Dust off your Windows 98 and head to eBay to pick up a copy of The Sims. Playing the ’00s favourite will apparently help you live a happier and healthier lifestyle.
For anyone who’s been living under a rock for the past 19 years, Maxis and Electronic Arts brought The Sims to life and gave us hours of untapped potential. Becoming your very own Kevin McCloud, you could build your dream house and then populate it with a variety of colourful characters.
You effectively played God as you gave them jobs they hated, forced them into relationships they probably didn’t want, and (later) made them have kids they definitely couldn’t afford. But, can watching the lives of others fall apart really be good for your health?
Steve McKeown, Psychoanalyst, founder of MindFixers and owner of The McKeown Clinic, told UNILAD: “Life Simulation games such as The Sims may replace the reality that we know and live in, when internet speeds become fast enough.”
“The suggestion that we may spend more time in a virtual world than the physical one has been developing speedily over the years and has fast become a way in which we can live an alternative life in exactly the way we want.”
Basically, The Sims lets you live out your dream existence when your real life is getting you down a bit. Considering I spent most of my Sims time torturing those poor b*stards, I don’t see how watching them die in a variety of gruesome ways is a healthy way to lead your life.
McKeon continued: “The Sims can allow a person to escape social normality, its pressures and chronic stresses that are so prevalent in the real world, it allows the gamer to create a perfect reality in which they play the main character and have full control over the outcome.”
There is some clever thinking behind it though. McKeon explained: “Our consciousness is very adaptable and allows us to create an opening to different paradigms of reality every time we focus on alternate versions of life through our thoughts.”
“With the assistance of life simulation games such as Sims we can enhance our inner experience.”
Let’s be honest, The Sims wasn’t the most cheerful game out there. They had a depressed clown FFS. There was also the chance of being burgled or being burned alive when your faulty stove catches fire. To make things worse, the Grim Reaper would then visit and games like The Sims 4 even introduced ghosts. Yeah, that sounds like a real hoot!
Also, anyone who pretends they didn’t send their Sims for a shower and then pause at the exact moment you see them naked is a liar…a damn liar. So McKeon, how does that fit into your hypothesis?
Still, if science says it’s good for you, I might rummage in the attic and find an old copy.
[Featured Image: EA Games]