The Sims 3 Reveals My Strengths and Flaws

Playing the Sims 3 reveals both my biggest strength and one of my biggest weaknesses: My obsessive focus.  I was only going to play for a few minutes today, but then got side tracked because my family bought the town art museum.  When I got it, it looked like this … a perfectly nice building:

I think I’ll add some topiary and statues.

I always loved the Italian Cypress trees when used as a backdrop for fountains and statues so I think a row of those would make a perfect block to the line of site.

But … still, that building won’t accommodate the treasures I find.  I want great works of art; sculptures; cut gems.  I decide to tear down the building.  I change the grass, and build a basic template.

Why not some Roman gardens?

At this point, with the animations on, this is how the place is looking … the water flowing sounds nice, things are starting to finally shape into a form I can appreciate.

Then it hits me.  I want an all-glass Seattle-style mixture to offset the Roman gardens.  It will have three floors – art on the bottom, sculpture on the second, and a working library and facilities on the third.

Then, I think, “Why stop here?  I need pathways” … and more hedges, roses, and statues …

But is that acceptable? Clearly not! I need lights so the statues are illuminated at night, so I start installing them …

Then, I figure why not put in botanical walking trails and an outdoor sculpture gallery?

I then go back and start putting together the art museum itself …

Now, it is finally all starting to come together …

By the time I am finished, hours in the real world have passed and it is winter in the game.  I have built a full estate, with walking gardens …

This is how my entire life goes.  I wake up and start reading, or doing something, or looking around, and suddenly I get obsessed.  I can’t help it.  It’s like the whole world stops.  It’s how we launched our first businesses; it’s how I bought my first stocks; everything goes back to my personality basically forcing the world around me to comply so I can shape it into how I want because I like to play and create.

I should have done this in the real world instead of in a game.  It would have had more utility to people.  Maybe I will someday.