The story of how a simulation of real life became my life.

It was the 14th of February 2014 and my first day as an official University student living in a hall. This was it, my opportunity to leave my old life behind, experience new things, become a new person! I was surrounded by other young, like-minded people, that I could share stories and build connections with, maybe even lifelong friendships.

It was at this point, that I locked the door of my room, retreated to my bed, and played The Sims 4 for five hours straight.

In fact, the majority of my first week at university was spent in isolation, on my computer, building virtual homes and paying virtual bills. I hadn’t even played the game since the day I downloaded it in a fleeting moment of boredom. So why now did I find myself so invested in a simulated life at such an exciting and important time of my actual life?

The notion of becoming immersed in another world is not an uncommon one and as I have learnt over this course does not have to be restricted to sophisticated virtual reality technologies or ultra-realistic games. It can be an activity I am much more used to like getting lost in a book. And if you had asked me at the time why I was playing The Sims, my answer probably would be escapism. It was the sheer terror I felt at the thought of having to mingle that made me a recluse and The Sims was just my way of escaping reality. But if this was all it was, what was suddenly so appealing to me about this game, why couldn’t I just pick up a book, read it and get the same effect? 

I believe the underlying reason was control. Indeed as a first-year University student, I had every opportunity in front of me to succeed and build the life I wanted for myself. In the same respect, I had every opportunity to fail at it. With The Sims, however, I had the ability to control my narrative and the story’s end was not so ambiguous as my own. Unlike the dwindling potential prospects of a BA undergraduate, I could choose the artist career and that was that. My sim could be outgoing, funny and social, not shy, insecure and too scared to use the communal bathroom. But there is a reason we don’t like stories where the character lives a perfect life, faces no challenges and always succeeds and eventually, I got bored of my Sims perfect story. 

This experience taught me a couple of things. Firstly, knowing the ending is boring. There is a reason we don’t all flip to the end of a book and read the final pages before we begin. The Sim’s allowed me to have full control of the narrative, I could build the perfect home, master the career, but once I achieved all this there was not much fun to be had. Although I’m sure people who play The Sims as a fun game rather than to live vicariously through a Sim as a psychological defence against the fear-inducing ambiguities of their reality will have a better experience. Secondly, if you are going to play The Sims, definitely get the awesome animal hats expansion pack, it’s worth it.