By Kieron Gillen on October 12th, 2009 at 10:56 am.
We’ve mentioned Roburky’s Alice And Kev before, in the Sunday Papers. In fact, since it went fully meme-active, you probably saw it… ooh, almost anywhere. However, it’s actually drawn to a close with a final entry, which is a moment I think worth bringing to your attention. If you haven’t been following, it’s the often touching story of Roburky trying to play a homeless parent and child in the Sims. Kev is the worst dad in the world. Alice is the sweet hearted innocent who is defecated upon at every turn. And if there’s a finer piece of extended games writing this year… well, we’ll have been very lucky. Go.
Alice and Kev was surprisingly poignant and well written, although some of the fan reactions (the ones along the lines of “OMG, this is soooooo saaaaad!!!!”) struck me as silly hyperbole. You should never judge anything by its worst fans, though.
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I *loved* this blog.
Made me go out and grab The Sims 3 – so why not support the people who make such a great advertisement for the game?
(And RoBurky deserves an award. Or something. He’s masterful.)
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It has really been an awesome ride.
Thanks, roBurky!
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ThoBurky.
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Glad to see this wrapped up. This sort of thing always makes me feel really good about gaming in general, and hopeful for the future.
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What a neat little tale of computer-assisted tragedy.
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Best fan-made story made out of a game since Concerned.
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I am amazed by the power of the Sims 3 to tell a story like this; near the end it practically made me cry. It’s a testament to the power of PC Gaming.
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Kudos, RoBurky, that blog’s been a good read over the last few months, equally sad and insanely funny. I shall miss Kev, in a random way :D
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Not having played the latest Sims incarnation I’m kind of curious how much of the behavior described is autonomous and how much is the author shoving things in the desired direction.
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ThoBurky! A brilliant and well written diary. Although the meme appears to have passed me by. Someone care to fill in the blanks?
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Kieron just means that it got a lot of reportage in newspapers and mainstream news sites / publications.
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It was bound to end in tears eventually. Kevs epic meander across the game world like for days like a lost prophet was probably the stand out moment for me, principally down to the lovely framing of the screenshots.
Wonderful as the new personality options are in the Sims 3, it seems to me that one of the problems is that the Sims don’t necessarily learn from bad behaviour. Once their traits are defined they are stuck that way which is a bit of a shame (and rather sad really).
It would of been great to see Kev come back from his self imposed exile a changed man, kind and benevolent having set his deomons to rest, but life doesn’t work like that in Sims 3. Maybe in Sims 4 the Sims personalities will evolve over time, rather than just their relationships.
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I definitely thought that, as it went on, the quality of the screenshots definitely helped with the storytelling, particularly during Kev’s end-life crisis.
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Yes, I find it disappointing that there’s no opportunity for character development in The Sims 3.
There’s the mid-life crisis reward you can buy to completely change a character’s traits, but I think a reward to change one single trait would be a lot more interesting.
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@Roburky
True that. Probably what I’m angling for is more for personality traits to drift/shift outside of player action in a response to the relationships the Sims and their general well being. Certainly Sims experience mood shifts, but they invariably rubber band back to their default positions. The possibility that a happy go lucky Sim just might transform into an evil klepomaniac , or vise versa in response to good/bad fortune simply as a result of how their life is going I think would make for a much more compelling game (sad to say I simmed like crazy for a month after release, then kind of lost interest when those limitations sunk in..). Still I’ve enjoyed your blog, its been an epic tale. I might try and renew my interest in the game later in the year.
Yes You’re right, I’m deliciously evil
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Awesome story roBurky. Definitely got me back into Sims 3 after a bit of a haitus. Time to finish Alices story!
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Excellent stuff. I shall have to dabble in Sims 3 – I shamefully haven’t touched a Sims game before…
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I played The Sims 2 intensely for a week or so and haven’t touched it since. Reading Alice and Kev, I’d say that I appreciate the Sims games for what they do, but I’d get more enjoyment out of reading or watching what others do with it than I would out of playing it myself.
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My favourite bit of Alice and Kev coverage was seeing it mentioned in the Pavement, a free, monthly magazine distributed amongst rough sleepers in London. Good work Roburky.
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A touching end to a cracking blog.
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