Fatal Error, Reboot Brain

As a rule, I don't play many computer games. An occasional stop by the online arcade to play a puzzle game or a word game, possibly playing Tradewinds - an Oregon Trail type game of buying and selling set in late 19th century China, or pulling out the PS1 for a rousing round of Dukes of Hazzard racing or mahjongg. But lately, the PS1 has been collecting dust (and needing to be put back in its safe home under the TV cabinet) and I haven't fought pirates from Edamame to Shanghi in quite some time.

Back in the day, I used to play Origin's Ultima series, then I played Lands of Lore. I never finished either. My mother, however, still brings out LoL to play to cleanse her gaming palette for a new game. Or she recently found Eye of the Beholder I,II, & III and played them through with her favorite characters. She gets the walk throughs, and sometimes the cheatbooks and finishes the game with 500,000 gold pieces and all the treasure and special skills available. This makes her happy, and amuses me as well (I get to tell all the cute tech boys at the store that my mom's a gamer, too... endless joy out of that!)

I don't generally get into the computer games (console included) because I, like my mother, tend to get lost in them. I also have shunned the online versions of adventure games, the ones you can talk to other people and hang out and kill mobs with them. Those I tend to become much immersed in the social aspect and spend much of my time chatting and not playing (a chat room would be better, but somehow just as addicting so I stay away from those too.

I also have a job which requires me to sleep and arrive ready to work, and I no longer have the capacity I had just a few years ago to stay up late into the wee hours of the morning and still function like a semi-competent human being the "next" day. Now I need the sleep, in my own bed and not on someone's lumpy couch, to get me through the day. (Although, I have slept on many a comfy couch as well - thanks!!)

All this brings me to my point. I made the fatal error of getting a "new" computer game. New to me, not to the world at large, I might add. At the Red Store, I found a copy of The Sims and the expansion pack Makin' Magic. And later that week I ran out and bought (or my mom bought for me) Unleashed (where you can get the little animals to love, and who love you back - aww!).

So now I'm the proud, and often frustrated, owner of a bunch of Sims who do what I want, but only if they don't have anything better to do, who complain, get depressed, and generally make me tear my hair out. But then they do such great things like coming home from work every day and playing with the puppy first thing, even before getting something to eat or going to the bathroom. How can you stay mad at a person, Simulated or not, that loves their doggie so much... I know I can't, so I give him a pool and a computer and a grill... and use the funky cheat code to give him as much money as possible so he doesn't run out of puppy food or tell me he isn't having any fun.

Of course, I can't get him to interact with his neighbors... perhaps that's a reflection of my own relationship, or lack thereof, with my neighbors, of which I know exactly no one's name, and barely recognize them, but I'm pretty sure I could tell you their dog's names and when they walk through the courtyard on a weekend day...

And on a certain level I'm jealous of my Sims, they have nifty robots to clean the house, a refrigerator that always has fresh tasty food in it, and they can miss work and go to the park with the dog. And on another level, I sometimes feel like a Sim, with my Queue of things to do (like go home tonight and take out the trash, do the dishes, do some laundry, pay my bills).

All in all, I am enjoying myself, after all, isn't that what games are for?? Besides, just a few more minutes, that's all I'm asking. I just want to see him get into bed... safe and sound... well, maybe it IS time for bed myself...