My name is Sunny. I’m an artist who lives in Canada and I’ve been playing the Sims since it started.
Back then, my friend Nicole and I would talk to each other in our own form of Simlish based on their thought and speech bubbles. An example was liiiiike, when we disliked something IRL we would make an “x” with our arms and say “NO AIRPLANE!” because we noticed some Sims just didn’t seem to like the idea of air travel in the original Sims and would have a thought bubble with an airplane icon with an “x” through it.
What we also noticed was that we both liked to play in long stretches, usually when we were depressed. We called it our “Sims Bunker”, where we had our comfy blankets, drinks, snacks, pajamas, and anything else we’d need to spend a prolonged amount of time in a fallout shelter where the only thing to do was play Sims.
As a person with bipolar disorder, which mainly manifests as extreme depression and anxiety, I’ve been utilizing the “Sims Bunker” as a way to cope with my mental illness for the last 20 years. It helps me escape persistent suicidal thoughts and helps me be creative when I don’t have the “spoons” to be creative IRL. When I can’t function properly in my day to day life due to depression, I can make sure my Sims are taken care of and they can live fulfilled, often idealistic lives. I can make it so they never have to pee or sleep again, do you know how much time that saves and how much I could get done if I didn’t have to do either of those things IRL?
So that’s how the term Sims Bunker came to be. When I’m playing Sims, I’m in my Sims Bunker. Other games that qualify as Sims Bunkering are Stardew Valley, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, and World Of Warcraft. No matter what though, I always come back to The Sims.
I buy every expansion when it comes out because I do believe it is an investment in my mental health and I’ve always been somewhat enamoured with how creative the Sims Gurus are. I play with mods, but not many; just Basemental, MC Command Center, Wicked Whims, and a smaller one I forget the name of, but it gives you more traits to buy in the Satisfaction Points Reward Store. I mostly like playing how the game was intended to be played, but with elements that aren’t necessarily “E” For Everyone. I like discovering little social interactions or details when crafting or doing every day things. I love watching my Sims eat, I dunno why. I love making laundry rooms. I thought Laundry Day was the dumbest sounding pack on planet Earth when I first heard of it but now it’s one of my favourites. I love building greenhouses and gardening and Patchy the Straw Man (but I hate it when he gets hit by lightning!).
Maxis just keeps expanding the Sims universe in directions I like to play, so I can’t see myself giving up on the franchise any time soon. I made this site to keep my own challenge rules straight but if anyone out there stumbles upon this and finds it at ALL interesting, then great! If not, no big deal. I know at least 2 people who are entertained, so that’s good enough for me.
That’s me in a nutshell. Welcome to my little site. 🙂