From a young age, The Sims has filled my free time with challenges and luscious living, whilst giving me the chance to live vicariously through the characters I create.
It wasn’t until last year, I could really live my current life through the game, with the addition of a university expansion pack! Here’s every way The Sims has represented my actual university experience!
1) Are you tired? I am.
All-nighters happen more often than they should, from cramming for a deadline, to socialising with friends till all hours of the morning. What student has the perfect sleeping pattern? Just like my Sim, I am often found with a coffee in my hand, using that ‘Caffeine Buzz’ to help me through those 9am’s!
2) Your plates or mine?
I have seen some student houses that could give Kim and Aggie a run for their money! No one likes the sight and smell of plates left in the sink for a week and often, like my Sim here, you have to give in and tidy on your own, usually because your housemates are pre-occupied with other things (or napping).
3) Love or hate them, you can’t live without them
Housemates. For most of us, university is the first time you will get to live with people other than your family – which can prove difficult sometimes. On top of the mess, there’s disagreements and drama – it’s nothing I’m not used to (and yes, he is playing the violin at 12:30am).
4) We’re not all chefs
Since being at uni I have eaten my fair share of terrible meals. Bland pasta, microwave meals, snacks for dinner, it’s only fair that my Sim eats the same way! Not sure she’s enjoying those leftovers as much as I do though…
5) The infamous library
We’ve all been there, it’s deadline season and you’ve arrived at the library mid-afternoon prepped with your meal deal to begin working on your next assignment… only to see this sight, all the good PC’s are taken. (Travis, you’re only playing Tetris, go home…)
When you do finally find yourself a PC to begin working at, you find distractions everywhere, and YOU probably spend some time talking to the people around you.
6) Go get those skills
Many of the relatable things I have experienced playing The Sims have been fairly annoying to deal with. However, looking positively, university has been a chance for me to develop all of my skills, although I do wish they were as easy to build upon as these. “What? I can’t gain charisma just by looking in the mirror?!”
7) And finally…
What makes it all worth it – graduation! The event that ties it all together, celebrating with your friends and family, and getting your achievements recognised – a day that you’ll never forget.
