THE SIMS FREEPLAY CSP: AUDIENCE AND INDUSTRY
Audience
1) What game information is provided on this page? Pick out three elements you think are important in
terms of making the game appeal to an audience.
- "Play in real time and control your virtual world!"
- "Choose every aspect of your Sims lives"
- "start creating your dream life today! "
2) How does the game information on this page reflect the strong element of participatory culture in The Sims?
- Customisation is emphasised in the app store description
3) Read a few of the user reviews. What do they suggest about the audience pleasures of the game?
- Majority of the reviews have high ratings showing that there is audience satisfaction and that they are happy with the game.
Participatory culture
1) What did The Sims designer Will Wright describe the game as?
- Will Wright describes it as akin to ‘a train set or a doll’s house where each person comes to it with their own interest and picks their own goals.
2) Why was development company Maxis initially not interested in The Sims?
- The board of directors thought that ‘doll houses were for girls, and girls didn’t play video games.
3) What is ‘modding’? How does ‘modding’ link to Henry Jenkins’ idea of ‘textual poaching’?
- A culture wherein players were able to modify game assets by manipulating the game code with the sanction of the rights owners, and to share their new creations via personal websites and online.
4) Look specifically at p136. Note down key quotes from Jenkins, Pearce and Wright on this page.
-‘The original Sims series has the most vibrant emergent fan culture of single-player game in history’.
- ‘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’.
5) What examples of intertextuality are discussed in relation to The Sims? (Look for “replicating works from popular culture”)
- From the early days of the game’s release, skins depicting characters from cult media such as Star Trek, Star Wars, The X-Files and Japanese anime and manga were extremely popular.
6) What is ‘transmedia storytelling’ and how does The Sims allow players to create it?
- Storytelling, a process where in the primary text encoded in an official commercial product could be dispersed over multiple media. The Sims space provided a playground for cult media fans, a stage for enacting fannish stories which could later be shared (via the game’s in-built camera and photo album) with other game players who had similar interests.
7) How have Sims online communities developed over the last 20 years?
- Sims online communities have shifted their on,in’s community to the internet with the rise of social media onto platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.
8) What does the writer suggest The Sims will be remembered for?
- For the cult following that it engendered well beyond the usual lifespan of a popular computer game; and also for the culture of digital production it helped to pioneer, one that remains such a staple of fan and game modding communities today.
1) Why does James Paul Gee see The Sims as an important game?
- It pushes players to practise social interaction and learn problem solving skills.
2) What does the designer of The Sims, Will Wright, want players to do with the game?
- He wants players to organize themselves around the game to become learn new skills that extend beyond the game, and to express their own creativity.
3) Do you agree with the view that The Sims is not a game – but something else entirely?
- I agree with this view as Sims is different to normal games as it allows people to live out alternative lives, which isn't a usual kind of game that people would create.
1) How has The Sims FreePlay evolved since launch?
- Updates, storylines and content designed from players feedback has allowed the game to develop.
2) Why does Amanda Schofield suggest ‘games aren’t products any more’?
- She means they are services built in partnership with players so they know when players are struggling with something new they've put in or respond to any problems.
3) What does she say about The Sims gaming community?
- She highlights the community's insightful comments.
4) How has EA kept the game fresh and maintained the active player base?
- They have been working to give players more tools and freedom to make their houses of their dreams.
5) How many times has the game been installed and how much game time in years have players spent playing the game? These could be great introductory statistics in an exam essay on this topic.
- It has been installed 300 million times. Players have logged 78,000 years of gameplay.
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2) What examples of downloadable content are presented?
3) How did Electronic Arts enrage The Sims online communities with expansion packs and DLC?
4) What innovations have appeared in various versions of The Sims over the years?
5) In your opinion, do expansion packs like these exploit a loyal audience or is it simply EA responding to customer demand?
The ‘Freemium’ gaming model
1) Note the key statistics in the first paragraph.
- "Freemium" games and their in-app purchases account for about 70-80% of the $10 billion or more in iOS revenue each year.
2) Why does the freemium model incentivise game developers to create better and longer games?
- Because players are continuously spending money on the game, as opposed to paying once and forgetting about it. Developers are then incentivized to put that stream of revenue directly back into the game to improve it.
3) What does the article suggest regarding the possibilities and risks to the freemium model in future?
- Suggests that companies should make it clear that their free games also require in-app purchases otherwise there could be situations such as getting sued.
Regulation – PEGI
1) How does the PEGI ratings system work and how does it link to UK law?
- "We have clear guidelines stating which levels of violence, sex, bad language and other issues are allowed at each of the different age ratings."
- "We also listen to the views of parents and young people to ensure the ratings remain up-to-date and reflect current views about what's appropriate for children of different ages to play."
2) What are the age ratings and what content guidance do they include?
- 3 - A very mild form of violence
- 7 - Very mild forms of violence (implied, non-detailed, or non-realistic violence)
- 12 - Show violence of a slightly more graphic nature towards fantasy characters or non-realistic violence towards human-like characters would fall in this age category. Sexual innuendo or sexual posturing can be present, while any bad language in this category must be mild.
- 16 - This rating is applied once the depiction of violence (or sexual activity) reaches a stage that looks the same as would be expected in real life. The use of bad language in games with a PEGI 16 rating can be more extreme, while the use of tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs can also be present.
- 18 - The adult classification is applied when the level of violence reaches a stage where it becomes a depiction of gross violence, apparently motiveless killing, or violence towards defenceless characters. The glamorisation of the use of illegal drugs and of the simulation of gambling, and explicit sexual activity should also fall into this age category.
3) What is the PEGI process for rating a game?
- Before a game is rated the company has to fill in a detailed questionnaire about what it contains. If a game is expected to receive a 12, 16 or 18 PEGI rating, based on the questionnaire, Games Rating Authority examiners will watch video footage of the game being played, showing all the elements that resulted in 'yes' answers on the questionnaire.
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