Sims Turning Ten

EA has been kind enough to remind us that the Sims franchise is turning ten. As in, today.

February 4, 2000 saw the rise of a game that certainly changed the way many people think of games. When first getting into discussing games, and not just playing them, a former professor of mine was hosting colloquiums looking at how games served as narrative frameworks, and how they both borrowed from other media and used new frames with which to provide us our information.

One popular example he would use to look at how games allowed players interactivity and choice was The Sims. Love it, hate it, feel meh about it, it has helped us look again at the term gamer. In many ways, it feels like it has given rise to the 'casual' audience some gamers bemoan these days. As it boasts being the top-selling PC game of all time (and that's not really hard to believe, especially when they can state that the entire franchise has sold 125 million units worldwide), it's also helpful to remember the community the games have created: here was a new community of modders, designers, and machina-concerned tinkerers.

It was also among the first games to allow us--gay, lesbian, or bisexual gamers--to experience our romances in games. The series' evolution of our relationships, from 'roommates,' to civil partnerships, to full-on marriage, has been in line with the reflection of how our societies see these issues, and the importance visibility plays in having these issues discussed in even the most casual of spaces.

Therefore, when EA boasts:

If the games were buried in a time capsule, when unearthed in 100 years, The Sims would give future generations an instant understanding of how people lived between 2000-2010...

The popular franchise has also kept pace with societal trends such as "going green" with The Sims 3 allowing players to live off the land, grow their own food and or use pedal power or a Toyota Prius to travel, all in an effort to reduce their personal carbon Sim footprints.

I really see what social trends they have noted and included. College life, the rising trend of the young adult (not the same category as the novels or films catered to such) versus adult demographic, and, as I stated above, gay relationships.

As a fan, I hope for another ten years with as much experimentation as the past three titles have provided, based on the simple concept of Maslow's hierarchy as envisioned by Will Wright. It also makes me wonder what exactly this game will say to a new generation of gamers in not only game design but society in another ten years.