Information AboutThe Sims |
''The Sims'' is a Strategic Life Simulation Computer Game created by game designer Will Wright , published by Maxis , and distributed by Electronic Arts . The game is a Simulation of the day-to-day activities of one or more virtual people (dubbed " Sims ") in a Suburb an household. First released on and a sequel, '' The Sims 2 '', have been released. OVERVIEW As with many Maxis games, ''The Sims'' is a departure from most other computer games, which tend to have a definite goal or objective. Instead, the game focuses entirely on the "lives" of virtual people called "Sims," placing the player in control of their virtual "world", and their daily activities such as sleeping, eating, cooking and bathing, to name a few. Will Wright , the Game's Designer , likes to refer to it as a "digital dollhouse." Though players are encouraged to make their own characters, Many Of The Pre-made Characters have become popular in their own right. DESCRIPTION Instead of objectives, the player is encouraged to make choices and engage fully in an interactive environment. As such, the game has successfully attracted casual gamers. The only real objective of the game is to organize the Sims' time to help them reach personal goals. '' installation CD .]] Sims have a certain amount of Free Will (if it is enabled in-game), and although the player can instruct them to do something, they may decide that something else needs to be done first, or even outright ignore the player's commands. The player must make decisions about time spent in personal development, such as exercise, reading, creativity, and logic, by adding activities to the daily agenda of the Sims. Daily maintenance requirements must also be scheduled, such as personal hygiene, eating, and sleeping. If the simulated humans do not perform the proper amount of maintenance, they will sicken and die. Furthermore, Sims need to have fun; if they don't, the fun level bar eventually lowers and they become depressed, but however depressed they become, they are unable to commit suicide (they are not programmed to do so). They are, however, able to be nasty to other Sim characters by insulting them, slapping them and even attacking them. Financial health is simulated by the need to send the Sims to find jobs, go to work, pay bills, and take advantage of personal development and social contacts to advance in their jobs. -clad character, who can be identified by the green diamond or "plumbob" over his head. His portrait highlighted in the control bar. By looking at the color of the diamond and his statistics, the user can see he is currently very content.]] In addition, the game includes a very advanced Architecture system. In fact, the game was originally designed as an architecture simulation alone, with the Sims there only to evaluate the houses. During development it was decided that the Sims were more interesting than the houses, and a legacy was born. (This is a common trait in Maxis games. '' SimCity '' was originally designed as a method for developers to create cities to include in a bomber game that Wright was creating and '' SimTower '' was originally designed to reverse-engineer real world elevator algorithms.) The inner structure of the game is actually an Agent Based Artificial Life program. The presentation of the game's Artificial Intelligence is very advanced, and the Sims will respond to outside conditions by themselves, although often the player/controller's intervention is necessary to keep them on the right track. ''The Sims'' technically has unlimited Replay Value , in that there is no way to win the game, and the player can play on indefinitely. It has been described as more like a Toy than a Game . There are some limitations to the first game of ''The Sims'', most notably that children in the first series never grow up to become adults, though babies do eventually become children. Also, adult Sims never age (or die of old age), and there is no concept of a weekend. For example, adults go to work every day, and children go to school every day. However, taking ''one'' day off from work or school is okay, but taking off two consecutive days has consequences, such as getting fired. Children can also be " Homeschool ed", by having them study during the day to keep their school grades up. It should also be noted that, unlike the simulated environments in games such as ''SimCity'', '' SimEarth '', or '' SimLife '', the Sims are not fully autonomous. They are unable to take certain actions without specific commands from the player, such as paying their bills. Thus, if left alone, without any player supervision, the Sims will eventually develop overdue bills and their property will be repossessed. Sims are directed totally on the basis of instructing them to interact with objects, such as a television set, a radio, or another Sim. Sims may receive house guests, which are actually based on the Sims of other game files. The player cannot control 'visiting' Sims, although it is important for Sims to interact with one another in order to develop a healthy social life. While there is no eventual objective to the game, a state of failure does exist in that Sims may die. The types of death include starvation, drowning, perishing in a fire, electrocution and by virus (contracted from a pet Guinea Pig , which can happen when its cage is left dirty). In addition, child Sims can be sent to military school if their school grades remain at F for several consecutive days. When sent to military school, children never return to the family. Although considered a state of failure, many players occasionally deliberately mistreat their Sims to observe the reactions. This can be done with no consequences if the game state isn't saved. ''The Sims'' uses a combination of 3D and 2D graphics techniques. The Sims themselves are rendered as high-poly-count 3D objects, but the house, and all its objects, are pre-rendered, and displayed Diametrically . In 2002 , ''The Sims'' became the top-selling PC game in history, displacing the game '' Myst ''. It has been a success in many ways—attracting casual gamers and female gamers (which account for 50% of sales)—unusual in a market traditionally dominated by young males. However, due to the game's immense success, questions have been raised about the game's values; notably, concerns about the game's seemingly blatant Consumerism —the most reliable way to become happy is to buy things. The game does take some account of this; a larger house may in fact make lives for the Sims more difficult as they take a longer time to walk around to do things. That ''The Sims'' reflect aspects of reality makes the game itself of note, especially as virtually every prior entertainment program used one or more aspects of fantasy to entertain (from ''Disney'' characters to alien ships). Simple, real-life situations, such as adopting children or forming relationships replace merely earning points and advancing to the "final boss level." Open-ended gameplay has been done before in games, such as the farming-based Simulation series '' Harvest Moon '' (originally released for the Super Nintendo ), but ''The Sims'' has certainly gained popularity for this particular style of gameplay. Games such as Nintendo 's '' Animal Crossing '' (for GameCube ), have capitalized upon its success. Some commentators feel that the wide-spread success of "The Sims" has interesting sociological implications, and find "The Sims" itself to be a bizarre and ironic form of entertainment; For example, "a girl sitting in a chair, playing a computer game in which she controls a virtual girl, sitting in a virtual chair, playing a virtual computer game". This preference for experiencing a virtual simulation of daily life, vicariously through a virtual identity, is a continuing subject of contemplation. The 2002 release of "The Sims Online" is a source of further disconcertment to some, who see the potential formation of an obsessed "Sims Online Cult"; A group of people who sacrifice academic and professional achievement, personal hygiene, bodily health, social interaction, personal relationships, and other accomplishments or practices which are associated with living (and generally thought of as having value), in favor of living a rich "virtual life" via the internet. This phenomenon is rumored to occur among fans of fantasy-oriented MMORPGs (especially "Everquest" and "World of Warcraft"), who neglect their "real lives" to become fully immersed in a life of fantasy. Given the large and devoted following of "The Sims", and the unusual nature of the game, "The Sims Online" would seem to be an ideal candidate for this kind of gamer obsession, possibly drawing unprecedented numbers of people in, although whether such obsession is inherently negative, or a cause for alarm, is open to interpretation. SIMLISH LANGUAGE See Also: Simlish Sims speak a fictional language called Simlish (sometimes "Simish"). The language is non-sensical, and owes much to the improv comedians ( Gerri Lawlor , Marc Gimbel and Stephen Kearin , among others) who provided impromtu utterances while recording Voice-overs for the game. While there is no direct translation for Simlish, many fans have attempted to record and create dictionaries of often-used words, such as "nooboo" (which likely translates to "baby" in English) or "gomounsala" (which likely translates to "hello" in English). Many have speculated that the Simlish language has a close resemblance to the Italian or Latin language, while others suggest that it resembles Japanese . If one installs the '''' expansion pack before they install any other expansion packs, the language spoken by Sims would be slightly different. '' The Sims Bustin' Out '' also featured a slightly different Simlish lexicon, most notably using "babyar", instead of "nooboo", to represent the term "baby". EXPANSION PACKS ''The Sims'' is one of the most heavily exploited computer game franchises ever. Here is a complete list of expansion packs available for ''The Sims'' (in chronological order):
COMPILATIONS Compilations with the original ''The Sims'' game ''The Sims'' has now been repackaged in numerous editions. These editions are not expansions to the game, but rather a compilation of the game along with pre-existing expansion packs and additional game content. These editions include:
Compilations of expansion packs An expansion collection series was released in 2005:
Another expansion collection series was also released in 2005:
SEQUELS ''The Sims Online'' See Also: The Sims Online In December 2002, Maxis shipped ''The Sims Online'', which recreates ''The Sims'' as a MMORPG , where actual human players can interact with each other. This sequel did not achieve the same level of success as the original ''The Sims'' game that producers and developers thought it would. Although not entirely a flop, reviews for ''The Sims Online'' have been lackluster. Many reviewers have likened ''The Sims Online'' experience to an enormous Chat Room where few participants, if any, have anything worthwhile to say. Of particular interest are reports that the community has degenerated heavily, verging on the anarchistic. Prostitution and other questionable activities are now commonplace. Naturally, this raises into question the ability for games such as this to be properly moderated. ''The Sims 2'' See Also: The Sims 2 Maxis released ''The Sims 2'' on September 14 , 2004 . The sequel takes place in a full 3D environment, as opposed to the combination 2D/3D (" 2.5-D " or Isometric ) environment of the original game. Other additions to the original gameplay include Sims that grow from infancy to adulthood, then age and eventually die. This game features clear "days of the week" with obvious weekends for children to stay home from school, as well as "vacation days" to take time off work, an "Aspiration Meter" that increases and decreases as a Sim fulfills specific desires and experiences its worst fears, and "Aspiration Rewards" which are given to families when certain goals, like having a baby, are completed. Each individual Sim has one of several aspirations, which affect their individual wants and fears. During the toddler and child life stages, all Sims have the aspiration to grow up, which is fulfilled by learning the essential life skills appropriate to those ages (including learning to walk and talk and being potty trained for toddlers and learning to study for children). ''The Sims 2'' is set some 25 years later after the original game, and also integrates a storyline into the game. For instance, the Pleasant family (available in the family bin in ‘‘Sims 1’’) has set up root in a suburban neighborhood and their family tree panels reveals relationships with the original Pleasant family from the ''Sims 1''. Additionally, the Goth family has significantly aged, while Bella Goth has mysteriously vanished. Because faces and neighborhoods are handled in very different ways, objects had to move from 2-D Sprites to 3-D Models , and some objects (particularly from expansion packs) were not copied at all, ''The Sims 2'' was not made backward compatible with any ''Sims 1'' content. Currently, four expansion packs have been released for ''The Sims 2'':
Two "Stuff Packs", which serve as add-on discs that only provide additional standard furnishing and clothing, have also been released for ''The Sims 2'':
For more information on each of these expansion and stuff packs, see their respective articles. INSIDE JOKES AND EASTER EGG S Malcolm Landgraab and Shiny Things Inc. Malcolm Landgraab (also known simply as "Landgrabb") is the head of Shiny Things Inc., a Kitchen Appliance manufacturer in the game. As an inside joke, Malcolm is referenced in the Console Port Of ''The Sims'' as the father of the player's worthless roommates Dudley and Mimi Landgraab. In '''' expansion pack, one of the malls in Downtown was named after Landgraab. Certain '''' expansion pack, Malcolm Landgraab VI (a descendant of the original Landgraab from the ''SimCity 3000'' timeline, perhaps) is the owner of an electronics store and a nightclub. The Goths The family the Goths (a premade family in the game) is a bit of dark comedy in the game as it obscurely references death and despair multiple times. First, the word Goth relates to a style of fiction that emphasizes the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate. Goth also represents teens or young adults who generally wear heavy black clothing and write dark poetry or literature. This is a long standing subculture from the early 1980s. The Goths were also a group of Teutonic Europeans who raided Medieval Europe and were often seen as barbarians. The husband's name Mortimer, is constructed from the latin root and French word, ''mort'', meaning death. The wife's name Bella is constructed from the Latin root word ''belli-'' or ''bellum'', meaning war and fighting (though also the Italian word for "beautiful".) Her name may also simply be a pun on the name of Hungarian Actor Bela Lugosi , who played the Vampire Count Dracula . Vampires are a frequent topic of discussion among goths, and some goths practice vampirism. To add to that, the Goth's house is constructed in the likeness of a haunted mansion, and even comes with a graveyard and ghosts that haunt the house at night. The family will mourn or cry at the graves, as will their visitors. 100 days completion Once a Sim family has lived in a house for 100 (saved) days, the player will be greeted with a message regarding the family's 100th day of residence, followed by daily trivia about the game, its production and the Sims themselves. This continues until there is no more trivia to share. Celebrity appearance Throughout the ''Sims'' series, there are a number of celebrities who have made appearances in the game, such as '', along with simulated versions of many of the Backstreet Boys in the original Sims game. ''The Sims'' was featured in '' The Drew Carey Show '' for a mock in-game scene at the Winfred-Louder personnel offices, as part of its "What's Wrong with this Episode?" April Fool episode ( March 28, 2001, season 6 ). In it, various major characters of the show were featured in Sim form (Drew included), with voiceovers provided by the main cast themselves. English was used for the entire scene, but Drew has been quoted on saying "Dag Dag", a Simlish term thought to mean "goodbye". PORTS ''The Sims'' has been Ported from Microsoft Windows to some Video Game Console s. Though sales have been respectable, the series is not nearly as big a hit as it has been on the PC.
EXTERNAL LINKS Official sites Fan and resource sites
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