The Self Sufficient Sim: And all of a sudden it was over

Joe Greensleaves steps into his now familiar house. It is a sparsely furnished one-room lodge with a small shower room off to the back. There is a bed and a kitchen area (to call it a kitchen is too complimentary so it is a 'Kitchen Area'). It is simple, but exactly what he wanted after the gluttony of corporate life. He spots his prize possession, it used to be his top of the range fridge, but now it is his brand new cooker. He strides over, gently caresses the chrome door handle before pulling it open and letting the warm air wash over him. Satisfied with his cooker he stands in the middle of the room, looks up into the sky, where an omniscient, omnipotent, controlling being might be looking down on him right now and thinks, 'ok, are we finished now?'

Oops, didn't want that to happen!

Lets take a step back, to the beginning of day nineteen. Joe wakes early, and I am still undecided about what to do. If I let him achieve his new wish to become a master gardener then he will receive 7,500 happiness points and be a hairs breath away from reaching the all important 27,296 points, however it will mean he won't achieve his lifetime dream of planting the perfect garden before the whole challenge is over. The latter is a personal goal, but a difficult one to let go of. I stare at the screen, trying to make a decision for ten minutes, and I can't. In the end I don't. The wish sits in the panel, neither dismissed nor promised and I make Joe get on with his normal routine. I don't make a decision, I let fate decide, if Joe becomes a master gardener before the wish disappears then the decision is out of my hands. It is a cowardly way, and some people reading this will wonder at my indecision about a seemingly mindless choice. But it is the choice between winning, or winning my way.

The brand new cooker! How very exciting...

Joe continues with his normal routine, he visits the toilet and blocks it, has a cold shower, unblocks the toilet, eats a tomato and then washes his hands which, having just unblocked the toilet, he really should have washed first. I decide that it is time for a new cooker, and so sell the two fishing books Joe had bought a few days ago. Combined with selling the collectibles Joe has accumulated over time and the previous day's harvest, he could just afford the top of the range cooker. This new cooker fills me with pride. Every single Simoleon has been grafted for through hours of toil in the garden, endless fishing, or continuous collecting. Well not by me, I sat in a comfy chair and ordered Joe around, while poor Joe grafted. Because of his hard won success, it feels all the sweeter for having finally installed the new appliance in Joe's home!

Next I send Joe into garden. A sneaky look at the wish panel shows me that Joe still wants to become a master gardener. As he pulls weeds and waters plants his skill bar slowly fills. And then, it is full. Joe has become a true master of the green fingered world. With his wish fulfilled he is rewarded with 7,500 happiness points bringing his total to 26,710 points. Just 586 points away from finishing this whole challenge. If it seems sudden, that is because it is. It takes me totally by surprise. I left the choice to fate and it has chosen. Only I feel like it is the wrong choice. I feel cheated of the chance to truly succeed. I had made achieving Joe's lifetime goal as the ultimate measure of my success and now, only in game hours from completion, I have failed.

Go Joe, crush that bush!

Joe has stopped gardening and is waiting for instruction, but for a moment I am unsure what to do. Faced with the rapidly approaching finish line I realise there is still unfinished business to attend to. I make Joe get on his bike and rapidly ride towards a grand house near the coast. It is built over a cliff and supported by stone uprights. It is a stylish modern house which, the Twilight saga would have us believe, is exactly where the undead would reside. Time to get my own back on Shan Feldman. Joe approaches the house and I notice the garden has no plants, just some mundane looking bushes. Fine, I think, they will have to do. Time is pressing, Joe's exceptional mood is raising his happiness points all the time so I have to be quick. For some reason I want Joe to be back at his house when he reaches the magic number. So I hurriedly send Joe to trample the bushes. When I say trample, it is more a sedate walk rather than a revenge fuelled stomp. Joe placidly trundles through the few bushes Shan Feldman owns. Muhahah, revenge is awesome. Just as I am about to send Joe home I notice that Joe can open the garage doors, so he does... and leaves them open. That's right, don't mess with Joe, he will walk through your bushes and leave your garage doors open if you piss him off.

He's just writing his name.

Joe cycles home quickly, but it doesn't seem quick enough, I'm not sure if he will make it in time. The points are ticking up slowly, 27,156; 27,179; 27,201. While I wait for him to return I complete the another goal I had set for Joe that I am sure I have time to finish. I purchase, with his accrued happiness points, the reward 'Super Green Thumb,' which makes growing perfect plants easier for 20,000 points. It is pointless at this late stage but it just seems fitting for a master gardener. He arrives home just fifteen points below target so I quickly send him to bed. I don't know why I do this, but it just seems right that he should wake up a winner. 27,289; 27,293; 27,295; I hover over the pause button. 27,296. And then it is over...

The end... (just note, Super Green Thumb cost 20,000 points).