A virtual online community is a type of, “Social software that allows a group of users to communicate and interact with one another through the means of information technologies, using internet rather than face-to-face.” (1) This allows people around the world to connect and share about a common interest. There seems to be a community for everything. The online community I decided to join was a version of the Sim’s game that was available online or via mobile app. I decided to join this community because I remember playing the original Sims game, which was only to be played by yourself. it sparked my interest that the game was now made to be played socially.
The Sims
The Sims Free Play is a life-simulation games. Players make virtual people and manage their lives. You can play hands- off and let Sims make their own decisions or you can micromanage and control every aspect of their life. The Sims was launched in 2000 by a company called, Maxis, now owned by EA Games. The game was unusual in that it did not follow the gaming conventions of the time. The main difference that many games before didn’t have was, players don’t have pre-determined goals. The object of the game was to create a family, build a home, and have your Sims live out their lives in any way you want them to. Sims could socialize, have a career and even go on vacation. You can tailor your Sims lives in any number of ways. The main thing that I noticed that separated Sims from other video games, is that there is no end game. The game never ends. Unlike other games where you just play to beat the game. The game is meant to be like real life. The Sims originally started off as a computer game that you would play by yourself. But in 2011 EA games came out with a Facebook edition of the popular game, The Sims Social. Like the original game, they interact with other Sims. The main difference is that the Sims that your interacting with are your Facebook friends. It made the once single player game in to a social game, where you can interact with other Sims who are played by actually people. On June 14,2013 Sim’s Social was shut down, and was no longer playable on Facebook. It was replaced with a mobile friendly app, called The Sims Freeplay. This version of the game took the original version of the game and combined it with the social part of the Facebook version. You still play as single people but you are able to interact with other people’s Sims. This can be done by visiting their town, or having them come to your town.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ea.games.simsfreeplay_na
I also joined an online community that was all about the Sims online community. Simply just called “The Sims Freeplay” (3) When I first came upon this site, I thought for a second that it was a Facebook page. Looks to be set up this way. To be able to join the group you first a had to set up a google plus account, which is free to create. This could be why the pages would look similar to a Facebook page. Group members can post pictures and comments on the page for everyone to see, and any member can comment on them. The people that apart of this community seem to be people that actively play this game on a regular basis. There’s also most 5,000 that have joined this community. With that many people it is hard to tell if everyone is actively posting. There were certain people who I noticed posted every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Then there are the people like me who post once in a while to ask questions about how to do something in the game. There is also tabs on the page for news about the game, and updates that have been added to the game. All the information on the page, is added by its members. These people in this community post and socialize on this page with each other. People post pictures of their Sims doing stuff, new items that they bought, when their Sims have child, get promoted, ect. after being in this online community for about 2 weeks i felt like i connected with them. i read these post totally forgetting that they are talking about fictional characters. This was because, while reading their post i felt like i was reading about my friends lives, like i do on Facebook. there were also i couple of people on this site that i ended up connecting to on the actual game, and interacting with their Sim.
Sims Freeplay
Needs:
Each sim has basic physical and mental needs. Every sim has the same basic needs, Hunger/Thirst, comfort, social, hygiene, fun, energy, and bladder. There are different levels of each need. What stage of life you are at in the game will also affect how often your needs, need to be met. If these needs are not met your sim can end up dying. When playing this game in the begin it was easy to keep up with my single Sims needs. But as she got married and started having kids, it got harder to keep up with all the Sims needs.
thegirlwhogames.wordpress.com
Also I learned that even when are not playing the game, your Sims lives keeps going on. Even though you Sims can go on with their everyday lives, they can’t keep up with their needs. I felt like I had to log on every other hour to try to keep up with all my Sims. I ended up losing one of my Sims children to hunger. And ultimately losing my original Sim, who decided to go swimming, even though she was extremely tired, and ended up drowning. Once my Sim died, I was able to continue without them, it was just one less Sim in my house. If your Sim died and you had no other Sim, the game will give you the option to create another one. If you don’t I believe that the Sim house would just stay empty, because the game never ends.
Currency:
There are four types of currency that you use in the game. The main currency is Simoleons. A Sim family must have them in order to buy anything. The most common way to earn Simoleons is find a job. To find a job, would look I the paper or on the computer to begin earning. If you job isn’t enough to support your family, or you just don’t feel like working, you can earn money in others ways. According the Sims Wiki page. (2) some of the creative ways they mention you can earn money are;
- Dollars For Dating?
- Mixing Magic and Science
- Marrying a Rich Sim
- Getting Dead Rich
- If You're Lucky
- Hacking your Way to Success
- Cheating
- Become a Celebrity
Another form of currency is Life Style and Social Points. These points can be earned by completing goals, hobbies, offers on the online store, driving, or can be dug up by your pet. Whereas Social Points can only be earned by completing social goals in one of your neighbor’s towns. However, if you can wait, and have the cash, all three currencies can be purchased in the online store.
Houses:
When you start the game, your Sim is already put into a pre-built house. All new players get the same house. It is very basic. If you don’t like the house you were given, you can build your own by buying an empty lot. The price of a house or lot, will depend on how many houses the player already owns. The more houses you buy, the more expensive each additional house is.
Careers:
As mention in the currency section, Sim’s need Simoleons to survive in the game. One of the ways that you can earn them is by getting a job. When you first start out you have a choose of a couple careers. Some of these include, Actor, Firefighter, Politician, Artist, Scientist and musician. These seemed like the most popular ones. I was not able to be able to look at all of these careers. But the ones that I held were Artist and Politician.
http://www.pinguintech.nl/en/sims-freeplay/the-sims-freeplay-information/
You can look for jobs in the paper or on the computer. The thing that didn’t like about when your Sim goes off to work, was that you don’t go with them. A car picks them up in the morning, and they leave, while you are there with an empty house. While your Sim is out the time clock does go faster. I would of like if you were able to go to work with them and be able to control your actions at their workplace. As your Sim get better at their job you can increase their skill level. You can also increase their skill level by buying skill objects. These can be bought a Promotions R’ Us. As their skill levels increase they will get promotions. I never had the chance to get a promotion, because I switched jobs half way though. It could have also been because I didn’t play every day, and because of that my Sim’s kept missing work. (oops!).
https://thegirlwhogames.wordpress.com/category/the-sims-freeplay/careers/
While Adults have a set time they go to and from work, you can send your children to classes at Simtown Elementary and Simtown High at any time of the day.
Life Stages:
Typically, a Sim goes through six life stages in the game, unless you’re like me and let your Sim die. At each stage your Sim will gain more features and actions. The life stages of the game are what makes this game so life like. When you start the game you start as an adult. You only see the first three stages before adulthood if you plan on starting a family. Babies are the first life stage, toddlers, pre-teens, teenagers, adults, then seniors. Once your Sim has completed the senior stage, it will die and you can either create a new Sim or if you have other Sims you can continue with them. The game is ongoing, there is no end game.
