Maybe moving to the big city to be a Disney City Girl wasn't such a good idea. My apartment is a hovel compared to the palace Jenna has, and even that's stretching my budget to the limit. My boss will give me extra money for washing dishes if I dress in active wear, but he doesn't pay me enough to buy new clothes. My idea of fun is sitting in my apartment singing karaoke by myself. I saved up enough money for a fridge so I can stop eating microwaved Cup of Soup, but it arrived disassembled and I have no one to help me. Space is at such a premium I have a coffee maker next to my toilet. A COFFEE MAKER NEXT TO MY TOILET.
That entire introduction was paraphrased from an actual conversation I had with my wife earlier this morning, after the stress of trying to make my way in Playdom's new Sims-for-ladies game, Disney City Girl, officially launching today on Facebook. Within the first hour of play I had moved into a crappy little apartment; reconnected with a childhood friend/non-player character with a much more glamorous life than my own (I spend a lot of time at her place to keep from getting too depressed); began pursuing my dream job of being a famous chef (the other choice was fashion design); and generally went about the business of being a small town girl in a big city world.
Emily (my wife-creature) said that the stress I was exhibiting was a fairly realistic response for a girl striking out on her own for the first time. I am a 39-year-old man. Obviously Playdom is doing something right.
It's also doing one thing wrong—you won't get far in this game without friends. That fridge I purchased requires parts from friends to fix. I've got a quest to listen to classical music on the stereo of three friends' apartments, and I only have one friend (and she's not technically real). Advancing in my career from bussing tables to tending bar required friend approval. I used the initial in-game currency to bypass that one—now I have to wait two hours between barkeeping sessions to advance.
That's sad, because I must say I do enjoy creating fashion combinations from items purchased at the game's virtual boutiques and submitting them to be judged by my fellow player. I blame Nintendo's Style Savvy.
Disney City Girl is an ideal Sims-type game for girls and boys with a large network of actual Facebook friends sharing the same interests. My Facebook friends list might-as-well have been randomly pulled out of a hat containing the names of everyone with at least a passing interest in video games and relatives I'd rather talk to on the phone. I'll just sit here quietly sipping my bathroom coffee while the real demographic has all the fun.
Disney City Girl [Facebook]
KotakuSocial is your one-stop shop for all of Kotaku's browser, Facebook and mobile-based social game coverage. Follow @KotakuMobile on Twitter and stalk us on Facebook.