Miss Prism - Life as the Sims

The other day, my partner was discussing Miss Prism (and JNs in general). My partner expressed extreme frustration because he wouldn't even want to see a fictional character treated the way they treat real people. There was a bit of back and forth, and I realized something.

The Sims.

For anyone not familiar- the Sims is a computer game where you are God of a rather realistic universe. Only there's, like, a year's paid maternity leave, no student loans, and jobs pay a living wage. You control artificial people- you decide what they eat, when they sleep, what job they get, what they do at any given moment of the day. They're artificial people where, based solely on my mood, I'd arbitrarily make them insanely happy and rich, absolutely insane, or miserable. All while planning every single aspect of their life- sculpting their personality, deciding what their life goal was, what job they'd get, etc.

All the while, if you ever failed to control them- they'd be totally useless. (well, at least Sims 1 & 2, the Sims 3 folk were pretty self reliant, haven't played Sims 4) There's actually a challenge called "I'm Surrounded By Idiots" in which you only control one character and try to keep everyone else sane, clean and happy while the rest are run by Free Will. It is a disaster. Every time. Sims are seriously non functional without us in control.

Okay, so, maybe I'm just a virtual sociopath but based on the groups I was on I'm not alone. There are loads of Sims challenges that involve, well, torturing the Sims for the hell of it.

And, that's it.

That is what my childhood felt like.

When I play the Sims, which is honestly one of the few video games I enjoy, I create reality based on my whims. If I feel like watching a happy story play out- they get everything they want. If I feel like watching a tragedy- they suffer. If I feel like playing a banker- they get a job in the bank. If I think they should make catfish- by god, they will make catfish.

That is how Miss Prism treats people. Like Sims. Sometimes there's a long con, but a lot of times I got the feeling that she just acts on whims.

And based on how much of my childhood I spent alone in my room or out of her house, in addition to the times she just left me somewhere- she expected to be able to turn me off just like a video game. My "off" switch was her just dumping me somewhere and walking away when I became inconvenient.

But when she does want to be involved? I better hop to. Because, of course, if I'm ever not under her minute control- I'll go completely off the walls and be unable to do even basic self care without her control.

This makes a lot of sense to me. I have had a really hard time understanding her because it doesn't make sense. She was just all fucking over the place. She's neglectful and overbearing, I'm the GC and SG, I can do no right and do no wrong. Literally in the same sentence she'd switch between extremes, often with no rhyme or reason. She'd change on the dime and there never seemed to be any real end goal. Just amusing herself and working through whatever emotion had lodged itself into that crazy-ass brain at that particular moment.