Sims the New Dolls?

philgross writes "According to the New York Times, lots of girls and younger teens are abandoning their dolls for the Sims. Says one professor, "We leave most of the social work in our society to women and The Sims lets young girls, in particular, work out their desires and conflicts about those relationships." Says another, "Children generally want to create characters, but with girls we see them wanting to create a friend." Meanwhile, says Will Wright, boys will "do the same stupid thing over and over again and be happy," (and I wince looking at my vast collection of first-person shooters). The article does quote one 10-year-old boy who plays with Sims, and has learned valuable life lessons. "I learned don't leave your baby crying or people will come take your baby away."" And I learned that if you lock Sims in your upstairs torture chamber, with no tiles to sit, they eventually cry themselves to death.

Comments

Re:It's a little sad

[kermitthefrog917]

Wouldn't the habit of learning from games be a bit dangerous? I could see that "learn not to leave your baby alone" turn into "you can get your money back if you kill the hooker after you are done with her"... yes both are technically true, and are perhaps equally useful in life, but is it a good idea to have kids start a habit such as applying video game experiences in a real world setting?

You can practically hear them.

[foQ]

And the stampede begins as pedophiles leave myspace.com for The Sims.

cmdrtaco = sick fuck

[larry bagina]

And I learned that if you lock Sims in your upstairs torture chamber, with no tiles to sit, they eventually cry themselves to death.

s/Sims/pre pubescent boys/
s/upstairs torture chamber/geek compound basement/