When The Sims first came out in 2000, I was interested, but I didn't run right out and buy a copy in the store. In fact, as I recall, it was given to me as a gift, either for my birthday or Christmas. I don't specifically remember which. It was a cool game, and it was fun to site there and learn how to play, and how to figure out how to get things accomplished. I liked it so much I got the expansions as they came out, up to Unleashed. At which point, the game had gotten old and repetitive. At which point the game cds were put up on the shelf and will probably never be played again.

Then The Sims 2 came out. I was curious if things had improved. But I didn't run right out and get it. I waited, until a co-worked started talking about a lot of the changes. At which point I had to get it. It is so much better than the first.

What probably intrigued me the most was the level and depth to relationships the game had gone. At first, I decided to test the limits of the relationships, to see what could be done, and what had the programmers missed. When it became clear that trying to accomplish my goals required certain changes to be made in game play, I started looking to see what mods had been written for the game.

Starting at ModTheSims2, I was immersed into a whole new world, where players from all over the world were pushing the game in ways I had never bothered to imagine. Soon I was downloading and testing mods, and before long I was like a mod junkie.

The favorite set I got involved in, and partially still am today, is the DMA Sims project. Mostly I help test and answer questions for people trying to figure out how to use the NPCs. Real life work has prevented me from spending as much time helping as I once could before.

In any case, playing the game got boring again, as I figured it would. But I am still involved. I now write a series of stories using The Sims 2 to illustrate. I have created almost all of the characters and publish a new chapter once a month. My friends like to say I am playing with my dolls again, but I simply refer to it as, Team Rainbow Super Force.

Also, I am working on an additional Sims related project. More on that soon, I hope.