I briefly played Sims 4 with my friend in Milwaukee on Friday, which may have been a mistake. We used to play Sims a lot growing up, so it’s nostalgic and fun and the game has improved over time. And now the basic Sims 4 is free.
So I got home and downloaded it, put on some Miraculous Ladybug in the background (one of the few shows I can do that with since I’ve seen it so often), and started to play. The old motherlode cheat code to get unlimited money, designing characters (I designed my two Sims based on grown-up versions of my main two characters in Cat Story, Jack and Luke), designing a house, and then playing out daily aspirations.
Jack and Luke fell in love. Jack worked on his writing. Luke worked on his music. They banged in the hot tub (a part of Sims I remember from being younger — sorry, Mom and Dad). They established morning workout routines. They went on dates. They got engaged. They got married. They had a ‘science’ baby and named him Marco and have now raised him through the newborn, infant, and toddler stages. He’s currently in elementary school. He does his homework on time. He invites friends over and they swim in the pool.
As you can imagine, hours and hours passed. It’s addictive. And cathartic. And finally peeling myself away from the computer to go for a walk helped me realize the extent of it. Playing out this fantasy version of House is the closest I’ve gotten to truly having my brain off in a while. It’s like a twisted utopian reality — no work, no money worries, easily in love, raising a child together while pursuing individual passions.
To be clear you can make your Sims have all sorts of goals and aspirations, not just this queer white picket fence version my brain has been playing out this weekend.
It’s fun, but I can tell I’ll burn out quickly on it. It may have just been for this weekend, but I needed the downtime and rest.
So maybe this is a PSA not to play Sims 4 if you want to get anything done? But also . . . it’s a lot of fun.
With Love,
Natalie