VIDEO GAMES CSP: The Sims; Freeplay

Language / Gameplay analysis

Watch The Sims: FreePlay trailer and answer the following questions:

What elements of gameplay are shown?

• The trailer has an uplifting soundtrack, wide range of shots, emotive sound effects and realistic depictions of mundane aspects of everyday life. These empower the audiences sense of creativity and give them a sense of agency and control regarding several aspects of the game such as creating avatars and choosing specific aspects of their constructed life. 

What audience is the trailer targeting?

• The Sims targets 13+ Females, especially mainstreamers/aspirers or working class people craving diversion and aspirational gameplay. The lack of limitations when it comes to race, gender and sexuality allows for the demographics to be rather subjective. 

What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?

• The audience pleasures suggested by the trailer are autonomy, diversion, a false sense of personal identity and the chance to construct the ideal human as well as catharsis and personal relationships as you can create domestic utopias and become emotionally attached through the sim you live vicariously through. 

Now watch this walk-through of the beginning of The Sims FreePlay and answer the following questions:

How is the game constructed?

• It is part of the 'sandbox genre' and is made up of a lot of camera pans, quests and independent construction choices. 

What audience is this game targeting?

• The game is targeting the Teen and up female with domestic aspirations. It enforces the Capitalist, Western 'American Dream' ideologies and highlights the potential for headcanons and fan content through the sense of autonomy.

What audience pleasures does the game provide?

• The Sims reinforces heteronormative, hegemonic ideologies and also has a sense of autonomy however the limited choices and restrictions hinder much of the creative license.There is also a sense of planning and strategy to the game as well as appealing to the seemingly ordinary aspects of life. 

How does the game encourage in-app purchases?

• It allows free trials of premium content and appeals heavily to the impatient nature of digital age consumers. 

Audience

Read this App Store description and the customer reviews for The Sims FreePlay and answer the following questions:  

What critics reviews are included in the game information section?

• '5 STARS ...The Sims FreePlay is everything you could ever want a freemium Sims game to be.” (Gamezebo)'
• '10/10 …one of the most addictive and highly polished games available and there’s no excuse for anyone to not download it; especially since it is free to play (the clue’s in the title).' (God is a Geek)
• '...plenty of hours of fun... at an excellent, non-existent, price.' (148Apps)

What do the reviews suggest regarding the audience pleasures of The Sims FreePlay?

• The reviews suggest that there is gratification in the minimalist but high quality game construction as well as with the price- or lack of one- of the game.

How do the reviews reflect the strong element of participatory culture in The Sims?

• The reviews all hint at the addictive nature of the game and the strong element of participatory culture that comes with constructing a fictional world of your own wants and requirements at no price. 

Participatory culture

Read this academic journal article - The Sims: A Participatory Culture 14 Years On. Answer the following questions:

What did The Sims designer Will Wright describe the game as?

• 'akin to a trains set or a dolls house where each person comes to it with their own interest and picks their own goals'

Why was development company Maxis initially not interested in The Sims?

• Maxis stated that 'dolls houses were for girls and girls don't play video games' and therefore saw the Sims as a bad investment.

What is ‘modding’?

• Modding is a culture in which gamers can 'modify' or manipulate the game play by manipulating the code. 

How does ‘modding’ link to Henry Jenkins’ idea of ‘textual poaching’?

• Textual poaching is taking a text and re-editing it or manipulating it to develop meanings compliant with the audiences own ideologies. Modding is similar to this as they edit and modify gameplay aspects to fit with their own audience wants.

Look specifically at p136. Note down key quotes from Jenkins, Pearce and Wright on this page.

• 'Digital Communities held together by the mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge' - JENKINS
• 'The original Sims series has the most emergent fan culture of a single player game in history' - PEARCE
• ‘We were probably responsible for the first million or so units sold but it was the community which really brought it to the next level’

What examples of intertextuality are discussed in relation to The Sims? (Look for “replicating works from popular culture”)

• They had 'skins' that depicted characters from 'Star Trek, Star Wars, The C Files and Japaese manga and anime' as well as recreate their favourite fictional worlds within the confines of the Sims by decorating their homes accordingly as well as constructing their favourite characters.

What is ‘transmedia storytelling’ and how does The Sims allow players to create it?

• 'Transmedia storytelling' is the process in which the primary text is encoded over multiple media platforms and The Sims helped pioneer this model as they allowed players from different fandoms to create and construct alternate universes with their favourite characters and create fictitious scenarios in which they control their favourite superheroes etc. 

How have Sims online communities developed over the last 20 years?

• It has gone from a small cult following to a large multi million figure audience who use The Sims as a media platform to create and construct their own headcanons for a multitude of different fandoms and interests and share them online. 

Why have conflicts sometimes developed within The Sims online communities?

• Creators want to commodify their mods but non-creators believe the content should be free as it is an extension of the original game and the hierarchy becomes heterogeneous as people gain more status and respect for their ability to create whilst their non-creative counterparts do not have that ability- mirroring the conglomerate/consumer structure on a smaller scale. 

What does the writer suggest The Sims will be remembered for?

• 'The cult following that it engendered well beyond the lifespan of a popular computer game'

Read this Henry Jenkins interview with James Paul Gee, writer of Woman as Gamers: The Sims and 21st Century Learning (2010).

How is ‘modding’ used in The Sims?

• Both technically to improve technical skills and for social interactions and emotional intelligence.

Why does James Paul Gee see The Sims as an important game?

• He sees it as a 'real game' that takes gamers 'beyond gaming'

What does the designer of The Sims, Will Wright, want players to do with the game?

• Will Wright wants to 'empower people to think like designers and to organise themselves around the game to learn new skills and think creatively'

Do you agree with the view that The Sims is not a game – but something else entirely?

• Yes. I think that The Sims gives an outlet for creativity but to also empower your own ideologies underneath a hegemonic circumstance- people can create someone who is their ideal version of themselves, be it negative or positive, and live vicariously through them. 

How do you see the future of gaming? Do you agree with James Paul Gee that all games in the future will have the flexibility and interactivity of The Sims?

• I think that you can already see the change from media constructed to self constructed gameplay through the popularisation of the sandbox genre in recent years as well as the growing flexibility of creating your own avatars and making your own decisions in well known franchises for both mobile and console. This is a huge change from the early video games and therefore I do believe the future of gaming is within the false pretense of creative license due to the rise of fandom culture and want for autonomy within a game.