You know the game of life? No, not the board game. I'm talking about the life simulation game that puts you in control of hundreds of virtual people. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about: The Sims!

Sims is a wonderfully addicting game that lets you create a life you always wanted or a life that you can mess up endlessly without it affecting you in real life. Well, I have to admit that I am quite the Sims player myself, and I've noticed a few signs that might indicate I have a slight problem. Let's compare and see how addicted you are, my Sim-loving friend!

1. You mindlessly press shift, control, and "C" whenever you encounter a keyboard.

All. The. Time. It's the first thing I type before every college essay, and it's my go-to whenever I'm trying to save my document. Luckily, it doesn't do anything to the essay, but it sure does get distracting. Plus, no cheat code boxes appear in Word.

2. You memorized all of the good cheat codes.

Motherlode, testingcheats, kaching. Yeah, you know 'em all. Well, except the ones that claim to work but tend to just mess up the game. I think I can live with a regular, old plumbob rather than have my sim's arm permanently stuck to a cereal bowl.

3. You forget you can't pause real life.

Or fast-forward. Sometimes Sims gets complicated, and it's necessary to pause the game to keep track of all of your sims. It's easy to forget that being able to pause is a luxury. This is made abundantly clear when you're minutes away from taking an exam you haven't had time to study for. Sadly, no amount of button-pushing will slow-down the clock.

4. You find yourself watching the television with your sims.

With those new, HD TVs your sims can buy, it's hard to not want to sample every channel. From cheesy romance movies to adventure films involving lasers, Sims TVs has it all. My personal favorite channel is the cooking channel. Only on The Sims would they broadcasts kitchen fires so frequently. The only downfall? They're on very short loops.

5. You take pride in your sims' accomplishments.

When you take close to six hours in order to build the perfect house and design the perfect family, it's not a surprise when you start to get attached. You know you're a dedicated Sim-parent when you take time to answer a question about what a sim should do concerning a situation happening at work or school. Should they participate in a school project or just be a lazy bum? Should they tell their boss that the frogs got loose in the building or become a frog-hunting expert momentarily? Every promotion or good grade will put a smile on your face because you raised your little sim well.

6. You spend the majority of your play-time decorating the house.

There comes a time in every Sim-player's life when they think they can be an interior decorator. For some, this is relatively harmless and just makes your sims own the most obnoxiously expensive furniture ever. But for others, this can bring out severe perfectionism. Beware of mismatched couches.

7. You panic whenever you leave your computer unattended.

Sometimes, you leave your sims game on fast forward while you take a break. You had thought you'd pressed pause. When you came back, it resembled a war zone. Sims were screaming at the broken fridge, and there were puddles throughout the house. Every single plumbob was dark red. Since that was the fifth family you tried to refrain from using cheats for (we've all tried), I am sure you were devastated, to say the least.

8. You acquire the ability to speak Simlish.

Okay, maybe not as well as those really charismatic sims, and maybe not intentionally, but still. Learning another language is a feat, and you can't find Simlish on Rosetta Stone. You've listened to your sims for years utter those same greetings and memorized the difference between friendly and funny introductions. If nothing else, you can laugh at the weird sounds and rest assured that someone has already created a Simlish dictionary.

Come on, simmers! It's wabadebadoo, not wabadabadoo.

Even if you're not completely addicted to Sims, you can always enjoy playing the game of life, cheat codes, and glitches. Veena Fredishay!