Memes circle around social media like wild fire and are one of the best ways the send an in-joke to as many people as possible. I don’t understand every meme that pops up on my screen, and how could you with the sheer volume of them getting posted every single day.

But whenever a meme inspired by The Sims heads my way, I laugh every time.

And, why wouldn’t I? The Sims is full to the brim of in-jokes, glitches, and references that only a true Simmer could understand. It’s like the game that memes were invented for.

We all know that when you boil it down The Sims is, at best, a bizarre concept. Spending hours and hours staring at your computer, making your little animated, glitchy people go to work, watch TV and read books, doesn’t look go on paper. That and having the ability to starve them, drown them or have them wet themselves can get a little dark. But The Sims can be far more than just a life simulator. With the wide range of expansion packs, you create a whole new world to explore, along with a wide range of experiences, giving the player never ending opportunities. With the world of uncertainty we sometimes live in today, The Sims can sometimes seem like a necessary escape.

Yet, the internet is nothing if it cannot make us laugh. So here are some of the most hilarious memes the internet has come up with!

24 Life’s Little Conveniences

One of the greatest things about The Sims is that the glitches are mostly so hilarious, that you can’t help but forgive the game!

From The Sims 2 onwards, your Sims started to ask you for things such as appliances, televisions, and expensive art, particularly if they were “Fortune Sims.” But once they get the little things they want, are they grateful for it? Of course not! A personal favourite of mine was when my Sim asked for an expensive coffee machine then, hopefully from a glitch, kept having furious thoughts about the coffee machine!

Could be worse, they could have stood in it…

23 Sorry About The Bear…

via Tumblr.com

I can’t deny that sometimes, I’ve just put things in front of my Sims just to see if they can make it past. They often conform to my expectations. The weirdest part was when in The Sims 2 they finally gained the ability to step over things left in the middle of the floor (I still remember the look of amazement in my eyes when my sim stepped over her kid’s xylophone) so when Sims 3 came along and they still can’t get past a freakin’ teddy bear in the doorway, it felt like a step backwards! Literally.

Then again, maybe like the pool ladder, getting stuck in front of simple objects is one of those little quirks in the series. We can relate to it through memes, and we would truly miss it if it went away.

22 How To Cook With The Sims

In the game, your Sim does have to wash dishes or put them in the dishwasher. Trouble is, that’s all they have to do. I’ve often looked at the stacks of pots and pans after making dinner and wished I was a Sim!

I don’t know how Sims manage to avoid washing up their cooking equipment, but it might have something to do with the fact that they seem to have one pan that morphs into literally everything! Are they’re so casual about it! Casually cooking by themselves, then pick up the bowl, and it's now a frying pan. I’d give up being able to step over a teddy bear to get out of doing that washing up.

21 How Are You Doing, Me?

In game if your Sim needs an extra charisma skill point for a promotion or maybe a scholarship, then you can have them stand in front of the mirror to “practice speech” and later “practice romance,” until they gain the skill points.

While the idea of talking to yourself in the mirror can be seen as a humorous point, I’ve often seen it as one of the more realistic moments of the franchise. After all, one is encouraged to practice speeches or public speaking in front of a mirror to gain confidence. Besides, we all know that making friends is hard and a lot of us would prefer to talk to ourselves rather than socialize. Why can’t we give our Sims the same luxury?

20 How To Get A Promotion

I can argue that talking to yourself in the mirror can actually improve your charisma or that playing chess can improve your logic skills. However, I have no explanation for those skills being applied to you getting a promotion!

Sure, maybe your charisma might get you noticed in your office, but chess won’t get you a job as a surgeon. Studying for years and years, going through stressful exams, and racking up debt is how you get to be a surgeon.

But when your Sim has been playing a lot of chess, then how does their boss know? Do they notice or does your Sim tell their boss? This meme made me laugh immediately!

19 How To Speak Simlish

Although I consider myself to be an experienced Simmer, I’ve never made a lot of effort to learn or even understand Simlish. There are a few basic phrases you can recognize in the game, but it still amazes me that fans have actually sat down and figured out what so much of it means. And I’m no way trying to disrespect that. They impress me!

While I’m sure people who’ve never played The Sims have no idea what the heck is going on, Simlish is a core part of the game and it’s fun to try and figure out what might be being said. Especially when one sim laughs hysterically at their friend’s joke. What was it about?

18 Parenting Tips

Parenting in The Sims can be a mixed bag. Sometimes it seems sweet to see parents so attentive that they constantly want to feed their baby. Then again, when the butler, nanny, both parents, and teen sibling keep on taking the toddler out of the crib to feed him despite the fact that he’s literally about to pass out, Sims seem in desperate need for a parenting class!

Maybe the wide range in parenting comes from the fact the Social Worker has very selective opinions about why children should be taken into care. If you let a baby cry for too long twice, then BAD PARENT! Your ten-year-old’s grades get too low? BAD PARENT! If your baby is on fire or if it’s just been lying there next to the computer for a few days while your Sim plays video games… well, you probably have a good excuse.

17 I’ll Sleep Tomorrow…

So, the issue with The Sims, along with pretty much any game that doesn’t have an “end,” is that you can very easily lose track of time. There are many times when I’ve loaded up a game, meaning to play for an hour. Then I look out the window and realize that I have to get ready for work.

There is just so much to explore in the world. Their lives move so fast that hours can fly past without realizing. It’s evil really. It can suck your time away without realizing, leaving you sleep deprived and behind on your deadlines. But you know, it’s the best game ever. You should totally start playing.

16 Those Crazy Dreams

via: tumblr.com

A lot of people ask me if video games can help you live through your fantasies. In video games, you can become a noble knight, an evil wizard, a pro musician or sporting hero. Or, of course, you can just live the normal life you want to live.

But really, it’s not as depressing as it sounds. There is no shame in building the dream house you’ve always wanted to live in. Or taking the career path you really wanted to go down and getting your dream job. It’s not about regrets, it’s about seeing what else you could have had. Although, I suppose these days it would be nice to have your own house in real life. Or, you know, a job…

15 The Big Day Is Here

I think it’s fair to say that The Sims timeline is a little messed up. You’d need to ask one of the people who came up with it to understand what’s actually going on. Babies seem to reach their teenage years before their teenage siblings have gone to college and adults age incredibly quickly, then live almost twice as long as elders. Providing they’ve had a good life, that is.

Maybe the most questionable aspect is the pregnancy timeline. Even by the Sim standard of time, where one second is the equivalent of a Sim minute, that pregnancy goes by really quick. So, if Sims had Facebook, you'd probably see this.

14 Simmer Romance Logic

Anyone who has ever been single knows how hard romance can be. It doesn’t matter how attractive, funny, or charming you are, talking to someone who you’d like to become involved with isn’t always easy. Sometimes it can become so difficult that it’s easier just to go on The Sims and make your crush.

Sometimes as people, though, we can overthink things. Our minds just go into overdrive  and we do silly things that we regret, particularly when it comes to romance. As this meme shows, our primal human brains force us into dark places. Like making your crush on Sims and rejecting yourself. At least it’s better than repeatedly being rejected by the Sim of their own accord…

13 Looking Back

So far there have been four instalments of The Sims franchise, at least as far as PC gaming is concerned. I can’t speak for the whole fandom, but in my own honest opinion, The Sims 2 was by far the best instalment. It was the biggest leap between sequels and added the most stuff, including five new life stages! When The Sims 4 came out, it caused a little bit of outrage for not including some of the features the were introduced in older games.

When playing the newer games, it’s hard not to look back and miss the old ones. The thrill when the second game came out was so huge that it’s hard not to miss it when playing 3 and especially 4.

12 I Need Pizza!

I loved this aspect of The Sims. It was really useful during the Get a Life gameplay in the first console version of the game. Why sell your TV or your video games to buy food when you can sell pieces of your house? Although there is no technical “Buy Mode” in real life, I suppose sites like Craigslist are the closest human equivalent. Perhaps there are less killers and creeps hanging around in buy mode, though. Maybe this is how your Sims sell their windows! It’s just very quick and they don’t bother telling us about it. And try not to think about who came over to uninstall the window and pick it up free of charge.

Besides, it’s not like you were using that window anyway.

11 I Said I Wouldn’t

The Sims also has a bit of a reputation for having a lot of in-game cheats! PC games in general have many more cheats then console games. If the game you're playing doesn’t have any in-game cheats, then try Googling to see if anybody has developed any trainers. They probably have!

I’ve heard some snobbery from players saying that cheating ruins the game, especially since money isn’t that hard to acquire. I stopped using the money cheats a while ago, but really, I don’t know why people feel guilty using them. If you’ll be having more fun playing the game building a huge house and swimming pool straight away, then go ahead and type those rosebuds!

10 Lol, Death! So Random!

The bargaining with death aspect is incredibly random, especially with a Sim you didn’t plan on killing. Not that I’m implying that anyone deliberately kills their Sims, because no one does that. No one.

If your Sim has a good relationship with the Sim they bargain for, then that Sim has a better chance of survival. So you have to be pretty good friends already! Can you imagine how amazing it would be if your bestie literally bargained with Death for your survival? Although, as much as I feel like I have no friends sometimes, it’s still weird when Sims get the wish to be “saved from death.” Also, how come the Grim Reaper doesn’t hang around afterwards? Surely, he’d like to stay for a cup of tea sometimes?

9 The World’s Best Firefighters

This exact thing has happened to me twice. We all know that fires are scary, but we were all told since we were children that fires are bad and we should get to safety as soon as possible. Sims, however, feel better screaming at it until it goes away. If you don’t have a fire alarm, then you must try to pull them away from the fire for a minute to call the fire brigade.

Although these Sims have been trained in fire safety, sometimes they can’t resist their instincts. The first time I saw this, my Sim had come home from work as a firefighter. The second time it was actually a firefighter. Although, in his defence, I think it was a glitch.

8 Don’t Mess With Me

Most of the Simmers I know are the calmest people I’ve ever met. They’ll never lose their cool during an argument, and rarely shout or get overemotional. Because if you mess with a Simmer, the moment they get home, you’ll find yourself in a pool with no ladder, my friend!

You can pretend that you don’t care, but no one will buy that. I mean, we all know how voodoo works, don’t we? Perhaps one day someone could, perhaps even accidentally, find out how to use voodoo on Sims. And on that day, you’ll accidentally set fire to your cereal, turn around, and realize that someone has sold the door!

7 Sims Playing Sims Playing Sims

The first time Sims were able to start playing The Sims, it felt necessary to make them play The Sims. In The Sims 2, good old Mr R. Humble would come over and give your Sims a free computer and a copy of The Sims 3 for them to enjoy. And why shouldn’t your Sims play The Sims? It’s brought you so many hours of joy. It’s helped you get inspired and maybe influenced your decisions.

Or perhaps you just resented your Sims and wanted them to suffer though the addictive cycle that they’ve put you through! You know, whatever works best.

6 The "How To" Guide

The reason why so many good memes come out of The Sims is because it’s very easy to poke fun at. It’s hard to explain the appeal of a game where the main premise is to go through the real life of work, sleep and make friends (even with vampires and werewolves and stuff). I think this meme is very relatable, as we’ve all been in that place where we put a lot of effort into our Sims' lives before wondering why we can’t have that life. The simple answer being that we don’t have a motherlode cheat!

I don’t know any Simmer that has actually cried over the game (not to say that others might have). Besides, it’s fun to create the family and build the dream house. Then kill the family.

5 Architect Simulator

Although I personally prefer to spend more time playing the game and living the families' lives, I know plenty of Simmers play the game this way. Every time I walk past my flatmate playing the game, I see her building and decorating the house. Then I walk by again later and she’s still decorating the house. Just decorating, decorating, and decorating. Got to make sure everything matches!

It’s a fair part of the game, especially in The Sims 3 where wallpapers and furniture can be customized fully, which is really fun! With so much detail to go into, why not have fun building your house? If that’s your thing, anyways.