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Has anyone ever used the computer game The Sims to write a story? While I’ve generally considered the game a grown-up excuse for indulging my latent dollhouse fantasies, I have noted the presence of storytelling components in the toolset. You can take and caption snapshots from your sims’ lives, you can write their character bios, and you can make mini-movies of important events. Since you are in control of their actions, you can basically make the sims plot a story on the fly.
Naturally, the format lends itself more to soap operas than any other genre. Sims are all about making and breaking friendships and romances. In fact, the game encourages you to make your sims have multiple lovers (who occasionally discover each other, leading to some gloves-off fistfights) through the sims’ “aspirations.”
I’ve tried once or twice to chronicle my sims’ lives using the tools, but I’d get impatient with the way stopping to write impeded my progress. On the other hand, without access to any expansion packs for my basic game, I lose interest in my sim families after several repetitions of the usual sim daily cycle. Maybe giving the game a storytelling purpose would make it more interesting in the long run?
