People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have released a yearly review of sorts, detailing people and products that have done their part for animal rights – the Proggy Awards. The Sims 3 has been chosen as their Proggy recipient for Most Animal-Friendly Game of 2009. This is because players are given the option to choose a vegetarian lifestyle, and are rewarded for it with greater health and longevity. Just like in the real world, your vegetarian Sim’s gut flora adapt and make the character sick if they succumb to the craving for a burger.

I’ve been a vegetarian for more than half my life now, and I’m still not sure I understand this sort of mentality. On the one hand, it’s always nice to feel acceptance. But on the flip-side, we’re talking video games here, not reality. Just as my love of a good FPS is not fueled by any real-world love of guns and mayhem, just as we play games like Grand Theft Auto because we know we shouldn’t really go around stealing cars and plowing down pedestrians, we understand as gamers that what’s on the screen isn’t real – it’s an escape from reality where anything goes and nobody gets hurt. So I guess Sims 3 deserves a bit of recognition, but I’m personally going to continue playing Duck Hunt, ignoring the vegetarian challenge in NetHack, and keeping my video-game world and my real world wholly separate.

PETA via GamaSutra