How the Sims 2 can guide New Year's' resolutions

December 31, 2:03 PMAustin Twenty-Something ExaminerKelly Saxton Lindner

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Kelly working out in the Sims 2 Double Deluxe edition. Game copyrighten, EA Games

This year I’ve tried something different to inspire my New Year's' resolutions— playing the Sims 2 Double Deluxe edition. I’ve noticed the Sims is popular amongst twenty-somethings and I think I know why. Where else can you walk outside, pick up a newspaper, click “find job” and have 3 perfectly good candidates roll by that you can absolutely have (sans interview) if you just click “take job”? And if you happen to pass them all and put the newspaper down, all you have to do is click “find job” and go through the process again until you’ve found the best paying one. But besides this economical-fantasy, there’s also the fact that the Sims encourages us to lead better lives. How? By simplifying our basic needs until it makes it look easy to lead a good life. This helps you realize that sometimes it really can be that easy.

I first started playing the Sims in January 2007 when I was unemployed (I had just graduated from grad school with a Master’s yet it took 3 months to find a job). I was also loveless and had been for years. But after playing the Sims for a month I had accomplished all of my New Year's' resolutions including finding a job and the man of my dreams (who is, coincidentally, now my husband). Besides the fact that the Sims taught me to check all possible job postings every day until I found something (because it helped me believe the job was out there, I just had to look hard), it also taught me that the whole “hit a guy on the arm and run off” approach to dating was a little out-of-date. I swore by this until that moment and had been a complete failure in my love life. But I learned through clever clicking and different combinations of positive actions directed at my target—like admire, share interests, charm, chatting etc.—that I could lay a foundation that could lead to love. It also taught me not to rush or neglect romance. In life, many people tend to make that mistake, but the Sims won’t let you skip straight to “woohoo” like you may want (you can’t even click on it until the program deems it appropriate) or neglect to call a love interest back (if you don’t keep up with someone well enough in the Sims they don’t stay your friend which can certainly be applied to life). It forces you to get to know someone in a systematic computerized way that ironically seems natural. This was eye-opening for me. Though I will admit that most probably aren’t as dating-impaired as I was originally, this can still be helpful.

There are other lessons you can take from the Sims as well. For instance, after I started playing the Sims, I joined a gym for the first time in years and started working-out 4 days a week, religiously. I had never accomplished such solid cardio in my life, but something about the way my characters actually lost weight quickly when they worked-out encouraged me. In life it just takes much much longer to see the results, but the Sims reminds you that if you work-out, you will loose weight. It’s undeniable causality. After about 3 months of this new habit, I lost 20 pounds.

The Sims also teaches you how to be happy overall by not ignoring your health. I noticed when the house was cluttered and dirty, my Sims character’s diamond started to turn red. This made me realize that keeping my house clean had benefits besides impressing guests—it put me in a better mood. Other things that improved my mood and health were eating when I was hungry, sleeping when I was tired, and playing when I was burned-out. My usual waking up early, drinking coffee, writing for five hours without a break, skipping lunch, staying up late and writing more, and ignoring all my friends’ calls to get more writing done, and, yes, not allowing myself to go to the bathroom so I could keep writing before I eventually passed out upright in my chair at 5 am didn’t work-out so well in the Sims, so why would it be good enough for real life, a much more complicated game?

So I say take a break, play the Sims, watch for what makes that diamond hovering above your head turn white, and apply it to your life. Then you’ll have the perfect New Year's' resolutions and if you follow by example, they may actually stick. Though this year, now that I have the job and the guy, I have to admit that my New Year's' resolution is the only one that playing the Sims actually won’t help me break: “Don't play the Sims so much.”