What is the Sims?

The Sims is a life simulation game available on many platforms, but most popular for the personal computer (PC). In fact, it holds the title as the best selling PC game ever. Since the debut of the original game in 2000, versions have been released for Playstation2, Nintendo Game Cube, and Xbox. Other games in the family include The Urbz, a life simulation game in an urban environment; The Sims Online, an interactive PC game; and The Sims 2, the latest version, which features much more sophisticated three-dimensional graphics and life simulation than earlier versions. There are also numerous Sims expansion packs for the PC that add elements to the original game, and The Sims 3 is currently in development and slated to appear in 2009.

The game was created by Will Wright and loosely based on his earlier game, SimCity. While SimCity focuses on urban development and management, this game is more concerned with individual lives and households. Instead of managing a city, the player makes sure that the physical and emotional needs of individual Sims - or simulated people - are met and works to develop each Sim’s family life and career. Sims have free will, if the user chooses to enable it, and will do things on their own if not directed by the user. Sims are not always very good at taking care of themselves.

Game play generally takes place inside an individual household, and players can enter different houses in the city to control the characters that live in each home. Later expansion packs allow Sims to exit the home to shop, hang out, and meet other Sims in community lots or to go on vacation. The Sims is a very open-ended game and can be played indefinitely. It does not have a single clear goal or different levels to beat, although there are career levels to advance through for each job track a Sim may have. Some non-PC versions offer more traditional goal-based game play as an option.

PC versions of The Sims and The Sims 2 have the ability to incorporate user-made custom content, and there are extensive online communities dedicated to the creation and trade of such content. This feature allows the game to be customized to each user's interests. There are not only custom houses, clothes, and objects available, but also such things as custom career tracks and other "hacks" that can change game play in a variety of ways.

The latest incarnation of the game, The Sims 2, improved upon the original in many ways. In the original game, Sims remained the same age forever, but in The Sims 2, Sim children eventually grow up and can go on to have their own households, and adult Sims become elders and eventually die. Each Sim also has specific wants to be fulfilled and fears to be avoided, based on his or her overall life "aspiration," such as family, romance, or knowledge. There is not much information available on what new features The Sims 3 will include, but it will most likely offer even more sophisticated and realistic life simulation.