Videogames: The Sims FreePlay part 1 - Language & Audience

Videogames: The Sims FreePlay part 1 - Language & Audience

Language / Gameplay analysis

Watch The Sims: FreePlay trailer and answer the following questions:

1) What elements of gameplay are shown?

- Relationships
-Pet care

- Dream lifestyle 

- Marriage

2) What audience is the trailer targeting?

As the game is based around the idea of creating the perfect and ideal lifestyle of your dream, it mostly targeted at women as women tend to fantasise about their future and leading a better lifestyle more than men usually tend to from a young age. This therefore also means that the game is most likely targeted at females in their teens going up to their 20's. 

3) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?

One of the audience pleasures suggested by the trailer is personal identity as players get the chance to try new things and construct their dream lifestyle within the game which could give them the chance to find themselves and identify their dreams and ambitions in the real world.  

Now watch this walk-through of the beginning of The Sims FreePlay and answer the following questions:

1) How is the game constructed?

The game is constructed to be seen as the ideal world where you have things happening the way you'd wish for it to and in order to play the game you'll need to look after your 'sim' and make purchases within the game to build your dream lifestyle.

2) What audience is this game targeting?

The game is targeted at a female audience as they'd be more into the idea of playing a game in which you can create your ideal life and live your 'fantasy'. 

3) What audience pleasures does the game provide?

The game offers audience pleasures such as personal identity, relationships and escapism.

4) How does the game encourage in-app purchases?

You can speed up the time it takes to build things within the game by paying for it and you can also purchase exclusive products. 

Audience

Read this App Store description and the customer reviews for The Sims FreePlay and answer the following questions:  

1) What critics reviews are included in the game information section?

- 5 STARS ...The Sims FreePlay is everything you could ever want a freemium Sims game to be.” (Gamezebo)

- “10/10 …one of the most addictive and highly polished games available and there’s no excuse for anyone to not download it; especially since it is free to play (the clue’s in the title).” (God is a Geek)

- “...plenty of hours of fun... at an excellent, non-existent, price.” (148Apps)

2) What do the reviews suggest regarding the audience pleasures of The Sims FreePlay?

The game is very similar to real life which is why is why some audience easily get trapped into the game for hours.

3) How do the reviews reflect the strong element of participatory culture in The Sims?

Reviews show how passionate players are about the game as alongside playing the game, they're also taking time off their day to give feedback on the game in order for EA to know what their audiences are enjoying or what they dislike so that they can work on it to better their experience.

Participatory culture

Read this academic journal article - The Sims: A Participatory Culture 14 Years On. Answer the following questions:

1) What did The Sims designer Will Wright describe the game as?

He described it as ‘a train set or a doll’s house where each person comes to it with their own interest and picks their own goals’

2) Why was development company Maxis initially not interested in The Sims?

The company board thought that the "doll-house" concept of the game was for "little girls and girls didn't play video games."

3) What is ‘modding’?

Modding is modifying the game with user-created content.

4) How does ‘modding’ link to Henry Jenkins’ idea of ‘textual poaching’?

'Textual poaching' refers to the contribution of consumers and audiences to a product or a franchise, through activities such as writing fanfictions, drawing fanart and cosplaying. The Sims' consumers are also consumers and audiences who have contributed to the game's production value by enabling other members of the Sims community to share and experience their creations that have been modified. Audience are able to 'own the game' by creating their own versions of different available lifestyles which gives them the opportunity to express themselves.

5) Look specifically at p136. Note down key quotes from Jenkins, Pearce and Wright on this page.

- ‘The original Sims series has the most vibrant emergent fan culture of a single-player game in history’.

- ‘There were already more than fifty fan Web sites dedicated to The Sims. Today, there are thousands’.

- ‘We were probably responsible for the first million or so units sold but it was the community which really brought it to the next level’ (ibid). Whereas the game itself gave consumers a base neighborhood, wardrobe and furniture sets to play with, the players themselves turned producers (or produsers, to cite Axel Bruns’.

6) What examples of intertextuality are discussed in relation to The Sims? (Look for “replicating works from popular culture”)

Audience have the opportunity to recreate things from popular cultures such as Star Wars and anime shows. 

7) What is ‘transmedia storytelling’ and how does The Sims allow players to create it?

"Transmedia storytelling - when the primary text encoded in an official commercial product could be dispersed over multiple media.both digital and analogue in form (Jenkins 2007)."

8) How have Sims online communities developed over the last 20 years?

The Sims online community has developed more over the years as the game offers a wider range of ethnic backgrounds and looks of characters to choose from which would've attracted more customers as they'd feel like the game is suited for them and feel a sense of belonging within the game. The fan community has also grown more and more as the game releases different versions for players to choose from and play.

9) Why have conflicts sometimes developed within The Sims online communities?

Sims gives audience to construct a lifestyle in a way they wish to and make modifications to suit their preferences which other audiences may not like and could possibly show hate towards it which could cause conflict when they decide to express their opinion. 

10) What does the writer suggest The Sims will be remembered for?

What it will be remembered for, I think, is for the cult following that it engendered
well beyond the usual lifespan of a popular computer game.

Read this Henry Jenkins interview with James Paul Gee, writer of Woman as Gamers: The Sims and 21st Century Learning (2010).

1) How is ‘modding’ used in The Sims?

"Create challenges and game play that is simultaneously in the game world, in the real world, and in writing things like graphic novels."

2) Why does James Paul Gee see The Sims as an important game?

He sees it as more than a game as it is a way players are able to express themselves.

3) What does the designer of The Sims, Will Wright, want players to do with the game?

He wants players to think like designers and create their own content around his game as a way to express themselves and things they would like to achieve. 

4) Do you agree with the view that The Sims is not a game – but something else entirely?

I can see why Sims is seen as more than just a game in some peoples eyes as unlike standard games, Sims allows its players to express themselves and feel a sense of comfort and set real life goals by putting their vision into this game and seeing how it plays out.

5) How do you see the future of gaming? Do you agree with James Paul Gee that all games in the future will have the flexibility and interactivity of The Sims?

It all depends on the type of game it is as having this much flexibility by destroy the whole gameplay element of another game as all games have their own uniqueness.