The Theatrical Applications, Dramaturgical Implications, Ontological Complications, and Pathetical Pontifications of The Sims 4
In which I let the hyper-fixations win.
It’s never too late to do something embarrassing. In that spirit, I’m here to announce I’ve decided to become a YouTuber at 30. And a Sims 4 YouTuber, at that.
Channeling a lifelong hyper-fixation with Clue and a love of The Sims 4 into a worthwhile creative endeavor is a tall order, but God damn it, someone’s got to do it.
Simdunit?: A Sims 4 Mystery Game is a semi-interactive murder mystery series involving The Sims 4 and a custom deck of cards that I’ve built.
Twelve Sims are locked in a house. One of them is a killer. Each one has three corresponding “evidence cards,” clues to their identity.
At the beginning of the game, I randomly select a murderer from among the 12 suspects, and remove their three corresponding evidence cards from the deck.
Every round, I will reveal three random evidence cards, all belonging to the innocent suspects. Each draw gets us closer to deducing the murderer’s identity. But at the end of each round, the murderer will strike down a fellow Sim based on which one they dislike the most.
The first—and hopefully not last—game is based on the 2023 edition of Clue.
Watch the first episode here:
Is it cinema? Eh. Is it theater? Eh. Does it make me happy? Sadly, yes.
So if you feel like watching and playing along, give it, and me, a follow. I promise it’ll only get better.
In the early days of the pandemic, playwright and director Celine Song (whose Past Lives premiered to huge acclaim in 2023) partnered with New York Theater Workshop to present a Sims 4 version of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull.
An audience followed her on livestream as she reinterpreted the work. She took us through designing and styling characters like Konstantin and Nina as they might appear in the Sims universe before puppeteering them to perform the beats of the story. The production itself was halting and “not dramatic in a conventional sense,” as NYTW’s Aaron Malkin put it. Malkin called it an “act of sitting and waiting,” which is theatre-speak for “nothing happens and that’s the point.” Song provides loads of meta-commentary, as many Twitch streamers and let’s players do, as she attempts a Sims 4 approximation of Chekhov’s play. I loved it for the sheer nerddom of it.
Throughout the first half of the stream, she invited fellow playwrights and Sims 4 players, Jeremy O. Harris and Aleshea Harris, to join. Both talked about their use of the game as a writing tool. Song’s own style of play reflected her interests as a writer.
“I feel like I always knew that The Sims had a lot of theatrical potential, and I know that because I’m, in my nature, a very theatrical person. […] The way that I like to play is to get them to cause drama. I would often create situations where the Sims would become very obsessed with each other. They would fall in love. Some very dramatic stuff.”
— Celine Song
I didn’t see The Seagull on The Sims 4 when it premiered in 2020. I didn’t see it until last year, when I was thinking about ways to use the game for my own work.
The Sims 4 is a lot like theater. As playwright and director, I may tell these little people in my computer what to do, but ultimately, what I want them to do is not necessarily what they’re gonna do. A Sim will make a choice that baffles you, and you just have to roll with it sometimes.
What strikes me about the whole performance is you can sort of feel the underlying uncertainty and panic underneath it. Not in Song herself. She’s such a natural at talking through her process. I just mean in the fact that it exists at all. This is the epitome of throwing something at the wall and seeing if it sticks. 2020 had us asking questions about what live theatre and even public life at large could be in the absence of a public to exist in. Obviously, we’ve moved on. But in that year, it was inevitable we’d look for other ways to present live work in a digital space.
I relate to that feeling even now in 2024. Finding a legitimate way to have your work performed, let alone get paid for it, is even harder now. COVID’s impact is still being felt. New work is a gamble a lot of theaters don’t think they can afford.
And there are also more ways than ever for your work to be seen. The trick is finding eyes.
All of that is to say, I’m at a point in my writing career—such as it is—where I still feel like I have something to say and nowhere to put it. I’m wondering what I’m doing, and how to move forward.
Time to throw some things at the wall and see if they stick.
What I’m Watching:
My partner got me into Capote vs. The Swans, and Gus Van Sant is directing the ever-loving fuck out of this show. A master.
What I’m Listening To:
Chappell Roan, Gen Z’s answer to Kate Bush by way of Baby Jane Hudson, has had me by the throat for a year. I listened to her before she was popular, but just after it was actually cool to listen to her. So, I guess I got in on the second floor.
What I’m Doing:
My wedding is in just under three weeks. Shopping for dress clothes as a fat person still blows.
If you’re so inclined, buy me a cup of coffee at Kofi for a one-time donation of $3.
The Red Sweater will be updated once per… let’s just say it’ll be updated once, periodically, until the end of time. It will cover developments in my life, work, and all the stupid little things I care about.