Critique it!
A concept that I find fitting for The Sims 3 is the idea of an alternate reality in Jane McGonigal's book, Reality is Broken. I feel as though playing the Sims is an alternate reality in itself because the player is given the option to either play online with a community, or play alone in the town they've created. Games that are similar to the Sims creates a "safe" world for someone to play in and have the characters either be good or evil, while fulfilling their needs, if they have any. Although I have never used the online feature in the Sims 3, I recently downloaded the update and was surprised by the fact that now every memory that your Sim has from doing a certain action, there is the option to post it online, either to a forum on the Sims website or on Facebook. Posting these memories/actions opens up the possibility for the player to tie in their gaming life with their real life. I would believe that many players, similar to Second Life, might create a Sim who looks similarly to them and also has the same personality characteristics. Doing so can lead a player to fulfill goals and aspirations that they might have but have not been able to do in real life. I have sat in front of my computer screen for countless hours playing this game, and doing so, I feel as though I have gotten "lost" in the alternate reality I created. There are so many options when it comes to what your Sim can accomplish, what the look like, and also their actions. In playing this game for years, the upgrades just keep getting better, and better. The graphics are becoming more lifelike and even the life events are closer to real life than they were before. A good example of this is that the Sims can now become pregnant instead of just having a baby and crib magically appear in their house. As the graphics improve, the game play does as well. The player is more involved with what the Sim does in relation to everything, including their job, which used to be a few hours in game time where the Sim just left the house and the player had no control. Letting the player participate in these interactions can create a closer bond between the player and the Sim, even though the Sim is in no way, shape or form, a real person.