Sims 3--become a novelist? I love this game.

Sims 3, perhaps the most addicting game I've encountered in my short time on Earth, allows one's character to scoff at 9 to 5 jobs and become a novelist. Of course, it's a bit harder in real life (in Sims "the publisher" pays you after each chapter submission and the tedious query process is no longer an issue). And I'm amazed at the complexity of the system, especially since it seems to be such a small facet of the actual game. You can choose your genre (of course Romance pays the best) and you get payed weekly royalty checks. You get asked to write certain books, and your status as an author changes based on how many books you write, and in what genres. Reading also helps you become a better fictionist (this part impressed me the most).

My sim ignores everyone and everything around him, including his own bodily functions, to write.

Too bad I can't do that.

The game even compels him to write by its new promise system (it says something along the lines of "your sim hasn't written in a while, he feels guilty, put down that burrito!").

I thought about putting this in video games but I was hoping for a wider base of conversation in the roundtable. If it doesn't fit, of course I will not be offended by a move.

I was wondering if anyone had a chance to play with this and if not, has my post made you curious? Do you think there could be more, or less, are there inaccuracies?

Oh, and my sim even pulls down a minimum wage job part time in a used book store. Come on!

Priene said:

Maybe you could write a novel about a novelist who can't finish their novel because they're too busy playing Sims 3 where their character is a novelist who never finishes their novel because their real world player is too busy writing their novel to play enough Sims 3?

I get dizzy when I think like this.

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LOL.

Think of how it makes me feel. I'm doing it!

Barrett said:

This makes me wonder how many people think (or will soon think) that the following is true;

1.) Authors receive weekly royalties.

2.) Publishers pay for individual chapters.

3.) Authors will write what they are asked to (i.e., they take requests like a radio DJ).

Oh, well. Sounds like a nice alternate fantasy life... except for that taking requests stuff. You want a particular story? Go write it.

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Yeah, good point about the inconsistencies. Plus it seems like it takes an enormous amount of time before someone MIGHT make a steady living off of their novel work. Still, I think there had to be a balance between making it viable for sims while still trying to put in some detail work.

The request thing is silly, though I'm sure one famous author or another has been approached, "Could you write a biography about me? My life is uber interesting..."