The Sims

aka: Die Sims, Dollhouse, Home Tactics, Les Sims, Los Sims, Project X, Sim Dollhouse, SimPeople, Tactical Domestic Simulator, The Dollhouse Simulator
Moby ID: 860

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The PC version of The Sims appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

3D Realms

3D Realms have released a skin pack for The Sims featuring their trademark action hero - Duke Nukem. The pack could be downloaded off their site at www.3drealms.com

Development

  • The Sims was originally going to be called "Home Tactics," and would have an entirely different focus. Will Wright originally designed it to be completely about building houses. When someone suggested a feature involving letting people move in to determine the quality of the house, the focus completely changed. Developers were having more fun watching the people than building the house. The design goals were directed towards Sims, and architecture was left as a side bonus.
  • According to the March 2002 edition of Wired Magazine, Will Wright and his development team had to develop what he called a "happiness landscape." By using this landscape, The Sim People could map and identify what items would satisfy any pending needs. It also permitted Sims to prioritize what needs were more pending. Will Wright stated that he went around his house, doing an inventory of objects and how he needed them so he could map out the landscape in the game.
  • The Sims was also meant as a satire on suburban life and consumerism. In a clip from "Charlie Brooker's How Videogames Changed the World", Will Wright has stated that "It was actually meant as a satire of U.S. culture, and I think most people didn't get that". An example he gives, is that the player is supposed to buy objects and furniture in the game to make the Sims happy, but inevitably the furniture will break or catch on fire making the Sims miserable instead.

Extras

After managing a household for 100 days you will be rewarded with information etc. about the creators of the game.

Inspiration

The game's most obvious progeny is Little Computer People.

Music

You can put your own MP3s in the music folder in the game's directory and they will be played on the radio.

Nudity

Although Sims are censored (their image blurred) when naked, there's an unofficial patch known as The Sims Nude Patch that eliminates censorship. You can find it at several fan sites.

PC Gamer fake review

In the April 2003 issue of PC Gamer, The editors faked a review for a phony expansion called "The Liebermans." In the June 2003 issue of PC Gamer, The editors revealed that their prank fooled a lot of people, including the political beat reporter for the Hartford Courant, The local news in the city where Senator Lieberman's office is located.

Pre-order bonus

If you pre-ordered the game at Electronics Boutique, you received a bonus disc containing different skins and a mini-strategy guide.

References

Shiny Things Inc., a company that makes kitchen appliances and other shiny things in the game, makes a guest appearance in the Sim City series as one of the industrial structures that can be built in your city. Malcolm Landgraab, the head of Shiny Things Inc., makes a guest appearance in The Sims for the console systems.

Sales

The game is listed in the 2008 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition as the best selling PC game of all time, with 16 million sales worldwide since the original launch.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • April 2001 (Issue #201) – Game of the Year
    • November 2003 (Issue #232) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
  • Game Informer
    • August 2001 (Issue #100) - #80 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll
  • GameSpy
    • 2000 – Strategy Game of the Year
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • Issue 02/2001 - Most Innovative Game in 2000
  • PC Gamer
    • October 2001 - #11 in the "Top 50 Games of All Time" list
    • April 2005 - #23 in the "!50 Best Games of All Time" list
  • PC Player (Germany)
    • Issue 01/2001 - Best Economic Simulation in 2000
  • The Strong National Museum of Play
    • 2016 – Introduced into the World Video Game Hall of Fame
  • Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland
    • August 31, 2003 - Gold Award (details in "Sales" section)

Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, Entorphane, James1, JPaterson, Matthew Bailey; Matt Neuteboom, PCGamer77, Sciere, Scott Monster, Technocrat, Ummagumma, Xoleras and Zack Green

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Trivia contributed by Heikki Sairanen, Alaka, BdR, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack, SoMuchChaotix.