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12/01/2002 Archived Entry: "The Sims Online released in Beta"

Game Girl Advance has a great snippet from Celia Pearce on her experiences with the Sims Online beta after her Sim was kissed by another player's Sim:

"I think, intellectually, the idea that you have a mental model of the whole world, and you are the one who's influencing whatever's going on, is fundamentally different than there being a real person on the other end of the line. This guy who just kissed me is a real person and that was weird."

I had the same experience in the beta for Anime Noir-- for some reason a game that would have been a bit of silly, naughty fun was, well, kind of creepy with "real" people involved. If you're weirded out by kissing, try the first time you're licked by a stranger!

"When the Sims first came out, many active gamers worked to break the system, make their characters have sex, or die in creative ways." Ah, this is still my favorite part of any game. Betrayed by the rhetoric of "interactive" entertainment, rabid players rebel by subverting the game structure. Now that's interactive! I'll reclaim my agency by ignoring the choices you gave me-- by playing outside the game, I'll *really* have the control you promised me. (Rant credited to Context Providers: Conditions of meaning in Interactive Art.)