Greatest Games - The Sims

Gamespot has another article in its continuing series on 'The Greatest Games of All Time'. This time they profile The Sims, the Will Wright PC classic. From the article: "While The Sims was certainly revolutionary, it wasn't simply the revolution that makes it one of the greatest games of all time. Like all truly great games, it is the timeless and continually entertaining gameplay that makes The Sims so worthwhile. And while in the years since its release there have been many more versions to choose from, there's something quite heartwarming and familiar about the original game and its very specific choices, the sublime stainless steel refrigerator, the Henry Moore-esque statue, and that handy dandy little burglar alarm."

Comments

Am I the only one...

[SoCalChris]

That found the Sims to be totally boring? After about 10 minutes of playing it, I realized that you could build walls around the people, and kill them. That was the highlight of the game. If I want to worry about being late for work, making dinner, cleaning up, excercising, etc..., I'll just quit playing and go on with my life. Isn't the point of playing a game like that to get away from worrying about things like that?

Re:Am I the only one...

[afabbro]

I got a copy just before traveling for a couple weeks...really tried to get into it while chilling in the hotel...just could not.

The classic answer is "well, that's because you're a male. Females like the virtual dollhouse. It all goes back to the dawn of time when men were out hunting woolly mammoths and..."

That may be. But for me it wasn't the lack of things to kill or the non-goal-oriented nature of it or even the "there is no winner" gameplay. It was two things:

• All the tedious, day-to-day bother of going to work, paying bills, etc.
• The stilted social model

The worry, bother, and stress of the Sim's day-to-day life was a big putoff...all that time spent trying to keep your dudes and dudettes happy & balanced, on time for work, socially fulfilled, etc. I just didn't find that fun. It's just chasing dollars (er, Simoleons) or trying to get meters aligned right. When kids play with dolls, they skip over the boring stuff! Why wouldn't a game?

I'd expected that tedium of that to be handled by the game while I focused on more interesting things (relationships, etc.) A game where you're constantly mapping out relationships among many people, interacting, building social networks, and of course all the politics that goes along with that could be very interesting. But no - it was a constant struggle to get the bills paid, keep everyone from being depressed, etc. Just a lot of chores that were not fun. I also found the social scale rather lacking - I expected hundreds of Sims, not handfuls.

I also found the focus on "stuff" rather tedious. This is not to say I've abandoned materialism, live in a yurt, and eat only grasshopper droppings. But the game focused too much on stuff to buy, how to decorate your house, etc. The interactions with other Sims was rather crude and didn't go anywhere besides marriage and reducing your loneliness. The only reason to interact with other Sims is to push a lonely meter down. If I took either life or the game more seriously, I'd make some weighty comparisons between real life and the game, since tedious materialism and empty relationships often abound in each...

I am willing to stipulate that perhaps if I'd really gotten into the game (beyond two weeks of nightly play), perhaps I would have found strategies for raking in loot, etc. that would have reduced that part of the tedium. But to me it's just a flawed focus...all of that day-to-day boring stuff should have been out of scope and done by the game, while I focused on Fun Stuff. And nothing would save the social model - perhaps because computers simply aren't there yet to make really interesting social simulations.

Maxis Quality Control

[bleaknik]

Has anyone else noticed the decline in quality merchandise from Maxis as EA's interventions have increased...

Prime Example... Sim City. Great Game.
Sim City 2000. Wonderful Game.
Sim City 3000. Somewhat enjoyable Game.
Sim City 4. A shameless lust for more money.

The Sims doesn't feel nearly as grand as everyone praises it to be. And the Sims 2 seems to have even less appeal. Does anyone remember the short-lived Sims Online? Was that silently killed by the suck that is EA?

/shrug.

Re:Choices

[rubberbando]

Yeah, that game really brings out the sadist in a lot of people....

They should make an expansion called "Die! Sims Die!" where the Sims try to survive their cruel player. They run away from walls/obsticles that spring up around them. You would have to try and lure them to their deaths or into traps to capture and torture them. Also, I'd like to be able to drop in some monsters in the maze to hunt them down as well. Earn money to buy naster traps and monsters and such for each kill!

Gawd I feel evil...but then the Sims kinda have that effect on many of us... ^_^;