Thursday 14 March 2002

Pic of the day: What do these three young Sim women have in common?

Sims dating redux

I've had The Sims Hot Date for some months now. And while I don't play it every day or even week, I have gathered some experience with it. You can hardly have avoided mention of The Sims, computer game of the year 2000. Several expansion packs have been released later, perhaps the most drastic being Hot Date. Not only does it add a new downtown to the sleepy neighborhood, and introduce some new items; its true power is in the dozens and dozens of new social interactions, and a partial rewrite of the whole interpersonal aspect of the game. (It is more difficult now; younger children should start with the original game, or they could well be frustrated in their attempts to make friends in the game.)

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But enough about the game as such; onward to the dating. I've observed myself playing for a while and found some interesting trends. Firstly, if I create a character that looks and acts suspiciously like myself, I am bound to also create one that looks and acts at least somewhat like my best friend. Ahem. It makes for good screen shots, but a bit too predictable. Plus I always restrain my playing style.

So when I create other single characters, and I create several in the same neighborhood, they tend to date people from the neighborhood rather than the townies. This is probably in a large part due to my light guidance, but also the fact that I tend to create very friendly and sympathetic characters. Decorative too, but Sims seem to completely ignore physical appearance when left on their own. They don't even consider skin color.

So eventually I made guys who live alone in their neighborhood, so they are forced to rely on townies (non playing characters from the downtown, automatically generated). Sims cannot live alone for more than a few days before they experience depression, even if they have work and a computer. (So much for realism, though some can hold out for a week while others collapse after a couple days.) So I send my guys downtown to get friends, and perhaps a wife. (Marriage can drastically improve the economy. At least for Sims.)

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So what kind of girls do I consider for my lonesome bachelors? Well, that was quite a revelation. Looking back on my total playing experience, I find that there are 3 deciding factors, sorted chronologically: Face, butt, and personality.

Characters with a friendly face are prime targets. These are plentiful, so in practice I just avoid the ones with angry, sulky or sarcastic faces. Beauty is not a concern. It is the expression on the face that counts.

Among friendly looking girls, the ones with the biggest butts get the most attention. This is primarily measured as the ratio of hip to waist; but if this ratio is equal, the bigger backside in absolute measures wins the day. Survival of the fattest. And as a third sorting key, clothes that emphasize the behind through shape and color. (All three females in today's picture are interesting, but the two in skirts are far more interesting, with the pink one narrowly in the lead.)

The backside only determines the order in which they are approached, though. The deciding factor is the personality. Girls that can keep chatting for a long time will almost always win out in the end. A special case is girls who are very forward and pro-active. My boys prefer girls that take the initiative -- provided the initiative is not completely out of bounds. Ceaselessly chatty girls are on the highway to wifehood, and boasting & preening is good too. But extreme tickling on the second date is a sign of doom. My bachelors may differ in their sportiness, but they are all shy and introverted Sims.

So there, if my Sims playing is any indication, is my ideal woman: A friendly face, an eye-catching rear, tirelessly chatting and attention seeking, but not too forward physically. Non-serious applicants only please.