The Sims FreePlay CSP - Language & Representations blog tasks

Language / Gameplay analysis

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

1) What elements of gameplay are shown?

Character customisation, house living, interaction with other sims, wedding, pets, teens. 

2) What audience is the trailer targeting?

It's targeting teens due to the sandbox aspect of the sims as well as "to see how adulthood will look like.

3) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?

Diversion,personal identification, personal identity

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

1) How is the game constructed?

Build a sim, town and complete tasks. Gather XP and progress through games.

2) What audience is this game targeting?

Teenagers/young people

3) What audience pleasures does the game provide?

Diversion, personal identification, personal identity

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

'Lets play' crystal speeds up time and DLC's.

 

Representations

Re-watch some of the expansion pack trailers and answer the following questions:

1) How do the expansion pack (DLC) trailers reinforce or challenge dominant ideologies?

Teens aspire to be Rockstar's. Chic boutique female audience.

2) What stereotypes have you identified in The Sims FreePlay?

Girl doing ballet while the boy doing karate which is stereotypical as "girl is doing girly things while the boy is doing boy things."

3) What media theories can you apply to representations in The Sims FreePlay?

Van Zoonen - Gender Stereotypes (boy doing karate and girl doing ballet)

bell hooks - Power structure in society (chief of police is a man)

Representation reading

Read this Forbes article on gender and racism in The Sims franchise and answer the following questions:

1) How realistic does The Sims intend to be?

Simulation games are sold on the accuracy of their representations, but it’s as much the parts they fake that define them. Few games try to simulate more than The Sims games, which recreate every progressive euphemism we have about love, work, and family.

2) How has The Sims tried to create more realistic representations of ethnicity?

As he showed me the tool, creating an Asian character that does indeed appear less cartoonish, I wondered if there’d ever been discussions on coding racial awareness into the game systems themselves. Has racism or ethnic group identification ever been something the team has considered building into the game, I ask.

3) How has The Sims responded to racism and sexism in society?

We don’t really have a message—there’s no racism message, there’s no tolerance message. We have same-sex marriage in our game. Our Sims will not discriminate based on gender preference whatsoever. But there’s a line where it becomes too real. The only manner of hatred we have in the game is between incompatible Sims, something that’s driven by the traits of the Sim—a hotheaded Sim, or a Sim who hates children.“

4) What is The Sims perspective on gender fluidity and identity?

One element that The Sims 4 seems inflexible on is gender identity. As with earlier games,when players go to the Create-A-Sims mode the first choice they will be asked to make is between male and female. I asked Sinhaseni if there had been any thought toward including other gender identities, or at least making it possible to create a Sim with neither gender option selected. “That’s an interesting topic,” he said, “but I have no good response to that. We would need to take more time and consideration to really arrive at that destination.”

5) How does The Sims reinforce the dominant capitalist ideologies of American culture?

While the studio strives to render identity politics invisible, the game’s systems do embody a particular, largely American attitude of life as a goal-oriented, currency-driven quest toward fullfilling the handful of personality traits one’s given from birth. It’s the constant and often insupportable stress of upholding this model for society and personhood for which The Sims wants to create an escapist catharsis.

Read this New Normative feature on LGBTQ representation in The Sims franchise (the website link no longer works but that will take you to the text of the article - you'll need your Greenford Google login to access). Answer the following questions:

1) How did same-sex relationships unexpectedly help the original Sims game to be a success?

In 2000's homosexuality was uncommon and the game wasn't programmed to not allow same sex marriage which took everybody by surprise.

2) How is sexuality now represented in The Sims?

N/A

3) Why have fans praised the inclusion of LGBTQ relationships in The Sims franchise?

N/A

4) Why did the Sims run into regulatory difficulties with American regulator the ESRB? How did EA respond?

N/A

5) How is sexuality represented in the wider videogames industry today?

N/A

Reality, postmodernism and The Sims

Read this Paste Magazine feature on reality and The Sims franchise. Answer the following questions:

1) What does the article suggest about the representation of real life in The Sims 4?

This premise, however, takes on a blurry and convoluted role when you consider The Sims. How do you escape “real life” when you’re playing a virtual version of it? In previous instalments, the answer to that was some of The Sims’ more imaginative expansions. Escapism, after all, is often about living the life you don’t lead, and that means removing certain barriers and limitations we experience in reality. But The Sims 4, despite being four years into its release cycle, still isn’t nearly as much fun as The Sims 3 was. These days, it’s more about accessorizing a comfortable veneer of suburbia than it is about banging aliens and werewolves, aiming for the kind of life you fantasize about before finding out that adult life actually sucks.

2) What audience pleasures did the writer previously find in The Sims franchise?

This premise, however, takes on a blurry and convoluted role when you consider The Sims. How do you escape “real life” when you’re playing a virtual version of it? In previous installments, the answer to that was some of The Sims’ more imaginative expansions. Escapism, after all, is often about living the life you don’t lead, and that means removing certain barriers and limitations we experience in reality. But The Sims 4, despite being four years into its release cycle, still isn’t nearly as much fun as The Sims 3 was. These days, it’s more about accessorizing a comfortable veneer of suburbia than it is about banging aliens and werewolves, aiming for the kind of life you fantasize about before finding out that adult life actually sucks.

3) Why the does the writer mention an example of a washer and dryer as additional DLC?

I was discussing The Sims 3 with some folks on Twitter once and I remember talking about one of the later additions to the game, the washer and dryer, which I never wound up using. At the time I had no interest in adding yet another maintenance ritual to my Sim’s daily routine, but also, as I told my fellow Sims fans, it was almost an act of defiance. I have no desire to do laundry in real life, why would I do it in a Sims game after so many years of not having to at all? Now I think of the little content packs on the storefront page, with names like Laundry Day, Toddler Stuff, Kids Room Stuff, Perfect Patio, and Cool Kitchen, and sigh under the sheer weight of feeling that same sense of obligation I’m already trying to escape.

4) In your opinion, has The Sims made an error in trying to make the franchise too realistic?

Personally, I ain't a fan of Sims. What's to point of playing real life but in a game. I makes no sense. Insted of improving a virtual version of a real person, why wouldn't I just do that to my self where I actually get satisfaction and rewards from my hardwork.

5) How does this representation of reality link to Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality - the increasingly blurred line between real and constructed?

By representing these characters in an ever increasingly realistic way it creates a blur between what is real within he game and what might actually be happing in the world itself.

The Sims FreePlay social media analysis

Analyse The Sims FreePlay Facebook page and Twitter feed and answer the following questions:

1) What is the purpose of The Sims FreePlay social media channels?

To promote the game and the updates and DLC as well as any other changes made to the game. 

2) Choose three posts (from either Twitter or Facebook) and make a note of what they are and how they encourage audience interaction or response.

• Hijabs are now available for child, tween, teenager and adult female Sims! They can be found in the newly refreshed ‘hats’ category in CAS which has now been renamed to ‘headwear’.
• We’re celebrating Pride all year long with the help of artists Jupiter Stevens-Hill, Ashley Lukashevsky, & Mohammed Iman Fayaz! The pack is full of paintings in multiple frame colours & styles created by LGBTQ+ Simmers
• Happy International Nurses Day! Thank you to the nurses and the health care workers for your compassion, professionalism and round-the-clock commitment to your patients during Covid-19 and in your everyday work. Tag a nurse to say thank you

3) Scroll down the Facebook feed briefly. How many requests for new content can you find from players? Why is this such as an important part of the appeal for The Sims FreePlay?

There is a lot. It's important because it shows that there is a passionate fanbase behind the game.

4) What tweets can you find in the Twitter feed that refer to additional content or other revenue streams for EA?

Optional in-game purchases.