Ever since I can remember The Sims have been big and no matter how many years go by they just kept growing, the growth of The Sims meant that more and more people were able to tap into their creative side and make a world of their own which they had a lot of control over, as one of those people who enjoyed playing with my Sims from when I was younger so now I can safely say that the game can become an escape from the real world and let you step into the shoes of your characters and have a life you may have dreamed of. I play Sims on consoles but the most popular way to play Sims is on PC, it allows people to do a lot more and get their creative side flowing. In this post I want to delve into the world of Sims and talk about what kind of things people can create and do in the game whilst others seem to get bored of it, maybe this will spark someone's desire to try something new in the Sims.
Storytelling:
This is one of the main things I see sim creators doing, usually, the Sims don't have a story to go with their actions so people just live everyday life at a speedy rate within the game to help their Sims learn new things and create relationships with others which is what I do when I'm playing, I don't tend to explore as much as I want to in a game and meet more characters, they normally come to my Sims house and introduce themselves whilst I'm focused on learning new skills but those with a creative mind are able to create stories with different Sims they make or the characters already in the town, I was reading a few Sims stories the other day and the amount of work capturing. editing and putting a storyline with these Sims must have taken a while.
Lookbooks:
I can remember the days when Lookbooks dominated the blogging and vlogging world and the websites dedicated to them, I was signed up to a few to get outfit ideas and now people are doing lookbooks for Sims, if that doesn't show how invested we are in the digital world I don't know what else would. Having the freedom to create different personas via Sims is a great way to find out what you like and escape into a different world where you're free to be whoever you want to be and you can even create a sim to be a reflection of the kind of friend you want, yes that's not reality but it opens doors to explore what you as a person like, a few people I know who study fashion love playing the Sims because they can explore different outfits and how they fit on different body shapes, posing Sims for lookbooks help players to create a vast catalogue of outfits and portfolios for themselves!
Editing Sims via photoshop:
When I studied media at college I was often asked to create posters using photoshop, my little sister had taught me a few years beforehand how to work and use it and I ended up being the one to show others in my class how to do things but I wouldn't have been able to do anything as cool as editing Sim pictures, a lot of hard work can go into getting rid of just shadows from screenshots taken in the game but thanks to photoshop people are able to make tweaks they wouldn't be able to do in the game which in turn helps players create masterpieces, I'm not the biggest fan of photoshopping real life pictures but when it comes to creating your own art style on in-game screenshots I think it's an amazing idea, putting your own stamp on something you play in real life makes it more personalised to you.
Making CC (custom content):
My sister actually does this, she shows me a lot of her creations and I don't have a clue how she manages to create such beautiful things using something called a TSR Workshop, it not only helps you create custom content it also allows you to be able to sort out anything that is floating in your game or appears buggy. As someone who likes to be unique when it comes to thing, having the option to create my own things for the Sims is an amazing notion to me, given I wouldn't be any good at it but it gives me the choice to share creations or keep them for myself so my Sim wouldn't look like others, also having the same generic things in the Sims home is a drag so creating homeware that reflects who I am would make me invest more time into the games. The TSR workshop works for both Sims 3 & 4 and comes with lots of tutorials, tips, and a forum to ask or help others.
Playing the game your way:
Besides from all of the above playing the Sims can be just as fun, there is no set in stone way where you have to play and expansion packs are always being brought out to give you more out of the game, they do become expensive but people don't seem to mind paying for them as they're happy with what they get out of it. I always find myself deleting Sims I have created and starting over again. By being able to play a game the way you want to, it leaves an open narrative which you can do anything you want with. Yes there is a story mode in spin-off Sims games and I think Sims 2 had one as well I can't remember because I played it so long ago now, but since the release of Sims in 2000 the games have grown into something much more which enables players to play the way they want to without feeling bad for whatever choices they're forced to make!
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