Homeless in Sims 3 – meet Alice and Kev

Sims 3 is a bit of a marvel, and its new neighbourhood feature makes social interaction a lot easier and more realistic.

In a brilliant blog, games design student Robin Burkinshaw tells the tragic but fascinating story of what happened when she stripped two characters of their possessions and left them in a place designed to look an abandoned park, letting her simulated humans fend for themselves.

It’s a virtual social experiment that relies almost entirely on the programming of the characters to decide what happens next.

Like some kind of David Attenborough of the Sims world, her reportage of how they try to keep surviving is slow, clear and keeps you begging for more. It is testament to How Amazing Sims 3 is that – minus a few thought bubbles here and there – this could be a true story IRL, and it’s gaining a big following.

Read more after the jump:

Alice and Kev, the blog, is about Kev, a guy with a mean streak whose life ambition is to have 10 girlfriends and his daughter Alice who lives with him in the park. She’s at school, but doesn’t eat or sleep well in there, and her dad makes her ashamed, hurt and unhappy.

Alice gets food in restaurants and sleeps on other people’s couches, other Sims give her ice-cream, but usually kick her out of the bed. Sometimes people help out, a boy gives her a hug, a woman on the street helps her with her homework.

The line between real life and the computer games wears thin as the blog gets likes a compelling novel. We won’t spoil the ending. Read for proof of how close computer programmes are to simulating human interaction.

Robin’s blog: Alice and Kev