Have you ever played The Sims, reader? Have you ever thought of yourself as a sim? Some gibberish-speaking mannequin with a green diamond floating above your head? Adjusting the stats bars for hunger, sleep, fun, hygiene, etc., as necessary?
How about the player? Ever wished you had the power to tell people what to do, how to do it, what to say, when? Ever wished someone (a skilled player, ideally) had that power over you? Ever worry that someone already does?
I see the world as quests and stats and value-quantifications of experience. Reading a book has more value than watching a movie, for example. Spending time with friends has more value than surfing the web. I consider social value, knowledge value, cultural value, character value, and more. That doesn’t make me diligent, or disciplined, or “good.” Not as much as I want to be, at least. But I also ascribe value to that way of thinking. Surely it’s better than apathy, right?
Back to The Sims. This is what I want: to be able to think of myself as an entity outside my own selfish interests. To pull the camera out of my eye sockets, way back into the sky, where I can look down on myself and click the cancel button on the “Go get a cheeseburger” goal. Change it to “Write a novel” or “Practice harmonica” or “Make simoleons.” No way I would let a sim get away with the lazy or pointless things I do. I want to make my sim the best he can be. Objectively, the best.
I want to be my own sim. Maybe one day I will be. After all, most of the things I say are already gibberish.
– H.
