Try, Buy, Sell.

The virtual network of SIMS lets you try, buy, give and sell all kinds of stuff. SIMS users can purchase furniture, plants and animals as well as acquire land and houses, if they so wish. In fact the SIMS user can even buy a new look, from clothes, to make up or a new tattoo, haircuts and styles, to cosmetically obtaining a new eye colour. In saying this, you can sell them all as well. Obtainable stuff in a SIMS virtual world is momentary stuff stimulation. However SIMS does not take into consideration the networks behind stuff or behind obtaining stuff. SIMS as I said in my previous blog is an ideal world, where money is no object and everyone equal.

SIMS doesn’t cater for ‘winners and losers’ (Dicken, p437). All the money made by each SIM is pooled into a communal account where the user can choose how and where to spend the money. Therefore SIMS doesn’t allow for ‘winning and losing (Dicken p437) nor does it take into consideration ‘the world economy’ (Dicken, p437). Additionally SIMS doesn’t take into consideration dominant groups (Dicken, p443) and controllers as ultimately the user is the only controller of their virtual world.  Thus it has a very narrow view of what the economy is and how the economy works. It allows the consumer to buy as they please.

Although this may seem ideal to some users, it completely ignores the networks behind all the stuff that is so essential to SIMS. Last week’s lecture (week 8) highlighted how stuff became stuff, looking at the movement of societies wants and needs. The change from minimalist stock to mass production. Women in the work force. Ultimately highlighting the importance each network has in the final production of stuff, of which is placed on our shelves, and in the windows for the consumer to purchase at their leisure. Each item of stuff has a line of networks behind it. The example used in lecture 7, Rum and network to sugar cane, and therefore its history of slaves, explores the infinite components of networks that are often overlooked.

Regardless, the virtual world of SIMS allows the users to collect, buy and sell stuff, the stuff isn’t real. SIMS is simply an element of contemporary stuff that mindlessly consumes the users time of existing in the real world.

Reference List:

Dicken, P. (2007). Winning and losing: An introduction, in Global Shift: Mapping the changing contours of the world economy (p 440). London, England: Sage.

Kuttainen, V, (Lecturer). (2013 September 16). Stuff . Podcast retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au.

 Image retrieved from: http://www.vg247.com/2011/01/20/sims-3d-shots-feature-sims-in-3d/