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Inside the Twilight Zone

By Jennie Sue
AsianWeek

Macro-managers who dream of micromanaging and getting a more detailed handle on others’ lives will for sure want to enter into the world of The Sims, Electronic Art’s top-selling PC game that’s been on the hot list since its release in 2000. A company known for a plethora of popular games such as the SimCity series, Madden NFL series, Medal of Honor, etc., EA has kept its multi-million international Sims audience captivated with the release of a whole line of “life”-changing (not to mention risqué) expansion packs, including The Sims Livin’ Large, The Sims Hot Date, The Sims House Party, The Sims Vacation, and the newest October release, The Sims Unleashed. It’s a wonder that Sims gamers haven’t been incorporated into the company’s mainframe — after all, why live your life when you can live someone else’s?

The entire collection wholly welcomes its owner with brand new packaging and tasty retro graphics, calling you from amongst the shelves and shelves of other tempting games. Its simple branding, friendly 3D font with an illustrated roof over the ‘M’, instantaneously creates a familiar recognition and attraction to the game: “Come play with me,” it teases. And of course, why not? What could happen? OK, so lose a few hours of sleep, socialize a bit less and daydream at work a bit more (about the game of course). But beware, o newbies. This game — whose goals are based on psychological and responsible daily life situations — contradicts real life. Go ahead, pay their bills, make them flush the toilet, choose their wallpaper, spend Joe Sims’ hard-earned money, call up their friends, make them fall in love, adopt a pet for them, even train their dog to do tricks. But in the end, “god” returns to reality, and realizes that once again, she has left her bills unpaid, failed to return her friends’ phone calls, did not complete the stack of paperwork due the following morning, and is still hungry despite the pizza her Sims ordered three hours ago.

And with each expansion — oh, the joys of a consumer-based society — comes more careers, neighborhoods, furniture and objects to buy, and of course, characters, bodies and clothes to choose from. In fact, the original The Sims and The Sims Livin’ Large have recently been repackaged, as The Sims Deluxe Edition, which includes The Sims Creator, bestowing upon the proud owner the capacity to custom tailor each Sim’s body shape, size, and skin color; you can even add decals to shirts and scan a photo of someone’s face and apply it to a Sim head.

The Sims collection is simply a nightmare for those lacking patience, but an absolute dream for anyone wanting to appreciate the banality of daily life. So strap in and get cozy: We welcome you to Old Town … where “breathing old life into a new community” is our motto.

Publisher: Maxis, Electronic Arts
Release Date: 2000 - Oct. 2002
Price:
Deluxe Edition: $49.95
Expansion Packs: $29.95 each