Introduction and The Sims 1000 Years Later

   My name is Anthony Martens, I am a Senior at RIC. I enrolled in video game theory because I have been playing video games since I was 4 and it is my favorite hobby. I started out playing Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and Street Fighter. My current video game interests are open world role playing games, first person shooters, survival horror games, and action games.
   In this blog I will take a look at a game in a genre that I don't play, and analyze a game in that genre from the perspective of someone from a society finding this game 1000 years later and playing it.
   A video game genre that I do not play is simulation. The game I specifically chose is the Sims 3. Simulating real life is not something that I am interested in, but it will be interesting to take a look at this particular game since it is very popular.
  When playing the Sims, a person 1000 years from now would wonder about the physical traits, clothing options, and personality traits of people during our time. Maybe humans have evolved and are much bigger or smaller. They would judge our physical ability immediately, for better or for worse. They may also ponder about the clothing options, as there may be much different forms of clothing if there is clothing at all in a society 1000 years from now. The person 1000 years from now might wonder about the ability to choose personal characteristics. Will they understand what "flirty" or "friendly" means? Will they have another language? These are all questions that will exist if a life form of the future plays this game.
   The next thing a person 1000 years from now will ponder is the living quarters, monetary system, occupation, and similarity of needs that the sim has compared to theirs. In the beginning of the game you choose where to live. 1000 years from now houses may not look anything like they do now. They will question the furniture and appliances. What is a refrigerator? What is a stove? They may think our forms of electronic entertainment are primitive, as well as our couches, beds, etc. They may have a system of bartering and trading, not a monetary system like we have now. Also, the trades of the Sims (paper boy, teacher, police officer etc.) may be looked at as odd. Since the Sims tends to be realistic in its portrayal of human needs such as sleeping, eating, and bathing, I am sure a society 1000 years from now will also have those same needs.
  After playing a borrowed copy of this game I found that after creating the sim's life and living vicariously through it for a while, I enjoyed unleashing destruction. From starving the sim to creating a fire, it became fun to mess around with the game. A person in the future might also do this to the sim, and wonder about how we were as people and what forms of entertainment we enjoyed.
   Overall, I think the Sims being picked up by a civilization 1000 years after ours has been wiped out would look at the Sims 3 and think it was an accurate representation of our society today. They may think we spoke another language or dressed funny, but the lack of sci-fi and action elements would probably lead them to think it is a game based in reality.