Back before Maxis introduced the Sims 2 and eventually the Sims 3, I had a serious gaming addiction. For me, the original Sims was more than just a gaming experience. I would spend hours each day pouring over other peoples’ Sims’ stories on the SimsExchange. It was an outlet for countless authors and creative people to present their stories.

I remember just sitting at the computer for days at a time, reading story after story, eagerly waiting for the next part of the story to be released by a specific user. You see, these stories were simply pictures in “photo albums” with captions that told a story. I tried to write my own stories, but I always lost interest before finishing one, but I have to admit that each of my Sims have their own stories in my mind, and for the most part, I remember each of their life-stories. So, let me introduce you to one whose name I’ve forgotten. We’ll call her Samantha.

Samantha is a Sim from The Sims 2, where Sims actually age from baby to toddler to child to teen to young adult (college student) to adult to elderly to death. Anyway, I created Samantha as an adult, with a family aspiration. I won’t go into too much detail, but each Sim has his or her own lifelong wish for happiness. Sam wanted nothing more than to raise a family with a man who would love her dearly.

Poor Samantha; she never saw her train wreck of a life coming. Samantha meets John, a romance Sim who has one thing on his mind-whoohoo (gotta keep things PG or the Sims’ll turn M-rated). It doesn’t take long before the two are wed, much to Sam’s delight and much to John’s dismay. Shortly thereafter, Sam gives birth to a healthy baby boy, Lucas. Already, John’s been fooling around with the maid, the gardener and a few work colleagues, but poor Samantha’s completely blinded by the love she now feels towards her son. Oh, and she’s pregnant again-this time, with twins.

So, life goes on for my happy little Sim family, and soon Lucas is a child going to private school, and Sam’s twin boys, Mikey and Nick are toddlers. Then disaster strikes. John gets a little greedy with his secret love affairs, and Samantha catches him in the act with their maid. Say goodbye to husband number one. Sam kicks John to the curb and has a nervous breakdown, which leads to the social worker paying a visit to collect her neglected children. Thanks to a glitch in the game, Sam manages to hold on to Mikey, literally, and the social worker only takes Lucas and Nick from Sam.

So, Sam goes on the hunt for her next husband, and this time, finds a loving husband named Paul. This time, Sam did it right. She found a great guy who adopts one of her boys back from the adoption agency and the two manage to pop out a few more kids before disaster strikes again. Poor Paul finds himself the victim of a tragic kitchen fire, which claims his life.

But, lucky for Sam. Fireman Joe arrives to rescue her and her children from certain death. And, even luckier for Sam, Joe happens to take a liking to Samantha, resulting in husband number 3 and two more kids.

Unfortunately, Samantha’s story ends there, because I put the Sims on a new computer and didn’t bother to back up my files, because hey, I could just make a new Sim whose life I could corrupt. I don’t want you all to think I’m just a sick and twisted girl who likes to inflict torture on her Sims-even though that’s partially true. It’s more about creating drama.

My Sims are my own giant soap opera. I like to see how the story can evolve over time with my Sims. One of the main reasons I love the Sims so much is because of the amount of freedom I experience while playing. I find that sort of freedom in some other games too, like Fable and Black and White, but for whatever reason, the Sims just holds a special place in my heart. Maybe it’s because I secretly love destroying my Sims lives. Oh wait, that’s not much of a secret, now is it?