"The Sims" was unexpectedly helpful in real life

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You know that popular computer game, The Sims? The Sims 3 recently came out as the newest version, but I've only played 1 and 2. In fact I was quite obsessed with it for several years. I found that it had some unexpected benefits.

I don't know if many Aspies are like this, but I had a particularly hard time knowing what to do in general to live a "normal" life. I didn't know when or how often to shower, when or how often to clean a house, when or how often to shop, or really when or how often to do anything at all including sleep. I'd become terribly disorganized, not bathe or eat, everything around me eventually turning to rubbish. I know this doesn't make much sense because most people know to eat when they're hungry, bathe when they're dirty, clean the house when it's messy, pay bills when they're due, go shopping when the fridge is empty, etc. But for reasons I still don't understand this was all a mystery to me.

The Sims gave me repeated lessons in running my real life. Like, take bathing. If you don't bathe your Sim he'll develop a toxic green cloud around his body, signifying his odor, and a cloud of flies will buzz around his head. Other Sims will grab their noses and refuse to do any social interactions with him. The Sim's hygiene bar will decrease during a normal day and go from green to red, at which point he must bathe or face the consequences. This computer simulation of the process of bathing and being dirty told me that I should bathe once per day, and always bathe after vigorous exercise or getting into something dirty.

Same thing with cleaning up and doing household chores. In The Sims you can clean your house yourself or hire a maid. Your Sim will set down food, used plates, books and other objects in random places. Dishes, food, and diapers will also develop a toxic green cloud and flies after a short time in the game. So will the toilet and piles of trash. Any Sim entering the dirty house instantly develops a bad mood and becomes prone to negative social interactions (arguing, lecturing, poking). A Sim in a bad mood cannot do ordinary things such as write college assignments or exercise. This computer simulation of the entire process and consequences of a house becoming dirty made me understand that a house should be cleaned every day and food put away immediately.

The Sims is a simulation for almost everything that is important in normal life. It even shows that you need to begin with low-value social activities with someone you don't know yet and progress slowly over time to higher-value social activities. I highly recommend this slightly addictive game to anyone who has trouble understanding how to live in the day-to-day sense.

I think it's really cool that you got some educational value out of the Sims.

I've played it, but I didn't learn anything from it because I used cheat codes all the time! I was also more interested in making the Sims have babies with each other because of my mild fascination with genetics.

Yep. I read in a book about AS that it can help people with social problems because of the more "concrete" approach to relationships with people. (They show you a meter of how people feel about you, for instance.) Glad it helped you; maybe I should try playing it.

I'm glad someone else posted this! I love the Sims, I was hooked on it from the first game (in 1999) and it's really helped me with 'social' interactions. When I was younger, I used to make people I knew and try to 'act out' scenarios, lol. It's great, and the new expansion pack is really good as well because of the new social situations. The only problem is that sometimes I think in terms of Sims' moodlets, lol.

I love The Sims. I've also found it very useful. Although the times aren't all that accurate to real life. For example, in real life, it should not take you 10 minutes to brush your teeth!

PLUS: I would recommend The Sims 3 as it includes group conversing and also you can give them specific personality traits. I made a version of me on it which had social awkwardness and loved solitude. I still managed to date and get married quite easily! Not like my real life.

I found Petville on facebook helpful for similar reasons... the Sims has always appealed to me, I might get it for me and my son.

I love the sims 3! I sometimes make up stories with my families and such and take pictures of them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40576589@N07/5365881097/ http://www.flickr.com/people/40576589@N07/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40576589@N07/5366494696/ http://www.flickr.com/people/40576589@N07/
the toddler sim in the above pictures is protrayed as being on the spectrum in my stories.

I love Sims 2. It's great that you learned something from it! I wish life were a little more like Sims...if you don't like a conversational topic, you end the conversation and walk away. If you want someone to be your friend, you just talk to them a lot until they are forced to like you.

I love the Sims! I'm glad you could learn from it, I wish I had thought of that earlier...
All I learned from it was that it takes 30 minutes to pee, an hour to answer the door, and if someone calls you while you're sleeping the phone rings for five hours straight.

Though I didn't have any part in developing "The Sims", I'm glad you got something positive out of it.

I love the Sims games and am looking forward to getting Sims 3 soon. I would never have thought to use this to better my life or social skills, but if these are the positive benefits that some may experience from playing this game, then so much the better

As I said before, I love the Sims and find it really helpful. Looking forward to Sims Medieval being released!!

Oh if there were only cheat codes for real life!
The unlimited cash one would come in jolly handy.

Wouldn't it be fantastic to Edit Undo mistakes in real life at the click of a button?
I've lost count of the number of times I would like to make "save states" in my real life, so if I mess up, I can time travel back to a time before I made the mistake and correct it. I could make several parallel lives for myself at will and switch between them when I got bored.

Alas, real life isn't like this. You can't just press a button and start magically conversing with people, though it would come in jolly handy for someone like me who has difficulties starting conversations.

When I played an older version of the Sims, I was fascinated by the architecture of the houses. I enjoyed building beautiful bay windows and balconies. With the unlimited cash cheat I built fantastic mansions. I focussed on the interior design. I fretted about whether the colour of the carpet would really go with the upholstery of the sofa. I made themed rooms. I let the little Sim Man I created play chess against himself all day while I agonised over the exact positioning of the plant pots and the Roman columns.

I filled the little man's house up with the latest gadgets and he became a whiz at the computer. His house was soon filled with "toys". I had to sell his old junk to buy newer, more expensive junk to keep him happy. The little man became bored and lonely, so eventually, I had to invite people over just so I could watch them interact with all of the furniture.

I learned several important life lessons from this experience:

-Never build a Disco on the top floor of your house.

-Some people will still hate you, no matter how much cool expensive stuff you have

-Never try and build a pseudo American Diner on the bottom floor of your house without planning permission or charging people to eat there

-Roman columns do not go well with a Medieval theme

-People can't read in the dark

-Building a swimming pool and then accidentally deleting the ladder into the water is not good

Sims is amazing! I make me on the Sims 3 all the time. I make myself and my traits are Neurotic, Childish, Perfectionist, Workoholic, and Absent-Minded. When you start playing with her, you can tell I'm an aspie.

My son loved the sims, too. Got a little frustrated with it when it wouldn't build houses as many levels as he wanted! I should get him restarted on it... Anyway, I can remember telling an autism agency that they should use the sims to explain some social interaction skills and they ended up just really putting down that idea in a big meeting. I was really mad. But these posts show I was right!! ! Bwa-ha-ha!