The Sims FreePlay CSP - Language & Representations

1) What elements of gameplay are shown?

Character living house customisations 

2) What audience is the trailer targeting?

Young adults and teens who want to control a world 

3) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?

personal identity diversion and entertainment 

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

1) How is the game constructed?

Make a sim and create small house until it turns into a small world 

2) What audience is this game targeting?

younger adults and people who like sandbox games 

3) What audience pleasures does the game provide?

escapism and personal identity 

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

By having more content such as DLCs 

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?

Makes teens want to be a rockstar and have a cool life but also promotes education

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

lack of female celebs white police officers and doting father 

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

Hall and Gilroy 

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?

At a demo of the much-anticipated sequel, I asked Maxis ’s PR Manager, Charlie Sinhaseni, about how the studio determines what's appropriate for inclusion in the game. “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?

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?

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?

We understand what the basic rules of life are,” Sinhaseni said. “At the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there are the things we need every day—to eat, use the restroom, have fun, socialize, take care of our hygiene. What we’re trying to do is move players to the top of the pyramid. What are your career aspirations? Maybe you want to be a best-selling author. You can kind of parse bits of that in your own reality too. The game doesn’t judge you, it doesn’t tell you what’s right or what’s wrong, it just gives you freedom and says you choose what to do with it. 

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?

2) How is sexuality now represented in The Sims?

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

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

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

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. 

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

The first thing I did was start a family. Boy was that a mistake. I wound up a single mother, making less per hour than the babysitter, without enough skills to advance in her career to make enough money to support her daughter. My Sim was perpetually tired, had no time to bathe and clean the house much less study for a promotion and, since I’d never raised a kid in a Sim game before, I had no idea how to take care of them. They got so hungry that child services threatened to take them away. The minute I was done reviewing the Seasons expansion I basically pulled a “going to the store for a pack of cigarettes” on the entire file and abandoned the whole thing.

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?

It creates a wall between real and not real 

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

its a sandbox game 

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 provide updates and dlc about 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.

pride shows inclusivity and promotes events 

having a baby creates realism 

Halloween events to stay with the times 

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?

Link is blocked 

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

has in app purchases