#classic sims

[rikdrawsthings]

[ivy-saurs]

my sims were just fucking in a hot tub and then one of them got abducted by aliens immediately afterwards 😭

[theromanticscrooge]

A Short Discussion About Classic Sims, The Nostalgic Living Dolls

Around 2004, the first iteration of The Sims was at the end of its life cycle as the biggest PC game on the market at the time and a juggernaut genre-starter (compared to the many different life sims and in-development options there are now).

'Dollhouse' was a very apt nickname for the early development days of the original Sims. The locked top-down perspective, the deliberate isometric environments with only so many perspectives a player can view their pixelated 'dolls' from, the blocky aesthetic of the 'dolls' themselves, as well as the limited interactions with the world and objects around them. These objects and environments were lovingly rendered and hold up decently well in the way a specific, careful stylization can.

Create a virtual pixel person and follow their journey through life to an (untimely) demise. The first Sims were immortal outside of tragic pool ladder accidents and getting bitten by unhappy guinea pigs among other various gruesome or hilariously cartoonish deaths.

Though, with the original Sims, the game was more about game-ifying the tight rope walk of work-life balance, if not an exercise as a vicarious 'American Dream.' The more expensive and higher-quality an item or the Sims' overall surroundings, the 'happier' they are according to how green their various needs bars are. While Sims slowly gained access to more quality of life additions beyond cushy objects, such as vacations, date venues, and furry friends, general life was such a grind that players cheated (through cheat codes, mods, or even in-game short cuts like getting their palm read) if they wanted to thoroughly explore and enjoy these new gameplay options vs just the needs balancing act. Even making and maintaining friendships was a grind. Outside NPC Sims are just as finicky as the playable ones. They just don't have as obviously visible needs indicators unless the situation is so desperate there's a flashing red thought bubble above their head.

While these Sims were engaging, whatever stories players assigned to them were woven together between the playful flavor text of in-game items or pop-up displays and the player's theater of the mind. Arguably, the more dynamic storytelling tools and mechanics so many players fell in love with started with Sims 2.

These next-generation Sims had a means of telling their god what they wanted through the slot-machine adjacent UI. For example, a fortune Sim happily reminds the player of their frivolous, extravagant shopping list with constant requests for luxury cars and the ever-more-expensive 'x' whether their current disposable income covered it or not. And don't forget the regular fourth wall breaks when a Sim looked up at that same god and complained, very vocally, about having to wash the dishes.

Also, Sims 2 has some of the most recognizable and iconic characters in the franchise. Pleasantview is especially notorious. The neighborhood Casanova Don Lothario is engaged to Cassandra Goth, the daughter of the richest man in town, Mortimer Goth. He's having an affair with Dina Caliente, a gold-digger, who is Mortimer Goth's young love interest and former sister-in-law. Not to mention, Don's also seeing Dina's twin sister Nina and neither one knows about him being involved with the other. That's just scratching the surface of the soap-operatic nonsense of Pleasantview's overall story.

Many Simmers have touched on the prompts that pop up when a player first enters the house of a pre-made Sim in one of the three playable neighborhoods from the Sims 2 base game: Pleasantview, Strangetown, or Veronaville. The prompts suggest the player invite the maid to hang out after her shift to kick off an extramarital affair or to use a gnarly-looking vacuum to suck up skill points from the nearby unwitting test subject. The prompts work in concert with whatever story this pre-made Sim or household has. It's a start to a sandbox choose-your-own adventure story as well as a unique means to introduce the player to what mechanics and chaos the game allows. Don Lothario's nonsense is a decent starting place for showcasing how many different romantic relationships a Sim could have as well as the consequences for cheating if they get caught.

There's so much attention to detail. Players glean further story details from poking around through a Sim's relationships panel, their memories, their family tree, the artfully crafted screenshots in their family's virtual scrapbook. In the classic "Bella was abducted by aliens" plotline, there's so much room for connecting the dots between the screenshot of Don and Bella on Don's condo rooftop, Don's memory of getting rejected for a make-out, the Caliente sisters having an extraterrestrial grandparent. There's enough of a story thread and parts to put together, it stirs the imagination. There's so many possibilities for what led to the game's present-day and so many different directions it could go from that present-day.

In a nutshell, the Sims 2 has the right mix of attention to detail and ambiguous, but engaging story threads that the characters and stories still captivate players 20 years later.

[naileklegacy]

Classic Sims #1

[ratztom]

Happy Simanniversery ! Bella Goth and Tragic Clown

[warpingreality]

let's play SimCity 2000 and fail to not destroy

I had a lot of fun building a lovely beautiful city for everyone to enjoy. Yep, that's exactly what happened. ▬▬▬▬▬ videos every monday, friday & sunday at 9...

I tried out SimCity 2000! Once I figured out how to play, I caused a lot of destru-I mean, made a beautiful town. Yep, that's exactly what happened.

Thank you for watching! 

[ratztom]

Tragic Clown

[cosmicvow]

just gave birth but I gotta unlock the rest of this battlepass