By the beginning of the twenty-first century, Will Wright had become synonymous with simulation games. He had let players control a city, an ant and even the entire world. Wright and Maxis turned from such big ideas to a game win which a player would control the life of a person. The player would make sure that basic needs were met and watch as this person lived their life. The result was The Sims, a game that would bring a certain demographic to video games that had been neglected.
There is no real plot to The Sims. A player would choose a character and become something of a very hands on God as they charted where the person would go and what they would become. Sims would do a few things without being told, such as eat and go to a job. The important stuff would be decided by the player. You would choose what items and even what house your Sim would live in. This created a game where every time there was a new choice. The Sim may not do the same things at the same time. altering what would happen to them.
The game was a massive success, popular enough to warrant the creation of DLC add ons as well as start a franchise that is going strong even today. There is just something fascinating about seeing what type of life your Sim would have. There is also a degree of randomness as you could do everything right and your Sim would still die from an unforeseen event. There was control, but much like life, sometimes things just happened. This could also be true of the female gamers who came to the game.
Women like video games, even though the medium caters to the male player. The Sims was a game that was made for every player, but it’s main audience was women. This proved that a game could be enjoyed by both sexes. The level of customization extended to the LGBT community as the sexual orientation of the Sim could be changed. Future games have updated graphics and choices, but the gameplay has not changed. Wright was not out to make a groundbreaking game, but The Sims was actually a game that could be enjoyed by anyone.
