Atestat Living In A Virtual World The Sims Phenomenon [310210]

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Game designer Will Wright was inspired to create a "virtual doll house" after losing his home during the Oakland firestorm of 1991 and subsequently rebuilding his life. Losing his home to the firestorm left him assessing both his losses and material needs. Replacing his home and his other possessions made him think about adapting that life experience into a game. [anonimizat] a game where players could simulate daily activities and building homes from scratch. [anonimizat] (codenamed "Project X" at the time). [anonimizat] 1997, were more receptive—SimCity had been a [anonimizat] a strong Sim franchise.

Will Wright has also stated that The Sims was actually meant as a satire of U.S. consumer culture. He also took ideas from the 1977 architecture and urban design book “A Pattern Language”, American psychologist Abraham Maslow's 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation and his hierarchy of needs” and Charles Hampden-“Turner's Maps of the Mind” to develop a model for the game's artificial intelligence.

It was this idea that went on to become The Sims. Thus, [anonimizat] 4th, 2000, the game launched on PC. [anonimizat]’s non-[anonimizat]’ destiny, while pioneering a whole new type of video game genre.

[anonimizat]. Having incorporated social behavioral models into “SimAnt” (1991) [anonimizat] a game based around the actions of simulated virtual people was a logical next step.

[anonimizat] (Sims), [anonimizat], [anonimizat], in addition to building their neighborhood and sharing their stories with the world.

A Sim is a virtually simulated person. Sims are the primary focus of The Sims series and they are considered the main life state in nearly every game in the series.

Sims are complex creatures, capable of desires, fears, and physical and mental needs. Sims can have a unique appearance with different hair and eye colors, skin colors, body sizes, and more. A Sim's personality is equally as complex, with Sims having their own aspirations or traits, allowing for countless variations between Sims.

Sims live out their day-to-day lives, while also living out a full life cycle, stretching from birth to death. The progress of a Sim's life is inexorably tied to the decisions of the player; while Sims may be provided with certain amounts of autonomy, ultimately their lives are under the control of the player. This bond between player and Sim is symbolized by the PlumbBob, which shows the Sim that is currently under the player's active control.

This style of sandbox gameplay means players can do as they please, if they take care of their Sims eight basic needs: Hunger, Energy, Comfort, Fun, Hygiene, Social, Bladder, and Environment. Failure to do so often results in depression and even death.

The Sims was one the first ever video games to introduce same-sex relationships. In this title, same sex partners could only move in to a home together, something the franchise would advance further in future games.

The game even has its own fictional currency – The Simoleon (§) is the unit of currency used in the SimCity and The Sims series. It is assumed to be the national currency of SimNation. While in The Sims, Simoleons resembled US dollar bills, The Sims 2 onwards made them red, orange, and white.

Its value can vary between titles, and doesn't consistently reflect any real-life currency (such as the US dollar or British pound), as many of the more expensive items are marked down in price, while some of the cheapest may be marked up; for example, in The Sims 2 an SUV costs approx. §4000, while a pizza costs §40. Usually, items of limited duration are more expensive, while durable objects or house structures are cheaper. This reflects the fact that a Sim has less time to earn money in the series than would be available in real life. Much like the real world, better quality items are generally more expensive. Also, the simoleon has no sub-units; the only way something can cost less than §1 is for it to be free. Players receive an initial §20,000 budget to purchase a pre-made house or buy a lot and build a house from scratch in Build Mode. Once your pre-made or self-built home is ready, it’s time to furnish it in Buy Mode, choosing from over 150 in-game items.

Also unique to the game, was its fictional language – Simlish; adding a whole new dimension to the relationship between gameplay and audio. Simlish was created because Will Wright, creator of The Sims, knew that the game needed dialogue, but thought that using real life languages such as English would cause the dialogue to be repetitive and would be expensive translating the entire dialog Sims may say. Wright did consider experimenting with Navajo, a Native American language, but decided that it would be better to use a "nonsense language" that couldn't be translated, because the meaning could be left to the player's imagination. Some say it may be a mixture of Ukrainian, Navajo, Romanian, Irish, Tagalog, and even gibberish, but this has not been confirmed.

The Sims 2 features many renditions of popular songs sung by the original artists. Some have music videos created by EA, such as Natasha Bedingfield's "Pocketful of Sunshine" or Katy Perry's "Hot 'n' Cold." However, there are also other songs that don't feature music videos but can be found in the game, such as The Veronicas' "When it All Falls Apart" or Tata Young's "Zoom". These songs can be found in various radio stations in the game depending on the song's genre.

The Sims (2000) is a strategic life-simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual people ("Sims") in a suburban household near a fictional city. The Sims original series had a total of seven expansion packs produced from 2000 to 2003, with expansions adding new items, characters, skins and other special features.

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.

While gameplay occurs in the game's live mode, the player may enter build mode or buy mode to pause time and renovate the house or lot. All architectural features and furnishings customizable in the Build and Buy modes follow a square tile system in which items must be placed on a tile. The base game contains over 150 items including furniture and architectural elements.

Sims are influenced by the player to interact with objects or other 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 autonomous actions by cancelling them out in the action queue at the top of the screen. They are unable to take certain actions without specific commands, such as paying bills, finding a job, exercising and conceiving children.

Much like real humans, Sims 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. 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). When a Sim dies, a tombstone or an urn will appear 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; 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.

In addition, the game includes an architecture system. The game was originally designed as an architecture simulation alone, with the Sims there only to evaluate the houses, but during development it was decided that the Sims were more interesting than originally anticipated and their once limited role in the game was developed further.

Critics praised The Sims with positive reviews. It became a best-seller shortly after launch. In 2002, The Sims became the top-selling PC game in history, displacing the game Myst by selling more than 11.3 million copies worldwide. In the United States alone, The Sims sold 3.2 million copies and earned $129.9 million by August 2006. Combined sales of Sims console games reached 3.5 million units in the United States by July 2006.

Will Wright, the game's designer, said the game has been a success in many ways—attracting casual gamers and female gamers (the latter making up almost 60% of players). In March 2009, Electronic Arts announced that The Sims, as a franchise, has sold more than 100 million copies. Game Informer ranked it the 80th best game ever made in its 100th issue in 2001. In August 2016, The Sims placed 31st on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list.

The Sims Online (2002), also known as EA-Land was a massively multiplayer online variation on Maxis's computer game The Sims. It was published by Electronic Arts and released in December 2002 for Microsoft Windows. The game was sold in retail stores in North America and Japan and could also be downloaded worldwide through the EA.com online store, though the game was English-only and had no official translations. The game charged a subscription fee of US $9.99 per month.

In April 2008, four weeks after EA-Land was launched, it was announced that the development team had to disassemble, and that the game would shut down on August 1 the same year. This day of announcement was referred to as the "EA-Land Sunset". Maxis stated that the development team would be moving on to other projects.

EA expressed disappointment in sales over the lifetime of the game. One of the main criticisms of the game was the inability to create customized content, such as was achieved by its competitor Second Life. The Sims Online was widely seen as a failed attempt to port the single-player game to an online, multiplayer environment.

The Sims 2 (2004) is a strategic life simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to The Sims. The game has the same concept as its predecessor: players control their Sims in various activities and form relationships in a manner similar to real life. The game does not have a defined final goal; gameplay is open-ended. Sims have life goals, wants and fears, the fulfillment of which can produce both positive or negative outcomes. All Sims age and they can live to 90 sim days depending on the degree to which their aspirations are fulfilled.

Personalities are not only based on the astrological sign of the Sim but also on the aspiration of the Sim. Aspirations along with the astrological sign of the Sim creates a variety of wants and fears. Each Sim has 5 areas of personality: Sloppy/Neat, Shy/Outgoing, Lazy/Active, Mean/Nice, and Serious/Playful. When creating a Sim, the player has 25 personality points to give out.

There are several careers that come with the game that require skills and a certain number of friends in order for promotion. Success in these careers unlocks career rewards and higher salaries plus bonuses. Sims also will receive chance cards. Correct answers to these chance cards will create rewards for Sims while incorrect answers could cause a Sim to lose its job. Nightlife and Apartment Life allow Sims to gain promotions through social interactions with other Sims.

The Sims 2 builds on its predecessor by allowing Sims to age through six stages of life and incorporating a 3D graphics engine. Although gameplay is not linear, storylines exist in the game's pre-built neighborhoods. Pleasantview is based 25 years after the town in the original The Sims. Strangetown's storyline is based on the supernatural and is loosely connected with Pleasantview. Veronaville's characters are based on Shakespearean characters.

The Sims 2 was a commercial success, selling one million copies in its first ten days, a record at the time. The game also received the Editor's Choice Award from IGN and GameSpy upon final review of the finished product. From 71 online reviews, the average score was 90 out of 100.

The Sims Stories (2007) is a series of computer games from The Sims series that is based on a modified version of The Sims 2 engine. This modified game engine is optimized for play on systems with weaker specifications such as laptops.

In addition to the open-ended freestyle mode from The Sims 2, Life Stories features two pre-defined scenarios. In each scenario the player takes control of one of two protagonists and is tasked with accomplishing various goals in that character's life. The game features significant use of scripted sequences to create pre-defined dramatic events and situations. There are three neighborhoods to play – one for each of the two stories, as well as a freeplay neighborhood.

MySims (2007) is a video game developed by EA Redwood Shores and published by Electronic Arts as a spin-off to Maxis' The Sims franchise for the Nintendo DS and Wii. Compared to previous Sims titles, MySims has a more Chibi-inspired look, with super deformed character designs (stylized angles and childlike facial features).

Apart from creating a custom Mii-like character, players may also modify their houses and build furniture and appliances using a selection of building blocks. This gives the player more building options, allowing them to create objects by using blueprints, a change from the usual virtual catalog found in The Sims. There are 80 characters with whom the player may interact in the Wii version (30 characters in the Nintendo DS version), such as a mad scientist, a magician, a librarian, a pizza chef, and a martial arts teacher. Some of these characters may ask the player to build things for them.

The Sims 3 (2009) is the third major title in the life simulation video game developed by The Sims Studio (Maxis) and published by Electronic Arts. Improvements to Sims include more customization options, a trait system that creates unique personalities, Sims that take care of themselves, and wishes that allow the player to set short- and long-term goals.

Create a Sim now has more customizable options for Sims than the CAS in The Sims 2. The player now has a larger selection of body types for Sims, and are able to create different hair styles for every Sim. The player is now able to pick their Sim's shoes.

Compared to previous games in the series, a lot more things can be modified. It is possible to just change the nose, for example, and it is possible to use the 'dot' system to go into more depth, i.e. change nostril definition, nose tip scale or bridge height.

Many of the careers from The Sims 2, such as the Law Enforcement and Professional Sports tracks, are in The Sims 3. Of course, there are also some new ones. Sims can look for these jobs in the newspaper or apply right at the building where they’d like to work. (Every career has a building in the neighborhood.) Sims are also able to make a living at home selling paintings, writing novels, or growing fruit and vegetables. To get some extra cash on the side if the Sim also has some cash to spare, they can buy out businesses and receive a percentage of the profits they earn. If Sims are less inclined towards pursuing a full-time career or are too busy skill-building, they can get part-time jobs at certain career locations within the town. (Part-time jobs have a lower pay than full-time jobs and do not give career opportunities.) Part-time jobs are also available for teen Sims.

Advancing in a career still depends on mood and skills, but also relationships with colleagues/boss and even certain goals that have to be fulfilled. The player can decide how hard they work while on the job. The option to work hard will increase the Sim's performance faster at the expense of their mood. Taking work home, schmoozing the boss, reading medical journals, or completing opportunities also have an impact on a Sim's job performance. Chance cards and at-work events can still cause the Sim to lose their job, but may actually help them get a better job in another career track. Reaching the top of a career doesn't mean they're done, either. If a Sim keeps excelling at their duties, they can rake in extra Simoleons through additional raises.

A new feature The Sims 3 offers is branching careers, which allows Sims to choose a certain path in their career (for example, a Sim in the Music career can eventually choose to specialize in Symphonic music or Rock).

On March 19, 2008, EA revealed open world, a new feature for The Sims 3. Players can explore the world outside their Sims' homes without having to face strenuous loading times. Every house lot is now synchronized with the main neighborhood time. In previous Sims games, the time of day was separate and different for each house lot. Players can interact with every building and amenity in a city. Although players are unable to see inside of certain commercial buildings often called “rabbitholes” (grocery, bookstore, theater, police station, school, etc.), they are able to enter and retain limited control over their Sims' actions while in these locations. The player has complete control in some other commercial buildings – such as the gym, library and the beach house. All occupied residential buildings can be entered in the same manner as a Sims' home, provided that the buildings are not empty or it is not too late at night.

Also, on the map, icons for buildings are different colors. Red icons are career buildings, royal blue icons are public places, light blue icons are for the location of Sims in the active household, orange icons are for other Sims' homes that the selected Sims knows, and green is the active household's house.

There are also new public events in The Sims 3, such as music concerts, movie premieres, pool parties, barbecues, sporting events, outdoor fishing, and the most civic-minded public activity in a Sims game to date, attending a public protest at the City Hall – where Sims can voice their discontent with the administration by angrily shouting their own nonsensical Simlish mumbo jumbo.

Traits are like segments of a whole personality that the player can assign to their Sims. They can combine to create increasingly complex personalities. There are 63 traits to choose from in the base game, with Expansion packs adding more, plus some hidden traits which can be passed on to the offspring of service Sims (firefighters, police officers, etc.) or from Sims in certain careers (such as the Criminal career). When the player assigns Traits to a Sim, that Sim will look and act the part. Toddlers, Children and Teens get a new trait at their birthday. If children had a good childhood, then the player can choose a trait. If not, the game will give them a random one, which is usually negative. They’ll have unique behaviors, preferences and advantages. Some traits give special abilities. They can be useful towards skill improvement (Artistic and Athletic traits, for example) and special interactions (Childish Sims can play with toys. Mooch Sims can ask for food.)

Wishes are exclusive to The Sims 3 and provide the player with a wide selection of requests that keep their Sims happy as well as working towards some short and long-term goals and rewards. Wishes come from anywhere and everywhere, based on the Sims’ Traits, their job, their skills, their friends or coworkers, where they are in town, or what they might be doing. The player can promise to help their Sims with a wish or throw it away. Satisfying these basic tasks will unlock minor rewards and increase the Sim's overall morale with a "moodlet"—a minor condition that contributes to the characters' overall mood. Evil Sim just stole candy from a baby? This is considered a positive moodlet for this Sim. Having to listen to the annoying sound of the crying baby? This is considered a negative moodlet. Working toward a Lifetime Wish will win the Sim "Lifetime Happiness Points" that can be spent on extremely powerful items, including the teleporter.

The player is now free to pick or ignore their Sims’ wishes without fear of some sort of mental breakdown. Instead, they really get to focus on telling the story and making decisions; the Sim just makes suggestions along the way.

On October 29, 2009, Electronic Arts announced "Create a World" (CAW), which is a game world editor that allows players to create their own custom cities from scratch for use within the game. Players can customize lots, choose terrain patterns and add roads, vegetation and neighborhood accents (such as water towers and lighthouses). CAW also allows players to import designs from PNG files for use in their worlds.

GameSpot awarded The Sims 3 a score of 9.0/10, the review praised the game: "The latest Sims game is also the greatest, striking a terrific balance between the fresh and the familiar."

The Sims Medieval (2011) is a video game that was released in March 22, 2011 by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows. Set in medieval times, it allows the player to build a kingdom through quest-driven gameplay.

The Sims Medieval provides a medieval setting. Players build up a kingdom, send Sims on quests, and earn rewards in the form of Kingdom Points. The game diverges from other installments of the Sims series in that players can win the game by achieving a kingdom ambition. Ambitions include "Best In Show", "Busy Builder", "Efficient Expander", "Fame", "Filled Coffers", "Hard Workers", "Imperial Domination", "Legendary", "No Quest For The Weary", "Safe And Sound", "Thoughts And Prayers", and "Wealthy Populace".

In a change from other Sims games, the character creation, simulation, and architectural aspects are significantly reduced and altered to enforce a sharper focus on role-playing-style gameplay. For example, players are able to customize the aesthetics and layout of building interiors, but unable to alter the basic structure and shape of buildings. Instead, the game involves the player upgrading a kingdom, choosing an ultimate goal or an "Ambition" for that kingdom (such as wealth or popularity), and then fulfilling quests that contribute to that goal.

Two "needs" from previous Sims games return: Hunger and Energy. Moodlets provide temporary boosts (both positive and negative) to a Sim's focus slider, which replaces the mood slider of previous games. The player will have to deal with the daily responsibilities of their Sim. These consist of tasks related to the Sim's profession that must be completed in a set amount of time. If left ignored, the Sim will be given a negative moodlet for not doing their duty.

Ambitions can be completed through the use of heroes (or specialists). For example, the player can have a wizard and a physician cooperate on one quest or a knight and monarch on another. Focus, experience, and the traits of the Sim influence their success, and players may choose how the team attempts to conduct the quest. Players also choose which Sim will lead the team. Quest performance is determined by how long and how high the player can keep their Sim's focus slider filled. The player can take as long as they wish on a quest, but quest performance will suffer if they neglect quest tasks for too long.

Much like the first generation of the main series, The Sims, the characters in the game do not progress through life stages: although Sims are still able to procreate, the resulting children only age to adulthood if one of their hero parents die, in which case they take their place. Each Sim has two normal traits and one fatal flaw, which can be turned into a positive trait through a quest, unlike The Sims 3, where there are five main traits depending on the age group.

In an interview with GameSpot, the game's senior producer, Rachel Bernstein stated that the game will be more dangerous for Sims, with death and failure a possibility during the game's quests. Listed dangers included low focus on quests, plague, peasant revolts, wildlife, poisons, duels, and more. Players earn ratings at the end of the game depending on their performance. Players may also reach "Quest Failed!" screens if they do not complete a predefined goal in a predetermined amount of time.

Players are able to control several types of 'heroes', or professions, each with different abilities and responsibilities. These include:

Monarchs will control the kingdom and be able to deal with neighboring kingdoms diplomatically. They can engage in duels, marry important NPCs, and issue proclamations or edicts. Their title changes between Lord/Lady, King/Queen and Emperor/Empress depending on the number of territories they have annexed.

Wizards can enchant or fight using their spells, which are learned from a large spellbook and include motions which must be memorized.

Spies can poison other Sims, or steal for the kingdom.

Priests come in two varieties, Peteran and Jacoban. Peteran Priests follow a simpler path and try to convert Sims with uplifting sermons. Jacoban Priests use fear as a conversion tool and wear expensive clothing.

Blacksmiths use ore mined in the kingdom to produce armor and arms.

Physicians are expected to keep people healthy using period technology, particularly leeches.

Knights can train for strength and endurance and are used to conquer new lands.

Merchants have access to foreign goods and trade opportunities.

Bards can recite poetry and play lute music for other Sims.

The Sims FreePlay (2011) is a strategic life simulation game developed by EA Mobile and later with Firemonkeys Studios.

In The Sims FreePlay, players build houses, control virtual people called Sims to satisfy their needs and wishes, and let them complete different kinds of actions to gain Simoleons, LifeStyle Points, Social Points (all three are currencies in the game), and XP. Unlike previous games in the franchise, The Sims FreePlay runs in real-time and takes real time to complete actions. All actions must be instructed by players, unlike in the computer version, where Sims can have some degree of autonomy. Players can progress through 55 levels to unlock content and create up to 34 Sims. In the game, only married sims can have children and there is a limit on the amount of allowable couples due to a limit on the people in the player's town. However, if the player buys items off the online store, they become a VIP that will allow them to increase the number of Sims they can have in their town. In the game, there are main quests and discovery quests. Whereas regular quests are required, the discovery quests are optional.

The game is regularly updated with new content and has many events and competitions, announced at FreePlay's official Facebook page. The updates include elements from various expansion packs and stuff packs from the main series, each new update would come with new goals and sometimes hobbies and jobs.

The Sims 4 (2014) is the fourth major title in life simulation video game series The Sims, developed by Maxis and The Sims Studio and published by Electronic Arts.

The game has the same concept as its predecessor, The Sims 3; players control their Sims in various activities and can form relationships. The game, like most of the series, does not have a defined final goal; gameplay is nonlinear. The Create-a-Sim and Build Mode tools have been redesigned to allow more versatility when creating game content.

Create a Sim is revitalized, making it more intuitive, flexible, and detailed than in previous games. Sims' physical features are customized by clicking-and-dragging on different parts of the body. It is described as being like clay by multiple people in the community. Overall body size and amount of muscle are adjusted by sliders, but the size and shape of individual body parts can be adjusted individually, allowing players to make Sims with unique body shapes. Sims' facial features are also customized by the same click-and-drag mechanic. There is also a "detail mode," which allows more precise modification of certain facial features. All changes made to one side of the body or head are automatically made to the opposite side.

Emotional state plays a larger role in game play than in previous games in the series, with effects on social interaction, user interface, and personality. Sims in The Sims 4 have more emotional depth than in any previous game in the series. A Sims' emotional state affects which actions they perform and how the actions are performed. One Sim's emotions can affect other Sims around them. Sims in extreme emotional states can even be killed by their emotions. The emotions that a Sim can or will experience are affected by their moodlets, traits, and life stage.

In The Sims 4, the classic concept of neighborhoods has been replaced with worlds. Each world consists of multiple distinct neighborhoods. Sims can be in any or all neighborhoods within a world at a given time, but the player can only fully control interactions and actions within whichever neighborhood is loaded at the time. Sims outside the loaded neighborhood can still be controlled to a limited degree. Players can switch between which neighborhood is loaded, though this brings up a loading screen.

To date EA has released four expansion packs, with the most recent (“Cats & Dogs”) being released in November 2017. There have also been several game packs released, including “Parenthood” which allows the players to shape the characters' children and teenagers as they go through life, as well as free updates that include major changes such as the addition of a toddler life stage.

The science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick once watched his daughter playing with a Barbie doll and its accessories and had a sudden thought: that the doll was manipulating him to buy things for it. The feeling may be familiar to millions of players of The Sims.

This game, in which players control the "lives" and "destinies" of a computer-generated family, has just become the PC's best-ever seller. It has shifted 6.3 million copies worldwide in the two years since its release to surpass the previous holder, the enigmatic Myst, released in 1993, which sold roughly 5.5 million. But the game's success also presages a future where the line between something in a computer and something in real life becomes more and more blurred.

What has made it so successful? It plays on common-or-garden voyeurism, the same as watching reality TV like Big Brother: you're watching people go about their life, and you have the ability to affect it. A lot of people set it up as a playpen, torturing their characters by creating impossible love triangles or setting up bizarre gameplay scenarios that they wish they could have in real life.

The game makes the player the "deus ex machina": the off-screen God controlling individuals lives. As a player, you can help your Sim build not only home and family, but an entire neighborhood. Sufficient quirks and human neuroses are built into the game's characters as they are introduced that the game remains an addictive fascination for its players. As one reviewer put it – "Want to play it straight and watch the lives of a typical nuclear family? You can do that. But what if you'd prefer to dress your Sim like a Viking and have him play his guitar for spare change in the subway while living with two women – she's a slacker and she's a paranormal – who are a couple? Go for it."

One of the principal characteristics of the Sims phenomenon – and one that probably made it a uniquely popular game – is that it has drawn large numbers of female players. The Sims has pulled the neat trick of building a player base evenly split along gender lines, drawing in women without alienating male gamers. Game publisher Electronic Arts estimates women could account for up to 60% of Sims players. But the real secret that has taken it beyond all the other PC games is the fact that women and children like playing it. Rather than being a shoot-em-up (video game in which the player character moves forward automatically shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging obstacles) where bullets and blood fly violently in equal amounts, it is a game that rewards those who treat their creations well. Also, it was advertised in women's magazines, which was a smart marketing idea.

According to Psychology Today, "most long-term players say designing Sim households is the chief delight of the game" and in fact, The Sims' construction and interior design aspects are as impressively realized as its "human" element. Players can easily mirror their real-world homes; one game analysis called Sims "the Ikea game".

On the other hand, some people criticise the simulation games for promoting a single – and invisible – view of the world. SimCity, for example, is based on the premise that only low taxes (around 5 per cent) will keep citizens happy – something left-wing critics dispute. Others disagree with its perspective on nuclear power (fossil-fuel stations are "better" in the game's context) and public transport (trains and trams are favoured over cars). But there's no way to reach inside the game and change those settings.

Similarly, the characters in The Sims are deeply capitalist: They like having a nice big TV, a nice new mobile phone, filling their house with lots of stuff. Electronic Arts says that more than a million people visit its website each month to download new clothes and household items for the game.

In conclusion, The Sims is a strategic life-simulation video game which gained its popularity by creating a new type of video game, filled with unique features (such as fictional language and fictional currency) and challenges. It remains my favorite PC game because it inspired me to study English harder and it taught me that every action has consequences.