The Sims is one of the most iconic and well-loved video games of all time. Released in the year 2000, The Sims is one of the defining titles for millennials, because for a lot of us, it broadened the scope of video games, and made us understand that there is so much more to gaming than pointing and shooting, or jumping and punching. We’re not saying that there’s anything wrong with other games!
The Sims has attracted large followings of people and it has one of the most varied fandoms of all time, no matter your age, gender, or preferences for video games. Odds are, you probably already are a fan of The Sims.
The series is currently on its fourth generation, with dozens of expansion packs, careers, animals, and objects in between. The Sims have also made it to mobile (successfully with The Sims Mobile and The Sims FreePlay) and console (unsuccessfully, all versions are weird, so they should just stop trying, already). Even so, it’s hard to think of a franchise that’s as spread out and successful as this one.
Thanks to all of this history, there are a million fans who love to create comics and memes regarding The Sims, explaining why the game is so addictive, why we care so much about little people’s virtual lives, and why it’s so hard to control the elements on this game. Check out some of our favorite comics and memes about The Sims:
24 Sim Life
It’s extremely pleasing to have a neat and beautiful home in The Sims, but it’s much harder to do this in real life. While cleaning on your hands and knees and making your house smell delicious is a treat in itself, it can also take a lot of time and hard work. And it’s kind of gross, which means that you tend to push housekeeping to the bottom of your to-do list.
In The Sims, it takes a couple of quick minutes to clean things up.
There’s even a feature where your Sim cleans up all the dishes in the room, including any puddles and dirt counter tops. If your Sims have money, you can also hire a maid and becomes friends with them.
However, it’s way harder to clean in real life. Sigh.
Comic by Addisonyu.
23 Get A Save File
This is something that still happens with new laptops, but it’s a meme that will resonate more with fans of the old The Sims. They’re the ones who used to play the first or second generation on their home computers.
You know, the players that had a monitor and a CPU that roared like a dinosaur every time you turned it on.
You’d spend hours and hours creating your Sim, making them look beautiful and attractive, and picking out the right clothes and personality traits. But because your computer didn’t like you, it decided to stop running the program or to shut down entirely, making you lose all your progress.
Whenever this happened, it was like a curse from above, making you want to quit The Sims forever. But you always returned.
Comic by Mollymolata.
22 We’ve All Been There
Yep, it’s strange when you see this in the shape of a meme, because it becomes glaringly obvious that playing The Sims is nothing but weirdness. When we grow obsessed with the game, we neglect reading, working out, studying and socializing in order to do the same but on our computers.
If you’re reading this article, then you’re definitely guilty of this too.
It’s funny that even The Sims gets the “boyfriend meme” treatment, because it fits so well. So long, responsibilities! I’d rather do the exact same things, but have more fun in a world where you don’t have to face the same pressures! Who needs an actual life to maintain, and to distract from our gaming?
Let’s play more video games!
Comic by Quickmeme
21 Pool Ladder Saga
If you’ve been reading this listicle, then you know about my feelings regarding the pool ladder. It’s kind of one of the best and worst things about The Sims.
This comic highlights this perfectly, while also adding a funny bit about Sims becoming dolphins in the end. The creators of the game should definitely make that a feature, because that would be wild!
With the release of Sims 4, people were extremely upset that they couldn’t build pools, because, as I’ve said, pools are a big deal for Sims fans. They made petitions, and rioted until the developers patched the games. TheSims’ creators also confirmed that yes, your Sims can still end in a ladder-less pool. We can’t believe that’ll be one of the Sims’ most important legacy. It’ll be printed in the history books.
Comic by MrLovenstein.
20 No Resistance
Yeah, we see you, Sims non-believers! You’re the ones who poke fun at people who don’t sleep for days in a row because they can’t stop managing the lives of their Sims and helping them achieve their promotion, or their perfect relationship.
They’re the ones who don’t understand how pleasing it is to have the ability to build a beautiful mansion, with the best furniture and items that the world can imagine (if you’re using the “motherlode” cheat).
All it takes for these people to become Sims fans is to take a look at the detailed and impressive building feature of The Sims. No one can resist the power of building a house with their “bare” hands. Who knew being an architect was so awesome and creative?
Comic by CrispyGecko.
19 Asking Too Much
The people from EA and Maxis must have really thorough processes when it comes to publishing expansions for The Sims 4. It took the companies ages to fix the real issues that people were annoyed with in-game, so instead they wasted time by creating random expansions that were cool, but they weren’t what people were looking for.
Animals were introduced in The Sims 2, and they never were introduced on The Sims 3.
That’s just weird. Everyone knows animals were the best expansion ever made. Luckily, they did make a Cats And Dogs expansion for The Sims 4, even though there dozens of other random expansions already planned. People don’t care if Sims can have different versions of the same career now. Or do they?
Just give us our pets back, please.
Comic by Memecenter.
18 So Realistic!
Everyone’s guilty of doing this. You create a perfect version of yourself on The Sims, you build yourself your dream home, you make yourself super rich, and you achieve your perfect career. And then, even though you feel a little guilty, you create a Sim version of your crush. Why not?
Of course, this version is much more good looking, successful and idealized, but it’s still your crush.
You get your Sims married and start having kids, spending hours wondering over their perfect and most logical names. You know you’ve done this. I hope you have. Anyway, building and perfecting your dream life feels awesome. Sooner than you know, you’ll be raising your grand kids and you’ll be sending them off to school.
Your virtual grand kids, that is.
Comic by Cassandra.
17 If Only…
The Sims is a life simulator, meaning that it simulates life. Doy. But it does so in a way that’s limited and overtly simplistic, because it’s a virtual game and real life is really complicated and messy. In the world of The Sims, friendships are developed after a few conversations and jokes, romances and marriages blossom after some light flirting, and job promotions occur when you read a book and befriend your boss.
But the weirdest things about The Sims are the ones that this comic highlights. It’s a true fact that pools are traps when they don’t have ladders (you can just climb out, you know), and it’s as true that Sims can become rich by saying the secret password “Rosebud”.
They can also get jobs over the phone. What even is that?
Comic by Adam Ellis
16 So Much Confusion
This comic is a creative way of compiling the main glitches and things that bothered us from The Sims 4. The Sims 3 was an amazing generation of the game, it managed to introduce toddlers, cars, a large map that could be traveled, and tons of expansion packs that allowed you to visit other parts of the world and to have pets.
However, when The Sims 4 was first introduced, it was missing so much stuff!
While the game introduced more “realistic” and complex Sims, it got rid of tons of different things that users used to love about the series. The world felt drastically reduced, there were no cars, toddlers and, oddly enough, there were no pools. It was everyone’s go-to method to get creative with their Sims.
Comic by CAD Comic
15 When You See It…
Comics of The Sims always go to the deep and philosophical place, because The Sims is a game about life, and life is weird. With The Sims, you control your Sim’s life, meaning that you can be objective and make your Sim out to be the most motivated person there is. Unlike you, who are clearly procrastinating with the game.
It’s a weird trick of this game, it encourages you to be responsible in the world of the Sims, but not in your real life.
You see? Talking about The Sims is always intense and leads to tons of self reflection. Who said that playing this game equals to wasted time, effort and neurons? It’s super deep, that’s what it is.
Comic by Harpyqueen.
14 Feeling Curious
That red diamond icon meant things were bad and that it was time for you and your Sims to panic, at least for me. But I’ve heard of some Sim fans who enjoyed wreaking havoc on their Sims, loving their expressions, movements and shouts to the sky.
I do admit that issues on The Sims inspired a sort of odd curiosity for me, especially when the characters started to panic and were rendered unable to do anything but run around. I panicked with them and hoped the firemen would arrive at some point.
This is why installing a fire alarm, no matter how ugly it looks on your perfect kitchen, is something you must do when you first build your dream home. If you want to prevent fires, it’s the way to go.
Comic by Cassandra.
13 The Weirdest Addition
One of the strangest things to ever happen to The Sims 4 was the fact that the Toddlers expansion was eliminated from the equation. On The Sims 3, people got used to having toddlers, even though they were a big departure from The Sims 2. This stage became an important one, even though it was challenging and annoying.
Toddlers are weird enough, but you can help them develop skills they’ll really use in their adult lives.
When this important part of The Sims was removed, people were understandably angry, and a dozen memes came out of it, because people thought the franchise was retracing its steps instead of innovating. Luckily, EA fixed things and reintroduced the lovely toddlers, which should have never left in the first place.
Comic by Quickmeme.
12 Real World Experience?
Well, this meme was probably made by a very young person, because life never works out that way! I wish that rehearsing speeches in the mirror and reading a ton of books would guarantee success in the real world and the workplace, but that’s just not true. Maybe this works in some cases, or if you’re a genius.
But for the average person, these shortcuts simply do not work.
That’s not to say that you can’t learn a thing or two from The Sims. You can probably learn to manage your time, to be responsible and to care for your house. The Sims teaches you that having dirty dishes and clothes is bad, and that it also makes people unhappy. Those are all valuable life lessons. Thank you, Sims.
Comic by CheezBurger.
11 Is This The Real Life?
This comic starts off slowly, without revealing its intentions and ties to The Sims. Once you read the last panel, it’s obvious. The food icon of the Sim should’ve tipped us off because that’s pretty recognizable.
In fact, there are a lot of things that point out that this has been The Sims all along: the food icon on the upper right panel, the houses on the upper left and the puddle of water located right next to the Sim are clues.
The red diamond on the right corner of the panel means your Sim is probably not having a good time.
It brings flashbacks to when I was playing the game and I left the computer for a second to get cereal or go to the bathroom, only to find things upside down once I returned.
To all the Sims newbies out there: there’s a pause button, and it’s very helpful.
Comic by WickedReasonings.
10 Strange Methods
When Sims get stressed out, they stop thinking. Not that they ever thought in the first place, but they really stop handling things correctly, and lose all semblance of normality. They can’t use their digital brains. It’s like when they decide to not use the extinguisher and sit very close to an approaching problem, and ultimately do nothing about it. They don’t even escape to the next room.
They can’t remain calm long enough to call the fire department.
When Sims are about to have a baby, they start making faces and yelling, making you panic. You click on the fastest option to get them to the Hospital, and the next logical step for them is to ride a bike towards the ER.
That’s not safe, healthy or advisable at all.
Comic by Chazx3.
9 Poor Sim
This comic could have several different meanings, some more intense than others. One option could be that the Sims remain alive while the game and your computer is off, which is why the guy in the comic looks lost, while his “player” just lives normally.
Another reading of the comic could be that the player simply forgot to shut off the game, and now his Sim is alone and wandering about, all on his own. But I have a hard time believing a player of The Sims would do that.
It would be weird to think that any of this might have been done on purpose, because that suggests that Sims’ players have weird, ulterior motives. Or, it means that these players use this game as some intense outlet. There are no rules in The Sims, people can pretty much do what they want.
Comic by ierdna.
8 Date Gone Weird
Sometimes, creating natural and organic romance opportunities for your Sims is hard. Maybe you were planning on making your Sims sit together through a meal, where they cooked and sat down to eat together, surrounded by expensive candles in your freshly furnished home.
Depending on your Sim’s autonomy settings, they could develop a mind of their own, which is normally good but it can also be a little weird.
It’s especially weird when they start cleaning for no reason and ruin your perfectly planned dinner. The next thing they’ll do is fall asleep unexpectedly, ruining your romancing options or losing the opportunity to take advantage of their free time to build some skills. It’s like you need to constantly watch them!
Comic by Alistu.
7 No Rest!
This comic starts off mysteriously, without letting you know that it’s about the weird life of a Sim. Sims are extremely motivated people on their own, sometimes depending on the traits you embedded in them.
Most of the time, Sims are willing to do their homework or work on their jobs without a complaint, as long as they’re fed and sort of happy.
It must be hard to be a Sim! You can be hungry, happy and clean, and even on these instances, all you want to do is chill out and not work. Sims are always working and doing things. This is true unless you don’t care about your Sim’s career, and you only want to watch them watch TV and do nothing with their lives.
That’s weird and boring, but okay.
Comic by MattWilson83.
6 Valuable Lessons
This is a great compilation of why The Sims’ logic is flawed. Ok, I get it, it’s a game, it doesn’t have to be perfect, but there are a few things that annoy me. That’s why I love that this comic exists, so that I don’t have to think of them on my own.
Sims don’t use the toilet like normal humans do, and it’s normal to challenge strangers to a pillow fight duel. Your Sims take a really long time to cook, the Grim Reaper can be your friend and love interest, and your guests will always be rude, eat your food, ignore you and watch TV. There’s also the fact that the game is super glitchy, but we still love The Sims.
It will take a lot more than all this to change that.
Comic by Snackrat.
5 The Social Grim Reaper
I mentioned how it’s possible to romance the Grim Reaper on The Sims, which is all sorts of weird, but it’s hilarious. It’s fun to pull out this dynamic from The Sims, which feature a pretty iconic Grim Reaper that’s been there since the early Sims games, and apply it to everyday life.
It’s hard to find a cooler grim reaper on media than the one that’s in The Sims. Is it only one Grim Reaper? Has he been there all along? Is he a she?
I did some research and it turns out, you can’t romance the Grim Reaper. That is annoying, I would’ve been interesting to see the babies that the Grim Reaper would make. But you can’t have everything, not even in The Sims, where there’re aliens and multi-colored people.
Comic by Deya Muniz.
