The world is two years later Covid-19 pandemic, and things are not back to normal yet. Or even some trace of life before 2020. The availability of vaccines for younger generations is providing some measure of comfort and protection, to be sure. But as adults repeatedly refuse to be vaccinated (and as vaccine disparities around the world persist), the coronavirus continues to persist and mutate, posing new threats even to those who are not. vaccinated. There’s a lot to think about and live with every day, especially while still navigating work, family, and the challenges of everyday life. Fleeing feels imperative, but they’re nowhere. Bad news spread with no relief in sight. That’s why 2021 is my downfall. That’s why this year is the last year I came back The Sims.
I spent a decade avoiding this franchise. Not because it’s not fun, but because it’s, perhaps, too passion. I spent a lot of time playing The Sims 3 After it came out in 2009, I had to take a complete step back from the game. I spent hours in its little world, finding comfort and enjoyment in being a (benevolent) little dictator over my Sims’ lives as they went to work, decorate the house. doors and build their relationships. It’s addictive, and I’ve given up everything in the real world to play in its virtual world. With The Sims, I was not in control of myself.
Now I’ve decided that I just don’t care. My internal argument against picking The Sims 4 In the past few years I haven’t had the time to indulge in it that I had in the past. My time is still sacrosanct, but these days a lot of time is spent worrying, and the numbing joy of The Sims can really alleviate that — and these days, I’m much more restrained.
After (impatiently) waiting for the game to download and install, I spent several consecutive four-hour sessions playing as I recovered from the flu. Get to know my Sim and figure out what career I want for her (and learn the details of a new game and its expansion packs) exactly what I needed to really heal. I was very scared The Sims so long because I was worried it would invade my life; but what I didn’t realize was that in order to really turn off my brain and start feeling better about the difficulties in my own life, I needed to surrender to its power.
The Sims Not only did it relieve my stress, it really gave me space to think about some of the issues I was struggling with. As I reflected on Sim’s career, given her interests, the game’s quiet pacing gave me time to think for myself. As my Sims work through friendship difficulties, I think about the friends I’ve lost over the past year — something that has weighed on me more than I’d like to admit. Playing a slower-paced but more immersive game, instead of the usual action-adventure RPGs I usually do, really created space for me to think about some of the issues in my life. own real life.
Even better, after my first marathon playing spurts, my relationship with The Sims 4 is actually — dare I say — sane. I played an hour or two here and there before moving on to other things. I’m enjoying it, that’s for sure, but it doesn’t have as much pressure on me as it used to. It turned out that what I had been avoiding for a decade because I feared it would ruin my life had actually made it qualitatively better. As it turns out, living in a simulation isn’t a way of escaping reality — it’s a way of dealing with it.
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