Beyond The Dollhouse: Female Creativity & Control in The Sims
Writing by Diana Campos / Graphics by Naliyah Grant
As a little girl I would create elaborate storylines and imaginative scenarios straight out of my eccentric dollhouse, which was filled with mix-and-match doll furniture and a diverse cast of dolls. Conflicts would ensue between multiple dolls, and romance plotlines would be formed from the tip of my brain to the dolls in the palms of my then-tiny hands. Affairs would happen, relationships would be tested and broken, and I was practically writing a full-on dramatic series for my dolls when I was so young. It was foreshadowing of the future creative endeavors I would pursue in adulthood, now creating all my essays and stories to share. I began to expand my storytelling beyond my dolls when I reached second grade. I was introduced to the video game that completely changed the trajectory of my childhood and my current life. At one of my usual, long-awaited, and anticipated sleepovers with my cousin, Elizabeth, she would change my life with a silver disc in her hands. In them, she contained the most prized video game in my life: The Sims.
That very disc would send my creative juices spiking way beyond the dollhouse. Brightly displayed on my overtly pink yet precious Disney Princess CRT TV from my PlayStation 2 was the first-ever Sims game installment I would come to learn and love: The Sims 2: Castaway. This survival-crafting game became a comfort game to watch and play, regardless of how weird and somewhat traumatizing its storyline could get, especially since I was introduced to it at a young age. Playing this game triggered a domino effect in me without my realizing it, given its now profound hold and impact on me currently. This led me to beg my parents to purchase The Sims Bustin’ Out for my Gamecube, and now I was entirely down the rabbit hole of this tactical domestic simulator. I was bitten by The Sims mania bug right then and there, and the obsession with creating my own dramatized “dollhouse” scenarios within a digitally created world, all made by my own hands at the touch of a mouse, was born.
My control over my creativity was really put to the test when I purchased my first-ever PC version of The Sims. My creations of my own little digital worlds were now moving into maximum overdrive. I tucked the stories from my head, regardless of how sweet or spicy they were, right in my Sims game saves. At that point in this mania of mine, I had already created and controlled various amounts of “dollhouses” within my Sims worlds. My “dollhouse” stories were at my own creative control, at my own reach. I controlled everything in my Sims saves, from how they appeared, what they wore, where they lived, their careers, who they would date, and who would live or die. The Sims really does give out a crazy amount of control at the click of a mouse, doesn’t it? I controlled whether they lived relatively “normal” lives of ease or a chaotic mess of canon events that just ruined their lives entirely. This dramatized version of storytelling had me engaging in Sims role-playing, more than my physical dollhouses ever did in my childhood. I was creating diverse narratives that either reflected my everyday life or had my fantasies and dreams seeping into my gameplay.
During said moments of gameplay, it had me reflecting deeply on why so many women like myself gravitate and engage with The Sims installments so much. They offer a complete and unfiltered agency, unlike what we have been provided in real life. The simulated environments we created often reflect our social norms and expectations, highlighting how domesticity and politeness are ingrained in us from a young age. For many of us, when we were little girls, we craved control, to create our own social roles and arrangements. Our dollhouse role-playing reflected what we had set out to achieve. We controlled whether and when we did our chores, whether we had our dream jobs, and whether we had a family or not. We dramatized these roles, providing an escape or resolution unlike what our current everyday lives offer.
Want to make your Sim the rock star or famous author you’ve always dreamed of? Go for it - it's just a click away. Want to experiment with or deconstruct gender and social binaries versus what you are currently surviving in? Go for it. Want to live out the romantic relationships and scenarios with your fantasy crush from a TV and/or book series you could only imagine within the deep recesses of your brain? Make that dream come true at your fingertips in The Sims. We’re given choices, we’re given opportunities that we wish could be a bit more accessible for us in real life. Our ambitions, fantasies, and the dynamics we crave can be shaped within this simulation game. The Sims offers that safety net for you to run to and make the stories you can only dream of, and it can be easily conjured up with the aid of your imagination and some modifications to the game, of course.
The Sims, for me and many other seasoned and long-time players, provided a route of escapism and expression, a path for recovery, in a way. Like myself and so many others, we juggle our jobs, which we need to survive, our personal care so we can continue to live, and the hobbies we wish to pursue, so we don’t feel like robots. Time isn't friendly to those who like to try new things. Try in this context means anything and everything we can dream of. Leisure time is a rarity now, no longer taken as a commodity. With our culture of constant productivity, there’s rarely any time just to sit around and do “nothing”. With The Sims, leisure time can be a form of creativity in itself. We’re allowed to exist in The Sims without the pressure to conform and exceed around the clock. We aren’t expected to clock in or out (it depends on whether you want to be fired in the game), and we get to decide what we want to do with the rest of our lives. We can experiment, and most of all, we are allowed the parameters of failing with grace and dignity.
My Sim can begin her life, also known as gameplay in this sense, aspiring to become the best painter in the entire Sims universe. Yet down the line, as I’m controlling her, I figure out she doesn’t like to paint anymore. Or rather, I forced her into it when I created her. Her little thought bubbles that pop over her head are telling me a different tale. She wants to write now, and wants to change her Lifetime wish to be a renowned author in The Sims. She can easily start over, something we’re not readily offered in real life. This digital sandbox allowed me to experiment with different lifestyles and scenarios, much like we did as children when we used dollhouses to explore social and domestic situations. It is striking how a seemingly simple game can offer such meaningful opportunities and think pieces for escape and self-discovery in everyday life.
Fundamentally, The Sims functions as a virtual dollhouse simulator, allowing players to control digital characters within a sandbox environment reminiscent of childhood play. My creativity and imagination have brought my experiences with the game to life, granting me the freedom to explore and expand my creative boundaries. The Sims has broadened my perspective since childhood and continues to provide fulfillment for my inner child in adulthood. Within the game, I can design my dreams and ambitions, fostering creative expression, storytelling, exploration, identity, and autonomy. These experiences have become integral to my core values, offering a sense of creative control that is sometimes elusive in real life. The potential this game has given me goes way beyond the concept it was intended for, and for that, I thank The Sims for inspiring me to take more creative control of my life.
Graphic by Naliyah Grant
