The Sims 3: A Digital Distraction

I love the computer game the Sims 3. As dorky as that may sound, I have so much fun delving into the interests and motivations of my little computerized people. Many people are unaware of this game, and if they are aware, have never played it to understand its entertainment value. In 2000, Electronic Arts made a bold and ultimately genius decision when it decided to branch out from the original SimCity and create a full scale simulated human world, where gamers can be in charge of certain "Sims" and help guide their actions, using their needs and motivations. The innovative game became extremely popular, and www.wikipedia.org notes that by 2002, the Sims "had sold more thatn 6.3 million copies worldwide". This enormously successful game was new for fans of SimCity, and opened a new type of computer game experience for everyone.

I never had played an extensive amount of computer games until I heard of The Sims. I wasn't very good with computers at all actually. And then I got the Sims for Christmas, and it was over. My free time for at least 2 months was spent playing multiple hours of the Sims, developing multiple families at once, all the while quite fascinated at how much fun it was to play this simple game. Building houses, arranging furniture, growing families, and expanding neighborhoods was for me something I had never anticipated I would like. It is comparable to when I was younger and would "play house", messing about my little toy kitchen, pretending to be a little mommy. While the game's virtual life was much more impersonal than my pretend childhood game, it was, and still is, interesting to play out real life in a digital format.

But why, you ask, should I care about The Sims? Well, since you are reading my blog, and I happen to be an avid Sims fan, it is vitally important to my character! I hope that I as a multi-faceted person that I strive to be, people view me not only as a Greek who works at Qdoba and likes soccer, but who can also play a mean game of The Sims 3. And so as I sit here on my computer on a Friday, with endless free time ahead of me, the first thing that comes to mind besides a nice long nap is to boot up the Sims, and immerse myself in my digital world. Off to Sim City!