The Sims: Difference between revisions
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[[File:sims1_3591.png|frame|Where did the alien get a suit?]]
A people simulator from Maxis, the creators of the insanely popular ''[[
It's a game about [[Real Life]]. [[It Will Never Catch On]].
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* '''''The Sims 3''''' (2009), placed more emphasis on the neighborhood by making it all accessible in realtime and making all families age and evolve along with yours, but this could be turned off. It did away entirely with the Aspiration meter and removed Fears; instead, when you fulfill a Want, it just adds a positive "moodlet" to your physical-needs total, thus streamlining gameplay immensely. Lifetime Aspiration Score is retained, but the prizes you get from it are mostly modifications to the Sim's capabilities instead of physical objects ([[Bladder of Steel]], [[The Casanova]], etc). The [[Point Build]] Personality was removed in favor of five "Traits" which had direct and practical effects on gameplay: for example, an Athletic Sim learns the Athletic skill faster and gets more enjoyment out of their workouts; a Clumsy Sim trips everywhere, which can add a ''lot'' to transit times; and an Evil Sim can gain enjoyment from messing with other Sims, or use a coffee machine to [[Rule of Funny|make Evil Lattes]]. Finally, it added significant flexibility to the Sim- and object- design and customization options, though at the cost of very reduced support for user-generated, made-from-scratch objects, clothing and hairstyles.
* '''''[[The Sims Medieval]]''''' (2011) is a standalone [[Game Mod|Total Conversion]] that put the Sims in a [[Medieval European Fantasy]]. The game departs from ''The Sims'' formula to some extent, increasing the strategy and roleplaying aspects and removes the daily hindrances, such as the need to urinate, but still retains much of ''The Sims'' gameplay. The "Sim" the player nurtures throughout the game is the kingdom itself, though the populace can be customized as well. It is also one of the more violent games, featuring Religion, Alcoholism and Murder, themes not present in the older series without mods.
* '''''The Sims 4''''' (2014) omitted the open-world aspect and was released with features missing from the previous game, much to the outcry of players who expected features and mechanics from previous games to make a return, something which EA addressed in later expansion packs as well as patches, such as an update which brought back the toddler life stage. The game also attracted controversy in [[Russia]] due to its ability to assign same-sex relationships, a taboo subject in the country, leading to the game being given an 18+ rating. To EA's credit however, the console version of ''The Sims 4'' is a straight port of the Windows and macOS releases rather than a bespoke version of the game developed specifically for consoles, thereby sharing much of the same gameplay and feature set as its personal computer counterparts, including cheats.
All the mainline games have had, as of
If you want altered forms of play, there's ''MySims'' for the [[Nintendo Wii]] and [[Nintendo DS]], which has the dressings of ''[[The Sims]]'' but lacks a lot of the essentials of the game. Instead, it's more like ''[[Animal Crossing]]'', but for people who prefer to work with cute chibi humans instead of a bossy tanuki. There's also ''The Sims Social'' on [[Facebook]]. It combines the stamina meter and profusion of pickups from ''[[
''The Sims'' is known to be extremely addictive in most and/or all of its variants. The game includes tools which allows you to export your houses, Sims, and neighborhoods as [[Downloadable Content]] for other people; and, as mentioned, there is a huge variety of unofficial [[Game Mod|Game Mods]] which change the way the game functions. It has been used to create several works of fiction: Rooster Teeth Productions, creators of ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', were employed by EA to make "[[The Strangerhood]]" using ''The Sims 2'' as a marketing effort; and a British college student created a homeless-father-daughter drama blog called "[[Alice and Kev]]" using the third game.
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** There are mods which allow the player to give Sims specific sexualities; Gay, Bi, or Straight and mods to allow checking the internal value.
*** And there are several premade characters that are generally played gay, most notably Pascal Curious (who is actually set as straight), Beau Broke, Nervous Subject, and Frances (Maxis misspelled his name, not me) Worthington III.
***** Frances actually starts out with no sexuality. Him being gay seems to have become fanon though. (Could be the fault of [[Strangetown, Here
***** I've noticed that with Autonomous Casual Romance installed and gender preferences RANDOMIZED Frances is ALWAYS gay in my game.
***** Strangetown especially is a breeding ground for this. Most of the characters there are "passively" bisexual without the player's input(They won't autonomously flirt with someone of the same gender, but will not react negatively to one flirting with them). Buzz and Tank Grunt, as you probably figured, start the game rigidly straight, and they're pretty much the only ones. Nervous Subject, on the other hand, very much prefers men and reacts negatively to women flirting with him.
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* [[Forum Pecking Order]]: The official forum has its own variations and categories. The Gurus (those on ''The Sims'' team) are highest in the pecking order. Users with popular designs on the Exchange and users with technical know-how are also high rankers (and possibly the most likely to answer posts concerning glitches and bugs).
* [[Gayborhood]]: Possible with ''The Sims 2'' and ''The Sims 3'', though it will only work so far without the use of hacks, mods and/or [[Sim PE]].
* [[I
* [[Levitating Lotus Position]]: Meditating long enough also allows a Sim to levitate.
* [[Man of Wealth and Taste]]: Malcolm Landgrabb. His tuxedo [[Man in White|turns to white]] in ''The Sims Bustin' Out'' and ''The Sims 3''.
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** It's a simple matter to remove it, though. There was even a console command to do it at one point, but it was disabled, for [[Moral Guardians|obvious reasons]].
** In the console ports, your Mom calls out Malcolm Landgrabb with a pixellated [[Flipping the Bird|middle finger]] and [[Sound Effect Bleep|bleeped]] Simlish.
* [[Purely Aesthetic Gender]]: With the exception of urinals and pregnancy a Sim's sex is meaningless.
* [[Right Through His Pants]]: Sims do not pull their pants down when using the toilet, and in ''The Sims 2'', they get out of bed after Woo Hoo still wearing underwear. This is strange in that in the ''The Sims'', which had much less [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] (the "Play in Bed" option was only on one type of bed, babies came from lots of kissing, etc.) , people got out of bed after the "Play in Bed" interaction naked.
* [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]]: The Goth family. Hardly a moment goes by when they aren't mentioned in a pop-up, description, or message, and more than half of the entire series' [[Easter Egg|Easter Eggs]] are about them.
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*** Also now in ''The Sims 3'', you can woohoo in the shower and in the tree house. If you woohoo in the tree house, there's a possibility that the Sims will get a splinter.
* [[Writers Cannot Do Math]]: There are a ''lot'' of age discrepancies with characters who appear in both ''The Sims 2'' and ''The Sims 3''.
* [[You Have Researched Breathing]]: Sims created at higher age levels have no skills, not even basic ones like charisma or cooking that are acquired and built up by everyday actions.
== The Sims (and spinoffs) ==
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** Days of the week exist in the core ''The Sims 2'' and ''The Sims 3'' games, including children not going to school on weekends and every job having at least two days off during the week. Seasons were added in the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|aptly-named]] ''Seasons'' expansion pack of ''The Sims 2''.
* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: Malcolm donates the player a spare mansion in the console version, only to evict you in the sequel. He is later chased out of his new house by your mom, allowing the player to move in.
* [[Loading Screen]]: The more expansions you have, the longer it will take. The screen displays various phrases, which start out normal in ''The Sims'', but get sillier and sillier with each additional expansion added on, with the exception of "Reticulating Splines", which has been used as a standard Maxis loading screen phrase since ''[[
** The seventh (''FreeTime'') expansion for ''[[The Sims 2]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this---one of the phrases is "Writing Startup Scrolling Text Strings".
** Splines get reticulated, re-reticulated, scolded for reticulating...
*** In ''Apartment Life'', they get asked to reticulate more quietly.
*** [[Spore]] takes this gag [[Up to Eleven]] with the loading screen "Reticulating ''[[Just for Pun|Spines]]''".
*** The "Reticulating Splines" thing is silly too; it's a running gag that originated from the loading screen from ''[[
*** In "Teen Style Stuff" the Reticulating Splines line is "Like, totally reticulatiing splines, dude."
*** In ''The Sims 3'', Sims can write books on their computers, where the player selects the genre and a window pops up asking you to write a title, or giving you the option to stick with a pre-generated title. One of the pre-generated titles in the "nonfiction" genre is "Reticulated Splines: A History".
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** The original The Sims has a head in a jar on a vaguely human-body-shaped metal stand that can be bought as a statue.
* [[Modern Stasis]]: It's always [[The Present Day]] in [[Sim Nation]]. This results in a bizarre "timeless" world in which the great-grandparents of the current generation grew up with exactly the same technology.
* [[Most Gamers Are Male]]: One of the greatest subversions of this stereotype. A majority of ''The Sims'' fans [https://web.archive.org/web/20080922042019/http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2008/04/16/2008-04-16_women_really_click_with_the_sims.html are female], and the series has been credited with bringing more women into gaming and breaking down the gender divide.
* [[My Beloved Smother]]: "Mom" in the console version.
* [[Potty Dance]], [[Potty Emergency]], and [[Potty Failure]]
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*** [[Can't Unhear It|And now you'll notice it every time.]] You're welcome.
* [[Sugar Bowl]]: The whole game world. Though one can easily make a [[Crap Saccharine World]] out of it.
* [[Super Serum]]: In the ''Livin' Large'' expansion pack, Sims can create a variety of different potions using a chemistry set, which causes different effects when drunk depending on its [[
** Red - Makes the drinker's [[Heel Face Brainwashing|worst enemy]] [[Love Potion|fall in love]] with them.
** Orange - The drinker becomes temporarily [[Invisibility|invisible]], [[Power Perversion Potential|can enter bathrooms undetected]].
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** [[Somewhere an Ornithologist Is Crying|All Birds Are Parrots]]: There are five possible bird "species" to stock your birdcage with. Four do, in fact, resemble species of parrot. One, however, resembles a falcon. Yet it's still possible to "Teach Birdname to Talk" and "Play With Birdname" although in real life you would not play with a falcon without protective equipment, nor can you teach one to talk.
* [[Anal Probing]]: The (actually light green) [[The Greys|Greys]] in ''[[The Sims]] 2'' have pollination technicians, who abduct, probe, and impregnate [[Mister Seahorse|Sim men]].
* [[Back
** In the Gamecube version of ''The Sims 2'', it is very easy to kill your Sims. But a dead Sim is fully playable as a ghost Sim, and can barter for their life back from the Grim Reaper who hangs around a dead Sim's house. The contest of choice? A Fiddle Duel.
* [[Banana Republic]]: The "Tropical" holiday destination. It has [[Mayincatec]] ruins, a rainforest location but has hula dancing and Caribbean-esque food. Similarly the Far East vacation has a mish-mash of East Asian culture but has real Japanese food. The Woodland is a bit better and is based off of the Rocky Mountains - but in many European releases it's a strange mix of Scandinavia and Canada.
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* [[Nightmare Fetishist]]: Knowledge Sims roll wants to make zombies, get abducted by aliens, have a [[Near-Death Experience]], and become various types of supernatural creature.
** If you have ''Seasons'', they can roll wants to ''get hit by lightning''.
* [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]: ''The Sims 2'' allows the player to have aliens, zombies, vampires, werewolves, plant/human hybrids, and combine them as he/she deems [[Rule of Cool|cool]]. Vampire/werewolf/zombie ''robots'' are even possible. (Click [https://web.archive.org/web/20130721145759/http://thesims2.filefront.com/potd/70889 here] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20090321191425/http://forums.worldsims.org/gallery/showimage.php?i=1207&c=2 here] to see.) And add to this the fact that you can learn to teleport from a ninja...
** If only you could give them an eyepatch...
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20080628184223/http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=175765 Yarr!]
** Vampire PlantSims are, against all logic, ''easier'' to play than normal Sims. Sun lamps don't burn them.
* [[No Flow in CGI]]: Averted with the majority of hairstyles. Played straight with the clothes and many fan-created hairs.
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* [[Power of Love]]: If two Sims love each other enough, it's trivial to plead with the Grim Reaper.
* [[Pretty in Mink]] / [[It's Fake Fur, It's Fine]]: One of the expansions offers a fur coat for the ladies.
* [[Product Placement]]: By default, the only video game your Sims can play in ''The Sims 2'' is ''[[SSX]] 3'', though ''[[
** Plus, if you look closely at the scenes in some of the paintings you can buy, you will see places of even a character from the My Sims games.
** Not to mention the IKEA and H&M item packs.
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** Kind of a combination [[Sanity Meter]] and Happiness Meter, really. Sims at particularly high aspiration levels aren't more sane, just in better moods. When the meter hits rock bottom, they suffer...
* [[Sanity Slippage]]: ... in which they'll collapse in a total gibbering breakdown with deranged laughter, while doing a Aspiration-related lunatic act; for example, a Family-minded Sim will drop to the floor, and start cradling a burlap sack with a face scrawled on it, cooing maniacally and treating it like a real baby. The moment is always a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]], which will encourage players ''further'' to [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|be total dicks towards their Sim]] [[For the Evulz|just to see them driven to madness]]
* [[Self-Imposed Challenge]]: Players have come up with numerous challenges to make gameplay more interesting. There's the [https://web.archive.org/web/20140517191539/http://legacychallenge.com/ Legacy Challenge], the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130503102941/http://simscout.blogsome.com/mini-challenge-asylum
* [[Shout-Out]]: Many. One of the jobs in the adventurer career track is [[Austin Powers|"Multi-Regional Sim of Some Question."]]
** In final job in the Law career track your Sim [[Judge Dredd|becomes the law]].
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* [[Humanity Ensues]]: You can make an [[Imaginary Friend]] into a real human with the help of a [[Applied Phlebotinum|potion]]. The Imaginary Friend turned human will become a part of the household and get moodlets for doing "human things" for the first time such as eating or using the toilet.
** You can also gather several canopic jars in World Adventures to get a mummy to join your house, and then have them sleep in a Blessed Coffin of the Kings until they become human again.
* [[Half-Human Hybrid]]: One can have two different types of Sims to produce and offspring that's a hybrid. This is further expanded in ''Supernatural'', where one can have a create a vampire, werewolf, ghost, or a fae and have them mate with a sim of either of a different since it's seems to be the only way to create a hybrid offspring.
* [[Hybrid Overkill Avoidance]]: [[Robot Buddy|SimBots]] cannot become vampires. Mummies cannot become vampires. SimBots and vampires cannot become mummies, although one of their traits [[Discard and Draw|turns into the Evil trait]] if they try anyway. Any of the above, however, can be turned into ghosts and then made playable with an opportunity. Of course, this can be averted somewhat with a core mod.
* [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]]: Any Sim with a combination of evil and loser/unlucky traits.
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** This is also how the offspring of [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampires]] or [[Creepy Doll|imaginary friends]] inherit their traits. If both of them are paired together, you can even have Imaginary Friend-Vampire hybrid children.
** Sometimes hair and eye colors can appear in children even if their parents (or any related family member) don't have them.
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20130624035214/http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Melundell/SimsJunk/a00.png This is] a couple that has and always had dark hair. Their two older children have dark hair but their youngest child is blonde.<ref>The white-skinned Sim on the far right of the picture is unrelated to the family, but the blond kid in the middle is a game-generated child.</ref>
* [[Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club]]: The Outstanding Citizen Warehouse Corporation.
* [[Miser Advisor]]: Any Sim with both the Friendly and Mooch traits.
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* [[Sadist Show|Sadist Writer]]: Mean spirited Sims seems to be VERY good at writing stories that are focused on belittling or making fun of people and/or their political affilitration
* [[Screw Yourself]]: There is a bug that creates two copies of a person in one town. When they then meet at work or school, they quickly become best friends due to having the same exact interests. Naturally, this leads quickly to romance.
* [[Shirley Template]]: One of the pre-made Sims in the Roaring Heights world for ''The Sims 3'' is Shirley Templeton, a [[Composite Character|composite]] of both Temple and [[Little Orphan Annie]], perhaps playing on the popular misconception that Shirley once played the role of the comic strip icon.
* [[Shout-Out]]: Claire Ursine. Remember Claire Bear from TS1 ''Unleashed''?
** Also, likely to the joy of many a Troper - There is a [[Arrested Development (TV series)|Never Nude]] trait, as well as a Funke family. I lol'd.
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** One of the houses in Bridgeport from the ''Late Night'' expansion is named [[Back to The Future|Back to the Fuscia]].
** One of the pizza delivery boys is named [[Manos: The Hands of Fate|Torgo]] [[Mystery Science Theater 3000|Pendragon]].
** Another book your Sims can purchase is ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire|A Game of Thorns]]''.
** There is a seven book children's series, ''[[Harry Potter|Jimmy Sprocket]]'', which includes ''[[Harry Potter and
** One of the books your Sims can read is called ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird|To Mock A Killing Bird]]''.
** Another Time Machine [[Shout-Out]] - your Sim spots [[Alice in Wonderland|a white rabbit]], but wisely decides to leave it for "some other sucker" to chase.
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* [[Unicorn]]: Available in the ''Pets'' expansion pack, but they are rare.
* [[Unnamed Parent]]: Quite a few, such as Miraj and VJ Alvi's mother and Leighton Sekemoto's father. A family created with a single parent will fill have that parent's memories populated by a "mystery sim".
* [[Useless Useful Spell]]: Several skill challenges give rewards that are redundant with the skill level needed to acquire them. Repairing 10 electrical items makes a sim immune to being electrocuted, but repairing 10 electrical items alone will give a sim high enough handiness to not worry about it.
* [[Vegetarian Vampire]]: [[Shaped Like Itself|Vampires with the vegetarian trait]]. There are "plasma fruits" they can harvest and eat instead of drinking Sims' blood. Even more traditional vampires can't kill Sims they drink from, nor can they accidentally turn them.
* [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment]]: Sims in the Criminal Career could end up in jail, which happens at random. Same goes with Vampires if they get caught raiding a hospital and grocery for plasma.
** Detention are present if a child or teen gets caught breaking a rule, like sleeping in class or forgetting homework.
** In the Generation pack, a teen sim can pulls a serious prank at school, which runs the risk of the police taking action. Teen Sims can also do neighborhood pranks, but they could get caught.
* [[Virtual Paper Doll]]: There's even more customization options than in the first two games, and the ''Ambitions'' expansion pack lets your Sim become a stylist and change some of your neighbors' outfits.
* [[Weapons That Suck]]: The Banshee Banisher from Ambition's Ghost Hunter career.
* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]: Sims with the Daredevil trait can do things like "Take Extreme Shower until Extremely Clean," and "Have Extreme Half Soy Chai with Cinnamon Sprinkles".
* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?]]: Similarly, Sims with the Evil trait can do things like "Take Evil Bath" or "Evil Slumber". Also the above mentioned evil lattes and evil chai.
* [[Wild Mass Guessing]]: Just who the heck is [[Cute Ghost Girl|Lolita Goth]]?
** Maybe an [[Elegant Gothic Lolita]]?
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* [[Zombie Apocalypse]]: More like Vampire in the latest expansion and you can make it happen. Start off with a Young Sim and set the life span to epic. You then start making friends with everyone. Then you turn that Sim and host a party. You then start offering to turn everyone. Now you have half the town as Vampires. As vampires can't drink from each other, you may end up starving everyone.
** They could live on plasma fruits, though.
** In The Supernatural, a zombie outbreak can occur during a full moon. There are also potions to turn someone in a zombie, though it can be easily cured.
{{reflist}}
{{World Video Game Hall of Fame}}
[[Category:Construction and Management Games]]
[[Category:IOS Games]]
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[[Category:Wide Open Sandbox]]
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▲[[Category:The Sims]]
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[[Category:Virtual Worlds]]
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