Another gathering for another game. Today's game shall be The Sims for PC. The Sims has many expansion packs, but it’s all based on the one game that brings control of others' lives into your hands. People with jobs, homes, love, relationships, and more. The Sims is a very life-like game in the sense of lifestyles of people in mainstream society (though you don't need to have a mainstream lifestyle). Some could say it could be used to make the virtual life that you've always wanted different from your own. Almost like you pretend the person is yourself and that you are making the right decisions, if you feel you hadn't in the past.

    One thing that The Sims and its expansion packs were known for was the house creator and the furnishings to decorate them. There were different wallpapers and carpet and floorings to make houses with, and an equal amount of items to make the house a dream home or a slop house for your virtual human. The items also had interactions, such as looking at a painting or sitting on a couch. You could arrange and control the house in any way you wanted and I’m sure some of you could even have practiced home decorating!

    The Sims come with a personality matrix, effecting how characters interact with each other and certain items you can buy (hot tub). They have astrological signs and levels of being outgoing, clean, active, playful, and nice. The characters even have different behavior due to their configurations. For example, if the character you make is outgoing, relationships with others will grow fast. You may be able to give a friendly hug to someone faster than if your character was shy. It gives the game an interesting twist and life-like feel to it.

    As stated above, The Sims have relationships with one another. This is another factor that makes the game so addictive. Relationships of friends must be kept because friendships do go on over time (in the Hot Date expansions and above only). The Sims can love in any kind of relationship (when I say any, I mean any), even love more than one person. This leads to naughty boys and girls, but I still find it funny to make a family of the such. Interaction with other Sims in the neighborhood is the main goal of some expansion packs (House Party mostly).

    Of all these, The Sims' comparison to reality is one of the key reasons I loved this game. The problems your characters may face are similar to those we face in the real world. Financial problems, love and friendship, jobs, and household mishaps are just to name a few. Items can be broken and need repairing, just as messes can be made and need cleaning. There are several people to hire to help throughout the game. The maids and gardeners are helpful for those very untidy characters (and I think I'll need to hire one).

    So if these create the game, what would it be without these ideas? Well if you take away the create-a-house feature and items to furnish the housing, the game would only be less in your control but not that effected. However, getting rid of the personality of the Sims makes the game dull. It would cause a chain reaction that would destroy the next factor, relationships, because there would be nothing to spark interest of making the right moves to even be friends. The most important part of The Sims is the reality of it. If you took that out, it would make the game be less innovative and never be as popular or worth while as it has become over time. You would probably end up with mindless virtual robotic people that sit and do nothing all day.

    To sum this all up, The Sims for PC was a great franchise with vital originality of programming and game design. The creation of houses, character personalities, relationships, and simulations all make up the game. If these were lost, the simple effect would be: there is no game. The Sims is a great PC game, and with that, I say goodbye. Until next time, this has been the 6th issue of Identity Crisis. Thank you for your support everyone, and keep up your gaming!