Advising my Sim

I really enjoyed the first Sims game. It was pretty revolutionary at the time, and the most memorable moment for me came when I made B and all of her college roommates as Sims, and one of them somehow managed to burn herself to death using the grill. Since it was happening to little pixelated characters on a screen it was hilarious, as was the fact that occasionally her surviving Sim roommates would come outside to mourn at her grillside gravestone.

Sims 2 didn't grab me the same way, but Sims 3 looks like it is going to be another huge step forward, with a giant Sim neighborhood and the ability to integrate some of your Sim activity into social networking sites, YouTube, etc. In advance of the release of the game, there is a Sims mini game conducted entirely through e-mail. You select a pre-made Sim and he or she e-mails you, asking for advice on different matters. It seems pretty simple and rudimentary.

Or so I thought, until my advice led my poor Sim to get abducted by aliens.

I really had the best intentions. My sim has "evil" as a character trait and she asked me if she should take her telescope outside and spy on her neighbor's yoga session. This seemed like a no brainer. She hadn't done anything remotely evil, or even entertaining. She had already confided in me that she had a crush on said neighbor, and I was really pulling for her after her crush on her guitar teacher didn't work out. What's the worst that could happen, I thought? Apparently getting scooped up by aliens was an option I had not considered. Luckily she got great reception in space and was able to continue e-mailing me. I talked her into stowing away aboard an escape pod and eventually she came back to earth, unharmed.

But the evil trait is starting to manifest itself. She wants to scam some simoleons--the Sim form of currency--from her own mother by concocting a fake sign up sheet for a walk-a-thon and then just pocketing the cash. I have advised her against it, since the last time I nudged her toward something even semi-impure she ended up nearly getting analy probed. We'll see how it works out.