People I have known for years are always surprised when they find out I still play The Sims games after all this time. I still play Sims2 and 3 from time to time but that has changed since Seasons came around. Why do I continue to play... well, the fact there are things that pop up from time to time that I had no idea were even possible. Certain interactions come out of nowhere and take my breath away. My Sims are my way of telling stories, creating entire towns around a family, or a single Sim; each one with a backstory that is all their own. A year ago I was not as immersed in Sims4 as I have become in the past month. I am loving the way I can lose myself in the game for hours, without noticing how much time has passed. And I come away from each gaming session a happier person because playing this game makes me laugh and allows me to be as creative as I want to be. For a little while, I can forget about stress, what's for dinner, and all the other boring things that go along with being an adult. For a little while, I feel like a kid again, content to play with my pixel people and let the rest of the world drift into the background.
When my oldest granddaughter came to visit us for two weeks we spent entire days together playing our games on our laptops at the dining room table, showing each other what Sims we had created, the houses we'd built for them and shared the stories we had in mind for them. We laughed and talked for hours on end. I showed her how to use the club system in tandem with the holidays. She swooned over the pets and now I know what she wants for Christmas this year. I bought Seasons for her the day it was released and that was supposed to be an early Christmas present but she really needs pets in her game now, too. <3
This game. What can I say about it that comes close to explaining how much I enjoy it? It has been a lifeline, a companion, a creative outlet, a way to tell stories and it has given me thousands of hours of pure kid-like enjoyment. Simply put, it makes me a happier person and being happy is all good.
