Is It Really ‘Cheating’ If You Do It In A Video Game?
Redditor u/TheSimsSlut doesn’t know what to do now that her current boyfriend is upset at her for “cheating” on him…in the video game, The Sims. You read that right. u/TheSimsSlut had her character cheat on her husband in the game, and the real-life boyfriend is upset at her for it…in real life.
Okay, so I have been seeing this new guy, Jim, for about 6 months. My last relationship ended badly, he cheated on me, but it lasted 5 years. It took me quite awhile to get to a place where I was ready to put myself out there again, but when I met Jim, it felt like the right guy at the right time. He’s actually the brother of a coworker I met at a sort of impromptu staff outing.
He’s generally a kind, intelligent, low-key guy. He’s very laid back and it usually takes a lot to set him off about anything.
Anyway, over the past month he has been staying over quite a bit. We normally game on our XBox together, but since The Sims 4 has a new expansion coming out soon, I decided to play it again today, even though I haven’t played in months. I couldn’t remember what my sims family was up to, but I saw an attractive male townie and decided my female sim should get her some and have a cute baby.
I realized she was already married. Oh well. I’ll just move him out…or let him set himself on fire trying to cook an advanced meal with no cooking skill.
You know, normal sim stuff.
Jim asked me why this new male sim had “love birds” listed as his relationship status with my female sim. He hasn’t played in years and it’s a feature exclusive to The Sims 4. I said it was because she was already married and this was the sim she was having an affair with.
He asked if I had done it, or if it was of her own free will. I told him I did it, and his entire demeanor changed. He asked if I thought cheating was acceptable. I told him of course not, in real life. I’ve never cheated on anyone in my life, including him. He said it seemed like a giant red flag that I could treat infidelity so casually. I told him it was a game and in the same game I could have a plant eat my neighbor to drink her life force and become a world-renowned surgeon by picking up a phone. It’s not supposed to be an accurate representation of life. He asked me how I could justify even fictional cheating, having been cheated on myself in the past. I was trying too hard to be understanding, but that hurt me and we started arguing after that.
I told him he was being irrational, but he said he was just being cautious. We have spoken very openly about our past relationships and he has never been cheated on. Unless he was hiding that, but I doubt it because he told me basically everything else and I confided in him how I had been cheated on.
I asked him where this was all coming from, if there was something else going on, and he just said that it worried him how I could have such a casual view on infidelity and that it worried him and showed “questionable morals.” I asked him if he thought it meant I would cheat on him and he said, “Not exactly, but it might influence you in your everyday life.” I told him I had no idea what he was talking about and that it was starting to sound crazy, and he grabbed his things and left.
I haven’t seen him since last night, but he sent me a text this morning saying basically what he said before. I responded, “Well you play first-person shooters. Should I be worried you’re going to shoot someone?” To which he responded, “That’s not even close to the same thing and you know it.”
Is this just a silly thing that will pass? Is it a red flag that he can be overly sensitive? Am I not seeing something from his point of view?
tl;dr: boyfriend got upset with me with I had my female sim cheat on her husband and said it showed questionable morals.
So, did she really “cheat” on Jim, or is he taking it too far? 
