THE SIMS FREEPLAY CSP - LANGUAGE & REPRESENTATION

Language / Gameplay analysis

1) What elements of gameplay are shown?

- Rewards for regular playing (need to get a job).

- Toilet - tasks - growing up

2) What audience is the trailer targeting?

- Female target audience - more costume options when creating female Sims.

3) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?

- Home store

- Intertextuality - SimChef/MasterChef.

1) How is the game constructed?

- You are creating a life for a Sim character.

- You choose it's appearance and lifestyle and interests. 

2) What audience is this game targeting?

- Teens and young adults

3) What audience pleasures does the game provide?

- It allows for customisation as audiences are able to personalise their interests into characters.

- It also allows for a narrative to be as it lets you create your own stories and a life for a character.

4) How does the game encourage in-app purchases?

- They provide limited time offers on certain rewards which can encourage this.

Representations

1) How do the expansion pack (DLC) trailers reinforce or challenge dominant ideologies?

- It promotes education by showing the Sims studying.

- The boutique shop targets a female audience.

2) What stereotypes have you identified in The Sims FreePlay?

- Girls dancing ballet and boys doing karate.

- The boutique for females.

3) What media theories can you apply to representations in The Sims FreePlay?

- Van zoonen, who believes that the media portrays images of stereotypical women, e.g. girls doing ballet.

Representation Reading

1) How realistic does The Sims intend to be?

- The Sims 4 is an extension of the beloved fantasy about life in America, a fandango of shopping, working, defecating, and making woohoo in a suburban utopia where Simolians and skill points make the block go round.

2) How has The Sims tried to create more realistic representations of ethnicity?

- By adding more details to alter the appearance of a Sim with a less stereotypical ways of representing different ethnicities. 

3) How has The Sims responded to racism and sexism in society?

- “Our game is kind of a caricature of life. We don’t really have a message—there’s no racism message, there’s no tolerance message. We have same-sex marriage in our game. Our Sims will not discriminate based on gender preference whatsoever. But there’s a line where it becomes too real. The only manner of hatred we have in the game is between incompatible Sims, something that’s driven by the traits of the Sim—a hot headed Sim, or a Sim who hates children.“

4) What is The Sims perspective on gender fluidity and identity?

- “We strive for inclusion whenever possible. We look at our own diversity as a studio in terms of understanding what it is we want to achieve with the game."

5) How does The Sims reinforce the dominant capitalist ideologies of American culture?

- The game’s systems do embody a particular, largely American attitude of life as a goal-oriented, currency-driven quest toward fullfilling the handful of personality traits one’s given from birth.

1) How did same-sex relationships unexpectedly help the original Sims game to be a success?

- They received favourable press for being in same-sex partnerships, demonstrating that their sexuality was the most diverse.

2) How is sexuality now represented in The Sims?

- All kinds of sexuality is embraced with the game allowing you to choose your preferences.

3) Why have fans praised the inclusion of LGBTQ relationships in The Sims franchise?

- As it allowed for the LGBT group to be seen.

4) Why did the Sims run into regulatory difficulties with American regulator the ESRB? How did EA respond?

- They were originally given a T - rating but then changed to M- rating. Fans feared that the inclusion feature would be removed later so EA convinced the ESRB to maintain the game’s T-rating.

5) How is sexuality represented in the wider videogames industry today?

- LGBT is also represented in the game The Last of Us.

Reality, postmodernism and The Sims

1) What does the article suggest about the representation of real life in The Sims 4?

- "How do you escape “real life” when you’re playing a virtual version of it?"

2) What audience pleasures did the writer previously find in The Sims franchise?

- Escapism

3) Why the does the writer mention an example of a washer and dryer as additional DLC?

- "I have no desire to do laundry in real life, why would I do it in a Sims game after so many years of not having to at all? "

4) In your opinion, has The Sims made an error in trying to make the franchise too realistic?

- Yes because the main aim is to escape real life activities which they can't do if the game they play require them to complete these activities. 

5) How does this representation of reality link to Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality - the increasingly blurred line between real and constructed?

- Since people don't seem to be really escaping their everyday lives by playing The Sims FreePlay, it blurs the line between "real and constructed" as there isn't a difference between what's actually real and what is constructed.

The Sims FreePlay social media analysis

1) What is the purpose of The Sims FreePlay social media channels?

-  So audiences can interact with each other, for announcements, and customer feedback

2) Choose three posts (from either Twitter or Facebook) and make a note of what they are and how they encourage audience interaction or response.

- It's here! Our 103rd Update 'Home for the Holidays'!: shows they are informing audiences of updates made for seasonal reasons such as Christmas.

3) Scroll down the Facebook feed briefly. How many requests for new content can you find from players? Why is this such as an important part of the appeal for The Sims FreePlay?

- If audiences wants are satisfied it keep them engaged which keeps them playing the game.

4) What tweets can you find in the Twitter feed that refer to additional content or other revenue streams for EA?

- In game purchases.