The Sims

The Sims, with its longstanding history is extremely popular. It was first released in February of 2000.

The idea behind the game is that the player creates a city based on the types of activities and developments that would be found in real life. Ultimately it’s a simulation game where players create a virtual universe with people, buildings and everything else that one might expect in a city.

The difference between The Sims and other PC games is that there is no baddie to defeat and there are no pre-defined goals. It allows players to create a fantasy land based on their fantasy goals and objectives. There are no limits to what players can create and that’s what has made the game so popular, with it selling more than 200 million copies worldwide since its first release in 2000.

In real life very few people are going to have the opportunity to build a city with the infrastructure that they want whereas when you play The Sims, you can do exactly that. If you want to have several parks within close proximity or you’re a fan of skyscrapers and like highly populated cities then it’s your choice. You can choose the number of people that live in your city and ultimately, you can create the perfect city, one that you wouldn’t get in the real world. That’s one of the major drawcards to the game.

You can fail just like in real life, so there is the chance that you or your creations could die and cease to exist. That isn’t necessarily the end of your life though, or your character’s time is up. There’s an expansion pack that allows you to see the Grim Reaper so you’ll get warned before you or your character dies in the game. The even cooler thing is that you can still exist beyond your death. Just like in real life, you can haunt the house that you lived in, or you can simply leave the game without being seen again.

Characters in the game have relationships with eachother, so if your character has kids then they can get into fights and relationships can break up requiring counselling. It really is just like a digital, virtual version of real life, except unlike in real life you are pulling the strings and can control the outcome. In real life you can’t always do that.

There have been several versions of the game released due to its popularity, with the most recent version being released in 2005. There have however been a number of spinoffs including a version for social media. The game is playable on Facebook. It was announced that a mobile version is being developed to release later this year. It will be released on both Apple iPhones and Android phones so anyone wanting to get their Sims fix will be able to.

The game’s definitely worth a play in any format and very fun to play given all the challenges and options available.