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The Sims!
Role Playing Games
THE SIMS: TEENAGE FAVORITE COMPUTER GAME!
The Sims is a strategy/simulation computer
game, created by game designer Will Wright, published by Maxis. First released
in February 2000, with over 6 million copies sold worldwide, it is heralded as
the best-selling PC game in history. Since its release, a sequel, The Sims 2,
along with several expansion packs, has been released. Like other Maxis games,
such as the earlier SimCity (also designed by Wright), The Sims is sometimes
described as a "god game": a game that lets the player create and control the
lives of virtual people.
Overview
As with previous Maxis games, The Sims is a departure from most previous
computer games, which tend to have a definite goal or objective. Instead, the
game focuses entirely on virtual people called "Sims," placing the player in
control of a "virtual dollhouse," controlling 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 toy." Though players are encouraged
to make their own characters, many of the 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.
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.
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.
(Incidentally, SimCity was originally designed as a method for developers to
create cities to include in a bomber game that Wright was creating.)
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.
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.
Sims have no concept of racism, sexism, wealth or social classes. Every Sim
regardless of gender, skin color, financial status or family has the same
opportunities to find a job, get married and have children, and become
successful. Excluding reproduction, Sims also have no apparent concept of
gender, meaning that Sims can fall in love with and marry any other sim, be they
female or male. There is also no religion in the game (however christmas trees
and menorahs can be bought for the Sims).
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 or taken away by a social worker 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 is 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 (either
opposite or same-sex) 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.
The source of this article is
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this
article is licensed under the
GFDL
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