Wednesday 14 May 2003

Pic of the day: Children can often be perfectly happy through playing. This screenshot from The Sims I call "levitation for dummies", but by themselves the kids will just run randomly around, much like in real life.

Fun and happiness

Whether you play The Sims or live your normal life, it is useful to notice the difference between happiness and fun, and how they relate to one another. Let us start with the Sims, as they are simpler than (most of) us.

A Sim's happiness can be judged from the color of the polygon that always hangs over his or her head. A bright green polygon means a happy Sim; a deep red polygon means a very unhappy Sim. As a benevolent creator, it behooves you to keep your Sims in the green. For this purpose, you open the statistics window in live mode. There is a "happiness ladder" on the left side, and a number of needs bars on the right side. If all these are fully green, then the happiness is also complete, and the Sim functions optimally. If however some of the bars have red portions, they are likely to detract from happiness.

Not all need bars are equally important. The "room" value has very little influence, and "bladder" does not make a difference until it is deeply into the red. Conversely, "hunger" does not really make you happy when filled, it just keeps you unhappy if it dips too low. "Social" tends to change slowly but have a dramatic impact. And then there is "fun".

If no other need bars are deeply into the red, then the fun bar in itself is enough to lift a Sim to the heights of happiness. Few are the items and activities that have the power to fully satisfy a Sim's need for fun, although children at play will reach it easily and some expensive items can do the same. (I am glad to see that the pulpit, an item crafted by Cheap Frills, has added prayer to the list of such enjoyable activities.) A Sim totally absorbed in fun is a happy Sim ... unless there are urgent needs to drag him down, such as starvation or loneliness. Letting your Sim play before going to school or work is a good way to ensure a successful day.

***

In humans, this effect is popularly called "flow". I believe it first was named in sports, but it is found in many games and social interactions. It is a state in which the individual forgets itself and is absorbed into the activity. It is, I believe, mostly found during hectic games, active sports and lovemaking. In this state, fun and happiness are one. For the duration of the activity, happiness is ensured.

But overall, happiness is a much more long-term project than fun. Fun comes and goes, but happiness changes more slowly. Some individuals are more given to mood swings, and they can feel joyful and depressed in rapid succession. Others of us change only slowly, perhaps over weeks or months or years. Our fun value can go up and down, but the general feeling of happiness remains (or remains absent, in some cases).

It is hard to remain happy if basic needs are not met. If you have to go hungry much of the time, few things less than divine intervention can grant you happiness. (So be careful with those diets.) Conversely, if you are lonely, then no amount of stuffing your face with pudding and ice cream will fully restore your happiness. Though I guess it is worth a try.

The basic needs are the same for us all, but they are not equally distributed. Some people grow hungry easily, some need company at almost all times of night and day, and some feel the need to wash their hands or take a shower much more often than others. So you cannot always judge from yourself what makes others happy. You could of course ask, but the truth might be something that you would rather not know (especially in young men).

As I have said before, I believe that happiness is the state of living in accordance with our instincts. Not just basic instincts, indeed it may be necessary to restrain these in order to get a proper balance. In our furry friends, instincts tend to balance each other on their own, unless they are artificially restrained by human intervention. In humans, it is easy to grab one instinct and run with it, ignoring other more subtle ones. The commandments of major religions (possibly also minor ones) seem to aim at creating such a balance in the followers' lives, so that they can achieve lasting happiness. It may not always be fun, though. Fun is optional, but almost always possible once you find the right time and place for it