“This Conversation Is Over” by Acceptance, Tuesday, May 4, 2021

 

In February I talked about my history with this album, how I first heard the song "Permanent" on RadioU then I heard "This Conversation Is Over" sung in Simlish in The Sims 2: University. I bought this album in hopes of hearing the English version of "This Conversation," and did this album deliver. Last year, "This Conversation" was a go-to song for the hard days of dealing with supervisors who hadn't a clue about teaching during a pandemic, but took it on themselves to distribute more work to justify our teaching positions. In 2021, the worst of it may be over, but the occasional skirmish where manipulation and a power trip leave me speechless for a bit, making me choose my next words carefully. At which time, I usually say, "I'm not agreeing to that. Thank you for calling. Goodbye," and hang up the inter-office phone. I have to fight back the innumerable words that could get me fired. It's best to end to conversation, reflect, and try again after the ambush.

I'LL GRANT YOU ONE WISH THAT WON'T COME TRUE. Rather than talking about my crappy day and my enraging conversation, I'd rather talk about The Sims. I grew up only playing computer games that were educational. And for the most part, most of my childhood television was PBS until we finally got cable when we moved to North Carolina when I was eleven. There were a couple of games that I was allowed to play that weren't educational. We had a game on our Sony called Chip's Challenge, a game with hundreds of very difficult levels. We had a game called 3-D Movie Maker which you could make a 3-D movie with preset scenes and actors. Then there was the Maxis Sim Library. I started playing Sim City 2000 after we moved to NC and some of the other discount bin Sim games, but some of my friends had The Sims, a game that was not focused on building (and destroying) a city, but rather micromanaging an avatar's life. But more fun than that was building and decorating your dream mansion. Then The Sims 2 came out with better colors and in 3-D. However, I started playing the game less and less and focused on practicing guitar. Building and curating a life on the computer started to seem like a waste of time.

I NEVER GOT A SINGLE THING THAT I WANTED. Even though I quit playing The Sims 2 before getting proficient at the game play, I am still fascinated with the virtual dollhouse you can create on your computer screen. I thought about how you could film your characters in the game and that gave me the idea to revisit the game to create a web drama about with an original story using the game's animation similar to what Red Vs. Blue did with Halo. But what really fascinates me is Simlish, the made up language recorded by voice actors based purely on their emotions. The creators of the game chose to use a made up language to make the characters both indecipherable yet completely relatable as you see the situations unfold with your beloved avatars. The Sims 2 took Simlish even farther as real bands and artists recorded Simlish versions of their songs. In different expansion packs of the game you could hear Rise Against's "Savior" and Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night." Playing The Sims reminds you that at its core, language is just emotion. Sure, you may not understand the nuisance, but if you listen to "This Conversation Is Over" in Simlish, you may come to realize that the song is about a break up just through the context of the music. And while it's important to eventually arrive at the right words, sometimes the basic message of "No, I don't agree to that. Thank you for calling. This conversation is over," is needed to buy you some time.

Read “This Conversation Is Over” by Acceptance on Genius

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"This Conversation Is Over" (Simlish):

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