I’ll admit up front that I’ve spent a rather upsetting amount of time crafting virtual realities in the world of "Sims", but it is a good stress reliever. While reality is completely out of your control and can be absolutely terrible sometimes, "Sims" offers the chance to create an ideal life for characters you shape and attribute traits to. You can play God with made up characters, fictional ones you recreate in the game, or maybe you even go the way of playing as yourself in a world where you can marry your crush and have lots of pets and live in a mansion – I mean, what? I’ve definitely never done that, but I know people who have. That would be…totally weird…anyway…these are some things that happen when you’ve been with this game for months or more.

1. You’ve begun to learn Simlish.

After extended exposure to a language, you start to pick up on some words here and there, so it makes sense that after hours and hours of this virtual world, you start to learn their vocabulary. But that doesn’t make it feel any less pathetic. Then again, at least you didn’t put this together.

2. Occasionally, you wonder if maybe you’re living inside a Sim game.

You know when you walk into a room and suddenly forget what you were going to do? Maybe someone just deleted your action…

3. Your Sims start to look…freaky.

Sometimes cheating too often has its consequences. Their bodies may begin to deform or they just get stuck in a strange position. Then there are nightmares like this.

4. Sometimes you feel like you’re accomplishing much more with your Sims than you are in real life.

I mean, jeez, these guys get stuff done. What have I done this week? Eaten cold leftover pizza and called in sick to work because it was too cold to get out of bed? I could learn a thing or two from these productive Sims.

5. You develop an obsession with being able to control things.

Why can’t other people obey your commands like your characters do? Why can’t you just click and drag furniture instead of doing heavy lifting? Why can’t you change your hair length and color at your every whim? Reality is so hard.

7. You lose track of time.

Has it really been five hours since I logged on?

8. You form an emotional attachment to your Sim families.

Teary eyed at their graduations, awing at their weddings, heart swelling when they have children. You watch their entire lives play out from birth to death, and then you follow their descendants. It really is crazy, and even though it’s just a computer game, you care about them in a way.

9. You get frustrated when you can’t use cheats in real life.

Who couldn’t use a motherlode now and then?