The Sims FreePlay CSP - Audience and Industries
Audience
Read this App Store description and the customer reviews for The Sims FreePlay and answer the following questions:
1) What game information is provided on this page? Pick out three elements you think are important in terms of making the game appeal to an audience.
4.6/5 star rating
Rated 13+
Emphasis on the fact that the game is customisable
People in the ratings prefer the new more realistic animations
2) How does the game information on this page reflect the strong element of participatory culture in The Sims?
The fans in the reviews suggest things that need to be changed or added to the game, they also offer their own opinions about what they like in the game and pride themselves on having played all of the previous Sims games.
3) Read a few of the user reviews. What do they suggest about the audience pleasures of the game?
Some of the fans like the timers as it gives the users a break from the game
They like how it reflect real life - visceral pleasure
They like how customisable the game is but people think that its too difficult to get currency to get certain things and would like something to do in the game whilst they wait for the timer to run out.
Participatory culture
Read this academic journal article - The Sims: A Participatory Culture 14 Years On. Answer the following questions:
1) What did The Sims designer Will Wright describe the game as?
A "dollhouse"
2) Why was development company Maxis initially not interested in The Sims?
They didn't like the fact that it was aimed towards women as they thought that it wasn't a big enough audience
3) What is ‘modding’? How does ‘modding’ link to Henry Jenkins’ idea of ‘textual poaching’?
Modding is when fans add their own ideas into the game and allow other fans to do the same and share it amongst each other, this creates a strong sense of community within the audience.
4) Look specifically at p136. Note down key quotes from Jenkins, Pearce and Wright on this page.
Naturally, many individuals invested much time, effort and passion into these participatory practices, and through collaborative efforts with other gamers.
media, 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’ gamers, some also became attached to their communities.
5) What examples of intertextuality are discussed in relation to The Sims? (Look for “replicating works from popular culture”)
Sailor Moon
Marvel
Star Wars
X-men
6) What is ‘transmedia storytelling’ and how does The Sims allow players to create it?
In other words, what The Sims offered was a form of transmedia storytelling, a process wherein
the primary text encoded in an official commercial product could be dispersed over multiple media, both digital and analogue in form.
7) How have Sims online communities developed over the last 20 years?
It has a legacy and has reflected life well enough by keeping up with changes
8) What does the writer suggest The Sims will be remembered for?
Its legacy for its collaborative community that will continue to exist around the game and in other online communities
Read this Henry Jenkins interview with James Paul Gee, writer of Woman as Gamers: The Sims and 21st Century Learning (2010).
1) Why does James Paul Gee see The Sims as an important game?
It is a game that is mainly for women and played by women and that although the game is popular, the way women play and design is not a mainstream thing. It is a way to express creativity and learn skills which extend beyond the game.
2) What does the designer of The Sims, Will Wright, want players to do with the game?
He wants players to learn from the game and not just participate passively and just blindly following what the game shows.
3) Do you agree with the view that The Sims is not a game – but something else entirely?
I think that it is just a game but it does also allow a person to express themselves creatively and although people are not directly learning life skills from the game it gives them a creative outlet.
Industries
Electronic Arts & Sims FreePlay industries focus
Read this Pocket Gamer interview with EA’s Amanda Schofield, Senior Producer on The Sims FreePlay at EA's Melbourne-based Firemonkeys studio. Answer the following questions:
1) How has The Sims FreePlay evolved since launch?
It started out as a game where you could control a sim and change its career but it has developed much further by adding marriage and having children so that the game can reflect real life and control every aspect of their sims lives
2) Why does Amanda Schofield suggest ‘games aren’t products any more’?
They are services that are built in partnership with their audience
3) What does she say about The Sims gaming community?
They are able to take critism and if the audience are struggling with a new feature they we revaluate it and see what the issue was
4) How has EA kept the game fresh and maintained the active player base?
It was very easy to add updates in the beginning however after a while it became more difficult to find new things to add to the game and they change the professions available for the sims to give the audience more variety.
5) How many times has the game been installed and how much game time in years have players spent playing the game? These could be great introductory statistics in an exam essay on this topic.
200 million installs
78 thousand years is how long the audience has spent playing the game
Read this blog on how EA is ruining the franchise (or not) due to its downloadable content. Answer the following questions:
The Sims allows players to create Sims with personalities and ambitions and take control of their lives, this gives the audience a sense of diversion and personal identity.
2) What examples of downloadable content are presented?
New clothing
New furniture options
3) How did Electronic Arts enrage The Sims online communities with expansion packs and DLC?
for locking several iconic characters and powerful multiplayer abilities behind DLC in “Star Wars Battlefront II.”
4) What innovations have appeared in various versions of The Sims over the years?
They added a DLC where you could buy pets
5) In your opinion, do expansion packs like these exploit a loyal audience or is it simply EA responding to customer demand?
I think that you can play the game without them and only fans who really enjoy the game would be willing to buy them therefore I think that they are not exploiting their fans only listening to what they really want.
The ‘Freemium’ gaming model
Read this Business Insider feature on freemium gaming and multiplayer games. Answer the following questions:
1) Note the key statistics in the first paragraph.
“freemium” games and their in-app purchases account for about 70-80% of the $10 billion or more in iOS revenue each year.
2) Why does the freemium model incentivise game developers to create better and longer games?
It gives the makers of the game a constant stream of revenue which forces them to continuously put the money back into improving the game and keeps the audience playing
3) What does the article suggest regarding the possibilities and risks to the freemium model in future?
The freemium model encourages spending money without realising and some people may spend too much and certain games are labelled as free but you actually have to spend money in the game.
Regulation – PEGI
Research the following using the Games Rating Authority website - look at the videos and FAQ section.
1) How does the PEGI ratings system work and how does it link to UK law?
Guides what ages should be playing the game and what ages the content within the game is suitable for, the rating include:
3
7
12
! - parental guidance
16
18
2) What are the age ratings and what content guidance do they include?
3, 7, 12, !, 16 and 18
Violence
Bad language
Sex
Gambling
Drugs
In game purchase
3) What is the PEGI process for rating a game?
Assessed by an examiner and tested.
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