Monday 6 March 2000

Pic of the day: A promising start for ...

I don't often fall in love with computer games. At least not anymore. I did in the past, quite often and quite briefly. And since I bought them legally, it cost quite a bit. But for the last few years I have had a stable relationship - I do it with Daggerfall two or three times a week, and often more (especially in the weekends). There is still the occasional fling with Civ2, and the sudden bouts of mad passionate love with Master of Magic as you may have noticed. But it's not quite like when I first got the original Civilization, and sat down to play in the evening. After a while I was distracted by a strange color of the curtains. It was the morning sun...

There just might be another, though I am not entirely sure yet. We have just recently got together, The Sims and I.

I sort of felt obliged to buy the game, since I have in public asked for such a game to be made, several times in the past. I used to dub it "Sim Village", and imagined a cross between a simulator and a role playing game. To be honest I had thought of it as a kind of human aquarium, which could be populated by sim humans. Then the player would retire like a good Watchmaker and look at his creations play out their lives. Certainly it did not occur to me that one would be required to tell them when to go to bed or even when to use the toilet. (Though the family Newbie seem to be able to narrowly avoid messy disasters of the latter kind, they will not go to sleep before they collapse. Ahem. Reminds me of a certain Magnus Itland ... Not that this game is likely to help!)

Speaking of which, I guess I've been a little short of sleep lately. Strangely, this has not led me to falling asleep at work, barely even at the bus. But it is probably not good for my health. I woke up today with a pain under my right eye, and the eye was hurting too. It still is, at least some, but the pain has sort of diffused to a general headache. It is still just a low murmur of a headache, but growing as the evening passes. I rarely have a headache - in fact I think I have reported in these pages every time - so I don't feel too good about it. On the other hand, I am not really tired. This could be because I am excited by the game, however.

I have created two new character, based at least in part on someone I know (ahem). So now I'm patiently waiting to see if the two of them will hit off, or if they will remain each at his and her own computer playing games all evening ...

I hope I shall feel better another day, and perhaps tell you more.