Psychologists say torturing Sims is “normal”

When The Sims first came out, I was just as transfixed as everyone else. Unfortunately, the novelty lasted for about two hours before I got bored and started torturing my neighbours with slow deaths and burying the evidence.

Fortunately, I’m not the only Sims player creeping through the game like Dexter Morgan and can cancel my psych evaluation – a panel of psychologists have stated that this behaviour is in fact, pretty common.

Dr Jamie Madigan explains, “People may simply be curious about what happens when they create these situations, and the results can even be seen as funny. There are many different ways of playing the game, and these endless choices are what bring about enjoyment.”

Apparently the ways in which we design our Sims appearance also says a lot about ourselves, as we tend to make Sims that are “slightly idealized versions of ourselves”.

“People who used particularly tall avatars tended to be more assertive in negotiations both inside of a virtual world and in the real world immediately after turning off the game,” Madigan said.

The psychologist also feels that a big part of the game’s success are the measures of progress littered throughout, such as the green bars that reflect just how happy our fake people are. “I think that if you took away those rewards and progress meters, people would be much more likely to abandon the game,” she said.

So, next time you gleefully remove the ladder from your swimming pool and watch an idealized version of yourself drown, take a moment to reflect how totally normal you are.