Abortion: A serious rant about a user-made video game mod!

[tabsie3210]

Please note that if this post is in the wrong spot, I apologize, but I feel so angry right now I need to rant and I hope I’m focusing on the right area.

Final note - I understand that non-Catholics have different opinions from me. I am focusing this rant in the direction of my fellow Catholics. I would very much appreciate it if non-Catholics did not reply about “what’s the big deal,” etc. Your opinion is your own and I respect that you have it. I’m not really talking to people who don’t share my opinion. Thank you.

Now, for the rant:

I LOVE “The Sims.” I have always loved doll houses and I love playing with my characters in any number of ways. I love telling stories, and I love the artwork. I’m a VERY big “Sims 2” fan, and got “The Sims 3” when it came out. I was a little disappointed with it, because it promised a lot more than it actually offered, but now “The Sims 3” is starting to catch up to where I am getting more interested in it.

So I visited this website called modthesims2.com, which offers additional, user-made game content for both “Sims 2” and “The Sims 3.” Note that this is USER MADE. The creators of the games have nothing to do with these modifications.

I went looking for new content, such as new clothing or maybe some “clutter” (decorative objects that simulate the kind of clutter you find in houses, such as piles of books or mail or what have you), for “The Sims 3.” It’s 11:12 pm here right now, so this was maybe ten minutes ago.

And lo and behold, what happens to be on the very first page of new user-made content? An abortion clinic!

Your pregnant Sims now have the “option,” if they get pregnant, to go to the abortion clinic and pay $2,000 to have an abortion, where they baby disappears completely from the game play.

Mind you, about a year or two ago, someone else created some content for “Sims 2” that included a Crucifix with a realistic image of Christ, including custom animations where your Sim appears to be praying. I use such content to make my Catholic churches, though I’m disappointed I can’t find anything beautiful enough to fill the role of the Tabernacle, and since I grew up with the Tabernacle on the dias just below my Crucifix at my own church, I want my Sims to have the same thing. But I digress.

The point of that digression is to show that the Sims games are all very open-ended. You can alter the game play to suit your own playing style. It’s just like a doll house. If you don’t like certain content that EA Games added in (aliens, vampires, werewolves and witches, for example), the game is set up where you can simply choose not to play with those aspects, and you never have to deal with them, except maybe in the background (so far these “magical” creatures are only available in “Sims 2”). If I want my Sims to be clean-cut people who’d never cheat on their spouses, I can make them all family-oriented, or knowlege-oriented, or business. I can avoid anything that would make them act in a way I find appropriate. Heck, someone on modthesims2.com even put out a “modesty pack” that changed a bunch of the clothes for women to make them more modest and clean-cut, and I downloaded the whole batch, so that even my non-playable Sims are dressed more modestly. Granted, the game is not as modest as I’d like in all aspects (the first time someone WhooHoo’s, or has sex, there’s a cut-screen thing that’s silly and a little over-done, and I had I children, I wouldn’t let them play the game, but the game is rated Teen and older and isn’t meant for little kids anyway), but the majority of objectionable material can be either ignored or simply not played with.

Now, naturally I’ll never download the abortion clinic, because I have the freedom not to download it. That’s the nice thing about such a game.

But the annoying thing is that People think to do something that degraded! For crying out loud, “The Sims 3” (the game this abortion clinic was made for) doesn’t even allow for Sims to get pregnant unless directed to do so by the player! You have to actively choose to “try for a baby” for the Sim to get pregnant, and even then, it’s not a guarantee! It’s not like you walk away from the computer for a moment, come back with your soda, oops, your Sim just got pregnant hanging out with the wrong guy, better ship her off to the clinic!

Rant continues below.

 

[tabsie3210]

Continuation of Rant:

That means that people who are using this modification in their game are actively getting their Sims pregnant and then shipping them off to have the Sim baby destroyed.

YES, it’s just a game. YES, it’s Teen and Older, meaning that children shouldn’t play it. YES, people have the right to play games any way they want to.

But for crying out loud, studies have shown that kids who play violent video games are more prone to violence in the real world. Video game violence has an affect on adults as well as kids! First off, what kind of sick person intentionally gets the characters pregnant in order to have them abort? Second of all, for what purpopse?! Yes, you can record what’s going on in-game and make stories and fan fiction out of it, but most players just play with the game like it’s a giant doll house, the same as I do, for their own enjoyment! I can’t even see this being legitimately good for story-telling purposes. How can this be any good at all for doll house purposes?!

Fourth, there’s apparently a hack, or game modification, that allows “teen woohoo” and “teen pregnancy.” Now, in “Sims 2” and “The Sims 3,” the term “teenager” means the entire range from 13 to 19. Therefore, while they can kiss (there’s a cute little cut-scene for the first kiss in “Sims 2”), teens CANNOT have sex at all, and they certainly can’t have babies. Someone apparently found a work-around that allows teens to engage in whoohoo and pregnancy in both “Sims 2” and “The Sims 3.” I’d heard about (but never downloaded) the “Sims 2” hack. I just learned about the “The Sims 3” hack because the abortion clinic download says that it’s compatible with the “teen woohoo/pregnancy” hack.

So that means some player is out there intentionally getting their teenage Sims pregnant specifically with the intent of sending said Sim to the clinic to have an abortion! It’s no laughing matter, but people replied to the new clinic with amused approval. The biggest comment? “This is great, I love that now my game can be more realistic!” Realistic? Really? Forcing two computer bots to engage in artificial sex so you can envision the characters aborting a baby? I’d call it evil, not realistic.

Fifth, I’m irritated that modthesims2.com allows that trash on their site, but they said very specifically that they allow all kinds of custom content that people find objectionable, such as the Crucifix that I love so much. They’ve fended off complaints about that before, so they have made a specific debate forum for this clinic, but don’t want people to comment about the right/wrong of it existing in the thread about the product itself. I can understand their postion - they allow Christian modders to put up their own user content, too, and they could ban all religious or controversial content if they wanted to. But just because I understand it, doesn’t mean I have to like it. And I’d rather they pulled the garbage from their site.

And finally, I’m angry with the amused people who replied to its creation, saying that they hoped the creator wasn’t going to get flamed, and that they read what the new object was and they’re amused as all heck by it, and they laughed and they thought it was great.

I’m angry that instead of seeing abortion as the poverty it is, these people have the automatic reaction to finding it funny. I’m angry that people would tacitly approve of abortion enough to add it to their games as something “enjoyable” to make the game more “realistic.” I’m angry that people are having a good laugh at someone helpless’ expense.

Let me repeat - I know it’s just a game. I know that I have the freedom not to download or have anything to do with the hateful mod. I know that I have the right to boycott Modthesims2.com, which I will probably make use of - I haven’t visited their site in months anyway, even though they usually have very good content. I know that I have the right not to deal with it if I don’t want to, and that people have the right to play how they want to, so you don’t have to tell me to stop complaining.

But I have the right to be angry at the callousness and heartlessness I see in other people, particularly so close to the Holy Day we celebrate a particular, beautiful birth, the birth of our God as Man. I have as much right to express my opinion about my anger as anyone has the right to complain about Christian content on a public mod site. And I have the right to be hurt that people are so mean spirited that they’d find an abortion clinic in the game funny.

And you have the right to stop reading this rant and go on about your business as well. Or to create your own thread and complain about me. Feel free to do either one. I’m done ranting now. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to playing “Sims 2.” I have a church that needs to be remodeled.

 

[NoxSineStellae]

I am also a huge fan of Sims 2 and frequent modthesims (I also LOVE Holy Simoly’s stuff!). I haven’t bought Sims 3 yet because I spent too much money on 2 and all its expansion packs, and 3 looks “creepy” with the animation, so I haven’t been looking at the custom content.

Very few of my simmies are “clean cut”, although I do love those modesty packs because they’re so stylish I’ve got otherworldly creatures including aliens and a witch, I’ve only had a handful of characters wait until marriage to woohoo, I have a couple of bisexual ladies who are not only sleeping with each other but one is a big slut with the guys, crazy people, murderers (downloaded some working guns), an evil scientist bent on world domination, a greedy old bastard, everyone’s always fighting and plotting and it’s a big old soap opera of legendary proportions - I’ve even intentionally murdered a sim myself once by taking away the ladder while they were in the pool (though I felt sick afterwards). And reading that there was an abortion clinic available still turned my stomach.

Yeah, I don’t have to download it, yeah, it’s not made by EA Games, yeah, they’re not exactly Christian sims and I’m not exactly a good Christian either…but seriously…that’s REVOLTING. I’m pro-life in any case, so maybe that makes all the difference, but those little sim babies, that are born so quickly, that you can interact with while they’re still in the womb…:bighanky:

You’re right to be upset and feel the way you do. I think it’s horrible. Hopefully a lot of other users will as well. I would be tempted to ask, very “nicely”, if the user could please make an option available to perform abortions on pets (are there pets in Sims 3?), or a shelter where the puppies and kittens can be put down if you get a litter and don’t want to deal with them. I bet there’ll be a big outcry of “You’re a monster! Just put them up for adoption!”

 

[SunnaB16]

tabsie:
I cant blame you for ranting - lets hope it dropped your blood pressure back down a bit.
More than once in the recent past, I`ve raged about blatantly evil (to us Catholics, at least)
developments. My own raging has been verbal, though, and more than a few poor folks
have staggered off with ears ringing.

Your example just shows the level of depravity to which the corrupt and decadent West
has sunk in only a few decades. The sickening thing about it is that not many even have
the sense of perception (can`t think of a better term at the moment) to see it - and this
includes most people who claim to be Christian. How many people realize that every
time we sin, we damage ourselves, we damage everybody else, we damage the whole
of creation? In the spiritual realm, what must the continuous slaughter of abortion look
like? Add to that, contraception, hetero adultery, and all of the even more perverted
types, plus every other type of sin…the mind (“spirit” may be more appropriate) boggles.
Any wonder we have natural and man-made disasters?

The account of Pope Leo XIIIs mystical experience of God`s granting Satan extended
power over the earth for a limited period seems dead on. The Apocalypse of Saint John
says that the Dragon is released from the Abyss for a short time, during the Millenium
(not a literal millenium, of course, no matter what Fundamentalists say)…

All of the carrying on about global warming, with resultant increase in hurricanes, the loom-
ing fuel crisis etc etc etc makes me sick - right from the start, the cause of all of our woes
has been SIN, SIN, AND MORE SIN. You and I know that, but what about the general
population? For that matter, why do we hear so few sermons about the effects of SIN?
If only we could clone (Just kidding) folks like Father Corapi and Pope Benedict - and our
own (in Oz) Cardinal Pell! We need lots of leaders with GUTS. A heap of Newmans and
Chestertons wouldn`t hurt either.

If the likes of Chick and all of the other slanderously lying Catholic-haters out there could
chuck out their demonically-inspired hatred of the Church, and go after the real enemy…
but Satan knows all about “Divide and Conquer”.

Growing up in the late 1960s, I thought that Communism was our biggest danger…but it
wasn`t. The threat was within, and set up shop while we were standing there like half-wits
with our mouths hanging open. In the early1970s, our first anti-Christian Prime Minister
and his government got rid of the words: “Christian Names” from Commonwealth Govern-
ment forms…you know the rest…the Juggernaut keeps rolling…

At the risk of being declared insane, I cant help feeling that, in many ways, were reaping
the rotten fruits of a SECULARISED Calvinism…

There was a heap more raving I meant to to, but cant remember what, now. For your sake, thats probably a good thing.

In any case, don`t feel lousy about ranting - it gave muggins here the the chance to do the
same - so we both benefitted. We MUST NOT worry about what others think of us - our
Judge is God. Full Stop.

Just realised: in this part of the world, it`s almost time to go beddy byes.

Have U signed the MANHATTAN DECLARATION yet? IFF NOTT, DOOITT NOW!

 

[tabsie3210]

Thank you two for your replies. I’m so sorry about how angry I got.

NoxSineStellae: They don’t have Sim pets for “The Sims 3” yet, but I’m betting that a lot of people would be very upset, and a lot of people would be amused as all get out if they had the pet option you mentioned added to the game. Gah!

The reason I made all the comments about how I play with my Sims is to show that I know that the game can be played any way you want to. My rant isn’t about the game, or the objects themselves. It’s about the heartless, careless, thoughtless, attitudes that so many people have, that it affects even how we look at a simple game.

How you play is very different from how I play. I understand that and I appreciate your candor. You’re not a Catholic (yet, here’s hoping you fall in love with Catholicism! ), so naturally I don’t assume that you have the same ideas that I do about how you want to play. (I certainly didn’t want to sound hateful! I’m angry, not hating.)

It’s people’s attitudes toward death and destruction that bothers me. And that so many people could see something funny about abortion, which is murder of the most helpless and unborn.

SunnaB16: You’re correct. Sin is the greatest evil and it’s what we need to focus on doing away with. Everything bad that happens to us is because someone sinned. (I try to keep that in mind when I see someone in poverty - if I didn’t sin, and was less wasteful with my money, would that person have a better life? The sad part is most people who are hurt by sin aren’t the ones doing the sinning! )

What I hate is that it hasn’t only become common-place, it’s celebrated in everything in our daily lives. Bad enough that a lot of ultra-feminists are screaming about what a “blessing” abortion is and how if men got pregnant, abortion wouldn’t be a crime, it’d be a sacrament (what a load of baloney!). But that’s rhetoric. That’s extreme for the sake of shocking people. That’s still evil, but it’s understandable, because it serves the purpose of shocking the listern out of her comfort zone.

This was a shock because it’s so common! A young adult person deliberately went into the game and modified it for the “enjoyment” of others, and people laughed about it! They thought it a great joke, and probably haven’t thought about it again since they looked at it.

That’s what’s so horrible about sin - how quickly it creeps into our daily lives and distorts everything that we think, feel and believe.

 

[purplesunshine]

a smart catholic would modify the clinic to cut to flashes of real babies in utero when the clinic…or maybe even real aborted babies. I’m very much against using pictures of aborted babies everywhere except for areas in which children cannot see, a non-pregnant adult is seeing an abortion or supporting an abortion and does not see in utero as human.

 

[tabsie3210]

a smart catholic would modify the clinic to cut to flashes of real babies in utero when the clinic…or maybe even real aborted babies. I’m very much against using pictures of aborted babies everywhere except for areas in which children cannot see, a non-pregnant adult is seeing an abortion or supporting an abortion and does not see in utero as human.

Well, it’s not physically possible - the game doesn’t allow for that kind of cut-scene. They did away with the cut-scene ability in “The Sims 3.” Um, it’s too complicated to explain unless you’ve seen or played the game, but the building is a “black hole” where nothing happens visibly.

Plus, I’m no modder - I just download the stuff other people provide for free of their own good will. Since this is not good will, naturally I don’t download it.

There are limits within the game, which is both good and bad. Good, because if you leave well enough alone, your game automatically avoids things that are evil. Bad, because some of the limits can be overcome. Some. Not all. Thank God.

Blah.

 

[NoxSineStellae]

The reason I made all the comments about how I play with my Sims is to show that I know that the game can be played any way you want to. My rant isn’t about the game, or the objects themselves. It’s about the heartless, careless, thoughtless, attitudes that so many people have, that it affects even how we look at a simple game.

How you play is very different from how I play. I understand that and I appreciate your candor. You’re not a Catholic (yet, here’s hoping you fall in love with Catholicism! ), so naturally I don’t assume that you have the same ideas that I do about how you want to play. (I certainly didn’t want to sound hateful! I’m angry, not hating.)

I got that And I think it’s great that your sims are so clean-cut, I wasn’t being disparaging. Many times I wish mine were “better” people, it would be a lot calmer around my town! I give my sims very little direction after giving them their base personalities and usually wind up with crazies, even among the knowledge and family sims

I share your feelings about evil being so common that it now inspires a laugh or a shrug even though I’m certainly part of the problem by not having a problem with some other issues in fiction. I draw a line at killing babies, before or after birth - that seems, to me to be on a whole other plane of “wrong”. I wouldn’t want someone to mod the sims to allow pedophilia either! Kids should be off limits, in my opinion, even in a fictional game.

 

[penguinchicky]

Continuation of Rant:

That means that people who are using this modification in their game are actively getting their Sims pregnant and then shipping them off to have the Sim baby destroyed.

YES, it’s just a game. YES, it’s Teen and Older, meaning that children shouldn’t play it. YES, people have the right to play games any way they want to.

But for crying out loud, studies have shown that kids who play violent video games are more prone to violence in the real world. Video game violence has an affect on adults as well as kids! First off, what kind of sick person intentionally gets the characters pregnant in order to have them abort? Second of all, for what purpopse?! Yes, you can record what’s going on in-game and make stories and fan fiction out of it, but most players just play with the game like it’s a giant doll house, the same as I do, for their own enjoyment! I can’t even see this being legitimately good for story-telling purposes. How can this be any good at all for doll house purposes?!

Fourth, there’s apparently a hack, or game modification, that allows “teen woohoo” and “teen pregnancy.” Now, in “Sims 2” and “The Sims 3,” the term “teenager” means the entire range from 13 to 19. Therefore, while they can kiss (there’s a cute little cut-scene for the first kiss in “Sims 2”), teens CANNOT have sex at all, and they certainly can’t have babies. Someone apparently found a work-around that allows teens to engage in whoohoo and pregnancy in both “Sims 2” and “The Sims 3.” I’d heard about (but never downloaded) the “Sims 2” hack. I just learned about the “The Sims 3” hack because the abortion clinic download says that it’s compatible with the “teen woohoo/pregnancy” hack.

So that means some player is out there intentionally getting their teenage Sims pregnant specifically with the intent of sending said Sim to the clinic to have an abortion! It’s no laughing matter, but people replied to the new clinic with amused approval. The biggest comment? “This is great, I love that now my game can be more realistic!” Realistic? Really? Forcing two computer bots to engage in artificial sex so you can envision the characters aborting a baby? I’d call it evil, not realistic.

Fifth, I’m irritated that modthesims2.com allows that trash on their site, but they said very specifically that they allow all kinds of custom content that people find objectionable, such as the Crucifix that I love so much. They’ve fended off complaints about that before, so they have made a specific debate forum for this clinic, but don’t want people to comment about the right/wrong of it existing in the thread about the product itself. I can understand their postion - they allow Christian modders to put up their own user content, too, and they could ban all religious or controversial content if they wanted to. But just because I understand it, doesn’t mean I have to like it. And I’d rather they pulled the garbage from their site.

And finally, I’m angry with the amused people who replied to its creation, saying that they hoped the creator wasn’t going to get flamed, and that they read what the new object was and they’re amused as all heck by it, and they laughed and they thought it was great.

I’m angry that instead of seeing abortion as the poverty it is, these people have the automatic reaction to finding it funny. I’m angry that people would tacitly approve of abortion enough to add it to their games as something “enjoyable” to make the game more “realistic.” I’m angry that people are having a good laugh at someone helpless’ expense.

Let me repeat - I know it’s just a game. I know that I have the freedom not to download or have anything to do with the hateful mod. I know that I have the right to boycott Modthesims2.com, which I will probably make use of - I haven’t visited their site in months anyway, even though they usually have very good content. I know that I have the right not to deal with it if I don’t want to, and that people have the right to play how they want to, so you don’t have to tell me to stop complaining.

But I have the right to be angry at the callousness and heartlessness I see in other people, particularly so close to the Holy Day we celebrate a particular, beautiful birth, the birth of our God as Man. I have as much right to express my opinion about my anger as anyone has the right to complain about Christian content on a public mod site. And I have the right to be hurt that people are so mean spirited that they’d find an abortion clinic in the game funny.

And you have the right to stop reading this rant and go on about your business as well. Or to create your own thread and complain about me. Feel free to do either one. I’m done ranting now. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to playing “Sims 2.” I have a church that needs to be remodeled.

I’m not surprised your shocked … I play the Sims 3 and can’t think of any good reason why you would download an abortion clinic … is this legal? I’m not sure EA games would be happy with this. I know its only a game but you don’t have to get them pregnant …!!

 

[pumpkinbeast]

0.o Bizarre! I’m also a Sims 3 player, and I ADORE babies! My Sims’ households often are full to bursting because I love making my Sims couples have kids. I’m working on a couple right now that I want to have two sets of triplets, one set of girls, and one set of boys. I couldn’t imagine wanting to get rid of a baby, even if it was ‘just’ a Sim baby!

My husband had an interesting point: it’s honestly a waste of time to make something like that for the game (since the Sims only get pregnant if you MAKE them) then perhaps the creator made it simple to bug people? Just a thought…

 

[tabsie3210]

I’m not surprised your shocked … I play the Sims 3 and can’t think of any good reason why you would download an abortion clinic … is this legal? I’m not sure EA games would be happy with this. I know its only a game but you don’t have to get them pregnant …!!

Third-party objects created by modders, or object modifiers in the Sims community, are legal provided that the modders don’t make any money at what they do. Some websites offer “donation” items or are “pay for purchase” sites, but they aren’t supposed to make a profit at their objects. They use the money specifically to pay for bandwidth on their websites - or so they’re supposed to.

Modthesims2.com, however, is a 100% free website that allows people to upload whatever content they want. People make small voluntary donations that go to the bandwidth and the upkeep of the website itself, but all the money collected is accounted for on the website, so there’s no profit, and therefore EA doesn’t get involved.

EA also doesn’t get involved in what the modders make, because they intentionally leave the whole thing open-ended to appeal to the largest number of players. That’s why the whole Sims franchise is the most popular video game ever - teenagers, people in their 40’s, little kids (though really, they shouldn’t), almost everybody plays some form of the Sims. If EA butted in every time someone made something “objectionable,” a lot of websites wouldn’t be able to host Christian material, either.

So, yes, it’s perfectly legal for someone to make an abortion clinic for “The Sims 3.” That’s a civil right. It’s a serious, serious moral wrong - no, not a wrong, an evil. It helps desensitize people to a real threat to human life and makes a joke out of death. Not everything legal is good. Darn it.

 

[tundramom]

I just wanted to add my two cents…

I don’t know what any of you are talking about. I’ve never even heard of “sims”.

back to our regularly scheduled replies.

Steph

 

[tabsie3210]

I got that And I think it’s great that your sims are so clean-cut, I wasn’t being disparaging. Many times I wish mine were “better” people, it would be a lot calmer around my town! I give my sims very little direction after giving them their base personalities and usually wind up with crazies, even among the knowledge and family sims

I share your feelings about evil being so common that it now inspires a laugh or a shrug even though I’m certainly part of the problem by not having a problem with some other issues in fiction. I draw a line at killing babies, before or after birth - that seems, to me to be on a whole other plane of “wrong”. I wouldn’t want someone to mod the sims to allow pedophilia either! Kids should be off limits, in my opinion, even in a fictional game.

Well, I disagree with how you play, but you’re my neighbor and I would hope a potential friend, and there’s no sense in hating you (or even the guy who put the abortion clinic up on the Sims website!). I’m glad you understood I was only angry. I’m sorry that I got that angry, though.

As for the pedophilia issue, that’s something else that bugs me - they have found a way, sort of. All the Sims games are hardwired to make it impossible for children to engage in whoohoo or pregnancy, but someone found a work-around to allow the “teenagers” to engage in whoohoo or get pregnant, and that bothers me. In the Sims franchise, “teenagers” are all teens, from 13 to 19, and there’s something seriously disturbing about forcing the game to allow a kid that might be 13 to have a baby. The safety nets are up for a reason - to make the gameplay fun without compromising certain principles.

(From what I understand, to work around it, the game mod recognizes teens as “adults” in certain circumstances, which can totally screw your game up if it starts conflicting with other stuff in the game. Gah!)

I’m sure if someone put his mind to it, he could find a way for little kids to woohoo in the Sims games, too, but that’s just… ugh.

 

[tabsie3210]

0.o Bizarre! I’m also a Sims 3 player, and I ADORE babies! My Sims’ households often are full to bursting because I love making my Sims couples have kids. I’m working on a couple right now that I want to have two sets of triplets, one set of girls, and one set of boys. I couldn’t imagine wanting to get rid of a baby, even if it was ‘just’ a Sim baby!

My husband had an interesting point: it’s honestly a waste of time to make something like that for the game (since the Sims only get pregnant if you MAKE them) then perhaps the creator made it simple to bug people? Just a thought…

I have no idea. About all he (she?) said was, “This mod gives you the option to have your sims have an abortion.” That was it. I have no idea what would possess someone to make this modification.

The people who commented, though, said that they loved the idea because it allowed them to make their games more “realistic.” Given the fact that the latest expansion pack has mummies wandering around Egypt, I wonder how far into “realism” people really want to go.

Here’s another issue - if pro-choicers are always saying, “Nobody wants abortion, but if abortions are going to happen, then they should be legal,” then doesn’t the amusement and the wanting of the clinic in the game fly in the face of that statement?

Think about it - the game requires the player to direct the Sims to try for a baby. A baby is only created under direction from the player. It doesn’t happen at random. Sims don’t “woohoo” at random. The player has control. The player gets a paradise where babies are never killed (seriously, babies and toddlers, and pets in “Sims 2,” cannot be killed by any of the weird things that kill adult Sims!), where babies aren’t born except when they’re wanted, where (if you feel like playing it that way) all characters can have sex without any consequences… and yet someone feels it necessary to put in abortion. Unbelievable. You have the closest thing to Utopia in this game, and people are deliberately trying to spoil it! Like a paradise isn’t good enough!

 

[tabsie3210]

I just wanted to add my two cents…

I don’t know what any of you are talking about. I’ve never even heard of “sims”.

back to our regularly scheduled replies.

Steph

Hello!

The Sims is a video game franchise for the PC, Mac, for almost all consol games (like the GameCube, Playstation3, and the Wii), and even for hand-held games and cell phones.

It’s an open-ended doll house. Players can either create characters, called Sims, or use pre-constructed ones, build the houses they live in, and have the characters live out their lives.

The Sims have a bunch of different social interactions, can get married, raise families, have spats, have hobbies, etc. There are some “supernatural” elements, like a Grim Reaper shows up to take away your Sim when he or she dies from things like lightning storms and old age. There are also witches, yetis, werewolves, aliens, etc. All the supernatural elements can be played with or ignored, and if ignored, they don’t affect your game play at all.

You can design everything on the Sims, from their clothes to their personalities, to the length of their eyelashes. It’s a giant doll house game that’s a lot of fun to play, because there’s no score. You can work hard to make your Sims millionaires, or have they die penniless. You can set your own challenges for yourself, or just let the characters go and see what happens. You can even create the entire neighborhood (or neighborhoods, if you have the “Sims 2” expansion packs), including “community lots” where your characters can go out and have a good time.

Because it’s very customizable, most people who play it like some aspect of it. I enjoy the game very much. Unfortunately, because it’s so open-ended, it has a LOT of potential for problems, like the one about this abortion clinic. Gah!

But the rant wasn’t really about how people were playing the game. It was about how callous people were being toward abortion, that they would feel the need to include such things in a game where it’s 100% unnecessary.

For some more information about the game itself:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_sims_2

thesims2.ea.com/- Official The Sims 2 website

strategywiki.org/wiki/The_Sims_2

 

[Augusta_Sans]

For a fun look at someone who did something GOOD with Sims 3, check out Alice & Kev. It’s a story about a homeless man and his daughter. The Sim character Kev is designed to be dysfunctional and cruel, while Alice is designed to be kind and caring. It was a heart-warming story for me, and the blog author used the story’s popularity to draw attention to the plight of the impoverished and homeless and provided information on how to give to charitable organizations that fight homelessness.

aliceandkev.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/alice-and-kev/

(Hopefully knowing that for every callous idiot creating an abortion clinic, there is a sensitive blogger encouraging charity will lift your spirits!)

 

[penguinchicky]

For a fun look at someone who did something GOOD with Sims 3, check out Alice & Kev. It’s a story about a homeless man and his daughter. The Sim character Kev is designed to be dysfunctional and cruel, while Alice is designed to be kind and caring. It was a heart-warming story for me, and the blog author used the story’s popularity to draw attention to the plight of the impoverished and homeless and provided information on how to give to charitable organizations that fight homelessness.

aliceandkev.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/alice-and-kev/

(Hopefully knowing that for every callous idiot creating an abortion clinic, there is a sensitive blogger encouraging charity will lift your spirits!)

Thanks for the link … what an amazing idea to create this family. My families are always the same … two sims get married … then have way to many kids!!

 

[tabsie3210]

For a fun look at someone who did something GOOD with Sims 3, check out Alice & Kev. It’s a story about a homeless man and his daughter. The Sim character Kev is designed to be dysfunctional and cruel, while Alice is designed to be kind and caring. It was a heart-warming story for me, and the blog author used the story’s popularity to draw attention to the plight of the impoverished and homeless and provided information on how to give to charitable organizations that fight homelessness.

aliceandkev.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/alice-and-kev/

(Hopefully knowing that for every callous idiot creating an abortion clinic, there is a sensitive blogger encouraging charity will lift your spirits!)

Awesome! Thank you, yes, this has been a great uplifting video for me. I really appreciate that you linked it here, and that someone was using the game for good!

Thanks for the link … what an amazing idea to create this family. My families are always the same … two sims get married … then have way to many kids!!

A pity you can’t have more than eight sims in a family, but I understand the trouble with the computer slowing down and not being able to handle more than eight at a whack.

My families are always the same - Sims go out to find themselves and end up having to fight off one kind of temptation or another!

 

[NoxSineStellae]

That’s disgusting about modding the kids to woohoo. And you’re right, I forgot that you have to “try for baby” to conceive. So people are intentionally getting their sims pregnant for the sole purpose of telling an “abortion” story? Gross.

A pity you can’t have more than eight sims in a family, but I understand the trouble with the computer slowing down and not being able to handle more than eight at a whack.

There is a hack for Sims2 which allows unlimited family size - as much as your computer can handle I suppose. Unfortunately modthesims seems to be down right now, so I don’t have a link.

My families are always the same - Sims go out to find themselves and end up having to fight off one kind of temptation or another!

I always let them give into their bad wants/temptations when they appear in their list. I may not like what they’re doing or planning to do, but what kind of cruel robot-master sim god would I be if everytime they wanted to woohoo or fight I turned off their free will and imposed mine? When the evil scientist started bothering and corrupting my sweet, wholesome young sisters, I had to let it play out, even though one wound up crazy and the other his evil mistress. It makes me sad, but what can you do?

I do have to say my favorite family ever was a bookish, virgin couple who married and had six kids and a few pets. It was exhausting, and a little boring at times, but overall very satisfying. Especially when I got grandkids!

 

[tabsie3210]

That’s disgusting about modding the kids to woohoo. And you’re right, I forgot that you have to “try for baby” to conceive. So people are intentionally getting their sims pregnant for the sole purpose of telling an “abortion” story? Gross.

Pretty much. And that’s why I was so totally disturbed and upset about the whole thing.