Um, pretty much?Originally Posted by Uchu
First, I've never played a Harvest Moon game with talking animals. Sure, maybe I can go other places. But I don't. I have maybe four locations I regularly visit, and that's it. I know about twenty people personally. I eat almost the exact same thing for breakfast every day. My food choice may not be specifically limited to the options in the game, but the variety is about the same size (at least, once they added in some variety, I admit I don't eat just the same thing every day).
Perks and awards for doing mundane tasks? What sorts are you talking about? The games really have no perks or awards besides money, which is pretty much the same reason why I do mundane tasks in real life.
If the gameplay strays far enough, apparently it will no longer be a "life simulator".Successful video games are all about telling an engaging story in an engaging way. If you take away the interesting elements of the story, you're pretty much left with gameplay to do all the heavy lifting.
In theory, I guess it's possible. The Sims does get kind of get close to this, but like Uchu said, it's not exactly representative of real life.
I think if we took The Sims, set it up so that you can only control one person, create some gameplay elements around progressing through school, work and life instead of just point-and-click stuff like The Sims (e.g. those minigames in Bully whenever you went to class)... it could work.
So, that leaves us with reproducing life as exactly as possible. In which case, why bother? If the two are identical, I don't know anyone who would rather use the simulator than go out and experience life itself. We play video games for something different. Not necessarily "escapism" (though that is an aspect of it), but just because it offers a unique experience.
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