Newsy Notes: It's a Wonderful [Virtual] Life

OK. Courtney, you can do this. The first step is admitting you have a problem, and oh boy, do you have a problem here. Just take a deep breath, you’ll be fine… you can do this. Come on, Courtney.

All right, all right. Here goes… Hi everyone. I’m Courtney. (“Hi Courtney.”) And… I’m addicted to The Sims. Or, rather, I was.

Don’t laugh. It’s not funny. Seriously.

OK, yeah, laugh, it’s funny.

And also really pathetic. Since the middle of this summer, I have played over 250 hours of The Sims 3. 250 hours. That’s the equivalent of around ten and a half days of sitting on my butt with the only movement being the blinking of my eyes, the slight twitch of the arm to move the mouse, and the grueling exercise of my index finger to, of course, click. I have to admit, I am ashamed.

Now, why would this game be so addictive? I mean, it’s just a game, right? Probably, but to me, it was everything but a game. Picture it: a virtual world of infinite possibilities, but simplified so that we humans can understand and conquer it. A community of interesting folks from all walks of life, where you can build them their dream home, force them to climb the corporate ladder, find them true love, or just trash their lives altogether. But if the ready-made Sims aren’t to your liking, don’t fret! You can make perfect people with perfect personality traits and perfect houses and perfect marriages and perfect professions. You can have them have perfect children who have the perfect opportunities. And the best part? You can control it, lest any disaster come creeping up from behind. Ah, the power.

This game is great for anyone who:

• Is power-hungry. It offers a harmless way to duke it out with your minions. Make them toil away and curse the day that they were ever born in that cruel, virtual universe! Why not? It’s not like it affects society.

• Is dissatisfied with the way their real lives are going. What does it matter that you and your significant other have split up? Who cares that you didn’t get hired? In The Sims, your lovers will never leave you (if you won’t let them), and professional success is just a click away. At least your virtual society loves you!

• Likes to play house. When you think about it, The Sims is pretty much a sophisticated dollhouse. Except edgy and somewhat racy.

I don’t know exactly why The Sims appeals to me so much. But after looking at my XFire gaming history and noticing how much time I spent immersing myself in that game, I was surprised. I was spending almost more time devoted to improving and enjoying my virtual world than I was improving and enjoying my real one.

Just because our lives may not be exactly the way we want them to be doesn’t mean we can just forget about them and wallow in our self-pity while we create our desired “lives” on a computer screen. While this may not be what everyone does to cope with the inconsistencies of human life, it’s still a major occurrence…with Facebook, online virtual gaming, and even online dating sites. It’s almost like a drug.

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