Hoilok Lam

Portfolio: Home for Homes / Rock Button / Laos Roads
Pieces: Personal / Projection / Plotting
Places on record: Osaka / Seattle

Hing Wah II Estate flat modelled in Sims

Hooba es game

What is game. If the taken-for-granted connotation that is “fun” is stripped off of games, it might be easier for players to see what they are playing with - culture, technology and phenomenon. Video games are an art form (Gee 58). Wittgenstein, German philosopher, could not find a common feature for the objects called “games” (Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al. 32). Some say games are one of the many possible outcomes of technological development (Dovey and Kennedy 15). Put in different contexts, games function more than a pastime and exceeds their developers intention. Take a personally more familiar subject, Landscape Architecture as an example, there is not a single occasion where a design is just a built environment. How benches are distributed on a lawn, whether trash cans should be put under shade and who are the anticipated user groups reflect how the society and economy are like. Games share similar issues. In the way that the question “what is game” is answered, this essay will attempt to answer the questions “what is The Sims”, “how much of it is real life” and “how much of it is design”. The Sims tries to simulate more than the reality. In 1991, Wright’s home in Oakland was destroyed by a fire storm. In the process of finding a new home and rebuilding his life, Wright came up with the idea of The Sims, a virtual dollhouse (Levin). In order to make his dollhouse as close to reality as possible, Wright drew inspiration from social, psychological and architectural theories and consulted three writings. Psychologist Abraham Maslow prioritised human needs and generated a 5-tier pyramid in the paper A Theory of Human Motivation (Selva). With the lower tier of the pyramid satisfied, humans will move on to fulfilling the next tier. At the very bottom is physical needs such as food and shelter. Safety and security needs are one tier above followed by psychological needs like love and esteem. Self-actualization then tops the pyramid. This model explains how The Sims’ wish list works; players cannot start playing without choosing a shelter, the game requires players to feed and shower their Sims (the avatars) regularly, relationships with other Sims are built and career paths are chosen. The second book Maps of the Mind: Charts and Concepts of the Mind and its Labyrinths by psychologist Charles Hampton-Turner maps out how people think (Wilson). In a diagram mapping the paradoxes of creativity, ego-strength contrasts anxiety while rational opposes intuitive. How a genius Sim acts differently from an absent-minded Sim reflects Wright’s reading of the maps. As the game experience is based heavily on houses, the last book A Pattern Language by architect Christopher Alexander explores how smaller spaces make a whole. The book was published when the architectural profession found it increasingly hard to manage spaces. A house in The Sims is typically made up of smaller components like bedroom, kitchen and living room; following the patterns suggested by Alexander. All three writings try to solve or theorize real world phenomenons. By basing The Sims on these theories, Wright was actively trying to emulate reality. Not only was Wright interested in a realistic dollhouse for adults, he also wanted to put players in the role of a designer (Chan 4). In an interview, he expressed that as a game designer he produces a problem landscape and a solution space in which players roam with a set of rules and logical outcomes. In a simulation game where players are designers, the solution space is particularly large so that players can think of solutions that have never been thought of before. Wright believes his job is not to control how the game works but to catalyse creativity. To the creator, The Sims is a virtual experimentation ground for players to design.

From left to right: A Theory of Human Motivation pyramid, Selya. "A Brief History of The Sims Franchise" Odyssey, 23 May 2017; Paradoxes of Creativity, Wilson. "Who is Abraham Maslow and What are His Contributions to Psychology" Positive Psychology Program, 29 Sep 2017; Space arrangements, Alexander. "A Pattern Language", 1977.

Reality has been constantly changing so as The Sims. Wright has described the game as a US consumer culture satire before (Levin). Without a general goal and predefined storyline, The Sims focuses on materialistic elements (Flanagan and Nissenbaum 10). Players are encouraged to earn and spend Simoleons (the currency in the game) on goods, especially houses and furniture. This expenditure cycle resembles US capitalist economy in which consumption is a huge driver for growth. Public opinion has had an impact on The Sims’s development. Sims 3 was released with the adoption function becoming more elaborate. In the process of adopting a Sim, a social worker will determine whether the player’s in-game household is fit for adoption. While adoption law was nothing new, the Convention of the Rights of the Child was not consented (and still not ratified today) in the US until 2002 (Soret). Social movements are inspirations for The Sims’s societal development. In an effort to keep and attract old and new players, game developers keep up with trends to maximise the game’s relevance. The Sims is a reflection of reality and social commentary. Some social issues never made in on the screen. At the 1999 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the biggest gaming exposition in the United States, The Sims team showed an introductory video in which two female Sims kissed. It was a time when the LGBT movement was not as vigorous as it is now. Although not in the game’s plan, the team decided to keep the codes for same-sex marriage (Nguyen). The video became the talk of the expo and the code has stayed in the game ever since. The Sims because the team did not shy away from pursuing LGBT topic. However, religious and historical issues have been excluded. In a podcast interview, The Sims producer MJ Chun was asked why the game has not incorporated religion. She responded by saying religion is like clothing; clothing arouses judgment therefore in order to make the game a comfortable environment for players to tell a unique story, religion has to be kept out (Goodfellow). Chun’s response has sparked debates; many think that storytelling is merely an excuse for the company to avoid possible criticism. History is also a concept missing from the game. There is “The Sims Medieval” but the version is more fantastic than it is factual. Players have taken upon themselves to introduce history into the game. Player BourgeoisBanana created a colonial period plantation house in The Sims, trying to recreate the living conditions of black slaves in a white wealthy family. The British player found it hard to depict solemn matters such as racism in a game that promotes suburbia, cheerfulness and innocence (Petitte). Not all people are comfortable reviewing history; but if the game is really all about storytelling as Chun suggested, the option to do so along with the struggle should be present in the game. The Sims is an utopia; the reality it is simulating is not.

From left to right: Same-Sex relationship, Parkin. "The Kiss That Changed Video Games" The New Yorker, 18 June 2014; Gaudet plantation, Petitte. "Taboo unchained: player creates colonial-era plantation in The Sims 3" PC Gamer, 26 Jan 2013.

An experimentation ground constructed by codes, The Sims has an emotional relationship with its players. Deliberate design strategies make the game compelling. The first strategy is offering a vast array of customisation options to players when they create their Sims. These choices allow players to create copies of themselves or people they know. The resemblance makes players care more about the gameplay. Second, Sims are not exactly avatars but partly non-playable characters (NPC). Players constantly switch between two modes of playing: controlling what the Sims do and observing what they do. The former is essentially what the player wants to do while the latter is what the Sim wants to do. The surprises brought about by the latter reminds one of the surprising outcomes that are not anticipated in an architectural design project. Third, it is possible to modify the game’s logic. Cheat codes are an interesting component in the game; they are not the “formal” way to play the game but players use them to specify exactly what they want to illustrate anyways. The players have flexible control over game mechanism. Fourth, compared to other video games, The Sims does not have the most realistic portrayal of humans. Sims have the anatomy of Barbie dolls. However, it is observed that the more abstracted and rendered characters are, the easier it is for players to project themselves onto the characters (Isbister 36). Graphical details and action specificity would distract players from the story. Simulation does not have to be realistic for it to be “real”. A well known story among The Sims community is Alice and Kev (Burkinshaw). It is an experiment done by game design student Robin Burkinshaw; he created two “homeless” Sims, Kev and his daughter Alice, who are obnoxious, angry, clumsy and have low self-esteem; common traits observed in the homeless community. As one cannot start playing the game without having a house for the Sims, Burkinshaw created a “home” that looks like an abandoned park with a few benches for Kev and Alice. He then let the game run with minimal intervention, updating his blog with posts on how the two are doing from time to time. Other Sims seldom help the two, Kev behaves like an abusive father and Alice tries hard to climb the social ladder. The blog ended with the death of Kev and Alice finding a job. This gameplay follows the vision of Will Wright closely. The game provides the tools for creative individuals, in this case Burkinshaw, to experiment. Many people followed the blog and expressed how much the story made them feel. An awareness, although not the greatest, of the homeless was raised. The Alice and Kev story demonstrates the essence of The Sims - how players choose to play. Players can ignore the presets and use cheat codes to change the logic of the game or they can do exactly what the game developers want them to do. Either way, the outcomes are unforeseeable. We might be able to simulate a sociological scenario but we can never guess the resulting narrative. The Sims can simulate an emotional and personal reality.

Alice and Kev, Burkinshaw. "Alice and Kev" The Story of being homeless in The Sims 3, 9 June 2009.

Imbedded in The Sims are not just codes but cultural products in forms of performance, language and music. The easily understood language of gestures and expressions makes the game an active medium for communicating cultural values. The Sims speak Simlish; a hybrid of Ukrainian, French, Latin, Finnish, English, Fijian, Cebuano and Tagalog (Harvey). The decision to create a whole new language for the game was a practical one; Wright worried that English dialogs would sound robotic and for the game to be distributed worldwide the game would have to be translated. Simlish has grown to have more than pragmatic functions. Simlish dictionaries have emerged online and the use of the language can be observed in real life. “Sul sul”, “oh feebee lay” and “hooba es game” mean “hello”, “I’m hungry” and “what is game” respectively (“LearnSimlish”) In contrast to the straightforwardness of gestures, the incomprehensibility of Simlish is what makes the game more intriguing. Music is then thrown into the mixed bag. From The Sims 2 onwards, game developers have employed charting singers to record the songs played in the game. Mike Posner singing “Cooler Than Me”, Jason Derulo singing “Don’t Wanna Go Home” and Katy Perry singing “Last Friday Night” (Bartleet). It is worth noting that all 12 singers who have participated in the project sang in Simlish. To make the game more immersive, the masterminds behind The Sims created a cultural landscape that is under constant revision. The Sims is an artistic and cultural product inspired by both persistent and pop cultures. The Sims is many things. The Sims is a blank canvas, a social commentary, a utopia, a personal reality and an artistic project. To different people, creator, players and non-players alike, the game has a unique and often non-definable significance; but the non-definability need not mean dropping the investigation into what a game can be. The responses provide insights into the bigger question of “what is game”; game is all the things that The Sims is and more. It is perhaps ironic that the very reasons why games are captivating are the obstacles making the object so hard to study; this essay is at the same time a research on sociology, psychology, architecture, modernity and arts. Arriving at a final definition of The Sims is not the mission; discovering the implications of game is.

Works cited

Burkinshaw, Robin. “Alice and Kev on WordPress.com.” Alice and Kev, 10 Sept. 2010, aliceandkev.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/alice-and-kev/.
Dovey, Jon and Helen Kennedy. Game Cultures: Computer Games as New Media. Open University Press, 2006.
Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Simon, Jonas Smith and Susana Tosca. Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction. Routledge, 2008.
Flanagan, Mary and Helen Nissenbaum. Values at Play in Digital Games. The MIT Press, 2016.
Gee, James. Why Game Studies Now? Video Games: A New Art Form. Sage Publications, 2006.
Goodfellow, Troy. “Sims 3 and Religion: The Answer That Isn't.” Flash of Steel, 23 June 2009, flashofsteel.com/index.php/2009/06/23/sims-3-and-religion-the-answer-that-isnt/.
Gross, Terry. “From 'F-Bomb' To 'Photobomb,' How The Dictionary Keeps Up With English.” NPR, NPR, 19 Apr. 2017, www.npr.org/2017/04/19/524618639/from-f-bomb-to-photobomb-how-the-dictionary-keeps-up-with-english.
Harvey, Angie. “15 Crazy Things You Never Knew About The Sims.” TheGamer, 3 July 2017, www.thegamer.com/15-crazy-things-you-never-knew-about-the-sims/.
Isbister, Katherine. How Games Move Us: Emotion by Design. The MIT Press, 2013.
“Learn Simlish.” Sims Simlish, 2010, learnsimlish.blogspot.hk/.
Levin, Elli. “A Brief History of the Sims Franchise.” The Odyssey Online, Odyssey Media Group, 26 Oct. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/brief-history-of-the-sims-franchise.
Nguyen, Clinton. “'The Sims' Has Revolutionized Sexuality in Gaming.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 4 June 2016, www.businessinsider.com/allowing-crossdressing-characters-isnt-the-first-way-the-sims-revolutionized-sexuality-in-gaming-2016-6.
Petitte, Omri. “Taboo Unchained: Player Creates Colonial-Era Plantation in The Sims 3.” Pcgamer, PC Gamer, 26 Jan. 2013, www.pcgamer.com/the-sims-3-slavery-plantation/.
Selva, Joaquín. “Who Is Abraham Maslow and What Are His Contributions to Psychology.” Positive Psychology Program - Your One-Stop PP Resource!, 29 Sept. 2017, positivepsychologyprogram.com/abraham-maslow/.
Soret, Olivier. “Convention on the Rights of the Child: the United States Lags Behind.” Humanium • We Make Children's Rights Happen, 4 Oct. 2017, www.humanium.org/en/usa-and-crc/.
Wilson, Brad. “Maps of the Mind.” Open Library, 19 Sept. 2010, openlibrary.org/works/OL3627018W/Maps_of_the_mind.

Hing Wah II Estate residents personalizing public spaces