The Sims - Video Case Study

The Sims is a strategic, life simulation video game series developed by Maxis and later by The Sims Studio, and published by Electronic Arts. It is one of the most successful video games series of all time. The games in The Sims series are more of a sandbox game in that they lack any defined goals. The player creates virtual people called "Sims" and places them in houses and helps direct their moods and satisfy their desires.
            
Hyper-reality/simulacrum - In the Sims you can create characters however you want to. This makes it postmodern as you can create different versions of yourself and play as them. You can recreate your image as something completely different and plan their life for them. This can be seen as hyper reality too as Baudrillard argued that a simulacrum is not a copy of the real, but becomes a truth in its own right. This is the case in the Sim’s with the language that they use; Simlish. Its not a copy of any language but has its own meaning in the game. There is no proper translation for the language and to us sounds like random noises and sounds. This is the creators trying to imitate what its like when we hear an unknown language that we don’t speak or understand, as to us it then becomes a range of noises and sounds, which is what Simlish is made up of.
                 

Self- reflexivity - The Sims often look to the camera to you as their creator if they desperately need something such as food or interactions with other people. This shows self reflexivity as they know they are being controlled and that their lives are being planned out by someone else. They can also play the Sims on their own computers which is self reflective as they are playing a game within a game and seeing what its like to be the creator instead of the character.

                 

Intertextuality - The Sims uses intertextuality to make the game seem more realistic and therefore includes features from reality that we can associate with. They do this very subtly through the use of different television shows available for the Sims to watch and also the music they can listen to. They change the language to Simlish but they are still the same TV shows and songs we listen to and would recognise. They also have new expansion packs to add to the game where you can find well known celebrities such as Katy Perry, which shows how she is still recognised in the game for her talent.

 

Instantaneity - The Sims includes instantaneity as you are able to cheat in the game. There are numerous cheats to help make your Sims lives better, for example you can cheat to gain $50,000 or even slow down time so your Sim doesn’t grow old and die. All these enhance the Sims lives and make them better that are unrealistic and would not happen in real life.