The Sims Freeplay: Language and Audience
Language / Gameplay analysis
1) What elements of gameplay are shown?
Can build house, start a family and have the ability to create the perfect lifestyle -- uses and gratifications theory. It allows for people to escape from the real world and create their own world through diversion, in creating their utopia and ideal world.
2) What audience is the trailer targeting?
The audience targets a female audience through the use of the platform which they are on initially as it allows people to experience the game for free and can chose to invest through in app purchases later, however by having no specialist equipment which you would need to invest in this may let the "less serious gamer" to experience the game mode. Within the game there are many more things which suggest that the game mode is designed predominantly for female players, one being that the game was described as a "virtual dollhouse" by the actual developers and as we know this is known to be a feminine activity. The idealised worlds which are created within the game where there are families and there is a man which will propose is a very feminine fantasy. It also uses bright and vibrant colours to attract young female audiences through this as we know that other successful games have not used this sort of colour scheme likely because the have a male target audience.
3) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?
Can build house, start a family and have the ability to create the perfect lifestyle -- uses and gratifications theory. It allows for people to escape from the real world and create their own world through diversion, in creating their utopia and ideal world.
1) How is the game constructed?
Constant little rewards for doing actions -- in-game currency and experience points gained for playing and doing constant little tasks - rewards gratify the audience and make it addictive.
Purchase options to customise character (clothing, hair). -- Lots of customisation in terms of clothing for female characters instead of male characters - so target audience is female.
Purchase options to customise character (clothing, hair). -- Lots of customisation in terms of clothing for female characters instead of male characters - so target audience is female.
2) What audience is this game targeting?
12-30 y/o females. The range of clothing and customisation of the character for females is wider than males. e.g. there are more hairstyles and clothing options available for females than males.
3) What audience pleasures does the game provide?
Diversion: allows the audience to create a new life and experience something different.
Personal Identity and Relationships : creating yourself in the game and the relationships with the other Sims
4) How does the game encourage in-app purchases?
The entire game is build around currency - completing small tasks gives you in game currency and experience points. You can also purchase in game currency called 'Crystals' or 'money' for real life currency.
Audience
1) What critics reviews are included in the game information section?
"5 STARS ...The Sims Freeplay is everything you could ever want a freemium Sims game to be."(Gamezebo)
"10/10 ...one of the most addictive and highly polished games [...] no excuse for anyone not to download it; especially since its free to play (the clue's in the title)."(God is a Geek).
"...plenty of hours of fun... at an excellent, non-existent, price." (148 Apps).
2) What do the reviews suggest regarding the audience pleasures of The Sims FreePlay?
This gives diversion to the audience since it is lost of fun and 'high addictive', because it is from EA a well established company it is 'highly polished', so the quality of the game is something that audiences look out for - thorough bug testing.
3) How do the reviews reflect the strong element of participatory culture in The Sims?
The high reviews - 5 Stars and 10/10 - this game allows audiences to engage in the game and with other people - to be fans of the franchise as it is everything a 'freemium Sims game' should be.
Participatory culture
1) What did The Sims designer Will Wright describe the game as?
"A train set or a doll's house where each person comes to it with their own interest and picks their own goals".
2) Why was development company Maxis initially not interested in The Sims?
"Doll houses were for girls and girls didn't play video games".
3) What is ‘modding’?
A mod is an alteration by players or fans of a video game that changes one or more aspects of a video game, such as how it looks or behaves. Mods may range from small changes and tweaks to complete overhauls, and can extend the replay value and interest of the game.
4) How does ‘modding’ link to Henry Jenkins’ idea of ‘textual poaching’?
Consumers and audiences are contributing to a product or franchise and making them more involved with the product, allowing us to interact more and be more interesting.
5) Look specifically at p136. Note down key quotes from Jenkins, Pearce and Wright on this page.
Allowing individuals to come together around shifting interests to create digital communities that are ‘held together through the mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge (Jenkins).
"Whereas the game itself gave consumers a base neighbourhood, wardrobe and furniture sets to play with, the players themselves turned producers (or producers" (Wight)
6) What examples of intertextuality are discussed in relation to The Sims? (Look for “replicating works from popular culture”)
They could depict characters from: Star Wars, Star Trek, The X-Files and Japanese anime and manga - all of which were extremely popular.
7) What is ‘transmedia storytelling’ and how does The Sims allow players to create it?
The technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies.
8) How have Sims online communities developed over the last 20 years?
Yahoo Groups such as Saving the Sims3 are continuing to ‘rescue’ game assets from dead sites in a collaborative effort between creators and players who ‘donate’ game mods, which are then uploaded to the site or group and shared with other members.
9) Why have conflicts sometimes developed within The Sims online communities?
Individual preferences of the players create divisions in the community between some who want to charge money for the mods and the ones who want to see it for free.
10) What does the writer suggest The Sims will be remembered for?
The cult following that it engendered well beyond the usual lifespan of a popular computer game; and also for the culture of digital production it helped to pioneer, one that remains such a staple of fan and game modding communities today.
Read this Henry Jenkins interview with James Paul Gee, writer of Woman as Gamers: The Sims and 21st Century Learning (2010).
1) How is ‘modding’ used in The Sims?
To create challenges and game play, writing in things like graphic novels. It builds artistic, technical, social and emotional skills.
2) Why does James Paul Gee see The Sims as an important game?
It is meant to take people beyond gaming, how 'women play and design' is the future.
3) What does the designer of The Sims, Will Wright, want players to do with the game?
"Empower people to think like designers, organise themselves around the game and learn new skills that extend beyond the game, and to express their own creativity".
4) Do you agree with the view that The Sims is not a game – but something else entirely?
The game has led to communities being built around the game on different platforms, but I disagree. I think that it is just a game
5) How do you see the future of gaming? Do you agree with James Paul Gee that all games in the future will have the flexibility and interactivity of The Sims?
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