The Sims 3: Getting Real

There's a professor at Oxford University who makes a compelling argument that if humans survive long enough to create conscious computers, it's likely that all of us, right now, are simply historical simulations the computers created for their amusement. After playing with The Sims 3 — the latest sequel in the mega-popular Sims franchise — I believe that prof. Ich bin ein Sim.

The game, in which you create a character and interact with artificial intelligences in a simulated world, has sold more than 100 million copies since its debut in 2000. It's the best-selling PC game of all time. That's a tough act to sustain, but Sims 3, remarkably, blows past its ancestors in every way. (See the top 10 video games of 2008.)

The new game, four years in the making, is set in beautiful Sunset Valley, a town that has 67 simulated human residents. They are fascinatingly complex and have lives of their own; you can follow them around or spy on them in their homes. All the residents age at the same rate as your character (a rate you can change to speed up the game). You can fall in love with the girl next door and marry her 10 years later. In previous versions, characters' ages were frozen in time unless you were interacting with them.

When creating your character, you get to pick from 70 traits, including "easily impressed" and "kleptomaniac," to add some depth to your Sim's personality. There's a cool new function that lets you make movies online. And moving around is more seamless in this version. Walk your character from your home to a neighbor's and go inside — the computer can now process it all without interruption. Pick a job, make money, buy things. The Sims 3 even lets you pick a lifetime goal, say, of leading an evil empire.

There isn't any winning in the Sims. The game ends when your character dies. But that's kind of the point: the Sims' allure has always been that if things don't work out in this life, you can start over. Now I'm starting to weird myself out thinking that we are real Sims playing fake Sims.

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