'Sims' leads to change in columnist's lifestyle
Travis L. Ross
Issue date: 9/23/04 Section: Editorial
I bought "The Sims 2" Friday, and as of Sunday night my brain had been reduced to something with roughly the texture and mental capacity of a skinned kumquat.
It's more addictive than "Puzzle Bobble" or "Yahoo Text Twist."
"The Sims 2" is supposed to be a life simulation game, and as far as I can tell, it's right on the money.
I created a Sim in my likeness and with my attributes, which wasn't difficult. I then chose to make my Sim's life mission to strive for popularity.
You learn a lot about yourself when you play a game like "The Sims 2" and plug yourself into it. For instance, I learned that nobody likes me, no women want to woohoo with me, and after living a short life filled with rejection I'm destined to die of electrocution because my mechanical skills aren't high enough.
Needless to say I didn't feel like getting out of bed the next morning or using my electric shaver.
So, in a quest for a more positive result, I plugged my little loser back into the equation. This time he got a good job, got lucky, got married and had a kid. It's the whole, "First you've gotta get the khakis" theory.
"The Sims 2" isn't like most games where you play for an hour or so and stop. I sat around for an entire day making my little trooper eat, sleep, shower, go to the bathroom, go to work, study, paint, clean up and try to get lucky. His life is more exciting than mine, and he doesn't even really do anything.
If the game could only be a little more applicable to my life, I could almost justify playing so much. Maybe SIUE should have the computer science department build a program called "SIUE: The Sims."
Instead of guiding a little person through life, you can guide a Sim through four years at SIUE while making such crucial decisions as: will your person be a class-cutter, how big of a partier will the Sim be, will the Sim get involved in extracurriculars, will your person go to the gym, what will the dating life be like and will your Sim graduate on time?
To add more difficulty to the game, you can have nurses chasing around students who aren't up to date on their shots with needles, you have to keep your apartment clean to pass inspections, you have to get a spot on the Cougar Shuttle between 8 and 10 a.m. on the 400-side of Cougar Village and you have to stay out of trouble with the police.
And, if you have any free time, I recommend trading in the Tostino's Party Pizzas and eating something healthy, like a kumquat.
Travis L. Ross
Columnist
Radiomn1@hotmail.com
It's more addictive than "Puzzle Bobble" or "Yahoo Text Twist."
"The Sims 2" is supposed to be a life simulation game, and as far as I can tell, it's right on the money.
I created a Sim in my likeness and with my attributes, which wasn't difficult. I then chose to make my Sim's life mission to strive for popularity.
You learn a lot about yourself when you play a game like "The Sims 2" and plug yourself into it. For instance, I learned that nobody likes me, no women want to woohoo with me, and after living a short life filled with rejection I'm destined to die of electrocution because my mechanical skills aren't high enough.
Needless to say I didn't feel like getting out of bed the next morning or using my electric shaver.
So, in a quest for a more positive result, I plugged my little loser back into the equation. This time he got a good job, got lucky, got married and had a kid. It's the whole, "First you've gotta get the khakis" theory.
"The Sims 2" isn't like most games where you play for an hour or so and stop. I sat around for an entire day making my little trooper eat, sleep, shower, go to the bathroom, go to work, study, paint, clean up and try to get lucky. His life is more exciting than mine, and he doesn't even really do anything.
If the game could only be a little more applicable to my life, I could almost justify playing so much. Maybe SIUE should have the computer science department build a program called "SIUE: The Sims."
Instead of guiding a little person through life, you can guide a Sim through four years at SIUE while making such crucial decisions as: will your person be a class-cutter, how big of a partier will the Sim be, will the Sim get involved in extracurriculars, will your person go to the gym, what will the dating life be like and will your Sim graduate on time?
To add more difficulty to the game, you can have nurses chasing around students who aren't up to date on their shots with needles, you have to keep your apartment clean to pass inspections, you have to get a spot on the Cougar Shuttle between 8 and 10 a.m. on the 400-side of Cougar Village and you have to stay out of trouble with the police.
And, if you have any free time, I recommend trading in the Tostino's Party Pizzas and eating something healthy, like a kumquat.
Travis L. Ross
Columnist
Radiomn1@hotmail.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
farnath_i8
farnath_i8
posted 9/27/04 @ 11:56 PM CST
I loved this article. I got the Sims 2 on that Sunday as well, and my homework has been fighting a valiant but utterly futile battle for importance ever since. (Continued…)
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