Sim-plicity: I am a human being
For his latest Sim-plicity column for PC Gamer, Christopher Livingston played Real Lives, an educational life simulator by Educational Simulations. During the game, his character is kicked out of school at age 7, works as a child laborer, contracts syphilis, illegally emigrates to Denmark, and is married for four years before her husband dies:
I don’t really have a conclusion. I feel like I did poorly — I didn’t amass riches, conquer a profession, or live happily ever after — but the game isn’t saying I did poorly. It’s not saying anything. There are no points, there’s no score, no achievements or badges. But I can’t help feeling that, as a human being, I failed.
Livingston cracks wise throughout the whole piece, which makes his serious, almost somber conclusion after his character dies all the more jarring. Billions upon billions have been born into poverty, and by the end you can see him realizing this, however briefly.
I find the way this game provides perspective on the lives of others to be exciting and depressing in equal parts.