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This article was written by a long term VPL member(Elliot Warren).
Or, you know, leaving them to starve to death in the empty, doorless basement. The Sims was meant to be a creative outlet for kids in design and probably create some sort of sense of responsibility.
The only way I got more creative was figuring out varying ways on how to brutally murder as many Sims at one time as I could. I think my personal best was around twelve.
At any rate, I’m twenty-three and I didn’t turn out too terrible.
Sim does, after all, stand for Simulation. The game was meant, like many simulated games, to create the ‘real’ world in an isolated, controlled environment.
Wikipedia defines a Simulation Game as the following:
There are literally hundreds of simulated games. Some range from the hyper, scarily realistic real-world scenarios to something complete ridiculous.
Goat Simulator took the world by storm in 2014 and the Sims franchise has been topping the gaming charts for the last fifteen years. Simulations are in no way restricted to the world of Pet Sites.
There are a variety of simulation games, be it escaping and surviving the zombie apocalypse in a realistic world (such as Day Z, where you deal with the various stages of hypothermia and eventually drop dead if you don’t get warmed up), or where you simply tip a container of fish flakes into a virtual aquarium now and then.
From playing a fashion designer to exploring a fast, ever-changing world and fighting monsters, these are all simulations. Some are more immersive than others, including forcing you to find new items when you get too soaked in the rain because your last set has been ruined. Others are very basic. It varies greatly from game to game, but they all qualify as a Simulation. In truth, there is no real difference between Virtual Pets and Simulation.
The world of virtual pets is simply a niche within the simulated games genre. There are dozens of games centered around the creating, adopting or discovering a virtual pet, and raising it to be the best. Virtual Pets can put their founding with Bandai at the creation of Tamagotchi by Bandai, which consisted of a small, spherical device and three buttons. Millions of players interacted with a basic, pixel creature, raising it through its full life cycle.
Virtual Pet sites are a simulation. There is no question of that. One creates or captures or adopts a pet, be it a colorful koi or a fiery dragon or something entirely new.
After naming and bringing home your new adorable monster, you are saddled with a variety of tasks – feeding, grooming, playing. At least, that’s typically the run down.
Along with babying your newest friend, pet sites typically offer a fictional world to explore and games to play.
If you’re me, you promptly ditched your canine companion and spent endless hours blowing up rocks and bubbles to earn money to buy food that you never actually get around to feeding your pet. All of this is a simulation: a simulated creature, simulated food, simulated hunger.
Fortunately, unlike many simulated games, Virtual Pets rarely have a consequence to neglecting your pets or companions. In the Sims, if one ignores the needs of their characters, you’ll quickly end up with an urn in the middle of your living room and perhaps even a ghost wandering your halls and disrupting day to day life. Yet, as many people my age can attest, our decade old Neopets are still somehow alive in cyberspace. Of course, this isn’t always the case. Neglecting members of dragcave know that failing to care for their foundling eggs can result in finding a cracked, dead shell where the egg once was.
There is a massive variety of events produced in Virtual Pets, from interactive wars between fictional countries to random events on a much smaller scale - a wild bird robbing you of something shiny, perhaps? A random villager gifting you fresh bread, or even asking for you to complete a small errand?
Are Virtual Pet sites very similar to real life, as simulation websites boast to be? Not really. There are no dragons wearing scarves, or vast troves of treasure guarded by a worm constructed entirely from magical ice.
Most people don’t spend their lives lurking over a nest of eggs, or plunging into an explored temple searching for an old rock. Virtual Pet sites allow us access to pets and companions we will likely never have access to, as well as become something we never dreamed.
One feature does separate Virtual Pet websites from the average Simulated game, and that would be the pet factor. VPs are completely centered around the owning and nurturing of a pet. Ferrets, fish, dragons, and creatures created entirely by the owner of the site! Virtual pet sites provide a level of interaction, immersion and even contribution not provided by most sites.
Many VPs allow you to contribute your own artwork and create new monsters or items to spruce up your avatar or pet with! Virtual Pet sites are a huge part of the lives of many people and are a massive contribution to the Simulated Gaming industry.
In all honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a movie or large scale comic based around the lore of the popular websites. Too many people consider these websites just something for kids to kill time with, but the community and level of creativity within these games are way above that of the average simulator.
“What is your favorite Sim game?”
I misunderstood the question right off the bat. Wildly. I didn't read 'simulation' I read 'Sims'. As in the multi-million-dollar franchise based around creating a family, raising them, and helping them reach their goals and aspirations.Or, you know, leaving them to starve to death in the empty, doorless basement. The Sims was meant to be a creative outlet for kids in design and probably create some sort of sense of responsibility.
The only way I got more creative was figuring out varying ways on how to brutally murder as many Sims at one time as I could. I think my personal best was around twelve.
At any rate, I’m twenty-three and I didn’t turn out too terrible.
Sim does, after all, stand for Simulation. The game was meant, like many simulated games, to create the ‘real’ world in an isolated, controlled environment.
Wikipedia defines a Simulation Game as the following:
There are literally hundreds of simulated games. Some range from the hyper, scarily realistic real-world scenarios to something complete ridiculous.
Goat Simulator took the world by storm in 2014 and the Sims franchise has been topping the gaming charts for the last fifteen years. Simulations are in no way restricted to the world of Pet Sites.
There are a variety of simulation games, be it escaping and surviving the zombie apocalypse in a realistic world (such as Day Z, where you deal with the various stages of hypothermia and eventually drop dead if you don’t get warmed up), or where you simply tip a container of fish flakes into a virtual aquarium now and then.
From playing a fashion designer to exploring a fast, ever-changing world and fighting monsters, these are all simulations. Some are more immersive than others, including forcing you to find new items when you get too soaked in the rain because your last set has been ruined. Others are very basic. It varies greatly from game to game, but they all qualify as a Simulation. In truth, there is no real difference between Virtual Pets and Simulation.
The world of virtual pets is simply a niche within the simulated games genre. There are dozens of games centered around the creating, adopting or discovering a virtual pet, and raising it to be the best. Virtual Pets can put their founding with Bandai at the creation of Tamagotchi by Bandai, which consisted of a small, spherical device and three buttons. Millions of players interacted with a basic, pixel creature, raising it through its full life cycle.
Virtual Pet sites are a simulation. There is no question of that. One creates or captures or adopts a pet, be it a colorful koi or a fiery dragon or something entirely new.
After naming and bringing home your new adorable monster, you are saddled with a variety of tasks – feeding, grooming, playing. At least, that’s typically the run down.
Along with babying your newest friend, pet sites typically offer a fictional world to explore and games to play.
If you’re me, you promptly ditched your canine companion and spent endless hours blowing up rocks and bubbles to earn money to buy food that you never actually get around to feeding your pet. All of this is a simulation: a simulated creature, simulated food, simulated hunger.
Fortunately, unlike many simulated games, Virtual Pets rarely have a consequence to neglecting your pets or companions. In the Sims, if one ignores the needs of their characters, you’ll quickly end up with an urn in the middle of your living room and perhaps even a ghost wandering your halls and disrupting day to day life. Yet, as many people my age can attest, our decade old Neopets are still somehow alive in cyberspace. Of course, this isn’t always the case. Neglecting members of dragcave know that failing to care for their foundling eggs can result in finding a cracked, dead shell where the egg once was.
There is a massive variety of events produced in Virtual Pets, from interactive wars between fictional countries to random events on a much smaller scale - a wild bird robbing you of something shiny, perhaps? A random villager gifting you fresh bread, or even asking for you to complete a small errand?
Are Virtual Pet sites very similar to real life, as simulation websites boast to be? Not really. There are no dragons wearing scarves, or vast troves of treasure guarded by a worm constructed entirely from magical ice.
Most people don’t spend their lives lurking over a nest of eggs, or plunging into an explored temple searching for an old rock. Virtual Pet sites allow us access to pets and companions we will likely never have access to, as well as become something we never dreamed.
One feature does separate Virtual Pet websites from the average Simulated game, and that would be the pet factor. VPs are completely centered around the owning and nurturing of a pet. Ferrets, fish, dragons, and creatures created entirely by the owner of the site! Virtual pet sites provide a level of interaction, immersion and even contribution not provided by most sites.
Many VPs allow you to contribute your own artwork and create new monsters or items to spruce up your avatar or pet with! Virtual Pet sites are a huge part of the lives of many people and are a massive contribution to the Simulated Gaming industry.
In all honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a movie or large scale comic based around the lore of the popular websites. Too many people consider these websites just something for kids to kill time with, but the community and level of creativity within these games are way above that of the average simulator.
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