For awhile, I loved playing games like Sim City. There was soemthing about watching a little city grow and getcute little extra stuff for getting somewhere. Now, we are talking about the Sim City for the SNES.
So, when the Sims came out, I was intrigued. It took me quite a long time to get to it on my list of videogames. Actually, more like through the pile of them that have become like sand: They are everywhere! I am a total consumer whore when it comes to games, having owned every system with the exception of the Xbox. Well, that isn't true, I owned it once, but the library isn't the great, or wasn't.
The point being, I was at a friends house when he installed The Sims for his ex-girlfriend. Apaprently, her and and best friend had become dangerously addicted to this game. I sat there watching a movie as they fussed over this and that, and the other thing. Most of it sounded insane, but I got a couple of sentences seemed coherant, mostly when the cute sim nieghbor allowed their sim girl to hug and then kiss. I scofted, and that lead to a " Don't knock it until you try it" conversation. Since I am no sissy, I dumped myself into the computer chair and tried it out.
The next thing I remember is my friend telling me that the couch folds out if I want to sleep. The next thing I remember is that the room got lighter as the sun crept up. I had played the game for almost 9 hours. I managed to push the cat off my lap, save the game, then stare at it for a little bit. Finally, I crawled across the living room and slept for a short time. Buy the time I had gotten off the couch from sleep, the now ex had occupied the space where I had. ( It was a precursor to her terrible Star Wars Galaxies addiction).
The game was addictive, but it was nothing but playing real life at faster speeds. I cared what the sim people thought of me, and I joined the Sims ratrace of changing jobs, building a bigger house, trying to fall in love. Every time a sim didn't like me, I would be frantic to make up for whatever mistake I made. These people slowly became real to me, and that was a scary thought looking back. Why was I staying up all night to play real life? Since then, there have been many expansions and add ons that were made to lure new people to their sim doom, but I had managed to save myself from them. The only experience I have had since then was Animal Crossing, and we don't talk about that....