In my previous blog post about gamifying your life by using the need gauges in The Sims series, I mentioned that it is important to identify what needs are important to us in life and identify if these need gauges needed to be replenished.
In this post, I will be discussing how those need gauges impact our state of wellbeing. In The Sims series, there is a diamond looking prism hovering on top of the character that you control. This coloured prism is called a Plumbob. The main purpose of the Plumbob is to tell players what mood is their character feeling at that time. Green symbolised that the character is in good mood; Yellow means the character is in an okay mood; Orange means bad; and Red symbolised the character is in a terrible mood.
So, how does the need gauges impact the Plumbob? The better you take care of the character's need gauges, the closer to green the mood prism will be. So, for example, if 5 of the 6 need gauges is low, it will not be surprising that you see a red mood prism above the Sims' character. When the character is in a bad mood, it will negatively impact the character's interaction with others and their surrounding.
Sounds familiar? Let's think about a time when you are hungry and tired, and on top of that, desperately needing to go to the washroom! I can imagine if there is a mood prism above my head when I am in that situation, the prism would be orange to red in colour! However, as I fill those needs, it will gradually move towards yellow and slowly to green if I ended up enjoying the food and resting well.
By actively identifying your need gauges and mood prism you would gradually learn to be more mindful of your own emotions and needs. It doesn't mean that you wouldn't feel sad or angry, etc because these are human's reactions to situations. But you will be more ready to ask yourself what do you need to do to continue your journey in life.
Can you relate the use of mood prism and need gauges in gamifying your life? What is the colour of your Plumbob today?
#gamercounsellor #geek #geektherapy #thesims #needmeter #videogames #wellbeing #wellbeingnz #mentalhealth #mentalhealthnz #balance #plumbob
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