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MGTOW: I learned how to live my life from The Sims

I told you fireworks were a bad idea.

Over on the Men Going Their Own Way subreddit, one Redditor tells his comrades how he developed his philosophy of life:


I learned mgtow from the original Sims (self.MGTOW) submitted 4 days ago by onbakeplatinum Way back when the original Sims came out and I was 14, I tried to play as my actual family. That turned out to be a complete nightmare, trying to control multiple people, always being short on money, dealing with their moods and unwillingness to do anything, etc. Then I played as just a single Sim. The game became ridiculously easy. I only had to manage one person, could live in a small house, and train/go to work all the time. My Sim was extremely happy. She became rich and I pimped her small house (I tried to make the smallest house possible) with the highest quality items. I maxed out all her stats. I don't remember much else. But it occurred to me way back then that this was how I wanted to live my life. Alone and simple. I didn't NEED to have a family like everyone else and manage/deal with other people. I could live in a small (but nice) place because it's just me, and even though I don't make much money, it's only me I have to worry about.

This seems a bit weird to me. I also played the original Sims game when it came out, and that wasn’t the lesson I drew from it at all. The lessons I learned were a little, well, darker. Some that I remember:

  • If you place a bunch of people in a house with no bathrooms and no doors, they will be extremely unhappy, and will start leaving puddles on the floor.
  • If you place a bunch of people in a house with the only toilet in the middle of the living room, they will be nearly as unhappy as the first bunch of people.
  • If you build a house with no doors, chairs, couches or beds, the people trapped within it will also be really unhappy, and will ultimately try to sleep standing up or lying on the floor.
  • Building a fence around them while they’re out in the yard will do the trick as well.
  • If someone is swimming in your backyard pool, and you quickly build an insurmountable wall around it, they will eventually drown.
  • Actually, never mind, I think if you simply “forget” to put a ladder in the pool, they can’t get out either.

So I guess I mainly learned some very basic “don’ts” in home design, such as the importance of having a door. And in fact I have not designed any doorless — or bathroomless, or bedless — houses since then. Or any houses at all, actually.

I’m not the only one who learned lessons about the importance of doors, as the following videos I found on Youtube make abundently clear. Also, shooting off fireworks inside a doorless room is pretty much a disaster waiting to happen.

Well, you get the idea.

Have you learned any important life lessons from the Sims, or any other videogames?

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dhag85
dhag85
9 years ago

@Arthur Meyer

Is this a Back to the Future reference? Had to google it. I don’t actually watch movies. :p

Arthur Meyer
9 years ago

@dhag85

Yes it was.

However, there do exist such cities that almost little to no car traffic in them, or else are built as a paradise for walking and public transportation.

Buttercup Q. Skullpants
Buttercup Q. Skullpants
9 years ago

I had a Sims family of nine kids, no adults. Every morning the school bus would pull up hopefully to the curb, idle for a minute, then pull away empty. There was no furniture except for a pile of empty pizza boxes underneath a cloud of flies. Eventually they ran out of money. I don’t remember how it ended.

Other valuable life lessons from the Sims:

1. People are not your playthings.
2. They are not cardboard cutouts with no inner lives of their own.
3. Real life is messy and complicated. You can’t plan out your life, snap your fingers, and make it happen. Especially the part about maxing out your stats and pimping out your house. Being single doesn’t guarantee you’re going to be rich and blissfully happy, any more than being coupled does.
4. If other people aren’t for you and you want to play life on easy mode, that’s perfectly fine. However, don’t kid yourself that it’s because other people suck.

katz
katz
9 years ago

King’s Quest taught me to be very, very careful around stairs.

Sam McConnich
Sam McConnich
9 years ago

What I learned from games? Too many people are playing games, and not living life.lol

freemage
9 years ago

Marvel Puzzle Quest has taught me that it is actually possible to make an enjoyable Match-3 game that remains interesting, and free to play (you can buy stuff, but everything you can buy can also be earned through steady gameplay).

Knack taught me to hit the walls, everywhere.

Minecraft continues to teach me that it’s a good thing I never became an architect or an interior decorator. And also the value (and tedium) of strip-mining.

The original SimCity taught me that the best way to govern was to set up a moderately productive city and then let it run on high speed overnight, and when I come back in the morning burn it all down and build my REAL city with the tax money looted from the old one.

Pong taught me that frantic activity generally isn’t as effective as it first might seem.

Joel
Joel
9 years ago

I learned that zombies are everywhere. And that they hate plants.

Sissy
Sissy
9 years ago

Let’s see, the three main lessons I got were:

-I can eat apples and slabs of meat from the ground without worrying about sanitation issues. (just about every Beat-‘Em-up ever)

-I can shoot anything from my hands if I just TRY HARD ENOUGH! (just about every fighting game ever)

-Wasting free time in casinos (while not wasting my money). (Sonic 2)

weirwoodtreehugger
9 years ago

I will check out Marvel Puzzle Quest. Sounds fun.

Paradoxical Intention
9 years ago

Orion | October 29, 2015 at 5:10 pm
PI,

There’s a well-reviewed game with a similar premise from a couple years back called Recettear.

Ooooh, thanks for the tip! I have a soft spot for games like this, and I’ve been sorely tempted to re-create that feeling in other games like Minecraft (just ask Kirby. I opened up a goddamned bar on the old WHTM server), and even though I’m playing on a single-player world at the moment with a modpack called Natural Magic I’m tempted just to build a store because I’ve gotten so OP in Magical Crops and I just have. So. Much. Stuff.

Pandapool — The Species that Endangers YOU | October 29, 2015 at 5:11 pm
@Paradoxical

Sips. :>

It also has a nice cartoony design which I’m all about.

Yup. I’m enjoying watching him play through it and opening up Bert’s Weed Bunker. Though, I can’t wait for him to get into selling Mushrooms and such too, and getting into some alchemy.

And I do like the design as well. I’d like to see more diversity amongst the customers, and it seems like they’re taking a step towards that with names and such, but I’d like to see some customers where aren’t balding white dudes. : P

dhag85 | October 29, 2015 at 5:14 pm
@Paradoxical Intention

Have you played Dragon Quest IV (I think?)? In one of the chapters you play as a weapons merchant. I always loved that chapter, but the mechanics of working in the shop are obviously very limited.

I haven’t actually. There’s a lot of games I didn’t get to play when I was a kid, that I’m having to come back to now that I’m an adult, come to think of it.

Of course, I’d like to play a game where I only run the shop, but doing it in other games is fun too.

Terrabeau | October 29, 2015 at 5:15 pm
DayZ and Rust have taught me that my belief in the essential goodness of humankind is a falsehood wrought and maintained by the existence of civilization. Once said civilization eventually collapses, everything will go to shit.

Yup. Nothing says “people are selfish assholes” than the fall of civilization.

Though, there’s a silver lining in the fall of civilization in that they can’t be anonymous assholes on the internet anymore, and now they have an opportunity to be selfish assholes to people who may or may not have better weapons and armor than they do.

Nequam | October 29, 2015 at 5:27 pm
Costume Quest: only twisted monsters like candy corn.

I should play that to celebrate Halloween (or Samhain, if you’re like me and you’re into that) this year. My family doesn’t do much in terms of decoration and the like because we don’t get any trick-or-treaters, which makes me sad. :<

Once I move out, I'm going to celebrate Halloween all fucking October.

Because if we can put up Christmas shit the day after Halloween, I can celebrate Halloween all October. >:[
_______________________________

I do have to admit, I like the blend of snarky responses and very serious life lessons we’ve got going on here. :3

Eschen
Eschen
9 years ago

I don’t have a problem with anything he said in that post. It’s too bad he’s almost certainly a raging misogynist.

Paradoxical Intention
9 years ago

@Orion:

OOOOH!

I just Googled Recettear, and it reminded me of this game I downloaded a demo for on my 3DS called Adventure Bar Story, where you play as a girl whose parents died, leaving you and your sister in possession of their bar. You cook, and your sister runs the front as a hostess/waitress.

You’re being pressured to sell by a bad man because the bar isn’t doing well, so you take up the fight (along with the cute general shop keep across the town square), to go out into the wilderness to collect various food stuffs to bring home to craft into delicious foods to sell in your bar to not only keep you afloat so you don’t have to sell your childhood home, but to become world famous and put the bad man out of business!

So, it’s equal parts typical JRPG with the monsters and battle system (think like classic Final Fantasy/RPG maker-style games), and Cooking Mama/restaurant management sim with the food crafting and restaurant management. 😀

You get to pick what foods you sell, and you have to keep track on what people liked and didn’t like, and how much of that food you sold, and how many ingredients you have, ect. It’s all really fun!

Bina
Bina
9 years ago

Pac-Man (and Ms. Pac-Man) taught me that magic pills are good for helping you digest ghosts, but magic fruit gets you extra points.

Space Invaders taught me that blowing shit up but not getting blown up yourself is an addictive but empty rush.

Day of the Tentacle taught me that green tentacles are good, purple tentacles are evil, and horse dentures are hilarious.

Mahjongg taught me that ancient Chinese board games are effin’ cool.

ObjectiveReality
9 years ago

From Sword Of The Samurai (which is the late-80s game *everyone* should play if they dig Sid Meier-y things) I learned to always invest in swordsmanship. The other choices for family advantages are honour or money, and swordsmanship can get you both of those. Also, just go ahead and raise the rice tax – your peasants might rebel, but you took swordsmanship as a starting advantage.

Am I doing this right?

Moggie
Moggie
9 years ago

Minecraft taught me that everything good in life starts with punching trees.

Heavy Rain gave me a hint of fatherhood, and how a child can fill your world. It’s not something which will ever happen to me in real life, but it was a worthwhile experience.

Katamari Damacy taught me a new technique for keeping the place tidy, which I’ve never quite managed to make work IRL.

Ico taught me the importance of carrying a stout stick at all times.

Since Portal 2, I have increased respect for potatoes.

scarlettpipstrelle
9 years ago

I learned from Leisure Suit Larry that some things aren’t as glamorous as they seem. I learned from Castle Wolfenstein that having enough speed and force will get you through bad things, but with a lot of collateral damage. I learned from Myst that life is confusing and complex, with many layers of meaning. I learned from Second Life that I can be just as much of a spendthrift and daydreamer in virtual reality as I can in real life. I learned from Hunt the Wumpus that I’m not as smart as I’d like to be. I’m not much of a gamer, I know.

leftwingfox
9 years ago

I was working in a video game store when the sims came out, and it was running on one of the desktop computers as a demo. I created a version of myself whom I named “Jack Random”, and moved him into town.

When I mentioned it to my boss a couple weeks later, he got mock angry at me. Turns out he had also created himself and his wife in the game, and my Sim had been happily putting the moves on her while I was away.

So, The Sims taught me I’m a lecherous home-wrecker.

Paradoxical Intention
9 years ago

@leftwingfox: You owe me a new keyboard. I spit coffee all over mine.

bluecatbabe
bluecatbabe
9 years ago

Doom taught me to flinch slightly when walking down corridors in real life, because in the game there’s always a demon flinging fireballs at you.

Minesweeper taught me that the only limit to the time I’m capable of wasting is how much time I actually have.

leftwingfox
9 years ago

Dwarf Fortress has also taught me the following:

Measure twice, cut once, lest you flood the dining hall with lava again.

Men make better soldiers than women, because women will use their babies as living shields in battle.

Fire imps, dry biomes and elven caravans are a recipe for hilarity tragedy.

Randomly Generated artifacts will sometimes result in dwarven sex toys.

deniseeliza
deniseeliza
9 years ago

I learned that I can become fabulously wealthy by painting the same painting over and over again on the easel in my living room.

Ace
Ace
9 years ago

I also learned that vans are the best for rolling, monkeys can drive rail cars, and a banana between the buttcheeks always makes you go faster.

Bina
Bina
9 years ago

Oh yeah! And Leisure Suit Larry taught me what I already knew: that guys in leisure suits are sleazy, especially if their name is Larry. And that cheesy pickup lines are cheesy, but for some odd reason they “work” on imaginary women named “Passionate Patti”.

And Carmen Sandiego taught me a lot of cool geography trivia, too.

A.A. Wils
9 years ago

Legend of Zelda: If you see ceramic pots, smash them. Tons of goodies to be found. Same with shrubberies: if you slash them to bits, you always find something good underneath.

Super Mario Bros: Fight fire with fire, particularly when it comes to Bowser. Also, mushrooms are always a good thing.

Contra: Spreading flamethrowers are the shit. Also, if you press the buttons in the right way, you’ll never die.

Rabid Rabbit
Rabid Rabbit
9 years ago

@bluecatbabe

Minesweeper taught me that the only limit to the time I’m capable of wasting is how much time I actually have.

Ditto, but make that Jezzball.