Is Sims 2 Biased?

[FrostyBoy]

I've pre-ordered Sims 2. ($10 off if I pre-order).

But I'm concerned the game is biased. Biased like an American Girls Wet Dream. (Yes I know, girls can't have wet dreams).


Judging from what I know about the game, it seems that you have a successful life if you either: have a family, are rich, are popular, are intelligent or ... I think its being wild?

But I disagree. First, I don't want to be rich, infact I don't think being rich means you are successful. Same with being popular. Having a family doesn't mean being successful, but it's good to have a family. Being intelligent is different, it's good to have knowledge, the success comes with knowing a lot. But having a lot of money should not determine having a good life or a fulfilled life.



Shutup Sn00py. Ok, what I am trying to say is. I want to be a slob, I want to have no job, I want to hate people and I want them to hate me. etc etc.

But I am afraid, this game might not let me do this, and it might think that if people hate me, then I will be depressed, but this is not the case. I would be HAPPY to have people hate me.

So my question is, can I do this or is this game biased like an American Girls Wet Dream?

P.S. I don't actually live like a slob and I don't actually hate people. I just want to play the game that way.

[duke o' york]

Choose the dark side of the force then!

Er, can you not cancel your preorder though. It wouldn't strike me as a particularly sensible move. Unless you really, really enjoyed the first one. And did anyone here - apart from DrSpike?

[lord of the mark]

in RL happiness from wealth is heavily related to personal and social expectations, and diminishes beyond some point. And have some close friends and relationships is more important than being popular. Doubt their psychological model is that sophisticated. It is more wish fulfilment, what if i could have heaps of money, or if I was the most popular kid? Sells better that way.


Kinda like which sells better, games like Civ where you conquer the world with your legions, or games like EU where you conquer a province, and stop for years to absorb it.

[Skanky Burns]

Spikie sighting in 5, 4, 3...

Your character's happiness is a measure of their ability to get a promotion, first and foremost. If you hate people and enjoy them hating you, chances are you won't be getting promoted anytime soon. Not that you would want to be, either.

It doesn't really imply a judgement call though. Your sim just is. If they are a slob and have not been promoted for years, so what? You don't get penalised beyond not having as much income and having other people complain about you.

[FrostyBoy]

Originally posted by duke o' york
Choose the dark side of the force then!

Er, can you not cancel your preorder though. It wouldn't strike me as a particularly sensible move. Unless you really, really enjoyed the first one. And did anyone here - apart from DrSpike?

Yes I can cancel it, but I don't think Sims 2 is going to be much like Sims 1. They do appear to be significantly different in terms of gameplay.

If Sims 1 were released with ALL of its addons as part of the actual game (so no add ons), then Sims 1 would have been a much greater game, it would have lasted longer for those who got bored with it quickly.

I got bored with Sims 1 after about 2-3 weeks and never played it again.

[Adagio]

In The Sims 2 it's not all Sims who get a 'higher score' if they get rich or have a great family... some people prefer money, others prefer other things... exactly what they can prefer/hate in that game is still unknown until the game has been released, but there should be a huge list...


But if you didn't play The Sims 1 much, why did you even preorder the second game? Wouldn't it be better to wait for some reviews about the game, before buying it?

[Solver]

It's still logical, to a degree. You can reasonably assume that a person with enough money, a family and a good work is happier than a person with no friends, just enough money for a living and a bad job. Usually, it goes that way.

Besides, most people's idea of happiness is far too deep to be mirrored in a game. Take family, for instance. Yes, family is on my list of things to be happy. There are, however, tons of nuissances there. I can't say "I want a family to be happy". It breaks up into a lot more detail - I want my wife to be a nice personality, I want my kids to grow up respecting my values, etc., etc.

[DrSpike]

Re: Is Sims 2 Biased?

Originally posted by Sn00py
I've pre-ordered Sims 2. ($10 off if I pre-order).

I stopped reading after this.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
Spikie sighting in 5, 4, 3...

2, 1.

[Traianvs]

snoopy needs to play a decent RPG where he can be a badass mofo instead of wasting precious lifetime on the $ims

[FrustratedPoet]

You could be a career slob in the first Sims game.

[FrostyBoy]

Originally posted by Solver
It's still logical, to a degree. You can reasonably assume that a person with enough money, a family and a good work is happier than a person with no friends, just enough money for a living and a bad job. Usually, it goes that way.

Besides, most people's idea of happiness is far too deep to be mirrored in a game. Take family, for instance. Yes, family is on my list of things to be happy. There are, however, tons of nuissances there. I can't say "I want a family to be happy". It breaks up into a lot more detail - I want my wife to be a nice personality, I want my kids to grow up respecting my values, etc., etc.

I usually respect your posts Solver, but this post of yours is showing some... narrow vision.

You say a person with a family is happier than one without. This is wrong. There are millions of people around the world (and in our western culture) who don't want a family and are very happy in their life.

You said a person with enough money is happier than one who has just enough money for a living.
This is also wrong. There are countless millions in the world who are dirt poor and are happier than the richest people in the world.

It's been voted the worst job in the world. A zoologist in Singapore has to masterbate the animals at the Singapore Zoo for science reasons. But he is happy.
What about the asian farmers? I'm sure they work harder in one day than any of us work in one week - and they are happy!

This is why I said American Dream in my first post. The "American Dream" is the "standard" of what it is to be "happy". It's so pathetic and wrong. It's just disgusting.


This game is biased towards the American Dream. If you have family, money, fame, knowledge or a wild life you must be happy. If you don't have any or all of these, you must be unhappy.

Oh and knowledge doesn't make you happy either. Often when I see mentally challenged people, they seem to all be having a great time with each other having some sort of fun or game - and yet when I see a person who is not mentally challenged, they're only happy when they're drunk or when someone ELSE loves them back. Conditional and screwed up.


I'm not just getting the game for me, there are other ppl who want to play it. I don't mind spending the money on it.

[FrostyBoy]

Originally posted by Trajanus
snoopy needs to play a decent RPG where he can be a badass mofo instead of wasting precious lifetime on the $ims

There are RPG's out there worse than Sims.

I doubt I am wasting my precious time by playing Sims 2 for a few weeks. (well, we'll find out when I get it).

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yep... Comrade is correct. After all, since so many people want and strive for family and money, it makes sense that usually those are the things that lead to happiness.

[duke o' york]

Ha! I'd like to see that zoologist mod the OT.

Originally posted by DrSpike
I stopped reading after this.

Liar! You posted a reply to Skanky immediately afterwards.

Sorry Sn00py - I don't think that you came to the right place to debate the possibility of the Sims 2 actually turning out to be a good game.