Memoirs of an addict

I own every base game of the The Sims franchise for PC, and I have also bought several expansions for each game (with the exception of The Sims 2 (2004), because it caused my computer to crash into a horrible and untimely death back in 2005). But why? Why do I keep buying new base games, when I know there’s going to be a shit ton of expansion packs to further purchase? And why do I even buy the expansion packs?

Well, The Sims (2000) turned out to be somewhat of a gateway drug for me. I got a hold of the game in the first place, because my brother borrowed a bunch of games from a friend, with one of these games being The Sims. Said friend has never received their copy back, and it’s now been so long that neither my brother nor I can remember which friend it actually was. I found the game quite entertaining, so when I saw the expansion packs Livin’ Large and House Party at my local electronics shop, it was indeed the beginning of my downfall. I later bought Hot Date, Vacation, Superstar, and Makin’ Magic, and “acquired” Unleashed through mysterious ways. Why did I do it? Because all of a sudden, my Sims could dance in a neon cage, go on dates at restaurants where they serve the same food as the one you get from the fridge, take acid baths at the spa, and have pets! How amazing, right?

Then came The Sims 2, which I had already mentally bought by the time I had finished watching the mind-blowing trailer for it (made out of 100% “Not actual gameplay” footage and animations). Now my Sims had FINGERS – as in ten of them! And also, they could age! Babies were no longer a pastel green cradle with daisies and sunbeams bursting from it, nor did they magically transition from cradles to children (who might not resemble either of their parents) – Sims now had the life stages: baby, toddler, child, teen, (young adult), adult, and elder, and genetics determined the child’s looks. How awesome. Or at least it was for those six months that I could actually play the game (which I did until my eyes went numb. Being able to play out a Sim’s entire lifetime was a fantastic way to spend ten hours a day. No more jumping in and out of games just for shits and giggles, if my Sim was two days away from becoming an elder, I’d keep playing until it happened. And then, because I was on a roll, I’d keep playing until that Sim died of old age. And then I’d concentrate on one of the mourning household members. And can you see how this turned into an evil circle of simulated life and death (which unfortunately isn’t the title of a magnificent song about antelopes and lions sung by an emotional Elton John)) before by computer died the most horrible death of all: Death by Sims.

Salty from my past experience of computer doom, I took my precautions with The Sims 3 (2009): I was only going to buy the base game. I told myself I didn’t need expansions, because after all, I had gone four years without playing the game, so the base game in itself should be enough. The base game for The Sims 3 gave me what I’d longed for since the first game: an open world. No longer was I restricted to either my home lot or a community lot – my Sims could now ride their bikes to their friend’s house! And the Create-a-Sim tool was even more powerful than the one in the previous games: I could customize my Sims and their homes to my heart’s desire. I was quite content with the game. For a while. The expansion pack, World Adventures, came out first, but I had made my decision: I wasn’t buying any expansion packs for this game, even if this expansion featured Asian styles and items that would make customizing my look-a-like Sim so much easier, with me being Asian. But no. Not this time. No expansions! But then came Ambitions. By 2010 I had grown tired of the styling options in the base game: My Sims started to look the same, and my houses were decorated with the same furniture. The novelty of the new game mechanics had worn off, and I was bored. So I bought the expansion. The addict that I am fell into immediate relapse after my first fix, and I then not only continued to buy the expansions Late Night, Generations, Pets, and Showtime, I also leeched on a loved one (my cousin), who had the expansions Seasons and University Life, to feed my ugly addiction. And why? So I could sit for hours on end and watch a bunch of simulated people go to poorly designed clubs, play with their pets, disappear into rabbit hole film studios, and have snowball fights. It’s sick. But also incredibly entertaining for a megalomaniac voyeur like me.

All the base games have given me features I’ve wanted: The Sims was an introduction to a new type of game, The Sims 2 introduced aging and genetics, and The Sims 3 introduced open world and customization. But if the base games were so good, why did I buy the expansion packs? Because the expansion packs allow me to explore a familiar part of real life in a game of simulated life. Just like with the board game Settlers of Catan: You can get by with playing the base game, but it’s just so much more fun playing with the expansions. And somewhere there’s a game researcher who’s laughing their butt off at the irony of my unhealthy purchasing patterns of a game that is based on consumerism.