If you can cast your mind back far enough you'll be able to remember the amount of hours that were wasted playing on The Sims.
You'd fire up what was probably a huge computer that took up half a room, which ran on Windows '98 and had dial up, deciding to start a family on the real life simulator for a few hours of procrastination.
It'd all start out fine - trying to get your character as similar to you as possible - before creating a partner so you could make a baby. It's not until you miss a few days at work, the oven sets on fire and your wife hasn't eaten for five days that you throw caution to the wind and enter the 'Motherlode' cheat and buy all the flash stuff on the game.
It's a memory most of us can relate too, and something that got somewhat of a reboot when it made it's way onto the PlayStation 2 in the form of The Sims Bustin' Out and so on.
The original game came out on February 4, 2000, meaning that today is its 17th birthday. We're hoping that next year, on its 18th birthday, they release a game that lets you simulate someone turning 18, finally able to utilize their ID.
The best way to celebrate the anniversary is looking back at the random things so many of us used to do on the game.
A Reddit thread calling on people to reveal what things they used to do to their characters really shows just how weird it could get.
What a nostalgia trip.
I don't think we can ever say that all the hours spent on The Sims were hours wasted. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, it was boss. Secondly, according to science, gaming is good for our brains.
People have long debated the negative effect games have on someone's psyche, suggesting that the on-screen simulated violence may be later replicated in real life. Many studies have proven this to be hogwash, though, finding actual evidence that suggests gaming improves things like coordination.
The latest study in that long list is by Vikranth Bejjanki, called the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
During the research, 10 to 14 gamers were used in a series of experiments where they'd take part in perceptual tasks. Groups were made based on people's experience in gaming, finding that those with more experience in action-based video games show improved performance in perception, attention, and cognition.
In a separate test they also used people who had little to know experience in playing games. They were given a certain task to do, then asked to have 50 hours of practice on a console, then asked to repeat the previous task. They reportedly performed much better on the task than they had prior to their training.
Basically, if your parents, girlfriend, teachers or anyone else tells you to stop playing video games, tell them to fuck off. You're giving your brain a workout.
#Featured Image Credit: Imgur