English
put a lot of thought into it, don't just take the points. it's rude.

read the following poem and respond with one of the following:
i think…
i notice…
i predict…
i infer…
i wonder
i understand…
i connect…
i am confused about…

sims: the game

a popular computer game explained by a child

in some ways it’s life real life
in some ways yes in some ways no

you design the people they can be
outgoing nice playful active neat
but you can’t make them be everything
if they are neat they will clean up after themselves
(charisma is when they talk to themselves
in front of a mirror)

adults never get older & old people can do
anything young people can do

adults don’t have to have jobs they can cheat:
push the rose bud & money appears

job objects like pizza ovens earn you money
or you can be an extra in a movie a soldier
a doctor an astronaut a human guinea pig

children get older slowly every day they get a report card
children can live in the house without adults
(a family is anyone who lives in the house with you)

everyone gets skill points:
for chess painting playing the piano
gardening cooking swimming mechanics
(when you get points a circle above your head
fills up with blue)

& there are goals: not to run out of money not to die
& to buy more stuff for the house
(like a pool table or an easy double sleeper bed)

adults can get married but it’s hard to get married
you tell them to propose but they can’t make the decision
on an empty stomach or they’ve just eaten
& are too tired

to have a baby click yes or no & a baby carriage
rolls up

everyone has to eat sleep go to the bathroom etc.
if they live alone & don’t have friends
they get depressed & begin waving their arms

if you give them free will you don’t have to
keep track of them
but it’s strange what they’ll do:
once a player fell asleep under the stairs standing up

& sometimes they go into a bedroom that isn’t theirs
& sleep in the wrong bed then you have to tell them:
wake up! that is not your bed!

if they are mad they stomp on each other or put each other
in wrestling holds but no one gets hurt

there are different ways to die:
you can drown in the pool if you swim laps for 24 hours
(the disaster family all drowned in the pool
except the little girl who kept going
to school after they died she was perfect)

& the stove or fireplace or grill
can set the house on fire:
once there was a fire in the kitchen
eight people rushed in
yelling fire! fire! & blocked the door
so the firemen couldn’t get through
(after that everyone had to study cooking
now there are less accidents)

if you have free will you can starve or drown yourself
then you wander around as a ghost
until another player agrees to resurrect you

in some ways it’s life real life
in some ways yes in some ways no

~ elizabeth spires