The Sims
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The Sims (2003 on Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube)
Description official descriptions
The Sims is a real-time simulation game where you simulate the lives of one or more people in a family and their social activities in their immediate neighborhood.
Characters of the family may be custom created (including physical features) or simply chosen from pre-generated families. All the characters also have two age groups, children and adults. Each age group has different lifestyles, priorities and interests.
Game play in the Sims may be classified as the following:
[1] Life Simulation
This revolves around simulating their day-to-day lives. From eating, sleeping, entertainment, socializing and romance, you are in complete control of their actions if you choose to. Each Sim has a statistics that may be developed. Some of which identify certain desires the Sim in mention may require. Your role in simulating their lives is primarily to keep them happy by fulfilling their desires.
Controlling the Sims people is optional, as they follow their own Artificial Intelligence unless commanded otherwise by the player.
[2] The Architect
Designing and furnishing your home is an integral part of the game play. Pre-generated houses may be purchased at the beginning of the game, or you can design and build your future home from scratch. Furnishing consists of acquiring various items that may be manipulated by your Sims to fulfill their needs. Designing houses and furnishing costs money, which may be obtained through jobs.
[3] Character Development and Careers
Adult Sims may acquire jobs to pay for the many necessities of living a simulated life. There are several different job track available, from Entertainment, Law Enforcement, Politics and even a life of crime! Promotion in a job requires the Sim to advance in certain statistics (e.g. Charisma, Strength) which may be done so by manipulating the various items available for purchase.
Spellings
- 模拟人生 - Simplified Chinese spelling
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Credits (Windows version)
208 People (150 developers, 58 thanks) · View all
Product Marketing Lead | |
Marketing | |
Public Relations | |
Localisation Lead | |
Localisation | |
Voice Test Lead | |
Testing | |
Quality Assurance | |
Documentation Layout | |
Product Manager | |
Public Relations UK | |
Project Manager Localisation | |
Documentation Editing | |
Package & Documentation Layout | |
Pack Co-ordinator | |
Localisation Coordination | |
Localisation Coordination Export & Web | |
Material Planning | |
Studio Operations | |
Quality Assurance | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 89% (based on 54 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 215 ratings with 20 reviews)
The Good
The Sims is a very diferent kind of game that does not fall into any one category. The main premise is to control your customized Sim through life; You start with $20,000 to build your house and find a job. The meat of the game is when you control your Sim through everyday life; finding friends, relationships, getting a job, etc. The strange part is that there is something addictive about living everyday life; heck, you could build your own real house and live out your real life...in this game. It is also one of the funniest games ever; an example is when my Sim fell in love with someone, and she was married to a guy named Mortimer. The next day, I pranked the police and then Mortimer came by, so I figured I'd let my Sim beat up on him for some revenge. (My Sim was so depressed I couldn't get him to find a job or do anything almost). I chose the attack command to attack him, but then the Police officer came by and my Sim
pi$sed his pants because his bladder was low and I got arrested! There is a limitless supply of things you can do in The Sims; you can even hold parties. The bad part is that you can't go over to other people's houses; the whole time you stay where you live, but this does not detract much from the game.
Go buy The Sims now, it's a great game.
The Bad
Sometimes it can get boring if you keep repeating what you did the previous day, and so on.
The Bottom Line
A simulation where you make a person (Sim) and take them trough everday life and can even make a family.
Windows · by Dragoon (106) · 2000
I just cant understand this game?
The Good
Nice graphics and cool idea.
The Bad
I am a avid (hooked) gamer. I started a new game of this and found my self having my character playing a PC in his home. Now stop me if this sounds bad, but doesn't that justify all the things that our wives say to us when they dont want us to play on the computer. Here I am simulating a guy playing his computer. Now I am convinced that all hope is lost for me. As for the game I could not understand what all the hype is. Its just normal life on PC. For my time I want to command armies, build cities, solve murders. Not doing chores and sleeping on line. NO THANKS!
The Bottom Line
For those of you who have to sim EVERYTHING...
Windows · by William Shawn McDonie (1131) · 2001
The Good
I remember playing Sim City 2000 a long time ago and thinking 'you know, wouldn't it be cool if I could zoom in far enough to see the people in those houses?'. Little did I know that Maxis had that idea too, though on a far grander scale.
The Sims came out at the same time as Sim City 3000, and I picked both up in a bundle pack. At first I was more interested in reliving my city building days, but soon I picked up the idea of watching a Sim go about its every day life while having control of certain aspects.
It soon became obvious to me why so many people had become addicted to the game. The combination of having the chance to live out a life exactly as you want it to through the eyes of a digital character, and at the same time creating an addictive puzzle/strategy hybrid was hard to put down. Every day I'd come back and play out another few days of my characters life, building up the home and creating a family atmosphere.
The level of freedom to do as you please was, at the time, unheard of. Even Sim City had its limitations, but here you could live out an entire life for as long as you could stand your character. Even the house building mode was just as entertaining.
The Bad
Since the Sim craze has faded just a little bit from the original magic, that addictive like nature does tend to fade with it. You can make as many lives, houses and families as you like, but in the end it all works out similarly to before. Expansion packs and downloads help to starve complete boredom, but it will set in eventually.
The other thing that I did think brought the game down just a tad was in the characters themselves. They moved well, performed just about all you ask them to, but once in a while they go off on you and doing strange, if not disturbing, things. Put it down to a lack of true AI development, perhaps.
Maxis hasn't always been known for its best musical scores either. The Sims had some nice shiney tunes, the kind of tunes that would grate on your mind and you'd whistle constantly long after putting down the keyboard. Catchy, yes, but annoying, definitely. A little more variety (as seen in The Sims 2, for example) would have been an advantage.
The Bottom Line
The Sims was, put simply, a brilliant concept that was developed into an entertaining game. All problems aside, it's probably the most addictive game out there.
Forgetting the fact that there have been probably a few too many short lived expansion packs and the rushed out Sims Online, Maxis moved itself out of the shadow of Sim City, so much so that The Sims is the new flagship title in the arsenal.
The question is, will it be remembered for its uniqueness, or for being so addictive that people were living out their lives almost the same as the characters themselves...
Windows · by Kartanym (12413) · 2006
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
Analytics
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Related Sites +
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7 Deadly Sims
Hugely comprehensive fansite with downloadable items, skins, building materials, and much more. -
8th Deadly Sim
The 8th Deadly Sim is the paysite counterpart to 7 Deadly Sims. For a small token fee you can download hundreds of amazing objects, skins, building materials and lots more! -
Around the Sims
Can't get enough of that fresh downloadable content for The Sims? Here's another Sims fansite! -
Coasters
An all inclusive site with houses, skins, fashions and more. News too -
IGCD Internet Game Cars Database
Game page on IGCD, a database that tries to archive vehicles found in video games. -
KillerSims
A Great Mall for your Sims -
SIMplyDariene
Walls, Floors, Paintings and Objects, Murals, Objects, The Lollipop Shop, All That Glitters, FAQs, How-To Tutorial, Links -
Sim Dudes Online
The site is said to be updated every Monday with great new Skins, Walls, Floors, Roofs, Houses, Paintings, and Objects. -
SimFreaks
Yes, even more amazing new unique downloadable content for The Sims! -
Sims in a Bottle
A site with Cool Original Objects, tons of Wallpaper Sets, Floors, and Cheats. -
Simulation Sims
Another fantastic fansite full of downloadable new Sims content! -
The Sim Sisters
A unique site about The Sims that is theme-based around a Church. Art Gallery, Paintings, Skins, Nuns, Priests, Religious Items, Disney, and News -
The Sims Resource
Another huge fansite choc full of new downloadable content for The Sims! -
The Sims Tattoo Parlor
Site contains Tattoos, Clothing and Swimming Suits, Floors, Walls, Paintings, Guest Skins, Objects, FAQs, Links, -
The Well Dressed Sim
A Sims fansite specifically dedicated to fashion and the fashionable. Download stunning new clothing, salon items, home decor and more! -
Who Needs the Networks?
An Apple Games article about the Macintosh version of The Sims (August, 2000). -
devisraad.com: The Sims
Download unique skins and furnishings from devisraad.com's Sims page. -
thesims.be.tf
This site gives Overhead cabinets Plus loads of sets of same color furniture and a very useful program called Sims Object ID to check to see if an object has an uniqe ID number
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Rynok.
Macintosh added by Corn Popper. Linux added by Christopher Corkum.
Additional contributors: Brian Hirt, xroox, Heikki Sairanen, Andrew Hartnett, Unicorn Lynx, Indra was here, Zack Green, Atomic Punch!, Alaka, Xoleras, Vaelor, BdR, Zeppin, Patrick Bregger, Victor Vance, FatherJack, SoMuchChaotix.
Game added February 19, 2020. Last modified February 2, 2025.