“Uhh shamoo ralla poo”
The sims
Can you believe The Sims has now existed for 21 years now? I surely can. The Sims was a game that I put in a fair amount of my teenage years being the somewhat of a social outcast I was. I thought with the original game now old enough to drink in the US it would be a good time to look back and reminisce about a simpler time.
The Sims was brought to us by Will Wright and his crew at Maxis & published by EA (before they became evil personified). For those who aren’t aware of the original PC meth addiction (pre World of Warcraft) The Sims allowed you to create and live your own little slice of suburban SimCity. You send your Sims to work or school, feed them pizza, put them to bed, bathe them, set them on fire and drown them. A typical Thursday. As your Sims worked, got promoted and made money you could improve their living conditions give them better shinier gadgets before they shuffle off to the grave.
When The Sims was released in 2001 it was an instant hit with a lot of different gaming demographics. From casual gamers to hard-core gamers, it seemed everyone was playing The Sims. I think it’s popularity lied with it’s simplicity to play. Anyone could sit down in front of a computer and pick up the game quite easily because of it’s simple aesthetics and ease of use. I too was drawn in by the simple charm of The Sims. My enjoyment continued into The Sims 2 as well, although by the time that The Sims 3 came around both me and the series had grown apart, becoming different from the people we once were.
It was about this time that EA’s corporate greed and contempt for humanity started to show. It seemed where most series would expand and incorporate new features. The Sims in contrast did the opposite, narrowed it’s field of household objects and creation tools. All in the name of packaging it up into DLC packs and charge the same price as the core game EACH!!! I wouldn’t mind it so much if there was 4-5 DLC packs but the sheer number of DLC packs is mind boggling. The Sims had 7 DLC’s, The Sims 2 had 18 (8 Expansions & 10 Stuff Packs), The Sims 3 had 20 (11 Expansions & 9 Stuff Packs). The Sims 4 currently has 37 (10 Expansions, 9 Game Packs & 18 Stuff Packs) with more still being released. So I’ve done the maths (so you don’t have to) and to buy The Sims 4 and all of it’s DLC’s at full price it would cost you over £600 for the privilege.
The Sims and to some extent The Sims 2 are a reminder of a time when EA actually wanted to market games that entertain and spread enjoyment. Although I can’t help but think that The Sims as a series is a victim of it’s own success. Maybe if the The Sims & The Sims 2 weren’t as popular as they were and made as much money as they did in DLC’s then EA wouldn’t try and ring as much money out of their clientele as humanly possible without resorting to muggings.
I’m sorry if you read this expecting a nostalgic return to a game that was much loved and was well deserving of that love and instead got a hate speech on the evils of EA. Although I do have a lot more to say about EA I’ll wait and dedicate a whole piece to them.
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