Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Sims 2 teaches the drug free about addiction.


Two of my Sims getting dizown on the couch sucka!




My days used to be my own. My nights were used for sleeping, and sometimes, nefarious activity. I used to shop, drape my amazing body in over-priced clothing and paint my lips in dark shades of lipstick that brought all the boys to the yard as Kelis once said, but no more. For months my mistress has been the The Sims 2, an enduring means of entertainment even as its predecessor The Sims 3 boasts its superiority across glossy ad pages. I cannot tear my eyes away from the magnificence that is The Sims 2.

I am a video game purist--or boring weirdo-- it's really according to your opinion which matters little unless you share mine, and I always play games in order. I try to finish a game before I move on to the next in the series (or another game altogether) because I believe in finishing what you start, and if I haven't beat the one that came before it, what right do I have playing any of the sequels? I played God of War years after its initial release, and I played it until I beat it, then I allowed myself to purchase God of War 2. I finished that right around the time God of War 3 came out, and I was proud of myself, I deserved those sequels know what I mean?

It's the same with the Sims. I was playing Sims 1 up until last summer!! I had the complete collection and there were so many things I had yet to master and discover in the game. I hadn't  cast all the spells I wanted to. I hadn't had as many children as I wanted to, I hadn't been promoted as many times as I saw fit. I wanted to ignore money cheats and earn my higher living, my mansion...you get my drift.

So here I sit, still discovering new and exciting things about The Sims 2 and purchasing new expansion packs. I'm still searching out and downloading Custom Content, creating soap operas of my Sims' lives, having all kinds of kids, some even out of *clutch my pearls* wedlock. I have my own  Dynasty on my computer screen, I am the god of their lives.

 There's no better addiction than control addiction, to have the world dance at the twist of my puppet strings, to have hot women become multi-millionaires because of hard work and deft social maneuvers while their hot, Greek-goddess like husbands are their emotional, financial and mental equal. It gives you the American dream that many of us are still clawing for after years and years of clawing. With the Sims 2 I can be all I can be without even leaving my bed or couch. Depressing? No. I leave my bed or couch plenty. To party. And I leave the Sims often, to work and write and become a dynamo of the written word, but today, that pales in comparison to my tales of becoming addicted to a computer game that on paper seems to be simple but is ever so engaging.

How did Will Wright do it? Brilliant I tell ya.

 There's no clear objective to Sims games, you simply create a character and live its life. Feed it (tomagochi style) bathe it, and make sure it exists in a pleasant environment. You make them form social bonds, procreate, perform the run of the mill dastardly deeds of humanity until they kick the bucket and become either an urn on the mantle or a gravestone in the backyard. The parallels with life are striking, which may be the key to its success, and its power to help you waste your actual life by playing the life of something that doesn't exist. Whoa.

It was still cool for then Maxis now EA Games powerhouse to make something so absolutely satisfying while appealing to the traditional gamer and new gen gamers alike. The Sims are my drug. I partake daily, and you should too. My fellow gamers, I thank you for your time.

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