It has been a long time since I played a computer game with my beloved – at least, one we have really been able to get our teeth into – but the other week, we decided, on impulse, to buy The Sims 2: Castaway. I say, “on impulse” – we have played some Sims-related games before, and on the whole, loved ‘em (in particular, detail junkies, The Sims: Bustin’ Out on PS2)… and I say, “buy” – I did have rather a lot of in-store credit saved up in Gamestation, so I didn’t spend £19.99 of actual cash… but the bottom, as they say, line is that, while in Kidderminster recently, I impulsively (ish) popped into Gamestation, picked up a pre-owned £19.99 (a lot more than I would normally spend on a game these days) copy of The Sims 2: Castaway and said to the, as it were, missus, “How do you fancy playing this?” (or something to that effect). The “missus” concurred that it was indeed a potentially rather fine item of gaminess. And so the purchase was made, we took the game home and… well I will confess that at first, on account of the fact that we did not commence playing of such immediately upon arrival at our mutual abode, I expressed some rather significant doubts to my other half that she would maintain an interest beyond that of the casual in said playage, due to her generally substantially reduced interest in PS2ery of late – only to be subsequently confounded by her significant and indeed prolonged enthusiasm for “getting into” The Sims 2: Castaway theretofore… to the point whereby I can indeed say, in total and proud (yes, why not?) honesty, that it is a game which we have “really got our teeth into”! All of them! Even our molars and – yes, I am not ashamed to say – pre-molars!
”But why?” – you may enquire. “What is it about this particular nugget of interactive entertainment which has inspired such a profusion of effusive verbiage?”
To which query I would respond thus…
It’s great! It’s, like, really cool, man! It’s ace, groovy and – not to put too fine a point on it – really rather splendid!
”But” (you may once again enquire, in the manner generally known as ‘repetitive’) “why?”
To which I shall further respond…
It’s really rather hard to say… I mean, you spend most of your time (in the game, that is) wandering around various desert-island-type environments (beach, jungle, cave, temple, rim of volcano…), harvesting numerous types of fruit, bamboo, vines and so on and so forth, talking to chimps and “sand buddies,” seeing to your – ahem – personal hygiene requirements, eating stuff, sleeping, trying to have a bit of “fun” where you can (e.g. by banging on a drum for hours (gaming hours, that is) at a time), occasionally building stuff and occasionally finding new areas. No fighting, nothing particularly dangerous, nothing too taxing on the old brain cells… and yet… it eats up your life, so it does!
”But” (you may ask once again, perhaps by now tiring to the point of near irritation of uttering the same old question over and over) “why?”…
I dunno, dammit!… maybe it’s the very mundanity of it (although it’s not that mundane, this particular Sims game, being set on a desert island and all)… maybe it’s the fact that it’s all so lovely and light-hearted and slow and infused with a strong vein of humour throughout… and the fact that nothing can ever go really, truly, horribly wrong, unlike in real life, and unlike, for that matter, in other games… and maybe it’s that all my life (all my real life), deep down, I have yearned to be able to talk to chimps…
But you know what?
You know what really is the answer to all your incessant “but why”s?
I really don’t know!
I mean… why do we fall in love? Okay, maybe that’s going too far… or maybe it’s not! I love The Sims! We (the “missus” and I) love The Sims! And in particular, at the moment, we love Famke Oppodopolus, our happy (much of the time) little lady-sim, who enjoys nothing more than to spend her days hacking at banana leaves, creating interesting new meals with the copious natural bounty of her newfound home and prancing about the place wearing the Crown of the King of the Llama People. And what more could anyone ever possibly want out of life?
We have presently discovered that a whole new island has just sprung forth out of the sea, ripe for the exploring and the plundering… oh the potential which may henceforth unfold!… I am veritably bursting with the excitement of it! 
[...] a generally pretty “chilled out” weekend, that we played quite a bit of The Sims (see post on my other blog), etc – but I truly believe that just saying I wanted to be happier… made me happier! I [...]