gaming Why is the sims so popular?

[Mr. Critical 434]

I have been a gamer for many years. I have played great games, such as portal and bioshock infinite, and... not so great games. *cough Superman 64 and colonial marines *cough. But for the life of me there is one franchise I just can't comprehend. The sims. This is a game I am particularly indifferent to. I don't hate it, then again I don't love it either. My mother and sister play it more than I ever could and looking back I wonder why. I have played the sims 3 for a few days, thank you little sister, developing a character or two and l'm starting to develop a hypothesis on this game. But I need the opinions of the fans. Why do you like the game so much? Why is it appealing to you? I want to understand this game as a whole, not by one disc. So I ask for your assistance, help me understand.

[Moonlight 7,291]

The main reason I personally enjoy it is because I can replicate fictional characters as humans. The only parts I like about the Sims are designing the humans and building the houses. xD It's just fun to me. Plus, it helps me organize my room and such without actually moving things beforehand. Kind of like a blue print to me. 

[Snowdream 221]

I enjoy creating houses, it is one of my passions, I also like to create sims and give them all unique personalities. I guess it also lets you do the things that may not be 'acceptable' to do in modern day society. I grew up with the sims, started playing the Sims, then Sims 2 now Sims 3. It is just something I have always loved to play.

 

killing people is the best part of the game

[Blue Moon 6,345]

You know, I was actually playing the Sims earlier today, and I was wondering why I even liked it. All you do is what you can do in real life.

 

 

Now, I'm a huge fan of The Sims, and here are the reasons I guess I like it so much. First off; I'm just a fan of simulation games, and it's really cool to create someone and see how their life plays out. It's so interesting to see all the different generations pass by, and see your sims interact with others. I also love designing things, and you get to design a lot in these games.

 

It's also fun to create an exact replica of your family and your home to see how your family line will play out.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Blue Moon

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,205]

There is just something very addictive about for me. Creating unique families with different bio's and lineages and stuff, that is really fun. Not too mention the actual designing aspect keeps getting better. I have put quite a bit of time into the Sims 3 on consoles and that version was very well done, except for the corrupt save date problem, that is the only horrendous part of the game.

 

The Sims was the first game that me and my sister got on the PS2. Gah, so many memories with that game. GOOD memories too. I loved the music of that one and the overall atmosphere.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Kyoshi

[Party Cannon 876]

The Sims is really the modern, digital version of playing house. This can be connected to or at least extended to the concept of playing with dolls. Either way, it is playing or SIMulating actual human life.

 

There is a strong appeal to this concept, for it has been around since civilization. Only the form of this play has changed over time.

 

With that said, I am not a fan, nor a hater either. It simply does not apply to my sense of fun. Sure I had my gamer streak with XBOX 360, but then I realized that it was not earning me anything in the real world. Gaming is still fun, but it has the tendency to unintentionally rob you of real life, which is superior.

 

My critique of playing the Sims is just that, playing a life as opposed to living one. Sure the Sims is indeed fun and all, but it like some other games more than most can figuratively suck people in and distract them from the physical world around them.

 

(Good for you if you read all that. haha. )

[Nomadic 210]

    While I haven't played the Sims, since the second iteration. I can try to help you understand through what I remember, and I'm sorry in advance if my knowledge on the game in question is a little outdated.

 

    The main reason which I initially was drawn into the series was the sheer amount of control that you got over the life of the people that you created. There was no preset goal, though I guess you could say the goal is to see how long your game can last, instead your given a bunch of tools, and are told to make these people live an eventful life. Now beyond that, most of what happens is within your grasp. You want to make their life absolute torture to live, sure you can do that almost as easily as making it successful. This is also partially what makes Minecraft so popular. 

 

    Also you never really get overly punished for destruction of your character, unless it's done by lighting the house on fire, the game will retain the property although now it maybe slightly to expensive for your new family to move into. This makes the game very easy to pick up and play. In addition, unlike some games The Sims is very closely related to real life in that the entire concept dressing people up, decorating houses, and living an eventful life is something that people should understand.

 

   I'm going to cut myself off there otherwise I'm going to start devolve to rambling like an old crank, lol. Hope it helps, and I think have to try out The Sims again after reading this topic.

[Scootadress 361]

I just like the fact I can act as a higher power to fake little people. That and the whole customization is fun. Finding a single dude is hard though...one cheated and my other sim turned gay and married a girl....plus 4 kids and the ex couple are enemies...fun..

[Vay 176]

Killing them is always fun. But like Wheatley, I enjoy making fictional characters and having them run around town causing havoc. It's especially funny when you're gossiping and your Sim starts going on about how Applejack fainted the other day.

 

I do get bored of it after a while but it's always fun to dip into.

[Freewave 1,145]

What i liked about the sims (sims 2 that is) is the amount of custom mods, add on's, and hacks you can use. There were so many sites in the day for add-ons and all kinds of fun ways to add on to the game. I'll agree is is very weird to be playing someone else's digital life when you could be doing the same thing in real life, but its that element of experiencing the world through someone else's eyes and creating careers, lives, and friendships is very much a part of living a second life and feeling like you can control your own digital reality. The fact that it is a plotless game that can go on indefinitely is both its greatest strength and weakness. It's also a shortcut to digital animation if you look at it as many times you're doing a lot of the same steps and controls but in a much user friendly easier program/game.  Not to mention its interesting to let time FLY by and see if your characters wreck their lives or make interesting choices.

 

I highly recommend this thread by the way

http://mlpforums.com/topic/42640-humanized-ponies-in-3d/?hl=sims#entry1323419

For example you can add MLP characters and create your own Equestria very easily and see what happens. Surprised more people aren't doing this as a community effort / thread.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Freewave

[Loona 287]

I love putting families in different scenarios For example, one of my games is a psychotic husband with an OCD wife, as well as the wife's grumpy father living with them who hates everything. Sounds weird, but it's really fun to mess around and cause earthquakes and firestorms and try to get your sims to the top in their job and skills.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Lunatia

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

...Good question. I play the Sims every now and again, and  I sometimes wonder why I play it, too. With it being virtually a life-simulator, my guess is that people play it so they can sort of live the life they've always wanted. Basically, the Sims games are like a second life, only that time moves MUCH faster in that game. And depending on what expansions you get, it could be more realistic than reality itself, or just completely unrealistic in every meaning of the word. Mine is terribly unrealistic XD

Edited July 26, 2013 by Stevenearthpony

[Scootalove 10,692]

It is like a pretty popular game because, you get to make families and they get to interact also have jobs. But right now, EA is really milking as much money as they can into the Sims Series.

[TotalNeon 72]

building the houses is tonnes of fun, playing with the family you make gets boring in 10 minutes. That's my experience anyway, I used to play it a lot when I was younger, mostly The Sims 2 and mostly for the non-human sims like robot families and stuff.

[Super Derpy 535]

A lot of people like the sims because you can pretty much do whatever you want. They can be whoever they want to be and you can live your life exactly how you want to without anyone to stop you. Having total control is why I think the sims is so popular.

[MLPForums Phanact 1,374]

I love building the house and designing the interiors. I'm not too fussed about actually playing out the life of my Sims, I usually just kill them xD