This thread got me thinking- how exactly do you view your sims? Are they human, or something else? Do they live in our world, our universe, our reality? How big are they? If you could step into their reality, would you be as tall as an ant? Or as huge as Will Wright was if you climbed the beanstalk?


I always think of my sims as living in a completely different universe or reality to ours. I see myself as having a little window into their world, like an overseer or watcher. And occasionally I can meddle! But I see sims as living in a world with completely different geography, history and culture to ours, where physics works a bit differently so that time is faster and magic can happen, and sims can be teleported from one place to another. They have their own priorities and motives, and I accept that they will do things that seem silly or heartless or bonkers to me, and I don't like to mod out their idiosyncrasies too much. As being illogical, and fighting, and panicking at fire, and sniffing plants, and piling into the bathroom are, to me, you know- just things that sims do!
I always think of them as being on a smaller scale to us- so that if we were to go into their world we would be giants. Something like this:


Or this one I did of Sim Sample:



But they absolutely are real to me- so I don't like to be overly cruel to them- but I do let disasters happen from time to time. And sometimes, I wonder if my sims aren't carrying on their little lives when I'm not watching. After all, I talk to them as I'm playing, and sometimes they turn to look at me, so perhaps my computer is a portal into their reality, and when the computer is switched off they just get on with things.

I've seen that other players like to have medieval or sci-fi worlds, or have the sims live for longer or forever. And some mod the game to have the sims behave in a more logical or more human way, or not smustle or pillow fight in the roads!
Many people use the game to act out their stories, or to live the life they wish they could have.
Of course, there is no right or wrong way to view your sims, that's the whole beauty and fun of the game. Anything is possible, and you can make the game whatever you choose!

So how do you see yours?

I love this post, thread and idea!

I think of them as characters in an alternate universe, where our rules of existence do not apply. However, that being said, they are fully formed entities who have emotions, thoughts and inspirations a bit close to us humans. (even the aliens)

As humans we tend to use Anthropomorphism to make animals, inanimate objects (cars, boats , etc) feel more like one of us-and I think the pixels fall into that category-they're not like us, so we make them resemble us by naming them and giving them human characteristics.

I think that's about as harmless as one can get in describing the pixels-and we do become very attached to them as a result. Your Sim Sample is possibly a outlet for you to play another type of person in animation-he even might resemble you in at least your avatar.

That's what they call the "Canny Valley Effect" and it is probably a distant relation to the above idea.

But yes, I do see my pixels as human at times-feeling mad that they do stupid things, hurt when they die (unexpectedly or not) and cheer when they do well.

I think of it as a way to control something within my sphere, when not much is controllable. It's a valve to let off steam at times or a way to escape life for a while.

Although I'm sometimes very surprised by what they'll do. Damn things won't behave themselves at all, and I have to step in to make it right!

I view sims as sims, so while human like they are not human. Humans don't turn into plant sims from over spraying, that would unfortunately be more likely to cause cancer. They live in their own alternate universe that has its own rules. Items somehow collapse and expand on being taken out and put in their back pocket, males get pregnant via alien abduction and a chair placed in the wrong place may be an unmovable obstruction.

I tend to think everything there is similar scale except time, time there is wacky.

I keep in mind that they are pixels driven by coding so I am more likely to say X is due to coding or adverting rather than make up a story although I do make up stories on occasion. I guess I am too much of a pragmatist. I do have mods to make things more realistic, but not for everything. I prefer that sim pee and vomit is all the same blue. I like my simvrerse to be rather idyllic but not too easy. So sims may have to struggle but they are not going to die (rarely) before reaching a ripe old age.

Yes, he's completely the opposite of me I think- he does the things I wouldn't dare! Like wearing PVC.


I agree, it's an environment we can totally control and change to our whim. I wish I could have a new sofa or change of outfit as easily as my sims do! And when I'm playing I'm totally absorbed, so I lose track of time just like I do when I'm reading or writing or painting or listening to music. I'm there, with the sims in their world- and I have to set an alarm to remind me to eat or run errands or go to work or sleep! Sometimes when someone comes into the room, they startle me when they start talking because I won't even be aware they are there!


That's how I see it too- what looks odd to us looks perfectly normal to sims, and they don't bat an eyelid when someone flies off to work in the morning with superhero properties.


I tend to forget about the code, and I always think, oh! That must be how it goes in the sims universe.

I think I view my sims as their own kind of species, not entirely human, since I like for them to do things that aren't quite realistic for us. I used to think of them as humans and that they couldn't do anything a normal human couldn't, but that stressed me out because it limited what I wanted to do with my game. Right now I like for my same-sex couples to be able to be pregnant with each other, and in their little world, that's completely normal! I also like to add aliens to my neighborhood and nobody thinks it's strange; it's just another Tuesday in the supermarket for my sims.

As for myself, I don't like to think of what I'd look like inside their world, and I wouldn't want them to know I've been controlling their lives. For the most part, I let them be independent and do whatever they want, and I just step in when I really want or need something to happen. They're better off not knowing there's me behind the screen watching them every second lol. I like for them to create stories and I just watch hehe.

Sometimes they remind me of the "cookies" from Black Mirror, if you've ever watched that show. Especially when I clone my sims for picture purposes and dump them in a new neighborhood, or when I generate a lot of random sims for an experiment. They're just alive for a few hours and they don't know what's going on. Then, I delete the neighborhood and they don't realize they've been wiped from existence.

Since I've done a lot of storytelling that's based on out-of-game writing with characters illustrating the stories through pictures, I view those sims more like actors while I'm staging them up, but the characters themselves are "alive" in my head, so to speak. They're already years ahead in the story... For shorter photo/story projects, the sims are even more like actors.

My actor/story sims also tend to live a very content life. No deaths (for the actors, the story characters is a different thing), no cooking (unless for a picture - I like to think they've got an all you can eat buffet available 24/7), and all their needs taken care of (with free will off, needs kind of need a quick-fix, because managing the needs of 8+ people is tough when you're concentrating on posing and taking pictures). They also tend to stay the age they started out as - if I need an older sim I'll usually make them as an older sim instead of aging up, because there's always the possibility I'll need their younger self later.

Whenever I play just for fun, I'll play with needs and all that. It varies whether free will is on. I'll micro-manage them, though. I like for them to have happy lives, and I rarely let them get old. I don't like the ambiguousness of how long the old age stage lasts. I have a bad habit of abandoning families I really like just because I like them the way they are at that stage in their life, and don't want them to get any older, and then start another family and do the same thing there.

I've never thought of my sims as real, though. I know very well they're characters in a game, and they only "live" whenever I'm playing. It's no different from other games. I don't mind the 4th wall breaks, and see those as more a complaint or nod to the "camera", maybe a bit in line with the actor way of thinking. They need something, and they're complaining directly to the "director" or "film crew".

That's something interesting to think about! I often wonder if, assuming they are 'real', they would know when I pause the game? I mean, time wouldn't pass for them at all, and when I hit play things carry on as usual... Likewise, would I know if that's happening to me in this universe?


Oh I hadn't considered that they could be like actors! Very interesting, all the simworld is just a stage perhaps!

@Aspersim There are lots of religious simmers, in fact I think there used to be a custom content site that specialised in religious items. The wiki has a Content List:Religious^wiki and there are religion mods too. Yes, it is a creepy thought to be stuck inside a program or code, I remember Star Trek touched on this when a holodeck (computer) character became sentient and asked to be allowed to leave the simulation and explore space. They solved it (sort of) by making a computer simulation of the universe for him to explore- he thought he was in the real universe, so was quite content. That story line raised a whole lot of ethical and moral questions! There are those who think that we are actually inside a computer simulation- maybe the programmer is God? For these type of questions, we can have a conviction, or feeling- but never really know (unless the programmer were to reveal themselves to us). Religion and the origins of the universe are topics I could discuss endlessly, I find them very interesting! I have spent a lot of time studying various religions throughout my life. And the physics of the universe, too!

The sims are not real to me. It's just a game. I see them like fictional characters in a book or movie, but they aren't actors. The sims are the characters themselves.

I like simulating things and working out/seeing/finding out "What would happen if..." so I think I probably take the name very seriously, without realising it! It's a simulated version of [an alternate] reality, but it's not real.

For example, I like creating situations and putting my characters in them, and seeing what they will do. Often that makes a story. Sometimes it's touching, sometimes it's funny. Sometimes I feel bad for them and intervene to change/prevent something bad from happening, but sometimes I see it as an arc in their character's story. I might even create something bad to happen, although actually I don't do this very often. However, I am happy to put in mods that add a chance of something negative happening, or for example start off in a less than ideal situation. For example, I have a poor neighbourhood that is run down and doesn't have many facilities. And I've created completely desolated destroyed apocalypse themed hoods, to play out a whole-hood apocalypse challenge, even though I'm very bad at this and they often don't survive (oops!)

For me, they are life sized. I don't like the idea of them being tiny!

What a fascinating thread to read! MrAnMal came with a cup of tea and I didn't even notice until he told me not to let it go cold .

Aspersimmer, I am a Christian too, and I don't let my sims have any "real" religion because it makes me feel icky. There's so much that's important in my faith that a sim just can't have, or think, or do, it just doesn't work with what a sim is and how they behave. I have sometimes had sims in weird cults, but never the kind of cults that would exist in real life.

Many of you above said about the same thing I think: Sims are not from our universe, and they are their own thing, even if they share a lot with us humans. I think it's so funny SimSample sees sims as tiny creatures, I hadn't even thought of that! The visitors in my old Rollercoaster Tycoon park were definitely tiny in my mind, but I think of sims as pretty much human sized, and I don't think they would view me as very different from them if I could step into their world.

I decided one thing early on in my sims playing, that I would not try to be consistent about anything, as that would just make everything too difficult. I want my same sex couples to be able to conceive and I have made up the backstory of the aliens gifting the possibility of that to the human sims when they first started their experiments. Since I don't think of sims as humans, this works most of the time. but in some neighbourhoods sims just become more humanlike and that backstory feels weird and I start thinking of all the new questions it raises and the moral aspects of it, and in the end those neighbourhoods usually go without same sex pregnancy and the couples who wouldn't be able to conceive if they were real world humans will just have to adopt - or get a dog and take up gardening, as was once suggested to a childless relative of mine.

Then there is nationality and culture. If I would be consistent, I would make up new nations and flags and cultures and stuff for my sims, because they're not from our world, and sometimes I do. But Julien Cooke has always felt like a cartoon french character to me, so I "hear" his first name pronounced in French in my head and he usually gets a backstory that involves France somehow. Even if he is a sim, from the sim universe, where I suppose France shouldn't exist. I guess if I hadn't already decided long ago not to try to be consistent about anything, the sims wouldn't have been as much fun! (Apologies to any French simmers reading this - belive me, I do know the difference between cartoon french and real life French people . )

When I shut down the game and go do something else, I don't wonder what my sims are doing, if they are aware time is passing, if they're wondering when they're going to get to be active again. I think there I'm also a bit of a pragmatist, the sims don't really have an existence without a Watcher. But recently I put the wrong mod for fourth wall options in - there are a few to make sims stop looking back at you and then there's one that makes it possible for you to tell them to look at you. The last one is what I wanted, but I got one that stopped them looking at me instead. For a day's playing, something just felt off. I felt a bit like I had lost contact with my pixel friends and was almost starting to wonder why they didn't like me anymore! Then I saw I had the wrong mod in, replaced it with the right one, and things went back to normal again. I had a photo shoot planned with the elderly male sim who models shapewear for Mattea Picaso's fashion house (that's Unnamed Area for you! Things happen as they happen there), and when he noticed the camera focusing on him, he did this:
and I felt like the rapport between me and my sims was back to normal.

These two statements are lovely- even though you view your sims as simulations, your human nature won't quite let you torture them! :lovestruc We are such complex creatures.


That's so different from how I think of them- I can't imagine them as large beings! And, what if it's the other way around and it is we who are tiny, and sims are 50 metres tall?


Well, there's Champs Les Sims in Sims 3- that's definitely based on France!
https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Champs_Les_Sims
Maybe Julien comes from there?


That's a good attitude to have toward the game I think- it's easy to get niggly over inconsistencies, but sometimes that makes it less fun. Although there are some players who seem to really enjoy the complexities of making the entire game fit a specific culture!


What a great sim! I love it when you tell a messy sim to clean up the dishes, and they look at you with that 'who, me?' expression. Maybe it makes us feel like the Gods?

I've begun playing Pleasantview from it's original founding back when it was known as Pleasant Valley and it's taking place 420 years ago in history when Early American colonial towns began springing up along the East coast in what was know as the new world back then.I've had Eli and Ami Jankowsky who are one of the first ancestral branches of the Goth family already arrived and the Pleasant family's ancestors are next to sail over.There's a community serive center building site and their homestead which also needs them to build their house for the coming winter.Pleasnview is starting to get colonial settlers arriving in the next few years and will also build up facilities to accomodate them starting families as the first couples begin having their first babies.

On the part about beliefs and religion, pixels do have interests like we do-they like to talk about the government, money, their health and other subjects including paranormal and sci-fi.

(for those of you who are religious, hold your fire-I'm just attempting to explain my views):

I view paranormal as being interested in things that you don't understand or see-like ouija boards, seances, life after death, and in most cases a religion. In my Arundel town, I use the high interest in paranormal to be a high interest in religion and supply the pixels with certain prayer stones to make them happy-and it does.

Pixels believe in almost everything a human being does, so if we liken them to us, it's because they're drawn on our values. Religion is one of those beliefs that was invented by man in order to understand his place in the universe-and that's why so many people still go to church even in this time when we're sending telescopes out to the edge of our universe to discover the starting point of it.

Religion (in my viewpoint) doesn't explain a lot of anything else though-which is where the belief in the supernatural (paranormal) and sci-fi come in. They're just as interested in their universe as we are in ours. Sometimes we all have to have something to believe in-and pixels are a life form, too.

@SimSample-that NG episode is a complete and total encapsulation of what we're doing with Sims 2. They are in a contained universe living out their lives with benevolent gods (we think) watching them.

You may be surprised to know that some of are Christian @Aspersim. No doubt there are other faiths here as well.
Not seeing the correlation between wings and religion, but I would say most people who believe in angels don't necessarily want them in their game. I certainly don't. Angels are not normally seen plus something like wings are large (must be quite a few poly) and must clip into things badly. Very immerse breaking.

At some point all my hoods will have a church and a minster ( I have a minister career.) I open it as a business and set some CC Bibles for sale at very expensive. Any sim who buys one is part of the church (being very expensive reduces sales) And they bought it themselves of their own free will -see what I did there? Then it's open for weddings, funerals (never actually held one but I want to figure something out for that) Game days like bingo with bring a plate (do other countries 'bring a plate'?


I play the same way. It is rare for me to let something bad just carry on. Bugler yes, death from a stupid tree fire, tends to be no.

I've been thinking and I guess it's complex. On one hand I see them as pixels, that's it. Not real. Pixels I enjoy having fun with and using to make up stories. I always share my gameplay pix on my tumblr and I try and make stories out of it all, to a degree at least. Some of it is planned and some of it is not because the game will throw random things at you and often i'll just go with it because it's more interesting than whatever I had planned. I often decide things for my sims but sometimes a sim will veto a thing, and i'll let them. Sometimes i'll veto their veto and they are doing it anyway but that was really how I used to play, I don't do that much anymore. I do also see them as their own species, very similar to humans but not, and in their own world that has it's own rules. I've pretended they could hear me, that they couldn't hear me and that only some sims can hear me. Some believe in me, some don't. So I do see myself as sort of their God I guess.

Sometimes the plans I have for them include bad or sad things. I'll usually also plan for them to recover from whatever it is though and go on to lead a happy life afterwards. And sometimes when I don't plan a happy ending (which is rare) they'll surprise me and manage a happy ending that sometimes I didn't think was possible and i'll be thrilled, yes thrilled, for my sims! I get thrilled for them all the time and sad for them (even if i'm the reason - though at other times an evil laugh may be heard).

I don't like their lives to be too easy, it makes it boring for me, so I have mods to help out. Something about education is hard, higher bills etc. I don't have a lot of rules but I do have 1 at least, that every sim can earn 1 bottle of elixir of life. Just 1. Because I feel like their lives are too short for me to fully enjoy the sims but I also want them to age and die and carry on with the generations. So 1 bottle of elixir does that for me. Typically used in the adult stage (and elder - like those premade elders).

I'm not sure where this sets me but ... there ya go.

Well, it looks like I'm the first one to say so, but basically I see my Sims as human, or as near human as makes no difference. When I'm not playing I quite often imagine myself meeting my Sims and interacting with them. Very early in my Simming life I remember imagining meeting up with Andrew and Julian at a shopping centre near my home and chatting with them. Obviously that would only possible if they lived somewhere on earth, so I always imagine them living somewhere on our planet, though I deliberately remain very vague about exactly where that is.

I have modded out a couple of things I don't like and find too unrealistic -- alien abduction, ghosts, male pregnancy. But I have left other things in -- because l like them -- like the smustle, and pillow fights in the street.

Now I admit my game -- especially our Veronaville -- has more than a hint of the utopian about it. For years now my Veronaville Sims and I have been working together, to transform the old feud-ridden town into a really desirable place to live. I'm sure most of my Sims would agree that the town now has a positive vibe about it. Not many of my Sims are rich, but I get the impression that most of them are happy. Veronaville, especially the downtown area has become a centre of gay culture. The whole atmosphere of the place is open and accepting, and I think modern Veronaville must be one of the easiest places in the world to be gay. Nobody even raises an eyebrow at the sight of teenage boys kissing and making out in the street. (Unless of course Mrs. Crumplebottom spots them doing it downtown!) I make no secret of the fact that, if only it were possible, I'd be more than happy to go and join my Sims living in Veronaville. Where the game mechanic leaves off, my imagination takes over; I don't really accept any game-dictated limitations on my Sims. Anything I can do they can do too, and there's quite a few things they can do that I can't do.

The most unrealistic features that I haven't modded out are 3-day pregnancies and money trees. I keep the 3-day pregnancy because it's obviously a big improvement on a nine-month pregnancy, and money trees are invaluable to teens living alone, especially if they still attend school.

I keep a lot of things that some "realistic" players mod out, like the smustle, pillow fights, adults playing on swings and in the bath -- mainly because I like them. True, they'd be "unrealistic" in a lot of the staid boring real-life communities that many of us have to live in. But in an open fun-loving community, like our Veronaville, they seem perfectly realistic. I'd love to live in such a community. Where I could wear one of KnightskyKyte's skimpy "Pretty Boy" outfits as my regular everyday wear, where I could go out and enjoy a pillow fight in the street with an equally scantily clad friend. And then, still in the street, then finish off by making out with them! This from someone who in real life has never made out with anyone ever.

It may seem odd after talking about wanting to make out in the street, but I too like to count myself as a Christian, albeit perhaps not a very good one. (I suppose the real question is whether Jesus counts me as a Christian.) I know many think you can't be gay and be a Christian, and ten years ago I used to rather think that way myself. But since then Andrew and Julian have persuaded me that it is possible. And, more than anything else, that shows just how human I think my Sims are, and how much influence they have over me. :lovestruc

To me I don't consider Sims to really be human, yes they look human but to me they're more akin to a 'Simkind'. Basically a parody version of humanity. That I think is actually how I approach The Sims series in general.


I only sometimes refer to myself as 'SimGod' in a jokingly manner, I never actually consider myself in a serious thought as being their creator nor their god despite having absolute control over their lives. If anything, though it may be through my computer, the sims have a way of creating their own lives.

I think of angels and flying humans as something superhuman/supernatural, and don't necessarily believe they exist. I generally don't play with those elements (although I occasionally sprinkle in some hints of "maybe"), but they can be useful as symbolism in some settings. The few times I've used angel wings for something it's been more symbolic in storytelling, as a quick and easy visual reference. My playstyle rarely go toward the supernatural, and my sims have other things to worry about than religion. I'll sometimes have them celebrate holidays that are still vaguely religious (the usual - Christmas, Easter...) but more for the decoration and storytelling purposes, not because I think they follow a religion.

Sims running around with wings ingame just looks awful. Wings, especially large ones, clip into everything, so either you need a plan for handling that, or simply not care about all the weirdness.

Wings can be useful if you're doing costume parties and Halloween, though. Probably best to make sure they're not the wide ones that would knock down another sim when the winged one turns around

Some wings of the more detailed variant are high-poly, but there are some that are just cutout pictures on two polygon sandwiches, which is about as low as you can go. There's also other low-poly ones, so you can get them in several varieties.

The only wings I have found to be nice on occasion are the fairy wings that come with the fairy trait. I did use it for awhile but got annoyed with the floating around.

Similar sentiments to many others on this thread so I doubt I could add much. That said, here I waffle on:

Sims religiosity in my game tends toward Christian, more culturally in the background, by way of a church, a church minister/priest (typically an alien in 95% of my hoods, go figure) and bibles. Vaguely reflective of my own Christian faith, thought I have no angel or demon Sims (I personally find that weird: says the guy with sayters, fae and vampires all praying at the local church...)
Other than that, references to sims based fictional religions are as far as the religious aspect generally goes. I did once have Chris Hatch's Angels and Nurses installed, thought it conflicted with too many other mods I like and consider "essential for immersion". Witches exist because of the nifty gameplay aspects (I'm a sucker for the spectral cats) and suffer little persecution (including the ridiculous 'X the Grumpy CrumpleBottom' names and pointy hats.). Occultic Sims otherwise are a normal sight around town, especially after dark.

my hoods are a mash up of semi-historically accurate castle dwellers, 2000s era suburbia sprawl, industrial urban living of dystopias never to come and sleek futures of robots, flying cars, mad scientists and genies. A reflect of the eccentric and eclectic residents and perhaps a fun house mirror view of my own physiological state while creating. If it adds gameplay or looks intriguing, my sims shall have it (Surfing, Farming, Skiing, Castaway-ing) or be it (Genies, Merfolk, playable Ghosts, Raptors). What is abnormal for us is canonical to Sim-City, Sim-Nation Sim-Earth and the Sims themselves, I like Maxis Match for that reason. it's (in my biased opinion) consistent within the universe of the Sims (and obviously within my own little slice of it.)

Sims are not human in the real sense, but an code based approximation and exaggeration of us so size-wise we'd be the same height, and in-universe I would consider them to be human.

Sims who do die, tend to for story reasons, and half the time I resurrect them anyway. They may be pixels but they're pixels I've invested time into crafting, and spammed 'motherlode' into their family funds so they can thank me later.

This was a lot of Waffle so enjoy.

Confession: I am the simmer who called them human in the other thread

Even at my age, I am not completely delusional yet; I know they are pixels, so don't worry. Yet I think I see my sims the way I see fictional characters. And they are as real to me as say, a John Rebus, a Jack Reacher or a Will Trent.

Being a bit of a RL short story writer, it is perhaps the only way I can see them: as characters, with good and bad qualities, having dreams that some will reach and others will not, having a little bit of good (or bad) luck at times, often wishing for things they cannot have.

Sims can have friends, fall in and out of love, be happy or depressed, even get a bit of a mental breakdown at times, live a life and die.

Being silly is being human. Having fun is human, even if the fun is being silly. We have a sport bar ( a very nice one, with excellent food and live shows) close to us. Sometimes, we will dance on our porch when the music is particularly good from there, and the neighbors on 3 sides will join in. Sometimes, the neighbors start the dancing. We all did the Time Warp the other day. Which is not that far removed from Sims doing the smustle. So let them have their pillow fights and water balloon fights (after all, we tend to run through water sprayers on hot days) or whatever.

I am a Christian and use religion in much the same way Jo does - the minister career, a church which has a wedding arch and some entertainment - but I don't like to make religion too complicated in my game. In my country we have different religions and we do respect each other's freedom and space. I will not attempt playing a religion I do not understand enough of.

One of the things that endear sims to me is the never-ending ability to surprise. Free will has to be on at all times, of course. Not so long ago, the late Stirling Hamilton, former Minister of Education, went to the Far East and learned to teleport. He was a very neat sim, obsessive about cleaning (I had a roomie like that once). Standing on the pavement, I told him to clean the bathroom. He pumped his fist into the air and teleported. Stirling was not the nicest sim around, but he loved his fun wife, had some very good friends and it made me sad when he died.

I guess - I have not actually thought about that before - that I see Sims as bigger rather than smaller in size - after all, they have entertained me for around 17 years now

I don't see the time as something unrealistic, because I see it as a kind of representation. I do consider my sims to have ages which roughly correspond with real world ages. 2 sim days = 1 year. But I see each lived day in the game as a kind of representative day in that one year. So I don't mind a 3-day pregnancy, even though that is 18 months in my game, it also helps pregnancies to be spread out a little. I also wouldn't want seasons to be flashing past in half a day. I like living in whichever season it "is" for a while before moving on to the next. I've never taken a sim on vacation; I must try that. It makes sense to me that time freezes while they are on vacation though. It always bothered me that university was so long compared to adult life spans, but actually perhaps it's more that it's just a particularly memorable time in life. (I now mod it so it only lasts 8-10 days, anyway).

I like the idea of interpreting paranormal interest as a kind of spirituality/religion. That's interesting. I might incorporate that into my game (I like ideas that bring interests into the game!)

(Showing my age) the smustle dance reminds me of Saturday Night; every self-respecting child from around the age of 7, and most adults, seemed to know this dance during the 90s, and the song started playing at a school disco, everyone would run to the dance floor and join in. So I also do not think this is unrealistic. It's just a trend that exists in the sims' world, like there are probably tiktok dances now that go around the world.

Edit: You can view the Saturday Night dance here. I was surprised this is the only result on youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpZrAwWejPc

When it comes to sim death my sims normally only die from old age. I almost had a pregnant sim die on me recently, the hunger/energy fiasco, but I cheated to up her hunger. I normally never cheat for motives but I HAD to keep her from dying! It's not that other kind of deaths can't happen in my game, but they normally never do unless I plan it which is rare. I love to have my sims live their full lives and only die of old age.

And yes while on one hand they are "just pixels" to me I still get attached to them. I think that came through in my previous post but if not, I do get attached to them. I feel happy for them, sad for them, I want them to succeedd generally. I do care about them even though they aren't real.

I love what Justpetro said "Being a bit of a RL short story writer, it is perhaps the only way I can see them: as characters, with good and bad qualities, having dreams that some will reach and others will not, having a little bit of good (or bad) luck at times, often wishing for things they cannot have." I love to write stories to and very much agree with this. Even though I care about them if they didn't have any flaws and never had any struggle, it'd be boring to me because it wouldn't feel real at all. But with flaws and struggles they feel real and i'm happy for them when they are happy. It might sound silly but I think i'm probably in good company here .

I have recently started having religion in my game (I'm pagan - Wiccan specifially) but they are sim religions, nothing real as far as I know. Of course I obviously had to use inspiration from real life religions but the religions I made for my sims are just a mix and simified. I hope that makes sense.

I just figure the time and aging is different for them. In Sims 3 I actually use the ability to have a custom lifepsan to make it so that pregnancy is 9 months by having a year = 4 days. So in Sims 3 my sims live a lot longer. But in Sims 2 I don't bother with anything even though I know lifespan mods exist. I just give them all 1 elixir of life (they do have to earn it but it's not hard) and that's that. It is weird that pregnancy is so long compared to their lifespan but if it wasn't, you'd have even *more* babies lol. Too many sims would be even more of a problem I think lol. Well I guess you could use birth control with ACR or something but ... i'm too lazy lol.

Sims 3 lifespans have to be much longer because everyone in the neighbourhood ages at once. I never managed to work out how long I wanted it to be! But it would definitely be longer than TS2 where you play through every single day.