Videogames: The Sims Freeplay CSP- Language & Representations

Language / Gameplay analysis

1) What elements of gameplay are shown?

Being able to customise your own character, build your own houses, be able to adopt/buy pets and play with them, build romantic relationships with other sims, build your family and raise children, build attractions for your sims and expand your town. 

2) What audience is the trailer targeting?

The trailer could be targeting females through the stereotypical conventions of building romantic relationships, raising a family and dressing up your sims which are usually all associated with common female stereotypes. 

3) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?

Diversion- Allows gamers to take a break from reality and play a virtual, fantasy world that they have created themselves. 

Surveillance- Allow younger gamers to gain an insight into what adulthood is like- having a job, starting a family, purchasing and designing your home. 

Personal Identity- Gamers may design the characters to look like themselves and have a lifestyle like them such as a person who likes to paint may choose their character to pursue the artist career. 

Personal Relationships- Gamers may become attached and bonded with their characters and start to care about their journey. 

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 by allowing audiences to build their own world by giving them the control of looking after their town and the citizens living in it. 

2) What audience is this game targeting?

The Sims Freeplay are targeting explorers due to the quests that they offer as well as the ability to unlock new locations within the Sims Freeplay world that gamers can unlock through levelling up. In addition, the Sims Freeplay may also target aspirers due to aspirers being known for caring about their appearance and image, the Sims Freeplay offers that through allowing gamers to purchase and change their characters appearance to whatever way they prefer. 

3) What audience pleasures does the game provide?

The Sims Freeplay allows gamers to realise their dreams and live an idealistic lifestyle through the characters they created. 

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

The game encourages in-app purchases by offering gamers special edition items/game packs in their gameplay as well as since tasks take real life time to complete, the game offers 'Lifestyle points' in order to speed up the task and complete it earlier. 

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?

The expansion packs reinforce capitalist ideologies through the education of teenagers attending school and adult sims having to attend work and earn money in order for the gamer to improve the town and purchase better quality items for their sims. 

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

The Sims Freeplay reinforces stereotypes of a typical teen romance when showing the 2 teenagers kissing. In addition, it reinforces the stereotype of all teenagers wanting to become a pop star that's famous in their town. The Sims Freeplay also reinforces stereotypes of women having to dress to impress and how women only spend their money in order to look appealing to men. (Laura Mulvey- male gaze) The Sims Freeplay also stereotype gay men that they have to interested in fashion- Boutique trailer. 

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

Laura Mulvey- Male gaze.

Van-Zoonen- Women's bodies being seen as a spectacle.

David Gauntlett- Audiences being to construct their own identities.

Judith Butler- Gender as performance. 

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?

Maxis PR manager said that “We’re not really looking for realism, we’re looking more for believability,” he told me. “It’s kind of a model of life with things like death and aging, but we don’t do things like broken bones and bleeding. It’s just not the kind of thing our game demands.”

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

In the Create-A-Sim feature, the Sims 4 have improved by adding more details to alter the appearance of a Sim with a less stereotypical way of representing different ethnicity.   

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

"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?

The sims need to take more time and consideration on gender fluidity and identity as in the Create-A-Sims mode the player is only able to pick between a female sim or a male sim. 

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?

The game was being shown at an expo where an attendee played a wedding scenario of two female sims kissing. This was never seen before in gaming where gamers have the freedom to create any character they like along with them having their own sexual preferences. Due to this hook it drew not only LGBTQ+ games but also the wider audience at E3 and other attendees who saw the potential the sims had. 

2) How is sexuality now represented in The Sims?

If a sim engaged in romantic interactions with same sex characters, opposite sex characters or a mix of the two repeatedly over time, they would eventually adopt that as their natural preference. At first, same-sex characters were not allowed to get married and were rather referred to as "roommates". 

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

For many fans it helped them learn about different sexual preferences in a safe way or for the first time. In addition, at that time people were fighting for LGBTQ+ rights and the game allowed gamers to do what they would like and have freedom to follow their own path. 

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

The Sims was given an 'M-rating' for the inclusion of same-sex relationships whereas previously they had a 'T-rating'. The fans would reach out to the EA team about how much they loved the inclusion of LGBTQ+ relationships and how they feared that this feature would disappear. EA then ended up convincing ESRB to change the Sims rating back to 'T-rating'. 

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

The gaming industry is becoming more and more accepting and inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community. For example, games such as Fable now allow players to have gay and lesbian relationships and The Last Of Us Part II included a lesbian kiss. 

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?

The article suggests that the Sims 4 are too realistic and that's the problem as people usually play videogames to escape from reality. 

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

Diversion- the fact that there were imaginative expansions such as aliens and werewolves. 

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

The writer mentioned an example of a washer and dryer to showcase how pointless the additional DLC and the fact that no one wants real life maintenance tasks in a video game. 

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

In my opinion, The Sims has made an error in trying to make the franchise too realistic as many videogame players play videogames to escape from reality and not be reminded of reality in gameplay. 

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

Baudrillard's theory of hyperreality conveys that the simulated reality becomes more accepted as truth than actual reality and that there is an inability of people to distinguish between the two. The sims portrays hyperreality as it makes players live through a game about living life trying to showcase what real life is like when in fact it's not like that.        

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?

The purpose of the Sims FreePlay social media channels is to provide any new updates that are being added to the game as well as audiences being able to interact with the producers of the Sims and other fellow gamers. 

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.

*On Facebook, the Sims posted a post about a 'Baby Bounce off' event and asked their audience a question 'What's your favourite item from the event? Tell us!' This encourages audience interaction as it prompts discussion in the comment section for gamers to share their opinions on what their favourite item from the event is. 

*On Twitter, the sims posted a post for International Nurses Day applauding all nurses and asked their audience to 'Tag a nurse to say thank you'. This encourages audience interaction as it prompts gamers to tag their friends and family who are nurses which introduces more people to be aware of the game. 

*On Facebook, the sims posted a post about collecting the free Women's History Month paintings and asked their audience a question 'Have you collected the third and final portrait of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo from our series of free Women's History Month paintings?'. This encourages audience interaction as it prompts gamers to discuss their opinions on this new inclusion in the game and if they have collected all the paintings from this collection. 

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 are many requests for updates from players in the comment section whether it's asking the developers to fix certain bugs or to include certain additional things to the game such as architect houses and themed packs such as Wild West Cowboy, Mediterranean Greek stuff and even possibly mechanical pets. This is an important part of the appeal for the Sims FreePlay as this game is created to allow gamers live out their fantasies and their ideal lifestyles therefore taking into consideration what games would like to be included will enhance their gaming experience. 

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

"Our latest update is Handcrafted Homes.... ALSO HAMSTERS ARE NOW IN THE GAME!"

"Pregnancy is coming to Sim Town"