If you’ve read my previous Nooks, you know I’m not a fan of Barbie dolls. Therefore, I was never that little child who had her Barbie dream house or her perfect boyfriend, Ken, who cooked and cleaned while Barbie spent her days at her fantastic job (hey, it’s the 21^st century). Instead, I played house with The Sims.

The Sims, the computer game series by Maxis, was a staple to maintaining strong face-to-face communication with friends. Nothing says bonding with your friends like silently huddling over someone’s computer. Its popularity launched it to equal playing level of World of Warcraft, though it drew in more women than men.

This virtual computer game took playing house to the next level. Its interactive play allowed you to take what existed in your imagination and what you created while playing with your lifeless Barbies to visually appear on screen. Whether it was building a home from scratch, creating a virtual person (an alter-ego never seemed so fun), or managing money, The Sims allowed you to live in a real world. Well, you were sitting in front of a computer screen, but that’s beside the point.

Most of the game designates you to take care of your created Sims’ moods and desires, similar to taking care of a child or a pet. You had to feed the Sims, make sure they were clean and satisfied overall. If their needs were not fulfilled, be prepared to deal with very grumpy Sims who will then whine and refuse your every decision. The game wasn’t so much fun after that.

The game could be boring, just like playing with Barbies. But in The Sims, there were many ways to keep amused. And this is crucial because I, as do many other teens, become bored very easily. If you didn’t want your Sims to exist anymore, put them in a pool with no ladder to get out. Cue the tombstone. If you want your Sims couple to have a kid, place them under the covers and make them get busy. Then make the child ditch class and be sent away to military school. Get fired from a job, choose a new one, restart cycle.

Bet you never want to pick up a Barbie again.

— Compiled by Colleen Bidwill, asst. feature editor, cbidwill@syr.edu

Published on April 17, 2011 at 12:00 pm