1) What game information is provided on this page? Pick out three elements you think are important in terms of making the game appeal to an audience.
Create your story, your way. Build your virtual town.
Design and decorate dream homes that show off your interior design skills and personal style.
hoose their paths through love, romance, relationships and marriage.
2) How does the game information on this page reflect the strong element of participatory culture in The Sims?
People can share their own reviews and ratings about this game.
3) Read a few of the user reviews. What do they suggest about the audience pleasures of the game?
People can use this game as an escape from their own lives and use it as a form of mindless entertainment of building your own virtual life from the ground up.
Participatory culture
1) What did The Sims designer Will Wright describe the game as?
Will Wright described the game as a doll's house. Will Wright describes as akin to ‘a train set or a doll’s
house where each person comes to it with their own interest and picks their own goals’
2) Why was development company Maxis initially not interested in The Sims?
The board of directors thought that ‘doll houses were for girls, and girls didn’t play video games’ (Seabrook 2006). Luckily for Wright – and for Maxis in general – publisher Electronic Arts (which had bought Maxis in 1997) saw potential in the idea – something that would appeal to both boys and girls, and men and women alike.
3) What is ‘modding’?
This enabled a form of participatory culture to grow up around the game, a culture where in players were able to modify game assets by manipulating the game code (a practice called ‘modding’).
4) How does ‘modding’ link to Henry Jenkins’ idea of ‘textual poaching’?
‘Participatory culture’, as first posited in Henry’s Jenkins’ seminal book on fan culture, Textual Poachers (1992 [2013]), describes an aspect of fandom we are all familiar with today – the contribution of consumers and audiences to a product or a franchise, through activities ranging from writing fanfiction to drawing fanart, from cosplaying to even penning simple gaming reviews.
5) Look specifically at p136. Note down key quotes from Jenkins, Pearce and Wright on this page.
‘Participatory culture’, as first posited in Henry’s Jenkins’ seminal book on fan culture, Textual Poachers (1992 [2013]), describes an aspect of fandom we are all familiar with today – the contribution of consumers and audiences to a product or a franchise, through activities ranging from writing fanfiction to drawing fanart, from cosplaying to even penning simple gaming reviews.
‘held together through the mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge’ (Jenkins 2006a: 137).
As Pearce has noted, ‘The original Sims series has the most vibrant emergent fan culture of a single-player game in history’ (2009: 272).
Jenkins quotes Wright saying: ‘We were probably responsible for the first million or so units sold but it was the community which really brought it to the next level’.
6) What examples of intertextuality are discussed in relation to The Sims? (Look for “replicating works from popular culture”)
From the early days of the game’s release, skins depicting characters from cult media such as Star Trek, Star Wars, The X-Files and Japanese anime and manga were extremely popular. Players seemed to display a gleeful desire to recreate the worlds of their favourite fandoms within The Sims.
7) What is ‘transmedia storytelling’ and how does The Sims allow players to create it?
The Sims offered was a form of transmedia storytelling, a process where in the primary text encoded in an official commercial product could be dispersed over multiple media, both digital and analogue in form (Jenkins 2007).The Sims space provided a playground for cult media fans, a stage for enacting fannish stories which could later be shared (via the game’s in-built camera and photo album) with other game players who had similar interests.
8) How have Sims online communities developed over the last 20 years?
fact, The Sims helped to pioneer other transmedia, narrative practices such as gamics (comics made from game screenshots) and machinima (films made from captured game animations) (Sihvonen 2011: 20). These practices instituted new forms of fannish productivity, which also served to strengthen fan communities. As a corollary, it also aided in bolstering The Sims fan community itself, as it provided a versatile new platform that was engaging not only as a game in its own right, but also as a storytelling device.
9) Why have conflicts sometimes developed within The Sims online communities?
But this marriage of the social and the functional is effective only for as long as its participants stick around, and sometimes the relations between fans of The Sims can be fraught with mistrust and in-fighting as Sihvonen notes: ‘Various internet spaces, also in the context of The Sims, can be regarded as repositories of collective cultural memory and important leisure places as well as areas
10) What does the writer suggest The Sims will be remembered for?
That legacy is felt in the collaborative communities that continue to exist around the game and its descendants.
1) How is ‘modding’ used in The Sims?
But much less has been written about modding the Sims to create challenges and game play that is simultaneously in the game world, in the real world, and in writing things like graphic novels.
Such modding is the force that sustains a passionate affinity space that builds artistic, technical, social, and emotional skills. We wrote the book because these woman and girls rock, not because they are women and girls.
2) Why does James Paul Gee see The Sims as an important game?
It is important to me because I do not want to compete with you for the participatory culture space. Further, I want to stress production, though I know well you care about production as well. There are some--not you--who in education celebrate participation in a mindless way.
3) What does the designer of The Sims, Will Wright, want players to do with the game?
Will Wright is doing in an extreme way what lots of game designers want to do: empower people to think like designers, to organize themselves around the game to become learn new skills that extend beyond the game, and to express their own creativity.
4) Do you agree with the view that The Sims is not a game – but something else entirely?
No because in the end of the day. This is just a virtually stimulated sandbox with no real life connection.
5) How do you see the future of gaming? Do you agree with James Paul Gee that all games in the future will have the flexibility and interactivity of The Sims?
The future of gaming will keep on extending and growing toward. However, not all games such as non sandbox games will have the flexibility of Sims and will be more fixed.
Industries
Regulation – PEGI
1) How does the VSC and PEGI ratings system work and how does it link to UK law?
In the UK, PEGI 12, 16 and 18 rated games supplied in physical form, such as on discs and cartridges, are legally enforceable and cannot be sold or rented to anyone under those ages. The Games Rating Authority is appointed by government as the body that issues these age ratings.
2) Click on the PEGI Rating tab in the top menu. What are the age ratings and what content guidance do they include?
The age ratings for games are 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18.
Age ratings do not indicate whether a child will enjoy a particular game and they don't indicate how difficult a game is to play. Instead, they let you know whether a game contains certain elements, such as violence, sex, drugs or bad language, that might be harmful, upsetting, disturbing or just unsuitable for children below that age.
It's worth noting that, even if a game is rated at the lowest classification of 3, it may still not appeal to young children and/or may be very challenging and complicated to play. It simply won't contain any content that is harmful to, or unsuitable for, young children.
3) What is the PEGI process for rating a game?
We have clear guidelines stating which levels of violence, sex, bad language and other issues are allowed at each of the different age ratings. These guidelines were developed by experts in child welfare and protection, and by experts in media regulation.
We also listen to the views of parents and young people to ensure the ratings remain up-to-date and reflect current views about what's appropriate for children of different ages to play. The guidelines are kept under constant review in case changes are needed.
The ‘Freemium’ gaming model
1) How does the freemium model work?
They game is charged for free however has micro transactions within it.
2) Why do some gamers believe freemium is ruining games?
They believe the game becomes pay to win and to access new features which restricts them.
3) What are the positives of the freemium model for gaming?
People can test out the game before having to send any money on it. They may never even have to pay.
1) Note the key statistics in the first paragraph.
2) Why does the freemium model incentivise game developers to create better and longer games?
With freemium games, players are continuously spending money on the game, as opposed to paying once and forgetting about it. Developers are then incentivized to put that stream of revenue directly back into the game to improve it.
3) What does the article suggest regarding the possibilities and risks to the freemium model in future?
The question now is how game developers use it to grow without alienating a large share of the gaming community.
1) Why did Temple Run use the freemium model?
As it turns out, going freemium can, in the end, lead to bigger profits for the game makers.
Natalia Luckyanova and Keith Shepherd, a husband-and-wife team in North Carolina, learned this lesson when, in August, they released a 99-cent iPhone game called Temple Run. In the game, players must stay a step ahead of angry apes while avoiding booby traps and collecting coins. The game had some initial success but soon started losing traction.
2) The bigger gaming studios like Electronic Arts used to avoid the freemium model. Why are they now embracing it?
Still paying 99 cents to download a smartphone game? That’s far too much. More developers are now giving their games away — and then charging for extra features.
The strategy is known as freemium, as in free meets premium. And it is being adopted even by giant game makers like Electronic Arts that might once have sneered at the idea because free games had the reputation of being low quality or full of annoying ads
3) Why does Peter Farago suggest independent game makers benefit more from the freemium model than the major publishers like EA?
But in general, Mr. Farago said, independent game makers should benefit more from freemium than major publishers like Electronic Arts, Nintendo and Microsoft. He said that the big companies had always relied on charging for games and that it would be difficult for them to change their makeup.
Electronic Arts
1) How has The Sims FreePlay evolved since launch?
We started out with a game where you could control 16 Sims, have a pet dog and a career and that was most of the game. We hadn’t yet introduced getting married, much less having children, and now it’s this rich world which covers every aspect of the Sims’ lives.
2) Why does Amanda Schofield suggest ‘games aren’t products any more’?
Games aren’t products anymore, they’re services built in a partnership with our players. This means that functions like customer support and community management are a critical part of the game development process and must be embedded with our game teams so we not only know what our players are saying about the newest update, but we also can quickly respond to any problems that arise
3) What does she say about The Sims gaming community?
One of the most rewarding parts of working on this game is that our community is very active and always hungry to see more features and content in the game.
We’ve not had to do much more than listen and build to keep the players engaged.
4) How has EA kept the game fresh and maintained the active player base?
When we find systems that are particularly exciting to our players, we focus our efforts to build that section out a little more.
For instance, a lot of our players are able to build incredible houses in ways we could never have imagined when we created Build Mode.
We’ve been working to give them more tools and freedom to make the houses of their dreams by adding balconies, pools, a second story and all manner of furniture styles over the years.
It's also really key to remember that we don’t have one kind of player. People play the games for lots of different reasons and are at different stages in the game.
5) How many times has the game been installed and how much game time in years have players spent playing the game? These could be great introductory statistics in an exam essay on this topic.
The first is that we’ve seen well over 200 million installs of The Sims FreePlay to date which shows the extent of the popularity of not just this incredible franchise, but also the game itself. The number that I personally find incredibly inspiring is 78,000, which is the amount of game time in years our players have spent in the game!
1) What audience pleasures for The Sims are discussed at the beginning of the blog?
In particular, “The Sims 4,” the newest installment to Electronic Arts’ (EA’s) beloved life simulation franchise, has stirred up a rollercoaster of emotions among members of its fan base. Lately, players have begun debating the fate of the game series, feeling as if EA is steering it toward failure. But is the fate of “The Sims” really as hopeless as social media suggests?
“The Sims” games center on the players’ ability to create “Sims” — virtual humans with personalities and ambitions — and take complete control of their lives. Players can also use the game to experiment with architecture, decoration and landscaping. Traditionally, each main series entry begins with a base game containing a large portion of the content, but not the entire package.
2) What examples of downloadable content are presented?
That’s why, on March 6, 2018, longtime fans of “The Sims” franchise — myself included — were stunned by EA’s nerve. They had outdone themselves. As true industry innovators, EA created, possibly, the first DLC for your DLC: meet “The Sims 4: My First Pet Stuff.” With every cycle of the game, the expansion pack introducing pets is always one of the most coveted entries. “The Sims 4: Cats and Dogs” followed suit and fit the mold to a T. It provided an in-depth system of creating pets while also containing a sizable amount of building content for houses and cosmetic items for Sims.
Three months later, the related “My First Pet” stuff pack delivered smaller pets and the usual extra elements. Although the content was new, players deemed it less than original. It took a day or so for the boycotts to start.
As noted by many frustrated gamers, several of the furniture items seemed as though they were removed from a set included in the aforementioned expansion. Players suspected that the complete set of bedroom furniture was supposed to be included in “The Sims 4: Cats and Dogs” and a few items were extracted and offered as paid DLC, so EA could make some extra cash.
3) How did Electronic Arts enrage The Sims online communities with expansion packs and DLC?
To many irate gamers, a more suitable definition would be “things that should’ve been in the game in the first place.”
4) What innovations have appeared in various versions of The Sims over the years?
Every addition to the series has been innovative. The original carved out the niche for “life simulation” gaming. In the next cycle, “The Sims 2” refined the virtual families, allowing players to create multi-generational legacies. Following this feat, the developers gave players full access to every inch of a hyper-realistic world in “The Sims 3.”
5) In your opinion, do expansion packs like these exploit a loyal audience or is it simply EA responding to customer demand?
I think this is EA responding to customer demand in order keep up and maintain the freemium model.
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