Sims 2: The Art of Computer Games

## What's A Sim?

### The Birth of Sims

February 4, 2000 was the start to one of the greatest PC games of all time. The 2-D game with terrible graphics set the platform to a whole new world of gaming. It was't about winning or losing, having the highest score, or getting all of the achievements. It was about creating life and doing with it whatever you pleased. The game's huge success created millions of fans as well as a sequel: The Sims 2.

### The Sims 2: In the Beginning

The Sims 2 was released September 14, 2004. Since then, over 100 millions copies have been sold. It started out as one single PC game and expanded into games for Mac, GameBoy, Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox, Playstation and more. The game continued to grow by creating expansion packs to take your gaming to the next level. By 2009, you could add apartments, take your Sims to college, become a vampire, own a business, and go on vacation.

### Playing the Game

The first time you take your game out of the package and install it on your computer, you are given a world of options. The start-up screen gives you four options: Pleasentview, Strangetown, Veronaville, and Create-Your-Own Town. Each town, excluding the create option, has it's own story and characters. For example, In Veronaville you are given the Capps and the Montys. The families hate each other, but two teen characters, Juliette and Romeo, are madly in love and destined to be together. You have the option to chose one of these families and continue their lives, or you can dive in and create your own story. Just like real life, these Sims live in homes, have jobs, go to school, get married, have children, grow old, and die. The way these events happen are up to the player.

#### Creating Your Sim

Once you have clicked on the neighborhood of your choice you can begin by either expanding the neighborhood, choosing a family, or creating a sim. The Create-A-Sim option is on the bottom left panel of the screen. When clicked, you will be taken to a new screen where you can begin creating your Sim. There are six steps to creating a sim. Step one is choosing the name, gender, skin tone and body size. You also have the option to choose an already existing sims, or a randomly generated Sim. Step two is the head. There are five options of different heads that you can choose from. The heads resemble different races such a hispanic, african american, asian, and caucasian. They differ in lip, nose, eye, cheek and jaw sizes to give you a canvas of how you want your Sim to look. Step three is where the in-depth customization starts. This step allows you to change the hair, hair color, face, nose, eyes, eye color, cheeks, jaw, and lips to however you want. Step four is makeup and props. You have the option for your Sim to have different eyeshadows, mascaras, lipsticks, glasses, piercings, tattoos, glasses, and more. Step five is clothes. You choose for everyday outfits, formal wear, sleepwear, underwear, and outdoor wear. Step six is aspirations, astrological sign, turn-on's, and turn-off's. With this step, you can choose the goals your sims want to have. These aspirations are family, wealth, romance, logic, popularity, and pleasure. Depending on which one you choose your Sim to have, they will have different desires during the game-play. For example, with the logic aspiration you Sim will want to learn all of the different skills such as cooking, cleaning, mechanics, and logic. The astrological signs determine the characteristics of your sims, such a logic, fitness, and charisma. The turn-on's and turn-off's determine what your Sim likes in another Sims. For example, they may like a sim who has blonde hair and is a vampire, but may despise Sims who have black hair. While step four allows you to choose what your Sim looks like, step six defines the type of person your Sim is. Once you have completed this step your Sim is ready to go. You can choose to start their life or add more people to the household. By adding more people you can choose the relationship of your Sims. They can be spouses, siblings, parent, child, or roommate.

#### Choosing a Home

Once you have created you Sim, or family of Sims, you can now move them into a home. All families are given 20,000 Simoleons (Dollars) at the start of the game. With this money, you can move into a vacant house, move into a lot of land where you can build your own home, or move in with another family. (All lots have a maximum of eight people). Building houses is an advanced option players can choose to do on the Sims 2. To do this, you must click on the Build Mode option. You can either edit already built houses or start from scratch on empty lots. Lots range from different sizes and an be very small or very large. This gives you the option of having small shacks, houses, or even mansions. The possibilities are up to the player. For your houses, they can have foundations, walls, doors, windows, roofs, pools, and more. You can edit the walls and floors and choose different types of woods, tiles, and colors. You can also add different types of indoor and outdoor furniture to customize the game to your liking. You can create your house to look like a elegant victorian style home, a Western mansion, an Italian craftsman, and even more. It is all up to the imagination of the player.

#### Gameplay

Once your Sim and home is complete you are ready to start your life. Depending on the age of the Sim, it can complete different actions. As soon as you move into your home you are instantly greeted by neighbors. You have the opportunity to make friends, lovers, or enemies. Sims can socially interact with each other by telling jokes, starting fights, giving back-rubs, and doing other things that are not appropriate for younger eyes. The actions that Sims choose when interacting with each other changes their relationships. Relationships work on a points system. If your Sim is at a hundred points with another Sims, you are in the highest relation with that Sim. If your point system is at a zero, your Sim is enemies with that other Sim. Just like real life, failure to interact with your Sim-friends can ruin your relationship with them. So make sure you keep in touch by a phone or a dinner date if you want to keep your relationship with that Sim!

Another feature of Sims is the aspiration and memories. If you fulfill a Sim's want your aspiration meter increases. This leads to a number of features such as higher points to get lifetime rewards, or happier moods that increases the chances of your Sims having good interactions with others. Your Sim also has fears. If your Sim faces one of their fears, the aspiration meter falls. Doing these things will give your Sim memories that they will never forget.

Another feature of the Sim 2 is needs. As if your Sim were a real person, it has needs. They must shower, eat, sleep, use the bathroom, have entertainment, and interact with others. Failure to meet your Sims needs may result in death. Sims can die many certain ways. They can die by old age, drowning, fire, flies, starvation, lightning, and sunlight (if a vampire). When the death of a Sim occurs, their relationships with the people they know will end. The Sims who knew your Sim will mourn over the death, but soon enough they will forget their pains and move on in life.

## Taking Your Sim to the Next Level

### Cheats

Once people started playing The Sims 2 they started discovering cheats. These cheats allowed gameplay to become easier and sometimes more efficient. Cheats gave the players options for their Sims that they never had before. An example of this is modifying the Sims during gameplay. Once your Sim has been created, you cannot go back and change how they look. With this cheat, you can go back and fix your Sim's face, color, and weight to however you want. Cheats also allow players to kill other Sims, get money, have babies (without trying), and get abducted by aliens. You can also use cheats to gain skill points that you could only gain by reading books or practicing skills. Another cheat that is provided is changing the wants and needs of the Sims. With this cheat you can make it to where you Sims never get hungry, use the bathroom, shower, or have to sleep. This cheat can also alter relationships your Sim has with other Sims by simply moving the friendship bar up or down.

### Mods

As it is with every other game, people always find a way to change how the game is played. For The Sims, people do this with mods, or modifications. Modifications allow players to add custom content to the game. Custom content can range from hairstyles, eye colors, outfits, furniture, and houses. Modifications give The Sims 2 limitless opportunities for gameplay. Usually highly skilled Sim players add mods into their game. Mods require not only knowledge of The Sims 2, but knowledge of the computer as well. There are many different websites that allow people to add custom content into their games. These websites include modthesims, xmsims,thesimsresource, parsimonious, and many, many more. These content websites require the user to download the custom content to the computer, add it to The Sims 2 file, and then enabling it on the game. Many people offer videos online as ways to help people learn how to add content to their computer. These content website allow players to make their Sims look more realistic. While the graphics on The Sims 2 is of decent quality, mods can make a huge difference in the appearance of the game.

## It's More than Just a Neighborhood

While the game is great as a pastime, it can extend far beyond that. When the expansion pack *Nightlife* was added, there was an option to connect online at the startup screen. By connecting online, players could talk with other players on The Sims 2 website. The website created a way for players to discuss their Sims 2 gameplay. It also allowed players to upload their own creations to share with others. This allowed other players the opportunity to see the masterpieces other Sim players created. The website was a huge hit for Sims 2 players, but unfortunately as The Sims 3 and 4 came out, the Sims 2 retired and the website was removed.

The forces of the Sims came together, and fortunately, the retirement of The Sims 2 did not stop players from interacting with one another. The Sims 2 began to spread online to other websites, and even more communities were born through the love of the Sims. These online communities exist on Wikia, tumblr, Sims Cave, Sims VIP, and more. These websites allow players to share their experiences through stories, pictures, and videos of their gameplay.

Players take their gameplay to the next level by adding videos online on websites like Youtube. These tech-savvy players make video series about their Sims. They use their computer creations to makes illustrations of life. They reenact movies and television shows, as well as original shows. These videos can go into series, and people subscribe to these channels because they become attatched to these videos and will wait for the newest ones to come out. Another way players take their Sims to the next level is through reenacting music videos. Players also make their own music videos to songs. They will create scenes that fit to the words of the songs. Custom content allows players to make their videos almost identical to the ones they are reenacting.

   The Sims 2 opened a door of opportunities for players. Producers could have never imagined how far players would take this game when they created it in 2004. Fans of The Sims were given a complex, life-simulating game, and yet somehow they took it and created a whole new world. They found loopholes through cheats, used advanced computer programs to make mods, and found ways to turn their creations into life for everyone to see. Through these things, players have come together and have made a neighborhood much stronger than any Pleasentview or Veronaville. They made a SimNation.

## Art or Game of Life?

The Sims is one of the greatest computer games of all time, but can it be more than just a game? When comparing The Sims to art, one could say that the player is a painter, using the game as a blank canvas to create whatever they desire. In this sense, The Sims 2 could very well be considered art. However, Robert Ebert states in his article *Video Games Can Never Be Art* that "I remain convinced that *in principle,* video games cannot be art." Yet when looking at the game, its artistic qualities and contemplations on life's meaning give this game qualities that can very well be found in art. The greatest argument about art is its definition. What defines art? Who is to say one form of media is art while another is not? Wikipedia states that art is "a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities, usually involving imaginative or technical skill." When comparing the definition to The Sims 2, art fits the game like a glove. The Sims 2 is a diverse product of human activity that involves imagination and technical skill. The game involves imagination through the player and technical skill through the creators of the game. Players also require technical skill when creating modifications to the game. If The Sims 2 fits this definition of art, then why is it arguable that it isn't art?

In Ebert's article, he discusses with Kellee Santiago different video games and artworks and how they do not relate to each other. In his discussion, he stated "These three are just a small selection of games, she says, "that crossed that boundary into artistic expression." IMHO, that boundary remains resolutely uncrossed." Ebert is stating that video games do not meet the requirements of art, and therefore strikes the argument that games are not art. Art is defined by the critique, and just as there is good and bad art, there are good and bad critiques. While Ebert may be a good reliance in the critiquing of movies, his lack of experience with video games cause him to be an unreliable critique of video games. With Ebert's lack of knowledge for video games, it is difficult to rely on his opinion. In his article he states he has never and will never play a video game. If this is the case then how can he be a critique of video games? He argues that there is no medium in art, but how can one tell the medium when they do not experience it? One consequence of his lack of knowledge is that it leads him to believe that video games require the player to win. The Sims 2 gives a great defense to this statement by proving not all games have a winner. There is no winning or losing in The Sims 2. It is just experiencing the course of life. This example proves that Ebert's lack of experience with games falsifies his trustworthiness to be a critique of games. Ebert cannot back up his statement that video games have not crossed the boundary of artistic expression because he has never experienced a video game, and therefore it counteracts his statement.

While Ebert is true to his belief of how video games are not art, Ian Bogost stands firm in the truth that video games are art. Even more, he states they are their own type of art. In his book *How To Do Things With Video Games,* he writes "[*game art]* suggests that games can be construed natively as art, within the communities of practice and even the industry of games, rather than by pledging fealty to the fine art kingdom." Bogost is suggesting that most people have a very stern and traditional view on art and that they have built up a kingdom for this fine art, but he also is saying that art does not and should not be categorized into this sole art form. Like every other type of art, g*ame art* comes in many different forms. One of these being proceduralism. Bogost describes proceduralism as "a game about human relationships" that "embraces simplicity of representation bent neither toward the pixelated pang of nostalgia nor the formal austerity of abstract emergence". Through the experiences players get from The Sims 2, some could easily say it brings back certain memories of the past through their relationships with their Sims. The Sims 2 also creates thoughts and ideas not physical or concrete with the object of the game. Bogost also states that in proceduralism games "expression arises primarily from the player's interaction with the games interaction and dynamics". This clearly explains how expressions arise in The Sims 2. One reason is because there is no object of the game. The Sims 2 is an open-ended game, and therefore, players can make the game out to be whatever they want. They have the opportunity to feel however they want about their characters and the stories that they give them. Wether one believes games are or not art, it cannot be denied that this game can provoke emotions and conjure past memories.

These arguments strike up an argument from the past. Before games, television, or any form of technology there was written literacy. The written word was the only way people could record information, but as humankind progressed with its intellectual capabilities through discoveries in technology, people found a new way to record information. Technology created online literature that created a way for people to interact through other ways than writing. Yet as this newfound technology was created, questions arose about the effect it would have on written literacy. There were concerns that written literacy would be destroyed and that technology would damage human life. Walter Ong's book *Orality and Literacy* discussed this argument and came to a startling conclusion. He stated that "technology, properly interiorized, does not degrade human life but on the contrary enhances it." The argument concluded that technology makes life better, it just took time for people to understand that. This argument greatly relates to video games. It is clear that video games like The Sims 2 have made life better for people by creating a way to connect with others in a way they could never have connected before. Ong states that " the fact is that by using a mechanical contrivance, a violinist or an organist can express something poignantly human that cannot be expressed without the mechanical contrivance". Taking this and relating it to Ebert's statement, "Melies seems to me vastly more advanced than her three modern video games. He has limited technical resources, but superior artistry and imagination", Ong could very well say Ebert's statement is invalid. Ebert is stating that Melies is far better than the video games because he is more superior in his artistry and imagination. If Ebert were using this same logic he would conclude that the very thing he loved is not better than a play of the film he was comparing to the video games. This is because the technical resources used in the making of that film was conducted because of someone else's discovery in technology. Ong said that the violin and the organ expressed something that couldn't be expressed without technology. It is the very same for Ebert's films, and it is the very same for video games.

According to the Wikipedia definition of art, imagination and technical skill are two main factors in determining what is and is not considered art. Ebert, Bogost, and Ong could spend days debating how art could and could not fit into this definition, but because there is no solid definition of what art can and cannot be, there is no way of deciding whether video games qualify as a category of art. One thing for certain, though, is that imagination and technical skill are found in a game like The Sims 2. Just like any instrument or tool, it expresses something poignantly human that cannot be expressed without the mechanical contrivance. The Sims 2 has built communities. It has brought people together through shared experiences and emotions. It has painted a beautiful picture of how something so advanced, like a life-simulating game, can be taken and sculpted into something entirely new. There is no winning or losing to this game. There is no competition or high score. This is a game that provokes emotions and establishes relationships. It is used to create movies and stories to be shared with other people. Art is beauty, and it is clear that this is something beautiful. This leads me to believe that one day it will be discovered that video games are beneficial to society and that The Sims 2 is more than just a game of life. Just as the violin and the organ are seen as mediums of art, video games will to be seen as one.