pedestrian. Goals vary according to the sort of person you are magically manipulating; they might aspire to make a new friend, to host a party or… ahem… to chat 3 people up at the same party.
You're already seeing where this is going, aren't you.
We bought "The Sims 2" for our eldest to play something pretty harmless that involved complex decisions. There is no gratuitous sex or violence in the game; everything that might occur is artfully censored – so we don't mind her playing it at all (in reality, she lost interest on boxing day after starving her second sims family to death [while ranting that they were not doing as they were told] – looking after people is still an abstract concept to her 9 year old brain).
The trouble comes when Dad plays the game – and in true "software developer" style, I couldn't just play the game. I immediately found out the cheat code to get unlimited money – which took all of the drudgery out of the mechanics. Suddenly I was free to have fun. To experiment with the sociology and psychology built into the game. I could not only pose questions; I could answer them.
What would happen if a girl proposed to a guy? What would happen if that guy ran off with the girl from next door? What would happen if the same girl or guy kissed several people at the same party?
It was interesting to see which morals the game is pre-programmed to react to with it's cookie cutter personality modelling. Apparently flirting with somebody you only just met garners a shove or a slap – whereas talking to them bewitches them (albeit slowly). It would appear that talking to somebody you initially hate (and that hates you back) can turn their head eventually. It suddenly becomes the better game; who are the most unlikely people that you can push together?
Apparently offspring use the digital DNA of parents to govern their appearance, and childhood experiences and activities will help form the personality of the future generations of Sim people you might cultivate.
Although I find it fun to play for an hour or so now and again, I'm also weirded out by it. In the same way that Grand Theft Auto let you go on the rampage with a gun, the Sims allows altogether more dangerous activities; inflicting pleasure, pain, sorrow, delight, loss, happiness, and sadness. Grand Theft Auto was somehow more acceptable because it was shallow… the depth of the imaginary people in The Sims changes the game entirely.
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