The Sims series may be one of the best ways to come to terms with the fact that adulthood is mainly weird and scary, and sometimes fun

The Sims is one of the first games I remember playing. Growing up, my mum and I shared a PlayStation 2, and I recall many times fighting my way into my mother’s room (not literally, but you can imagine how rambunctious a child gets when begging for console time) to play The Sims.

The Sims’ kooky story-mode on consoles was my first experience of the series, introducing me to the iconic villain that is Malcolm Landgraab and the one and only Goth family that brooding, teenage me would later come to idolatrise, the Mortimers. Starting out unemployed, living in Mom’s house — not knowing that this would one day be a reality for me post-graduation — before moving into the recently burnt-down home of Landgraab’s children. Again, little did I know this wouldn’t be far from my real-life, twenty years later; you could easily compare this in-game scenario to the mold-ridden housing market of West Yorkshire that I was eventually exposed to once my unemployment ended.

That’s the beauty of The Sims — it’s a reflection of real life while allowing players to explore their wildest dreams (and nightmares) — and what ultimately attracted me to the series for years to come. It wasn’t all that long before I had a Nintendo DS of my very own, where I got to experience Strangetown in The Sims 2 DS, or enjoy the series foray into a fully-fledged RPG in The Urbz. Once I’d gotten my first laptop for Christmas, I quickly got to work installing The Sims 2 on it. Later, that became The Sims 3, and then The Sims 4. I created my entire university flat in The Sims 4 once, because that’s the type of activity I engaged in — for 10k a year — instead of actually studying.

If anything, The Sims has been one series that has been persistent throughout my life. Something I barely remember playing as a child, but have fondly played over and over again, in many different iterations, since. It’s a true sandbox for simulation fans, allowing us to craft whatever type of family we want and dictate exactly how their lives together pan out. Right now, after The Sims 2 Legacy Collection’s crashes and bugs got to me — which I wrote about earlier this week — my main poison is The Sims 4 again.

As is typically the case, the first Sim I created was a simlish-speaking version of myself with goals to become a tech whiz, but my Sim has often been too tense to study the skills I want her to. Once again, just as The Sims 2 for PS2 gave me an insight into a very real future that I’d soon experience via the renting/moving nightmares it tasks you with, The Sims 4 was here to remind me that adulthood is daunting and often tense. My very real regular tension and anxiety had somehow made its way into my Sim’s life in The Sims 4, and the only thing to pull them out of it? Reading or video games. Isn’t that apt?

It’s both comforting and uncomfortable to see your own personality being represented in The Sims in such a way, but does act as a stark reminder of how The Sims series does not skimp out on the trials and tribulations of real life, provided you ignore alien abduction and working as the Grim Reaper, which is a little out there.

On the flipside, though, my Sim found a real passion for video games (who’d have thought it?) and found themselves incredibly focused — locked in, you could say — whenever they were sitting at a PC or reading about video games. You could say my sim had found a solution to their erratic emotions, and managed to find some much-needed respite in a world that doesn’t stop moving (unless you press pause, that is). My Sim ended up, initially, being just like the real me. Then they became a top-level scientist and social butterfly. Good for them.

The Sims is the ultimate life simulation game and has been for over two decades now. It isn’t all sunshine and roses, and your Sims have very real demands, needs, and desires that often reflect those we all have in real life. Fires start, showers break, people die. Hell, some people get abducted by aliens and come back pregnant. That cannot be good. Though, Sims can also have families, friends, and moments of euphoria — related to their desires — that make all the chaos worth it. It’s a lovely reflection of real life at the best of times, and a reminder to players that life goes on, and things will be okay.

I wish I could wholeheartedly say this about the current state of the world, but you get the idea. The Sims is certainly one great escape from current politics, that’s for sure, and perhaps we could learn a thing or two from the series, excluding the ridiculously high prices to rent.