How The Sims Inspires My Creativity

As hard as I’ve tried there’s not a moment in my life where I don’t remember my anxiety being present. I’ve even given her a gender since she’s a part of me. She’s always been there, peering over my shoulder waiting for her perfect moment to pounce and send me into a spiraling, silent panic.

We’ve gotten to know each other over the past 30 years and are well acquainted. I’ve learned how to calm her down, rationalize with her and separate which thoughts are true facts and which ones are her playing tricks on me.

But one of the things she constantly seems to stump is my creativity.

I’ll have days where I’m viscously writing and am so intensely focused that I worry for the keys on my laptop. Then, other days, I’ll wake up stricken with dread, no inspiration for anything creative.

And I feel empty.

Like a gas tank on E that can’t make it up the hill.

I’m working on being kinder to myself in these moments. We all hit walls, and we all need to be recharged.

Along with my anxiety, one thing I’ve always had as a creative outlet was The Sims. I’ve played on PC since the first generation came out in 2000 and I’ve been hooked ever since.

I’m a woman of many passions and The Sims allows me to experience different skills and ideas without the loss of large amounts of money and time.

I’ll never forget the day The Sims came into my life. I was sitting at my uncles' kitchen table for a 4th of July party with one of my cousins. She whipped out her new laptop and had this brand new game that she was eager and excited to show me.

She pulled out her CD for The Sims, inserted it into the disc drive and we were instantly immersed into a vibrant simulation. We sat there for hours exploring the neighborhood, creating characters, designing a home, and watching our creations come to life.

As soon as we got in the car to leave I begged my mom for a copy of my own.

Looking back, I don’t think it took much convincing. Maybe it was the stereotypical perk of being an only child.

I believe we went to Walmart to purchase the game and there it was, in all its’ glory, perfectly packaged in a plastic CD case. Not even the larger rectangular plastic case at this point, but the classic square, flimsy CD case.

I remember getting home and running upstairs to the computer room, delicately inserting it into the disc drive in our giant Dell tower and waiting for the blue loading screen followed by the nostalgic hotel music all simmers know today.

Simmers — the informal term that people who play The Sims call themselves.

The first generation was cringey and pixelated, yet perfect in every way.

I would spend hours in front of the computer completely encompassed in a virtual world of possibilities. I loved building houses, decorating them, creating and styling sims, and experiencing a world that seemed so realistic yet still had the charm of make-believe.

I would even spend time at school daydreaming and creating blueprints for homes to build when I returned that afternoon.

Then the expansion packs were released.

I was already in love with the base game, but these took The Sims experience to a whole new level. It gave players a chance to expand their creativity beyond the bounds of basic life simulation to where we could now go experience new locations, dating, being famous, raising pets, vacationing, and my favorite, magic.

My obsession went on for months, to years, and now decades.

I’ve been loyal to The Sims through every generation and I have no regrets.

It gave me the creative outlet that I desperately needed. Some people escape in books, others in sports but for me, my escape was into a game where possibilities were limitless when reality seemed so limited at times.

Not only does it give me a creative outlet, but it’s also pretty inspiring. If you’ve ever played The Sims I’m sure you’ve tried to create yourself. Whenever I play myself, I play a more “life-like” game. And what I mean by that is I’ll often recreate my real-life home, girlfriend, cats, etc.

But then I also like to try out different skills, careers, or even being a magician.

Which, yes, I understand a magician may not be exactly life-like but it adds some fun gameplay.

Having the opportunity to test out a virtual simulation of new skills, careers, personality traits, and aspirations through gameplay has often influenced my actual life.

Like writing for example. I love choosing the writing career for my sims because it gives me the option to learn the skill (in-game of course), write books where I can come up with made-up titles and summaries, and have the flexibility to do it all remotely.

It reminds me that though this is a game, being a writer is an actual, achievable career. So when I hit writer's block, I open up The Sims for thirty minutes to an hour and let my creative outlet flow.

I also consider myself a seasoned home chef and The Sims has introduced me to new recipes. The creators are really great about including diverse cuisines from all over the world in the game and I have even recreated some in my own kitchen.

On top of that, the game teaches legitimate life lessons.

Lock your door and invest in alarm systems because burglars do exist.

It’s okay to not succeed at something on your first try. Just don’t give up!

Take care of your needs. We all need food, rest, work, and play, but be sure to find your balance.

Relationships take time to build and that’s okay. The ones that stick around are always worth it.

Getting the dream job is not an unrealistic goal. You may have to learn more skills and you may make mistakes along the way, but you will get there!

Time is precious. It goes pretty fast in The Sims. It teaches you to appreciate what you have, so live your life to the fullest and take all the chances you can.

The Sims has always been there for me when I’ve needed it and I really couldn’t imagine a world without it. Whatever creative outlet you need when you’re feeling anxious, down, or at a standstill, let it be your shoulder to lean on. Get inspired and let it help pull you out of your funk.

Until next time,

Haley