The Sims: The Psychology Behind Simming

The Sims, a strategic, life-simulation game, was first released in 2000, by creator Will Wright, and developed by Maxis, and Electronic Arts. By 2002, The Sims had become the biggest-selling PC game in the world, having sold more than 6.3 million copies worldwide. After seven expansion packs (EPs), The Sims had ended its run, and The Sims 2 was launched in 2004, to huge success. In June 2009, the third installment of the Sims franchise was launched, The Sims 3.

It is fascinating to study the demographics of “God games”, simulation games, in particular, the Sims franchise. The player is in charge of everything from making sure his sim is fed, has enough rest, is kept comfortable and happy, so that his job performance doesn’t suffer.

With Sims 2, the game took a huge leap forward, with the addition of memories and “aspirations” to give more depth to the characters in the game. Now a sim will need to reach certain goals, in order to remain fulfilled, all dependent upon the sim’s particular aspiration: “Fortune” sims will need to buy things. “Romance” sims will need to, well, romance sims, and fear commitment. “Family” sims want children, want their children to go to college, and have grandchildren. “Knowledge” sims want to be abducted by aliens, “Pleasure” sims want to jump on the couch, “Popularity” sims want to be friends with everyone, and, with perhaps the strangest aspiration of them all, “Grilled Cheese” sims want to talk about grilled cheese sandwiches to everyone they meet. Should they fail to meet too many goals, their aspiration meters will plummet, resulting in a rather amusing display of psychosis. In The Sims 2, genetics were introduced, which was lacking in the original Sims game. Brothers now recognize themselves as brothers. Children look like their parents. There are dominant and recessive traits. With subsequent EPs, new features were added, such as weather, the ability to run a business, the ability to take a vacation, buy property, and sims now could have hobbies, and drive cars. Sims 3 replaced the memories with “moodlets”, and turned the entire neighborhood into a playable area. The new concept of The Sims 3 was “What you do outside your home now matters as much as what you do within.” Story Progression was introduced, meaning that, unlike the previous Sims games, the non-playable sims have lives going on without your input. Sims will marry, have children, get hired or fired from their jobs, without your having a say in the matter.

All of the Sims games are time-consuming. Unlike MMORPGs, the player is playing alone, no internet connection is even necessary, no human-to-human interaction is required. So, why does this very time-consuming and complex game appeal to so many people? You are just as likely to find a young teenager spending hours with her little pixelated characters, as you are to find his grandmother doing the same thing, on her computer. The appeal reaches worldwide, and across all income levels. What is the draw? What makes this game so addictive?

Perhaps the fact that it is, indeed, so “time consuming” is a major attraction to the game. Many players state that the game is a nice diversion from real life stresses. One simmer offers a little insight into this, saying, “It’s been a refuge from the Real World. Sometimes when I’m really feeling anti-social, my sims are my friends and my family.” Another offers, “TS2 is a ‘second life’ for me, a better one than Real Life… a place where I can be pretty and healthy and never think about things like the dentist and work and health issues”.

One wonders, since the Sims games (with the exception of The Sims Online) is a RPG that does not require any human interaction whatsoever, do simmers tend to be more introverted than non-simmers? Yes, and no. In fact, in some cases, The Sims has helped players overcome some personal social issues. “I’m a natural introvert, but Sims allows my extroverted side to shine through. I have, however, noticed a pattern that I don’t socialize my simmies very much, which I think stems from my real life social anxiety. I’ve noticed that now I’m getting better at going out and allowing myself to live a bit outside my four walls, it has affected the way I direct interaction between Sims. Because I’m making the effort to socialize, they’re making the effort.” Another adds, “My sims do all the things that I don’t do. That is one of the big things for me, that way I don’t have to try and force myself into it. Using sims, I can do parties and large gatherings and not have to stress over it.”

“I would class myself as an introvert but sims have actually got me communicating and branching out socially.”

Many simmers create “self sims” , which are sims of themselves, and enjoy having their “simulated” selves doing things that they would normally shy away from, in real life.”I’ve also started to work out and play the piano like my self sim”, says one player.

While many simmers do call themselves introverts, many do not. One simmer says, “I don’t like to be the center of attention, but overall, I would say I am an extrovert more than an introvert. I do like to spend time on my own, though, and live like a hermit when I am at home. I don’t think it results from playing the Sims. I used to go out a lot and knew lots of people. When I do it these days, I get the feeling that I am in a time warp and have spent far too many nights sitting around in a bar or a club already. It just seems so incredibly futile.” Another says “I have lots of friends now, but I still enjoy my Sims, especially when I have had a bugger of a day, the weather is bad… that is where you will find me in the comfort of my own world.”

“There is an incredible community that has developed from the Sims game”

Although the game itself is a one-person-game, one point most can agree on is the benefit of the community surrounding the game. The Sims community is huge, with forums on the official sites, and many smaller forums and websites across the world. People develop true friendships that go beyond game-discussion.

When asked on Simbology, a site dedicating to modding the Sims 2 game, “what keeps you coming back to the Sims game?”, many were quick to bring up the community aspect. “If you’re a Sims player, there are so many sites to join, participate in and have fun with. The spirit of the ‘community’ is something really special, and I don’t think it has been duplicated with any other game quite as much. We’re like our own little neighborhood, and everyone knows each other pretty well.”. Another states, ” You can be a part of a real community; friends that help with your problems – be it gameplay, pc (or mac, etc) and any part of your offline life you want to share.”

“The Sims is only restricted by your own imagination.”

By far, the most common sentiment was concerning the “creative” nature of The Sims. It is not just a game; it is often a tool, a vehicle, used to create videos, stories, all of which are very popular, as one can see just by doing a quick YouTube or Google search. Players are able to capture footage of the game using an in-game camera, and use those to create story lines. There is also a video camera in Sims 2 and 3, which is used for making “machinima” (videos using a game engine). Storytelling is a big part of simming for many people. These people, for the most part, do not play the game traditionally, but rather in a “dollhouse” fashion, to create, and follow, the lives of their characters. Says one player, “I had always been interested in writing and liked to write stories. My teachers said my stories were good but lacked detail and surroundings; Sims added the detail to my stories. For the first time I could see what my characters looked like.”

This is not limited to story tellers and machinima artists, however. The Sims has always been a game that encouraged community creations. Body Shop, the in-game creative tool, gives a player the ability to create new clothes, sims, hairstyles. There are many custom content creators who use external 3-d sculpting tools to create new meshes for brand-new hairstyles, outfits, and furniture. There are even custom body shapes made for Sims 2, though with Sims 3 there is a slider tool in Create-a-Sim that offers more flexibility in body shapes. Whatever it is you are looking for, from new wallpaper, flooring, a skyscraper, or mansion, a new breed of dog; there is someone out there willing to create it. Says one creator, “You start designing your own houses, creating your own ‘personal landscapes’; it seems to come alive.” Some people don’t even play the game, much, preferring to use it to create their perfect worlds.

Simmers get attached to their characters

Most avid simmers will be able to tell you stories of a favorite sim, and, to someone who had never played the game, the stories sound as if they were about a real person. A member of the CuppaJoe forum says, “My all-time favorite sim was in sims2. She was a single woman in a secluded area with a lovely cottage and huge, lush garden. She had a dog and a cat and preferred to be alone. She made money off of her land and she rarely had to interact with the outside simworld.” The CuppaJoe forum was, in fact, named after this author’s founding Sim. Another simmer explains, “For me it makes no difference that my sims are ‘only pixel people’; they are real enough to me, I have a good imagination. In this game, I get to feel and experience things I never do in real life.”

The Sims has the flexibility to play the way you want to play.

Probably the biggest draw to the Sims games is that there are so many styles of game-play, that nearly anyone will find a style that suits them. You can turn aging off and play the same characters for as long as you want. You can play “legacy” style, which means playing multiple generations without any cheats. There are witches, vampires, werewolves, a Bigfoot, ghosts, plant people, zombies, magic lamps, genies, and aliens, for those wanting something a little more “out of this world”. New features to the game often come from game modders in the community, who have given sims the ability to do anything from shower without a censor-blur to give birth to quadruplets to go to university from home. For the older simmers, there are countless adult modifications to add more “spice” to the game.

So, who is a typical “simmer”?

It is fascinating to hear what simmers have to say about their games, why they play, how they play, and try to make a correlation to their real life situations and personalities. But, beyond that, for many, the game is simply fun. Happy people play, sad people play. Creative people play, non-creative people play. Introverts/extroverts…the game is appealing across the board. Professionals, homemakers, teachers, lawyers, musicians, artists…there is no “typical” simmer in the Sims community, and the community is the common denominator for all. Considering this is a one-player game, it’s amazing that there is such a strong sense of “family” among players across the world. The Sims fills a void when needed. The pixels on the screen become friends that you look forward to seeing again. There may even be a sense of sadness when the game must be turned off, and one must face the real world, again. A world in which “motherlode” doesn’t exist.

[The Sims: The Psychology Behind SimmingVia]

The Sims: The Psychology Behind Simming, 9.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating