Some of us rack up hundreds of hours going on side-quests, playing mini-games, or gathering resources in the quest for more power and glory in our games. Others just skip all that nonsense and go straight to playing an omniscient creator. I understand the appeal of the various “simulated life” games. At the center is the chance to look at our own culture and see how various elements fit together. We explore the relationships between science and war, education and crime, and (perhaps most importantly) personal hygiene and sex appeal.

I find it somewhat ironic that the latest Sims-style game, “Spore”, includes evolution itself as a major game mechanic. In it there hints a compromise between scientific creationism and accepted science. A player creates a life form from its rise from the primordial goo and helps it along as the chosen people(?) of a benevolent(?) and amused creator. The design may be intelligent, but it doesn’t need to be.

This direction in Sims-style games leads to some uncomfortable morale quandaries. Does simulated life have a soul? How do we, as omnipotent creators, pass on our codified laws to our chosen people if we don’t know any computer programming languages? On the other foot, does playing God™ in a Sims-style game lead to the same consequences as playing God™ in real life? I mean, the Bible states that whatever you do in your heart is just as bad as doing it for real (Matthew 5:27-28). So clearly there is no difference between fantasy and reality when it comes to sinning. Does deleting a saved game count as murder? Does returning your Sims game to the store count as abortion?

As we ponder these tough questions, we’ll probably see fanatical groups responding against all common sense. Pro-SimLife groups will start protesting outside your home, or worse—sneaking into your home to keep your PC from shutting down, forcing you to continue a game that should have died a long time ago. Then again, there are those who feel that playing God™ is wrong, so I assume their beliefs would apply to simulated instances of doing so as well. I am already imagining Watchtower articles titled “SimCity = SinCity?” and “Young People Ask: Is The Sims Hot Date Expansion Pack a Violation of the Seventh Commandment?” Don’t even get me started on the anti-Harry Potter groups’ reactions to The Sims Makin’ Magic!

But getting back to the fun of the games themselves, let’s be honest about the type of player that these games attract: control freaks of the highest caliber, those who like to control every minute detail of someone’s life. My ex-girlfriend would probably love The Sims. She argued with me about everything from how I rolled my socks to what stance I took while urinating. Being able to control when someone talks to their friends and what clothes they wear would just be icing on the cake for someone like that.