Welcome back my bloggers to another exciting edition of the Video Games and More Blog. OMG what a week, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was released in theaters and let me tell you it was....amazing. Of course I'm a bit annoyed that they split the plot of this book into two movies, but whatever...Harry Potter 4ever. In addition during this week, I had the unique pleasure on presenting my girlfriend with the SIMS 2 (and yes I know SIMS 3 is out) as a gift and almost immediately she has fell in love with it. Of course I could really understand why. So I needed to investigate this. And so I decided that this week, we will explore what is the SIMS and why is it so popular.
So Lets Begin. First what are the SIMS?
According to wikipedia, "
The Sims is a strategic life-simulationcomputer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It was created by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual persons ("Sims") in a suburban household near Sim City.
The Sims first came out in the early 2000 as a simple simulation game developed in order to have the player simulate an avatar life. Since the release of the original game, there have been two additional sequels to the game. The Sequels are Sims 2 and Sims 3. The Sims allows a player to create an avatar and to play out their avatar's life in any way, shape or manner they want. This sense of customization give the player unique control over the fate of their character....(it is kind of god like).
But what would make a player want to play this game? What are some of the reasons?
Escapism: I think that most of us have ideas on how we would like our lives to be? And so I think that many people who play SIMS create their ideal life, and in many ways use it as a way to develop their lives for the better.
Controlling fate: Can we control fate? Well in SIMS there is this theme that we have the ability to control the people we create lives'. So is there a satisfaction in knowing we are God to a set of virtual beings?
But these are the reasons I have listed to why the SIMS is playable?
Do you have others, let me know comment on this?
This is Kevin "Sims" James signing off.
Your ending was cut off :(
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful discussion on "why Sims" you hit so many great points: Poser, God, control... It's also about BUILDING.
Not to be stereotypical here, but males like to HUNT (Shooters) and Females gather and BUILD (RPG adn Sims) this is way too simplistic but you get my point. Your conversation here is insightful. This would have made a very interesting research paper