7 Ways ‘The Sims’ Gave Me Unrealistic Expectations About Adulthood
Play with life. Only in 'The Sims 4'
For a lot of millennials, The Sims was a huge part of growing up.
In the 20 since the game made its debut, we’ve all spent way too long building our dream homes, becoming masters at every occupation and skill imaginable, and definitely WooHoo-ing probably one too many times.
Basically, The Sims was the way we virtually built the perfect lives we envisioned for our futures. But that’s the thing. The perfect Sims life I built – and rebuilt – over and over again gave me unrealistic expectations about adulthood.
So, let’s breakdown all the biggest lies that The Sims taught me about adulthood:
#1 When life gets boring, we can’t just press fast forward
Wouldn’t it be grand if we could just speed up things when we’re going through the boring stages of life, like working? Or, on the flipside, how good would it be to pause time when you need to catch up on sleep?
But even without the button, the fast-paced nature of The Sims totally skewed my concept of time for years. Daily paychecks, three-hour long weeks, babies growing up in just three days, and being able to delete everything and start fresh whenever you wanted? We really are missing out.
#2 Plus, getting your dream job isn’t as simple as a one-two click on your phone
All it takes to get your dream job in The Sims is the desire to have that career.
You want to be an astronaut? You got it. A criminal? Not a problem. A ghost hunter? I don’t see why not. You’re not limited by your ATAR score, your bank balance, where you live, or even your skill level like we are in everyday life.
Forget the real-world limitations of studying medicine for nine years if you want to be a doctor. Just dream it and you can be it. Or, if your aspiration is to be an author, you can easily smash out a couple of best-selling books in a day without any stress.
You don’t have to sit through any nerve-wracking interviews or write dreaded cover letters to secure your dream job either, which really is the true millennial dream.
#3 Similarly, learning a new skill is a lot harder than just reading a book
The Sims always made learning new skills seem so simple. You buy a book on the topic, read it for a while, and then suddenly you’re an expert. Sure, performing these actions will always help you increase these skill levels faster, but it’s not always essential.
However, as my half-burnt-down kitchen filled with countless cookbooks will prove, this is definitely not the case in real life.
#4 And it turns out that building your dream body can’t actually be achieved by dragging your mouse around
Beyond building yourself lavish mansions you probably won’t ever be able to afford, the best part of The Sims is being able to design your dream body at the start of the game. In a matter of minutes, you can give yourself bulging muscles or a perfectly toned stomach, when it takes months, if not years, to do the same in real life.
Plus, your clothes fit perfectly no matter your body shape, dying your hair from brown to bright green in a day won’t ever be frowned upon by your hairdresser, and all your tattoos come without any pain.
And don’t forget that bad hair days simply don’t exist in The Sims universe, and you never have to wake up an hour earlier to do your makeup because it’s already all done for you. Oh, to be a Sims character just for a day.
#5 Surprisingly, striking up a relationship isn’t as easy as laughing at a few jokes
I have always admired my Sims’ ability to approach random people to sniff out the potential for relationships, but that’s just not how real life works.
All it seems to take in the game is a little chatting, a few compliments, and a couple of flirty laughs, then suddenly they’re WooHoo-ing, getting married and having a baby in the matter of three days, which is equal parts horrifying and impressive.
Sims also seem to have mastered the art of never getting attached after some casual WooHoo time, which is a skill that I haven’t quite mastered in my adult life yet.
#6 And, sadly, earning money isn’t as easy as typing “motherlode”, “rosebud” or “kaching”
As it turns out, earning actual money is a lot harder than stealing Simoleons. But using “motherlode” at least once to help you build the mega-mansion of your dreams is a Sims rite of passage.
Sadly for us all, there are no cheat codes in real life – except maybe having really rich parents or winning the lottery.
#7 Worst of all, even if we could afford the lavish homes we built in The Sims, council would never approve them
The fun of The Sims was not only building the most grand homes imaginable, but also the most outlandish ones, too.
Sadly, however, I don’t think council would ever approve our renovation plans where we shove toilets in the middle of the living room or ever allow us to build a pool, with no ladder or safety gate, in the main kitchen – at least not if you live in Sydney.
This article was originally published on Junkee.
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(Lead image: @thesims / Instagram)