Good evening, Gents.
Simulation, eh? From a narrative standpoint I feel this only worsens the story (as crazy as that sounds) by attaching the cliched "it was all a dream" ending to the steaming heap.
In my first playthrough, after the Sunny Smiles tutorial, I returned to the Prospector Saloon and overheard Joe Cobb's sour words with Trudy... this earned him 20 gauge to the back of the noggin while they were mid-conversation. After he was dead, like a fool, I took a liking to his Powder...