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Part I: Bibliographic information
Type: Video game
Title: The Sims 3
Publisher: EA Games
Origination date: 2000 for The Sims; 2009 for The Sims 3
Broad Focus: Simulated life experience
Target audience: Ages 13+
Rating: Teen
Online: A players’ forum is available online at EA Games
Comparables: Second Life, Virtual Family, Kudos 2, SocioTown
Part I: User’s Annotation, Summary, Critical Evaluation
User’s Annotation -- This popular videogame series offers players the ability to build within a life within a simulated world, including their own custom characters and community. Graphically improved at higher levels of sophistication, The Sims 3 versions of the game offer the characters can dress in realistic clothing and even act and talk according to the player-driven settings.
Summary --
The Sims 3 falls into the gaming category called ‘life simulation’ and thus the acronym of sims. The original game of The Sims dates to 2000 when it was released as a PC-based video game for Windows, and the game now can be played on most of the popular consoles as well as well as on a PC or Mac. The Sims 2 was introduced in 2004 and featured a more 3-D look and ‘a points system’ for aspiring to ‘accomplishments’. In 2009, The Sims 3 replaced The Sims 2 with the addition of more build tools and other features that set a new standard in sim customization. In the first week, The Sims 3 sold over 1.4 million copies setting a record at the time for initial sales.
The game experience is one that pretty much anyone can engage in on some level. It is targeted to teens and adults with bits of humor and violence that might not be appropriate to a younger audience. The introduction of ‘goals’ and ‘achievements’ means that the more time and effort you put forth the more you receive from the game as far as options for material goods. You can also earn access to certain alternative sims that feature different and better graphical interfaces. Another example of this premise of earning your way in your simulated life is that having a large family requires a certain income. So you have to have a job in your simulated world to earn that privilege as well as for other material goods like cars and stuff. This requires gaining knowledge through classes you attend. Yes, it’s sort of like real life!
Once inside your chosen sim the player can design their characters look -- this includes the selection of clothing, hair, skin color and even personality traits. Then the player can plan their household and add a spouse or children. A home is another level of building. And, as with all the Sim games, you are able to build in the community as far as patronizing businesses and participating in recreational options.
The graphical user interfaces are typically dialog boxes with various options and levels you set to make unique colors and textures. These options are pre-loaded and sometimes updated to express current fashion and design trends. It’s a pretty innocent world compared to so many video games where violence is constant and not avoidable. However, there is some sexual innuendo and the potential for some violence among the characters. One the whole, the game is non-violent and sort of relaxing to play. This makes for a nice escape from reality where things might not be as idyllic. If you get bored with your simulated life, you can add any number of packs that offer specific themes ranging from university life to world adventures.
Critical Evaluation -- It took quite a bit of loading and upgrading to get the game to play on my non-gamer laptop. Finally, I got rolling and was able to create my first avatar fairly easily. I quickly realized, however, that I would have to get an in-world job if I was to afford the nicer amenities in virtual life. This is sort of disconcerting at first but then you realize that’s part of the game -- imagine an entire life that you can be anything you aspire to. That’s sort of a fun premise when you start engaging in the process. You can also make a family and acquire a home and things in the home.
I have played other virtual worlds such as Second Life and, for me, these multiplayer world are a bit more engaging than Sims 3. That is because you do not directly interact with others in the stand-alone Sims 3 game. However, I am told there are ways to play online that open up a more interactive gaming experience. On the whole, I find Sims 3 to be fun and creative. I highly recommend it to kids who are not interested in guns or sports games so much. It’s also something that might be fun to play with other people and show what you’ve come up with. And, in this respect, it might appeal to girls whereas many video games are targeted to boys.
Part III: Publisher Info
EA Games is the largest producer of game-based entertainment in the world. Short for Electronic Arts, they produce a wide variety of games ranging from sports to simulated worlds. The company is American-founded and based but they operate a number of gaming studios worldwide that produce their products. In the 1980s, they were among the handful of companies that made games for specific consoles. The company was founded by Trip Hopkins, a former Apple, Inc. employee in 1982. Their annual revenues approach $4 billion at present.
Part IV: Curriculum Ties, Diversity, Booktalk Ideas, Challenge Issues
Curriculum Ties, if any -- There is a possibility of including the Sims 3 as a tool to create a family or community of characters that interrelate within a community. This might be applied to a course in psychology or sociology in interesting and creative ways.
Diversity of Cultures -- Sims 3 allows your family to look like a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds. I do believe it is also capable of mixed race and same sex coupling. And, the children can be racially unique. So this creates a world that can reflect the real world rather than a set idea of a Anglo family or a Hispanic family. The real world, of course, is more complex than that.
Classroom Ideas -- Sims 3 would be a fun game to load in classroom as the topic of urban planning was discussed. How do we plan our cities -- and how do we build upon the preexisting? What sorts of people make up a community? Issues of diversity and inclusion could be discussed.
Part V: Reasons chosen
Admittedly, I am not a big player of video games. I don’t even play the free apps that are going around like wildfire. I do have friends who are avid players, however. This seems to be something more popular with the 35 and under crowd who came up with Playstations and Xboxes for whom gaming is almost as important as TV in some circles.
I choose The Sims 3 to review after talking with some of these folks. I have a friend who has followed the Sims games from the the original game, which is considered rather crude graphically by today’s standards. She enjoys these games because she can construct a world of her own not unlike you might use Legos to build a house or city. It’s part of a creative process and is thus is arguably a right-brained activity like drawing. This obstensibley develops aspects of our higher thinking -- as does all gaming if you get down to it. However, the shoot them up sorts of games only seem to do so until the game is mastered and then it becomes route and not particularly intellectually stimulating.
Sims 3 has the potential to be endlessly engaging as you build new and different worlds and characters. The limit is really your own imagination! There are plans for the release of Sims 4 in the near future (EA, 2013). Additionally, there is a version for smart devices called SimsFreeplay that offers mobile access to the Sims world.
Part VI: Citations
EA Games. (2013) The Sims 4 [webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.ea.com/the-sims-4
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