March 5, 2005

Sims go to college.

My son Chris is quite taken with the new University Expansion Pack for the Sims 2 video game. I wonder how many actual college kids will let their actual college work and their actual social life slide while they try to make their Sims successful in their simulated college careers. The new setting does look quite fascinating, especially the surreal elements like the "cow plant" (which looks similar to the "Little Shop of Horrors" plant, but with cow-ish black and white markings) and the "home plastic surgery kit."

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds thinks his pre-college daughter might learn something useful from the Sims college experience. My college student son Chris rejected the theory I was wondering about in this post. He said that people are always saying that violent video games are going to make people violent, so they ought to think that a video game where you try to make your characters successful at college would be good for their academic careers. He seemed rather proud of the high GPAs achieved by his Sims.

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