Hello everyone, I'm MJ and I'm a Sims addict!

I can easily last 2-3 hours each time on the game. Even if I'm tired or way passed my bedtime. It's so enticing to handle someone else's life other than your own. I'm sleepy at work because of all these late night "activities" yet, when it's off work, I'm as awake as an owl.

I have been playing Sims for quite a number of years now. It started about a couple of years ago, somewhere like 7 years ago when it was the launch of Sims 2. Back then, Sims 2 was the "in" thing. It builds on the foundation of The Sims (launched in 2000).

These Sims spend time at home, knowing friends, getting into relationships, climbing their career ladders and generally enjoying life. It was like playing God, creating life when and where you want to, and well also destroy their life. You can send the children to public or private school, let them have tonnes of girlfriends who doesn't meet each other or have them die of hunger or illness; or eventually have a peaceful hawaiian death.

It was so cool! It's quite close to real life with all the 3D graphics and increased number of age group stages, having lots of different skin colour and physical features but simple aspiration. Being the "God" it is easy to control, life is easy (as a Sim).

It's unlike real life, simple decision will affect you for the rest of your life. You can't regret. You're stepping into the unknown. But in Sims, you can plan their life, right from the point when they're being delivered by the stocks! It's tough to stop this game because I like to be in control, there's no responsibility for all wrongdoings, I need not regret even if there is one. It's like if I had accidentally starved one Sim, cry and get it over and done with. Click delete, there's no ghost- no one to disturb the peaceful house and yet, you earn some Simoleons. You needn't go through the horror of organising a funeral and facing all the crying faces!

Call me slow, but I only started playing Sims 3 recently. It was first launched in summer 2009 with a very cool green USB flash drive (thumb drive if you prefer this name) as a freebie. I was gouging at the display glass when I first spotted the poster. It's a global launch! Did you ever realise how amasing that would be? It's like Apple's iPhone or iPad, just that it's Sims. Call me geeky, but to me that's Sims marketing and I study Marketing!

I've been starring at videos, Google-ing images and well, listening to stories of how Sims 3 works. It's like you get to see the whole neighbourhood, you can just walk right out of your door and into someone else's house and practically eat out of their fridge! I've always imagine how it would be like to see your Sims running towards the hospital and imagining the anxiousness of the father screaming outside the building.

Yes, pictures speaks a thousand words. It is enticing enough to see how you can move into the neighbourhood without getting into that Yellow Taxi numbered 143 and load that neighbourdhood map and then click on "Veronaville Market" or "Stradford Strip" before going in for a Public Woohoo or well, simply purchase groceries.

Fine, by now you know I love playing Veronaville. Maybe it's because I didn't like the aliens faces and well, Summerdream is a really cool family that I like a lot!

I was just telling my friend whom gave me this Sims 3 as a Christmas present that it's Sims "3" but it's a totally new game to me! I have to re-learn how Sims work. Previously it was base on rewards and want system as the Maslow's hierachy of needs. As "God" you have to let them sleep, eat and go toilet and well, earn money before they can purchase a stereo set, a TV or dig a swimming pool in their backyard. With all these wants being fulfilled, "God" earns aspirations points, in which you can "purchase" asipirations rewards ranging from Money tree to Elixir of Life. Your green colour 3D Diamond will also turn gold and then platinum. This is an indication of how satisfied your Sims is with his/ her life. And if they die as a happy man (usually because of Old age), they'll have a golden tombstone which sells for 250 Simoleons instead of the usual 150 Simoleons.

In Sims 3, to my horror, this asipration concept was wholly wiped out and they're based on Moods now. For every single thing you do, they'll increase or decrease the moodlets of the Sims. For example, letting your Sims brush teeth, he/she will feel a minty breath of +5 mood which last for 4 hours. Likewise, if you let you Sims eat Garlic, he/ she will have a -5 mood which last for 3 hours.

How revolution-alising is that! It's a completely new game!

I haven't got the mental preparation to have my mind being blown away by Sims 3. Well generally because it has a "3" attached to it. Seriously, who would've thought that I would need to relearn this game when I only expected to just go in to see the whole world from the Sims point of view rather than a "God"'s point of view.

Other than being able to see all these commercial buildings all at once, I can hit the "28 Hour Wellness Gym" and my Sims can travel there in their own bicycle or car (which I can now purchase). What's more! You can see your Sims being transported to their work place, stare at how their office building looks like and let them interact with their colleagues, or suck up to boss. I mean yeah, all these will become boring sometime further from now but as compared to Sims 2, it's a whole new world!

Haven't know what Sims 2 is like? Going to work is just dressing you Sims ready for work and then send them to the carpool service and then, hit "3" (which means fast forward) and wait for your Sims to come back. Who knows what happened? Well alright, sometimes you'll get opporturniies to be promoted by "giving water with tint of lemon" or "just give them plain water" and usually hitting the "ignore" button will get your Sims promoted. It's that easy!

So far, I haven't had much time to explore Sims 3 as I did the first time I got Sims 2. But I do have to admit, it's good to be a Sims 3 addict.

I'm MJ and I'm also a Sims addict.

Reference:
1 Wikipedia URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_3
2 The Sims Wiki URL: http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sims_Wiki