10 Hopeless Video Game Protagonists
8. Sim (The Sims Series)
The first Sims game released in 2000, introducing the world to a series designed around customisation and realistic simulation, as players created their virtual person and set them loose to do anything their imagination desired. As long as those desires entailed something like watching them stand around talking to a neighbour, reading a book or having a shower.
It soon became clear that the Sims, much like new-born babies, were hopeless when left unsupervised. Without constant minding, Sims have a tendency to soil themselves, allow dirty dishes to pile up on every available surface and neglect personal hygiene.
Perhaps most telling of their dependency was the ability to guide them into a swimming pool before removing the ladder and watching on as they accepted their fate and waited for the sweet embrace of death.
What makes the games so compelling is this empathy and power fantasy all being rolled into one. Sure, the Sims might not be the sharpest tools in the shed, but the games’ lack of clear goals meant that players could set their own and if they decided that theirs was to sit in a puddle of their own waste, surrounded by dirty crockery, they could sit back and enjoy the effortless gratification.