New Times,
New Thinking.

  1. Science & Tech
6 January 2017

“I want to cheat on him and set him on fire”: why are we sadistic towards our Sims?

Since 2000, scores of The Sims players have enjoyed brutally murdering their creations. Why?

By Amelia Tait

(Photo By EA)

There are 5,200 results if you search the words “Sims torture chamber” on YouTube.

Among these are videos of virtual people locked in rooms with mirrored walls, trapped in skydiving simulators with blocked exits, and – of course – flailing in swimming pools from which, after the removal of the ladder, the Sim cannot escape.

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