Simulations are interactive, lively models of material events. Working with simulations that require the consideration of mass, gravity, and texture becomes an embodied experience. Much like video games, simulations imitate the physics of the material world and, as such, engage us corporeally. This dynamic between interactive model and user is particularly generative when the content of a simulation is inanimate, or inorganic materials. Digital models of static matter in motion offer the user a unique opportunity to relate to things that are typically understood as inert or nonliving. While empathy with the nonliving is a complex relationship to authentically construct, the ecological implications of this interaction are significant. This paper uses critical tools from video game studies and media theory to study simulations in experimental architecture and contemporary fine art practice. The essay posits a thesis informed by ecocriticism that users can build a tactile, bodily understanding of material behaviors by designing and interacting with tools built into animation, gaming, and visual coding platforms. A series of case-studies in art and design are examined with particular emphasis on their use of digital physics engines and code libraries that imitate natural behaviors.