Confession: I Have an Addiction



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Gamers and nerds tend to be very passionate people, non?  We tend to become obsessed with things that others find a little out of the ordinary. Some of us might also be on the spectrum to varying degrees, which can give reason to our oft obsessive nature, but it doesn't make us any less passionate about what we love. It's because of these passions that border on obsessions that can often cause us to unintentionally alienate ourselves.  But when does passion/obsession get out of control?  When does it dangerously dance on the line that leads into addiction?  Does your passion change the way you interact with the world around you? Does it affect your relationships with others?  Does it consume your thoughts and make it difficult to accomplish simple tasks?  Then you might be an addict.

I may be an addict.  I may have a problem.  


I may be obsessed with The Sims.

Yes. You read that right. The Sims. 
I know I'm not alone in my addiction. I know you other addicts are out there. We are not alone! But, am I alone in playing too much Sims to the point where it colors my brain in my daily activities? Like, am I the only one who starts to picture plumbobs above other people's heads? Or starts humming the game's musical interludes to myself? Or starts zoning out when someone is talking to me and all I hear is Simlish? Or plans out my Sims' day when I'm not even at home playing? Or pictures my own "bladder" bar turning green while I'm peeing? Was that TMI? Maybe. Yes?

Don't you dare type Ctrl+Shift+C: move_object  you perv. (Sims Social)

My Sims obsession started with the original PC game from Maxis (remember them? Me either.) I got Sim Theme Park and my sister got The Sims for Christmas 1999 from our aunt -the original gamer in our family. Note that I did not receive The Sims as my gift (a fact my sister loves to remind me of any time I bring up the game.) For whatever reason, my mom's computer didn't have enough RAM to run the coaster game if Sims was installed. Psh. The 90's.  So, I was frustrated with my game lag, and in a fit of rage one night uninstalled it and decided to play my sister's game. Because I needed to game, you guys.  After the tutorial, I was hooked. I was obsessed. The graphics, the humor, the sandbox style was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I was in love. If someone had picked on me or upset me at school, I could rush home and make a Sim of them and ruin that Sim's life. It was the greatest stress relief ever. If I had a crush on someone, I could make a Sim of them and me and we could be in love and live happily ever after. Not the healthiest of choices, but it could've been worse, right? I became the resident Sims expert in my circle of friends (and by circle, I mean 2) who also played.

I would play into the wee hours of the morning much to my sister's frustration. She wasn't as avid a gamer as I was. She would play for an hour or so and then go do something constructive else. I built families and interwoven story-lines and epic sagas. The Sims was my story-telling masterpiece. Then, all of the expansion packs came out. I don't think I need to tell you that this only fed my obsession.

Yes, I still own these.

When my parents bought me my own laptop for college as my high school graduation present, the very first program I installed on it when they weren't around was The Sims 2 and all of the expansions. Seriously.  Nothing broke my heart more than when my brand new Dell I bought for myself when I was graduating college would crash any time I tried to play The Sims 2. Infuriating. But then there was hope, The Sims 2 was available on Gamecube. Alas, that game was severely inferior to the PC version. But it would have to do, I had to get my fix somehow. Unfortunately, I had to sell my Gamecube for extra cash before I moved out east. Thus, I had to quit Sims cold turkey. And I lived happily ever after.

Until The Sims 3 was released. Oh. My. God. I worked at a steak house as the daytime  hostess for a couple of years in Brooklyn, and the night hostess was just as obsessed with The Sims as I was. So obsessed, she brought her laptop to work and would play it in the coat closet when it was slow. She pre-ordered The Sims 3 and got the awesome plumbob USB flash drive. I imagine it was like a former smoker being exposed to the best cigarettes/cigars ever with the way I salivated over her game. The only thing stopping me from owning my own copy and plunging head-first back into addicts-ville was my piece of shit laptop would not run The Sims 3. Eventually I escaped that evil place of employment and moved on with my life. The yearning to play The Sims again in the back of my mind.

Cut to late summer 2012: I was in my local GameStop poking around and noticed a used copy of The Sims 3 was available on PS3. And at first I was all

 

And then I was like

And then I was asked to purchase something or leave the establishment. I sat on the idea for a couple of weeks knowing full well I could go into full-blown addict mode. Eventually I decided to risk it and made the purchase. It started off normally enough. Only playing for a couple of hours after work and on the weekends.  But since I lost my job, it got really bad really fast.

The point at which Boyfriend felt he needed to give me an intervention came when he discovered me at 6am one morning a couple of weeks ago passed out on the couch, controller in hand and The Sims 3 on pause. I had clearly dozed off while waiting for my file to save. Also, Boyfriend was tired of not being able to play his games when he wanted to. So, intervention time came last week.

In the form of a new 3DS game! If you're a Harvest Moon fan (and you know I am) and you haven't played Harvest Moon: A New Beginning yet. Get. Off. Your. Ass. It's amazing! I will write a full review at a later time. Whenever I can stop playing.

So short-story-long: The Sims 3 addict am I, but the cure? Get me addicted to a new game. Problem solved!