An unlikely hit
For the uninitiated, the Sims was a pioneer of what’s become known as a sandbox game. There is no predetermined objective, no rules, and no story arc. Simmers (as Sims players are known) develop their own player with whatever attributes they like and then they do whatever they want.
“You can redecorate your house, take your Sim on an adventure you can’t do in real life yet, try on a new personality or style, live somewhere new,” Pearson said. “Players can experiment and express themselves in ways that they can’t find in other games or entertainment.”
That’s more revolutionary than it sounds. When The Sims debuted 25 years ago, it dispensed with a protocol that had existed since Atari’s Pong opened millions of Americans to digital gameplay in 1972. Video games had always been linear, with set rules, and ways to win. Sims creator Will Wright had a different idea—allowing players to cook up their own experience.
And his bosses hated it.
“A game about taking out the trash and cleaning out your bathroom… just doesn’t sound very interesting,” Wright said in a 2020 interview with GamesRadar+, “compared to saving the world or flying a jet fighter.” With little support from management, Wright worked on The Sims on the side and, when the game finally debuted, few expected it to find an audience.
But it did. To date, The Sims has sold over 200 million copies, and, last year alone, players spent 1.2 billion hours inside The Sims 4, its latest version.
As it turned out, gamers liked the autonomy and the creativity. And in some cases, what they appreciated most was the privacy.
Creating a version of you
“I think the main reason [for The Sims’ endurance] is that it provides an outlet for expression for people,” said Jamie Madigan, a psychologist who’s studied video games and authored several books about their impact. “You can create your Sim to look like what you want—an idealized version of you or somebody else completely.”
And since a gamer won’t encounter any other players in the game unless they choose to, The Sims allows the freedom for players to express themselves without fear of being recognized, judged, or harmed.
That freedom from provocation applies to the word both outside and inside the actual game. In the Pew survey from last year, 41% of respondents said they’d been called an offensive name by a fellow gamer while playing, and 12% reported having been physically threatened. The vast majority—80%—said that bullying in a video-game environment is a problem.
It’s no surprise, then, that a portion of Sims fans are members of socially marginalized populations, in particular the LGBTQ+ community.
