The Sims (video game)

The structure of the game is an agent-based artificial life program. The presentation of the game's artificial intelligence is advanced, and the Sims will respond to outside conditions independently, though often the player's intervention is necessary to keep the Sims on the right track. The Sims technically has unlimited replay value, in that there is no way to truly win the game, and the player can play indefinitely. It has been described as more like a toy than a game.[3]

Sims are influenced by the player to interact with objects or other Sims. Sims may receive guests at their home lot, invited or not, from other playable lots or from unhoused non-player character (NPC) Sims. If enabled in the game's options, Sims have a certain amount of free will, allowing them to autonomously interact with their world. However, the player can override most of these autonomous actions by cancelling them in the action queue at the top of the screen. Unlike the simulated environments in games such as SimCity, SimEarth or SimLife, Sims are not fully autonomous.[4] They are unable to take certain actions without specific commands, such as paying bills, finding a job, exercising, and conceiving children. Sims communicate in a fictional language called Simlish, which is mostly composed of blowing raspberries and saying nonsense.[5]

A lazy and sloppy Sim

The player can make decisions about time spent in skill development, such as exercise, reading, creativity, and logic by adding activities to Sims' daily agenda. Daily needs such as hygiene and eating can and must also be scheduled. Although Sims can autonomously perform these actions, they may not prioritize them effectively and can suffer consequences for neglecting their own needs. In addition, Sims must maintain balanced budgets and usually supplement an income by obtaining a job. Sims may earn promotions by fulfilling skills and maintaining friendships with others for each level, which lead to new job titles, increased wages, and different work hours. Alternately, Sims may create and sell various artwork and items at home.[3]

The original neighborhood in The Sims consists of a single screen displaying all playable houses.

While there is no eventual objective to the game, states of failure do exist in The Sims. One is that Sims may die, either by starvation, drowning, fire, or electrocution (or from natural causes/age in certain versions). When a Sim dies, a tombstone or an urn will appear (in later expansion packs, the Grim Reaper will appear first),[4] and the ghost of the deceased Sim may haunt the building where it died. In addition, Sims can leave the game for good and never return, or two adult Sims with a bad relationship may brawl, eventually resulting in one of them moving out. Children will be sent away to military school if they fail their classes or if they have not fulfilled their needs (especially when hunger is very low), a social care worker will take them away from their household and they are no longer returnable.[5]

A Sim using a virtual reality simulator

The original inspiration for The Sims was Christopher Alexander's 1977 book on architecture and urban design, A Pattern Language. Game designer Will Wright was inspired by the book's focus on functionality in architecture, as Alexander based his design principles on structural usability rather than aesthetic values. Wright wanted to create a simulation game about enabling human behavior and interaction through design. Scott McCloud's 1993 book Understanding Comics became a big influence on the design of The Sims later on, as it advocates a certain type of "collaboration" between designer and consumer and outlines the value of abstraction for getting readers or players involved with a story.[8]

Will Wright started working on The Sims after releasing SimAnt in 1991.[8] It was during that same year that he lost his home during the Oakland firestorm of 1991, and he incorporated his experience of rebuilding his life into the game.[9][10] However, the game's concept was very poorly received by a focus group, so Wright had difficulty getting the project off the ground. He managed to convince his company to let him work on the project (codenamed "Project X" at the time) in the background while developing SimCity 2000 and SimCopter. He was lent one programmer for the project, Jamie Doornbos, who went on to become the lead programmer for The Sims. During the first few years of the project, Wright and Doornbos were primarily developing an open-ended system of character behavior. As the project continued, Wright found that the social aspect of the game turned out to be highly engaging, and the team started to focus more on the characters of the game, such as by letting Sims visit one another's houses and by implementing long-term relationships.[8]

A demo of the game was presented at the 1999 Electronic Entertainment Expo. During a displaying in front of the press, two female characters at an in-game wedding fell in love and kissed each other. After the event, the relationship mechanics were further modified so the character's sexual orientation was set depending on the player's actions.[11]

The Sims uses a combination of 3D and 2D graphics techniques. The Sims themselves are rendered in 3D, whereas the house and all its objects are pre-rendered and displayed diametrically.[5]

For the game's Japanese release, the game was renamed to SimPeople (シムピープル) to match the naming conventions of the other Sim games from Maxis.[12]

The Sims had a total of seven expansion packs released in its lifecycle. Each expansion generally adds new items, neighborhoods, characters, skins, and features.

The Sims has been repackaged in numerous editions. These are not expansions in themselves, but compilations of the base game plus pre-existing expansion packs and additional game content.

The Sims was followed by the sequels The Sims 2 (2004), The Sims 3 (2009), and The Sims 4 (2014).

The console versions of The Sims were each followed by a sequel, The Sims Bustin' Out, and a spin-off game, The Urbz: Sims in the City. These versions incorporate some features of later PC expansion packs, and Bustin' Out adds a multiplayer mode supporting two simultaneous players.[62]

• Simulated reality
• Simulation

• Nakamura, Rika; Wirman, Hanna (October 2005). "Girlish Counter-Playing Tactics". Game Studies. 5 (1).
• Pearce, Celia (July 2002). "Sims, BattleBots, Cellular Automata God and Go". Game Studies. 2 (1).
• Paulk, Charles (December 2006). "Signifying Play: The Sims and the Sociology of Interior Design". Game Studies. 6 (1).
• Atkins, Barry. More than a game: the computer Game as fictional form Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press, 2003.
• Sihvonen, Tania (2011). "Players Unleashed!: Modding The Sims and the Culture of Gaming". Players Unleashed!. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press: 37–86. doi:10.1515/9789048511983-003. ISBN 9789089642011. JSTOR j.ctt46mt37.5.

• "The Sims". Archived from the original on June 3, 2002. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
• "The Sims". Archived from the original on February 6, 2001. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
• "The Sims". Archived from the original on November 9, 2000. Retrieved November 10, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
• "The Sims". Archived from the original on October 8, 1999. Retrieved November 10, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
• The Sims at MobyGames