The Sims 3: Alice and Kev
Robin Burkinshaw, a game design student in the UK, created a fascinating experiment on humans and games. The premise is to follow Alice and Kev, two characters in The Sims 3.
“Kev is mean-spirited, quick to anger, and inappropriate. He also dislikes children, and he’s insane. He’s basically the worst Dad in the world. … His daughter Alice has a kind heart, but suffers from clumsiness and low self-esteem. With those traits, that Dad, and no money, she’s going to have a hard life.”
And, these two characters do not have a house; instead, they live in a ‘park’ with benches. In other words, they are homeless.
Most of the experiences that follow involve Kev rummaging through (and ninja-kicking) trash bins, pissing off random strangers as he tries to be inappropriately physical, and getting angry at his daughter Alice and at anyone that crosses his path. When not in school, Alice spends her time looking for a park bench to nap in, without really getting any real rest as Kev is quick on her heels to scream, ridicule and humiliate her.
Also, since she is still a kid/teenager, has to be back to her ‘park’ by curfew, otherwise she gets nabbed by the police. Frequently she goes into people’s houses to find food and a bed and a shower (they both stink a lot, which makes people dislike them more), and more often than not Alice is kicked out for being ’socially inappropriate’, after which she collapses from exhaustion in that person’s front lawn.
In the meantime, she meets one young man who invites her into his home and sometimes gives her food and a spare bed. Kev gets involved with an older lady, who leaves her husband for him. But his bouts of anger and physical inappropriateness lead him to make a pass at this lady’s daughter, which results in him being kicked out.
One part of the story that stood out was Alice’s selflessness. She gets a part-time job at a supermarket. Then she has one wish: to mail all the money she just earned to a charity. This is what made me stop and think.
“You might think that Alice has the worst life in the world, but she doesn’t believe that’s true. She will turn down the chance to improve her life in order to give others the opportunity to improve theirs. What does it mean when a character you’ve created makes you re-examine your own life through their astonishing selflessness?”
The characters are quite complex at times, acting in surprising ways. I highly recommend reading through the full story, especially looking the images, in which the characters are so expressive it’s frightening.
Tags: alice and kev, gameification, the sims, wacky wednesday
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Very interesting analysis. Kudos to Robin B for the original experiment, and to you for reviving it. I have not played Sims 3 yet but this makes me curious. I wonder how much AI is programmed into it and what is the logic and/or research behind this.