What is the appeal of The Sims?

[Nubclear]

Why is it that every time I look at a sales chart, The Sims 2 and all of its little expansion packs are dominating? Why do people keep buying this game?
Sure, it can be amusing for a while. Certainly not amusing enough to merit buying an expansion pack (or five).

Why?!

[snoopy369]

Mostly to torture DrSpike

I suspect people like the whole living out another's life thing... also that it's an easy to play game that's not particularly competitive, meaning it appeals to a relatively underserved market. IE, it's one of few games (Movies is another) that appeals to someone other than teenage boys or aged teenage boys

[vee4473]

incoming Spike...


3

2

[Wiglaf]

Sims appeals to older women who sit around the house. I learned this from the Sims internet forums.

[Solver]

And younger women...

[Wiglaf]

no usually older ones with nothing to do

[Dis]

Re: What is the appeal of The Sims?

Originally posted by Tacc
Why is it that every time I look at a sales chart, The Sims 2 and all of its little expansion packs are dominating? Why do people keep buying this game?
Sure, it can be amusing for a while. Certainly not amusing enough to merit buying an expansion pack (or five).

Why?!

women

I did have fun with it for a little while, but no desire to buy any expansion packs. In fact, the sequal really wasn't that different from the original (aspirations being the main difference). It still takes a 1/2 hour to take a piss.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
Sims appeals to older women who sit around the house. I learned this from the Sims internet forums.

why were you hanging around sims internet forums? picking up on milfs?

[DaveV]

My theory: The Sims is a virtual dollhouse for people who are too old (or embarassed) to play with real dolls. My 13-year-old daughter spends lots of time creating families, building houses for them, and leading them through their lives (she always uses the money cheat so she's not constrained by cash). She waits eagerly for each expansion pack, and trots dutifully out to the store to buy it.

She always loved playing with dolls when she was younger, but had trouble persuading her brother, my wife, or me to play with her. Now the computer will always play whenever she wants to, for as long as she wants. If she tires of a particular family's story, she moves on to another one. The game has zero appeal for me, but it sure works for her.

[Solver]

Exactly, as Dave says. I don't think there's any other game as popular with pre-teen and teenage girls. They're not the first group of people you imagine as the audience for games, but with The Sims, it seems to actually be the case.

[CapTVK]

And with that they created the ideal moneymaker. I´m not a big fan of the Sims but i admire the concept. The Sims was original at the time...well not if you count "little computer people" from the 80´s.

[Solver]

Yeah, the real cash-cow power comes from the fact that, as they verified, expansions sell very well while adding almost nothing in terms of quality and only adding quantity. An expansion with more stuff to buy, decorate homes with and such sells well - it doesn't need to have gameplay changes, the audience probably doesn't even want gameplay changes.

[snoopy369]

I don't think there's much gameplay to change Perhaps except for minor balance issues, but again there's not much to balance

The wonders of the sandbox I really wonder why they don't just enable sandbox mode (money cheat) permanently and make it an option you can select to NOT have active, instead of the other way around. Probably make a lot of people happy

[Skanky Burns]

My neice knew the money cheat when she was 4 years old. So the Sims has a functional purpose - to increase the computer literacy of its users (slightly).

[Adagio]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Mostly to torture DrSpike