celebrating 25 years of playing god

my sims 4 story reads like a rom-com 💚

the first time i played the sims was in college. it was my sophomore year and my roommate suggested i play it while she was in class. now i need to explain this woman’s vibe because it adds to why i trusted her opinion.

at the time, i was vehemently against the sims and simmers. i had only heard of the game in passing and found people who played a bit weird. why would you want to spend time controlling a bunch of digital dolls? but my roommate was one of the coolest people i had ever met. this irish-japanese-american chick who partied just as hard as i did—cheerleader by day, hooters girl by night—and made me sit up with her while she cried over some guy that i’m sure wasn’t even attractive enough for her, was suggesting the dorkiest game. i had to try it off of faith that either she knew what she was talking about or this was the side of her that i would never get.

i sat in that tiny dorm room on that tinier bed and lost track of time in sims 3. for hours, i world-built in ways my pen hadn’t discovered yet. i designed characters, created story arcs, perfected relationship dynamics, and couldn’t believe when the npc’s didn’t go along with the story i wanted to develop and had to pivot to adjust for their spontaneous choices. like the many narcotics i tried during those years, i was hooked.

my love for the sims franchise, particularly sims 4, comes from my appreciation of storytelling. no matter how you play the sims—alpha cc or maxis match, modded or not—we are all incredible worldbuilders, keeping our inner children entertained with our digital dolls.

and with that, in celebrating 25 years of the sims, i spent the day writing out my current sims storyline. me and my best friend are doing a legacy challenge [starting with one sim with limited funds and playing through as many generations as possible] and with all the other cozy games i’m playing in between, this is the only sims storyline i’ve been working on.

i’ve never written one of these out, and though it was fun to reminisce, i am glad that this anniversary fell during a pretty tame story and the first lineage. but check back in a few weeks, i’m sure the hiddlestix family tree will have many more branches.

young adult sunflower kim (they/them) begins our story. sunflower, who prefers to be called sunni, is the only child of a jamaican mother and korean father. sunni’s parents, the academics they were, didn’t support sunni’s dream of becoming a chef and chose to cut them off, forcing them to make their own way in the world.

so with less than 700 simoleons to their name, sunni found a small apartment in san myshuno to call home. for many people, the sudden change of lifestyle [and drop in finances] would have been earth-shattering, but not for sunni. they are self-assured and believes their foodie trait will get them to where they need to go while their art lover trait will keep them inspired when the days get…less than sunny. they have a few likes [painting, jazz music, research & debate, and spirited sims] and dislikes [family-motivated sims, optimistic sims, and nature enthusiasts], but their main focus is their aspiration in life: becoming a master chef.

to get there, they first had to get a job as a lowly assistant dishwasher. and to not completely disappoint their parents, they started looking at the local universities to begin courses. determined and focused, sunni spent all of their time at home working on their craft. when they weren’t in the kitchen, they relaxed by painting [making a few extra dollars from the commissions] and playing video games.

it didn’t take long for the neighbors to come knocking on their door, but sunni didn’t open it. they were very uninterested in the welcome wagon and making friends. but when they went out to check the mailbox one day, a chatty pregnant woman caught them before they could get back into their apartment. she introduced herself, jesminder bheeda, and then never stopped talking. this annoyed sunni at first, but after a few visits and hang-out sessions, they didn’t mind as much. jesminder had two kids and another on the way and seemed to enjoy the adult conversation away from her husband, arun bheeda. sunni never minded being an escape from such an unlikable man, and soon jesminder was coming over all the time—being sunni’s taste tester for new recipes or watching movies in peace while they painted. soon, they were best friends.

given their new financial status and developed cooking skills, sunni was able to earn a couple of scholarships to the university of britechester where they studied culinary arts. they didn’t spend too much time outside of their apartment but did take part in some holiday traditions when they came around. however, that didn’t last too long after they were electrocuted by a holiday gnome during harvestfest for not offering it the right treat. never again, they swore.

sometime midway through their courses, they received a strange phone call from a stranger saying that a distant relative passed away and was leaving sunni a large inheritance. though this seems a bit sketchy, it also sounded very plausible—there were so many rich relatives sunni didn’t know and many were loaded with no children to pass on their estates. they accepted the inheritance, but the voice on the phone soon let them know that they had to marry someone within seven days to receive the simoleons. they begrudgingly accepted the challenge with zero idea of where to start. between their scaling career and maintaining an A- gpa, sunni hadn’t even considered going on dates let alone marrying someone. but the clock was ticking, and they were up for the challenge [and the boost to their bank account].

they started going out in the city and the neighboring towns, with jesminder as an eager wingwoman, trying to find somehow to begin a relationship with. but of course, the skills needed for this particular task [charisma, comedy, even mischief] were out of sunni’s wheelhouse. each potential connection fell flat, leading to embarrassed reactions, angry disagreements, and worse: utter boredom.

around day four, just when they were thinking of giving up for the night, sunni met eloise hiddlestix outside of an exclusive lounge in del sol valley. sunni found her to be unreasonably loud and peppy, a goofball really, and made a snide comment about people hanging around outside of clubs. eloise heard their comment and instead of taking offense, she poked back and made a joke of it. mildly offended, but more intrigued, sunni continued the light bickering and the two started going back and forth, leading to them learning about their common trait [art lovers] and interests: cooking, media production, mixology, and painting.

the conversation never stopped as the two learned more about each other back at sunni’s apartment. eloise loved fitness, wellness, and nature and had a certain business savvy when it came to finances. she was clumsy, but sunni didn’t mind since their culinary skills had given them a steady hand in many ways.

before sunni knew it, the two were falling for each other, woohooing every chance they got, and became partners. but was it love or was it the prospect of gaining the inheritance? they didn’t know, but with time running out on the clock, sunni thought it best to let eloise in on their situation. surprisingly, she was into it! they get married, she gets half the simoleons, and they can divorce and be on their separate ways. and so, the fake lovebirds had a small gathering of friends in sunni’s apartment for an intimate and romantic wedding. though sunni wasn’t a fan of becoming a “hiddlestix,” it was eloise’s only condition to their arrangement so they obliged.

right after the nuptials, eloise moved into sunni’s apartment and the inheritance was deposited into their joint account. although they were both still on board to split the money and divorce, they figured it would be nice to at least get to know each other a bit more. the more they discovered about each other, the more they realized they actually enjoyed spending time with one another, so the divorce idea kept getting pushed to “later.”

because of her interest in the environment, eloise began a career as a civil designer, which she knew was important work, but didn’t necessarily enjoy [the dumpster diving requirement of the job was not what she had in mind]. however, the more she watched how hard sunni worked, the more inspired she was to keep up. soon she discovered the self-assured trait within herself as well. sunni also discovered a few new traits—perfectionist, neat, and lactose intolerant—and in that time, earned their distinguished degree in culinary arts, with eloise standing in the audience when they threw their cap.

as their career continued to rise, money became less of an issue for sunni and they earned the respect they so desperately wanted from their peers. eloise leaned into her wellness traits and performed yoga and meditation around the apartment. but she eventually grew bored and decided to pick up vlogging. sunni had the set up for it [one of their many failed hobby attempts] so eloise took advantage of the equipment and began documenting their sudden romance. she quickly began earning simoleons as she shared her vlogs, adding to their funds.

sunni was overworking themselves, but couldn’t stop, no matter how much eloise begged. they had multiple energy failures and even experienced burnout. they were so out of it, that they even accidentally started a fire in their apartment, causing both of them to become fearful of fire. that was when sunni decided to slow down, because they also earned the fear of death trait, but didn’t tell eloise about it.

while sunni was working through the burnout and the unexpected mid-life crisis, eloise discovered a new trait: family-oriented. she began daydreaming about baby bottles and less about…whatever she was thinking about before. when she brought the idea to sunni, they were apprehensive but on board to have one child. they had the money, were confident in each other’s potential parenting skills, and figured they could hire a nanny when they were both at work.

it didn’t take long for them to try for a baby and even less time for eloise to become pregnant. what they weren’t expecting was a set of twins! the couple happily welcomed two girls: cleo rose hiddlestix and primrose hiddlestix.

their quiet loveshack immediately became a loud, messy pitstop. when sunni was at work, well on their way to becoming a celebrity chef, eloise was either at home with the girls or at work. but after her first burnout and the growing feelings of having a mid-life crisis of her own, she decided to quit her job to raise the twins full-time and lean more into becoming a mommy vlogger. sure, her fear of unfulfilled dreams is always looming and she’s always contemplating life, but she loves her little family and what she’s built with sunni (right?).

their apartment became too small for the four of them so sunni moved their family to a house in anchorpoint wharf in san sequioa, close to the water and near a few commercial lots. sunni figured they could build a small diner in the area where they’d work their final days and pass on to their and eloise’s children and grandchildren. eloise didn’t mind the new house and location. it had plenty of place for the girls and she enjoyed all the decorating she got to do. it also got her closer to her life aspiration of being fabulously wealthy, so she found a way to make it work and kept her more uncertain feelings about life at bay.

as the girls hit their toddler milestones— learning to walk, talk, and climb stairs—they each grew into their own personalities. cleo rose is a charmer, destructive, and loves wakeup time. primrose is angelic, a wanderer, but hates wakeup time. as time goes on, their attentive parents can’t wait to see how they grow into their own and navigate their individual worlds.

at the top of her career as a celebrity chef and a couple of days away from being an elder, sunni is excited about their future. they spent much of their adulthood pouring into their craft, but in these later days, they’re finding inspiration from their family. by spending time with their best friend and partner-in-schemes eloise and watching their girls take in the world with each passing day, they feel content, knowing that they reached their dreams and are confident, despite the distance, they made their parents proud.