For some players, this may be to reach the top of one career or have the biggest house for others it may be to have the smallest house possible, meet the Grim Reaper or for their Sim to have a quiet life with their same-gender partner. However, players do have some ability within the game to create different definitions of success. Although Sims have some autonomy, enabling them to care for themselves, in order for the Sims to have successful lives in the game players must take control. The Sims, which is now in its fourth edition since its original release in 2000, is a game in which players create virtual people (Sims), build houses, and play out their lives: meeting needs, getting jobs, fulfilling aspirations, forming relationships, and having children. I’m playing The Sims 4 and my character is my first intentionally “insane” character.Ĭreating and playing with this Sim, Eve Burrows, was a new experience for me. I am developing a friendship that might become more than that with a neighbour who constantly sports a tweed newsboy cap and a blue silk shirt. I keep progressing, always a forward trajectory: I become charismatic, get promotions, work towards my aspiration by learning to play chess and keeping a half-built spaceship in my backyard. When I return home, I file reports on my computer, cancelling the impulse to talk to my desk, as the reports will take longer if I do. I wake up sad, but I ignore the mood and continue with my day, taking care of my needs, going to work. She has been trying to avoid visits from the Grim Reaper due to cooking fires since the release of The Sims Deluxe Edition in 2002.

Ingrid Doell is a Winnipeg-based writer and photographer trying to navigate post-MA life with anxiety.

Sims 4 traits mental illness