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Playing God in The Sims 2
pgptag writes "From Daily News Tribune: 'If you could play God, would you be kind, cruel or just careless? The answer can reveal itself by the way you play "The Sims 2," the highly anticipated follow-up to the "real life" personal computer game "The Sims," which placed omnipotent players in control of the fates of digital people... What's funny is that we have a genetics feature now (which allows characters who mate to have children who share their looks and aspirations). So you can download some of the celebrities that the players have made, put them in the game and have them have kids.'"
To really accelrate this, The Sims should allow people to enter virtual reality show contests, take Survivor and the Apprentice out with the same shot that kills Days of Our Lives.
Do you still have to micromanage your sim's bathroom habits? That was so rediculous I couldn't play Sims 1 longer than a day or so.
But seriously, has anyone said that the Sims is blasphemous? .. I'm sure with some though an irrational argument such as that can be sold by some whackos to certain people for financial reward .. "It's evil, satanic to pretend to be God cause it builds up an urge to be Him or think you're just as good/better etc"
Now, the true question of what lies hidden in your soul can be answered not by how you treat your creation, but how your creation treats its creations.
Is that actually an accepted philosophy, or are you simply referring to Black & White?
God vs. Bush
I've got more mod points and GMail invi
but what do i know, i'm just a model.
"Mission Accomplished" -- George W. Bush May 1, 2003
Yeah, I remember how ALter Ego and Little Computer people were supposed to blow our minds. Hell, Id go as far as saying the Sims are less fun than those original games because they seemed so focused on the "suburbia" life and are obsessively micro-managed.
Its not just an issue of AI, its more like an issue of scope. I doubt any of the characters have to deal with stuff like discrimination, getting arrested for victimless laws, crazy family members, teenage ennui, cancer, financial woes, relationship woes, etc.
Even if the scope was raised that high (and higher) it would still be something you could walk away from anytime and not feel the emotions these situations bring about. That's why cartoon violence is so harmless. That's why you can make a game character kill someone with no remorse. What's the deterrent? What's going to cause empathy? Nothing.
My proposal is to have a USB "attach to your privates or somesuch" device that gives you nasty shocks when you foul up or when someone wrongs you. Or instantly deducts 5 dollars from your bank account if you're not into being zapped.
Incentives and deterrents matter.
That's the ultimate do-nothing game. The game's website likens it to installing an operating system as it requires the same attention span and commands the same respect for the "player" (read: none).
"Finally, hit the Sold! button to begin the game. The game will start immediately and you can safely familiarize yourself with the game's single interface screen as the game progresses on its own. Soon your avatar will will be seeking and destroying an exotic panopoly of beasts while you gaze proudly on. Missing, you will notice, is the tedious march from town, the bewildering maze of cookie cutter streets hiding some specific merchant or NPC, and the repetetive hunt for just the right beast to execute. Progress Quest supplies your character with an endless series of victims, as well as exciting quests which keep your quest log full to the brim at all times."
According to a screenshot, you can have your sims play the old version of The Sims. Doesn't this really mean that someone is playing The Sims 3, with us as sims?