The Sims FreePlay CSP - Audience and Industries blog tasks
The page describes building a virtual town, creating personal stories and choosing every aspect of a Sim’s life, along with forming a virtual community. These features appeal because they offer freedom, creativity and long-term progression for players.
2) How does the game information reflect the strong element of participatory culture in The Sims?
It reflects participatory culture because players can design identities, personalities, homes and life paths for their Sims, meaning the audience actively shapes the content rather than consuming a fixed narrative.
3) What do user reviews suggest about the audience pleasures of the game?
Reviews highlight diversion and relaxation, showing players use the game to unwind, escape real life and enjoy the freedom of controlling a world that they can personalise.
Participatory culture
1) What did Will Wright describe the game as?
He described it as a digital dollhouse.
2) Why was Maxis initially not interested in The Sims?
They assumed a dollhouse concept would only appeal to girls and believed that female players weren’t part of the gaming audience at the time.
3) What is ‘modding’? How does it link to Jenkins’ idea of ‘textual poaching’?
Modding is when players change or add content to a game. It links to textual poaching because players take creative control, remixing and adapting the game world to suit their own ideas, just as Jenkins describes fans doing with media texts.
4) Key quotes from p136 (Jenkins, Pearce, Wright).
Jenkins emphasises fans reshaping games for their own use; Pearce highlights player creativity as central to game culture; Wright states that players are co-authors who complete the game through their choices.
5) What examples of intertextuality are discussed?
The article mentions players recreating settings, characters and stories from films, TV shows and books inside The Sims, such as building houses from popular series or remaking celebrity families.
6) What is ‘transmedia storytelling’ and how does The Sims allow players to create it?
Transmedia storytelling is telling a story across multiple platforms. The Sims allows players to do this by encouraging them to produce narratives, videos, screenshots and fan fiction that extend their Sims’ stories beyond the game.
7) How have Sims online communities developed over the last 20 years?
They have grown into large, creative networks where players share mods, tutorials, custom content, storytelling videos, challenges and advice, becoming a major part of the game’s longevity.
8) What does the writer suggest The Sims will be remembered for?
It will be remembered for empowering players to be creators, not just consumers, and for fostering one of the most active participatory cultures in gaming history.
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?
He sees it as important because it encourages problem-solving, creativity and system-based thinking, making it valuable for 21st-century learning.
2) What does Will Wright want players to do with the game?
He wants players to experiment, explore possibilities and tell their own stories, treating the game as a creative toolbox rather than a fixed challenge.
3) Do you agree The Sims is not a game but something else?
Yes, it functions more like an open simulation or creative platform where players set their own goals, making it different from traditional games that rely on levels or winning.
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 has expanded with new quests, events, detailed building tools, seasonal updates and more customisation, becoming far larger and more complex than the original version.
2) Why does Schofield say “games aren’t products anymore”?
She argues that modern games operate as ongoing services that constantly update, grow and respond to player feedback rather than being finished items at release.
3) What does she say about The Sims community?
She describes the community as passionate, creative and deeply engaged, with players who invest years into their towns and regularly request new content.
4) How has EA kept the game fresh?
Through consistent updates, themed events, limited-time items, improvements to gameplay systems and responding to player suggestions.
5) How many installs and how much total play time?
The game has been installed over 500 million times, and players have collectively spent thousands of years of in-game time (exact figure varies by interview year).
Read this blog on how EA is ruining the franchise (or not) due to its downloadable content. Answer the following questions:
1) What audience pleasures are discussed?
The blog highlights pleasures such as creativity, escapism, world-building and the ability to shape fantasy lives through endless customisation.
2) What examples of downloadable content are presented?
Examples include expansion packs like Pets, Seasons, University Life, City Living and numerous stuff packs offering items, careers and worlds.
3) How did EA enrage online communities?
By releasing expensive DLC that players felt should have been included in the base game, and by splitting content across many paid expansions, which communities saw as exploitative.
4) What innovations appeared across versions?
Different versions introduced life stages, open worlds, emotions systems, advanced building tools and larger customisation features.
5) Do expansion packs exploit the audience or respond to demand?
It can be seen both ways: the price structure can feel exploitative, but the expansions also exist because players request more content and enjoy expanding their worlds.
1) Key statistics in the first paragraph.
The article notes that freemium dominates mobile gaming revenue, with a small percentage of players making most of the purchases and billions of dollars generated globally.
2) Why does freemium incentivise developers to create better, longer games?
Because revenue depends on long-term engagement, developers need players to stay invested over months or years, encouraging deeper gameplay loops and constant updates.
3) What does the article suggest about the future of freemium?
It suggests freemium has huge earning potential but risks backlash if monetisation becomes too aggressive, meaning companies must balance profit with player satisfaction.
1) How does the PEGI system work and how does it link to UK law?
PEGI assigns age ratings and content warnings to games. Since 2012, PEGI has been legally recognised in the UK, meaning retailers must not sell games above a child’s age rating.
2) What are the age ratings and what content guidance do they include?
The ratings are 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18, and include guidance symbols for violence, bad language, fear, sex, drugs, discrimination, gambling and in-game purchases.
3) What is the PEGI process for rating a game?
Publishers submit detailed questionnaires and footage; PEGI analysts review the content, apply the correct age rating and issue the final classification used across Europe.
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