Videogames: The Sims FreePlay part 1 - Language & Audience

Videogames: The Sims FreePlay part 1 - Language & Audience

Our final videogames CSP is The Sims FreePlay (2011).

This is another in-depth CSP so will require significant work and research across three blogposts to complete your case study.

Background: mobile gaming

• The videogames industry has changed massively since the emergence of the smart phone and app store distribution model.
• Mobile gaming has changed the audience demographics for gaming and brought the industry into the mainstream.
• The app store model means tech giants such as Apple and Google are making significant sums from mobile gaming but mobile hits can still earn developers millions.
• Angry Birds made developer Rovio $200m in 2012 and broke 2 billion downloads in 2014.

The Sims FreePlay

• The Sims FreePlay is a spin-off from the hugely successful Sims franchise first published by Electronic Arts (EA) in 2000.
• The game is a strategic life simulation game (also known as the sandbox genre). 
• The Sims FreePlay takes the game on to phones and tablets and uses the ‘freemium’ model that makes money via in-app purchases.
• The game has seen 200 million downloads since 2011 – remarkable success.

The Sims FreePlay: Audience

• The Sims franchise has demonstrated there is a strong and lucrative market in female gamers.
• When The Sims was first pitched by creator Will Wright he described it as a ‘doll house’. 
• The development company Maxis weren’t keen because ‘doll houses were for girls, and girls didn’t play videogames’. EA then bought Maxis, saw potential in the idea and one of the most successful ever videogame franchises was born.
• Expansion packs available for The Sims FreePlay reinforce the view that the target audience is predominantly female.

Participatory culture

• The Sims franchise is one of the best examples of Henry Jenkins’ concept of participatory culture.
• Since the very first game in the franchise, online communities have created, suggested and shared content for the game.
• ‘Modding’ – short for modifications – is a huge part of the appeal of the game. Modding changes aspects of the gameplay – anything from the strength of coffee to incorporating ghosts or even sexual content.

The Sims FreePlay - Language & Audience blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'The Sims FreePlay case study part 1 - Language & Audience' and complete the following in-depth tasks.

Language / Gameplay analysis

Watch The Sims: FreePlay trailer and answer the following questions:

1) What elements of gameplay are shown?

The ongoing interaction comprises of various shots of making your character (your own doll), you can make your own home and make your own connections and do exercises, for example, celebrating, playing with pets and associating with others 

2) What audience is the trailer targeting?

The crowd of the trailer is very cleary one of those of a more youthful crowd, as the goal of the game is experience regular day to day existence which incorporates going to work and having a family, so the target group they are focusing on could that of the more youthful age. 

3) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?

Diversion - can be applied as players of the game can understanding and perform exercises that they're not ready to, all things considered. 


Individual personality - individuals can consider themselves to be the game as they make their characters and their companions.

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

1) How is the game constructed?

Heaps of little assignments - consistent scaled down remunerations 
The time it takes to do assignments is continuous (you can pay to accelerate the game) 
Adverts as a byproduct of free gems/in-game money 
Item arrangement - an income generator 

2) What audience is this game targeting

The brilliant hues and the manner in which the content is built aides in focusing on a more youthful crowd, particularly with the instructional exercise in the game-play. The game-play shows components of more youthful life, for example, beginning a family and thinking loads about what you resemble. 

3) What audience pleasures does the game provide?

Buyer culture - industrialist belief system - work, going through cash 
rewards 
Customisation (can likewise make yourself) 
SimChef = MasterChef (intertextuality) 

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

The game acquaints players with absolutely free play understanding and afterwards endowments a couple "pearls" to the player for nothing however then presents a trouble spike, which at that point makes the player need to spend genuine cash on the game, the game additionally acquaints players with a great deal of things from the outset which they can buy with the in-game money making it likewise appear the game won't have a need to pay, yet the hour of building these articles is the thing that individuals are charged upon.

Audience

Read this App Store description and the customer reviews for The Sims FreePlay and answer the following questions:  

1) What critics reviews are included in the game information section?

This is one of my preferred games that I have on my ipad. I love the way it looks like genuine life and you can develop the infants. I love the entirety of the occupations and spots that you can jump on the guide since they are on the whole remarkable in their own uncommon manner and they all hold an amazing movement like going to work or purchasing something. I particularly love structuring the houses since its such a great amount of amusing to make cool life like territories where your sims can live. 

2) What do the reviews suggest regarding the audience pleasures of The Sims FreePlay?

The surveys indication that the crowd are vouching for the game to be as reasonable as could be allowed, in this manner backing Baudrillard's concept of living in a hyper-reality.

3) How do the reviews reflect the strong element of participatory culture in The Sims?

The surveys made by players remember proposals for how EA ought to improve the game. The players appear to be energetic about the game and give proposals that they accept would make the game increasingly a good time for everybody. For instance, one audit proposed that the engineers should expand the greatest measure of sims that can be in a house or working without a moment's delay to more than 10. 

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?

The planner depicted the game to be a sandbox doll house kind of game that would pull in a more youthful crowd which is progressively adjusted to an increasingly innovative attitude. They would reenact the parts of making your own city and character where you can do a huge number of errands. 

2) Why was development company Maxis initially not interested in The Sims?

The organization Maxis was at first not inspired by The Sims on the grounds that, at that point, it was just guys who played computer games. The Sims was portrayed as a 'dollhouse' and this would not be appropriate for a male crowd since "dollhouses are for young ladies and young ladies don't play videogames" 

3) What is ‘modding’?

At the point when alterations are offered for the games with the goal that individuals can shape the game considerably further past the standard game play advertised. Scope of changes were accessible, from expanding espresso quality, enableing sexual substance to Teen Pregnancy Mods and phantoms. 

4) How does ‘modding’ link to Henry Jenkins’ idea of ‘textual poaching’?

Much the same as in literary poaching, crowds can take a media message that as of now exists and make it into their own by adjusting it. Modding has brought fan networks nearer. 

5) Look specifically at p136. Note down key quotes from Jenkins, Pearce and Wright on this page.

Participatory culture makes networks that are 'held together through the shared creation and equal trade of information'  
'The first Sims arrangement has the most energetic rising fan culture of a solitary player game ever'

Indeed, even before the first game was out, Jenkins notes, 'there were at that point in excess of fifty fan Websites committed to The Sims. Today, there are thousands' 

6) What examples of intertextuality are discussed in relation to The Sims? (Look for “replicating works from popular culture”

Layers appeared to show a happy want to reproduce the universes of their preferred fandoms inside The Sims. In this manner, The Sims has constantly included skins portraying characters from religion media, for example, 


Star Trek, Star Wars, The X-Files and even Japanese anime and manga were very well known. Indeed, even hybrids were a chance, permitting one parcel to house Marvel Universe characters and another to house DC Universe characters – the two arrangements of characters could cooperate and even form connections and their own biographies.

7) What is ‘transmedia storytelling’ and how does The Sims allow players to create it?

Transmedia narrating is "a procedure wherein the essential content encoded in an official business the item could be scattered over numerous media, both advanced and simple."

8) How have Sims online communities developed over the last 20 years?

In the course of the most recent 20 years, the Sims online networks have become further developed and increasingly like a family. They have become to such an extent. New individuals from the modding network can contact specialists for counsel and the master demonstrations like an educator who aides, supports and causes them. 

9) Why have conflicts sometimes developed within The Sims online communities?

There has been a contention among bunches on whether individuals ought to decide to monetise of the mods that are made as they are an option in contrast to what EA offers straightforwardly as development packs.

10) What does the writer suggest The Sims will be remembered for?

The cooperative network and being a fan that it created and the way of life of computerized creation that it assisted with spearheading.

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?

Modding is utilized in The Sims to make new difficulties and ongoing interaction that "is at the same time in the game world, in reality, and recorded as a hard copy things like realistic books." 

2) Why does James Paul Gee see The Sims as an important game?

He sees it as a significant game since it takes individuals past gaming, and how ladies commonly mess around and structure things isn't standard however it "bleeding edge." 

3) What does the designer of The Sims, Will Wright, want players to do with the game?

He needs to "engage individuals to figure like architects, to arrange themselves around the game to become learn new aptitudes that reach out past the game, and to communicate their own innovativeness." 

4) Do you agree with the view that The Sims is not a game – but something else entirely?

I don't really agree with the way that The Sims is certifiably not a game. Notwithstanding, I accept that The Sims is an extraordinary case of post-innovation and the obscuring among the real world and the media. This is the thing that Baudrillard states, he accepts crowds won't have the option to recognise reality and the media due to being tempted with the game, satisfying the post present day society we live in today, in which society is media immersed. 

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?

I don't think along these lines, on the grounds that not all games will take into account as a lot of adaptability to mod games. Not all games will take off like The Sims and have this mammoth participatory culture, it once in a while occurs.

Videogames: The Sims FreePlay part 2 - Industries

Videogames: The Sims FreePlay part 2 - Industries

The second aspect of our in-depth case study on The Sims FreePlay focuses on industries.

We need to know how videogames are regulated and also the companies behind the game. However, the most significant aspect of this concept is the 'freemium' model that The Sims FreePlay uses.

Notes from the lesson

Regulation: PEGI

• The videogames industry is regulated by PEGI – Pan European Game Information.
• In the UK, the Video Standards Council is responsible for regulating game content. In 2012, PEGI was introduced to UK law to make the age ratings legally enforceable.
• It is illegal to sell games to people below the age of the rating.
• The Sims FreePlay is rated 12+ due to mild references to alcohol, sexual content and similar adult themes.

Electronic Arts

• The Sims franchise is owned by Electronic Arts (EA), a huge name in the videogames industry.
• The Sims FreePlay was developed by Firemonkeys Studios, EA’s Australian subsidiary.
• The franchise was originally developed by Maxis after EA acquired the company.
• EA is famous for big-budget console games such as the FIFA series but has moved more into mobile gaming in recent years.

The 'freemium' model

• The Sims FreePlay uses the ‘freemium’ model – free to download and play but with in-app purchases. 
• Although initially more popular with smaller, independent game developers, the freemium model is now a huge revenue generator for major publishers like EA.

The Sims FreePlay - Industries blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'The Sims FreePlay case study part 2 - Industries' and complete the following tasks.

Regulation – PEGI

Research the following using the PEGI website.

1) What is the VSC and how does it link to UK law?

In 2012 the PEGI framework was consolidated into UK law and the VSC was designated as the statutory body answerable for the age rating of computer games in the UK utilizing the PEGI framework. 

2) Note down the key statistics on the homepage.

12,000+ Games Rated, 8000+ Apps appraised, 1987 Number of Member Outlets, 30 Years in Operation. 

3) What is the purpose of PEGI?

They supply nitty gritty buyer data encompassing the substance of the game and what is highlighted. This enables the buyer to know whether the game is fitting for their age segment. 

4) Click on the PEGI Rating tab in the top menu. What are the age ratings and what do they include?

Ages 3, 7, 12, 16 And 18. The higher the age the more grown-up content, for example, brutality, swearing, medicate misuse, sexual substance. 

5) Scroll down to look at the ‘How games are examined’ infographic. What is the PEGI process for rating a game?

At first a game maker rates the game themselves. Anything from brutality to harsh speech to sexual substance must be observed before applying the PEGI rating. The game engineer at that point sends this application with confirmation of this substance + a duplicate of the game so every one of these things can be checked thus that anything that could have been missed or misconstrued can be found and added to the rundown. The game is then stamped again and put out available to be purchased.

The ‘Freemium’ gaming model

Read this Lifewire feature on freemium gaming and answer the following questions:

1) How does the freemium model work?

The run of the mill freemium or allowed to-play application is a free download that utilizes in-application buys to deliver income instead of charging a level expense for the application. Some freemium applications are basically advertisement bolstered applications that offer an in-application buy to cripple the promotions, while different applications and games utilize an increasingly convoluted income framework using in-application buys. 

2) Why do some gamers believe freemium is ruining games?

As it could be misconstrued, as the in application buys could stop individuals playing certain parts of the game due the sum it costs, anyway this additionally implies individuals are less disposed to paying for games that cost cash which will detrimentally affect games later on. 

3) What are the positives of the freemium model for gaming?

Since a game that appears to be to some degree great, will require a player to go through absurd measures of cash through continually refreshing the game and handing out better substance which will be overrated importance it is extremely unlikely a player can keep up without going through any cash. 

Now read this Business Insider feature on freemium gaming and multiplayer games. Answer the following questions:

1) Note the key statistics in the first paragraph.

70-80% of the $10billion in iOS income is from in-application buys 

2) Why does the freemium model incentivise game developers to create better and longer games?

Engineers need their players to continue playing their game and not get exhausted so they ensure they are normally refreshing their game and including new adaptability. This urges players to put more in the game, acquiring more benefit for designers through in-game buys. 

3) What does the article suggest regarding the possibilities and risks to the freemium model in future?

Game engineers may wind up under more examination encompassing how away from reason of their games are - more youthful gamers may incidentally buy applications without knowing. 

Designers may ignore the nature of the free/standard level substance which would prompt exhausting games.

Read this New York Times feature on freemium gaming and answer the following questions:

1) Why did Temple Run use the freemium model?

The underlying arrival of Temple Run offered the game for 99 pennies on the application store and this implied it wasn't as effective as the engineers had trusted. Nonetheless, in the wake of evacuating the cost and advancing the game on 'Free App a Day', the game got a colossal measure of ubiquity. Altogether there have been more than 40 million downloads and at any rate 13 million individuals play the game once per day.

2) The bigger gaming studios like Electronic Arts used to avoid the freemium model. Why are they now embracing it?

Game designers may make individuals confounded on how away from reason of their games are - more youthful gamers may incidentally buy applications without knowing. Additionally engineers may ignore the nature of the free/standard level substance which would prompt exhausting games. 

3) Why does Peter Farago suggest independent game makers benefit more from the freemium model than the major publishers like EA?

It will be simpler for autonomous game creators to begin without any preparation and afterward produce freemium games at an exclusive requirement and afterward keep up this standard. Huge media distributers like EA would need to totally change their methodology so as to make the freemium model work.

Electronic Arts

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?

The specifying encompassing the unpredictability of each a Sim's development and way of life is mind boggling. The Sims Freeplay is a case of the entirety of the dreams that can be transformed into a reality by means of this game. 

2) Why does Amanda Schofield suggest ‘games aren’t products any more’?

Games aren't items since they are currently manufactured and based around an organization between the gamers and the game engineers. 

3) What does she say about The Sims gaming community?

She expresses that they are 'exceptionally dynamic and constantly hungry to see more highlights and substance in the game.' 

4) How has EA kept the game fresh and maintained the active player base?

The game continually reexamines and plans itself around the changing wants pf the players and the focused on crowds. The crowds feel a feeling of individual distinguishing proof with the vision encompassing the world that they have made; in this way are probably not going to desert this. 

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.

There have been 200 million introduces of The Sims FreePlay to date +78,000 is the measure of game time in years players have spent in the game

Finally, 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 for The Sims are discussed at the beginning of the blog?

That it is a 'genuine reproduction' - redirection' great story of affection and catastrophe' - the speculation into the establishment and the lives of the characters that are made 

2) What examples of downloadable content are presented?

New attire or furniture just as DLC content dependent on motion pictures (Star Wars Battlefront II) 

3) How did Electronic Arts enrage The Sims online communities with expansion packs and DLC?

They expelled a great deal of the substance that commonly ought to have been remembered for the game and made it accessible as downloadable substance - prepared for procurement. 

4) What innovations have appeared in various versions of The Sims over the years?

Throughout the years, The Sims has thought of numerous advancements. These range from 'Seasons' to 'College life' to 'Pets' to 'Get acclaimed'. It is intriguing to take note of that these are everything part of ordinary regular reality yet when The Sims make a development or game pack identified with these, they get gigantic help and gamers love them. This can be connected to postmodernism and hyper-reality. 

5) In your opinion, do expansion packs like these exploit a loyal audience or is it simply EA responding to customer demand?

I for one feel that while EA responds to client request and need their players to be cheerful, they are eventually a significant aggregate whose point is to make a benefit. Subsequently, they regularly wind up discharging new DLC that disillusion their clients. A case of this was "The Sims 4: My First Pet Stuff."

Videogames: The Sims FreePlay part 3 - Representation

Videogames: The Sims FreePlay part 3 - Representation

The final aspect of our in-depth case study on The Sims FreePlay focuses on Representation.

There is a lot to explore with representation in the Sims FreePlay - everything from gender, race and ethnicity to capitalism, reality and postmodernism. 

Notes from the lesson

The Sims franchise offers range of representations on gender, age, race/ethnicity, sexuality, capitalism and even reality itself.


One aspect of The Sims is the values and ideologies that the game reinforces. Although it has been praised for its liberal values over, for example, LGBTQ+ representation, it could also be argued that the game reinforces dominant American capitalist ideologies.


Expansion pack trailers

A useful way to analyse representations in The Sims FreePlay is to study the trailers produced by EA to promote expansion pack DLC. For example:





Using these expansion pack trailers, we can study the representation of gender, age, race/ethnicity and much more.

The Sims and postmodernism

Watch this introduction to Baudrillard from 8-Bit Philosophy:




Baudrillard argued that our culture now perceives the ‘copy’ (media representation) as more real than the ‘original’ and stated that we live in a culture where the ‘fake’ is more readily accepted than the ‘real’ – therefore creating hyperreality. This blurs the line between fiction and reality.

The Sims franchise is a perfect study in hyperreality as it allows players to create an entirely constructed life through the game.

The Sims FreePlay social media channels also provide an example of simulacra – they are situated in the real world and interact with real players but feature entirely constructed fictional content from the game. Here, they also make intertextual references to real celebrities. Where is the line between fiction and reality?

The Sims FreePlay - Representation blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'The Sims FreePlay case study part 3 - Representations' and complete the following tasks.

Textual analysis

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?

Customary male and female generalizations 

The real game play - has been feminized to request a youthful female crowd.

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

Gender - regular male and female generalizations 

White working class-concentrated on cash , fortify entrepreneur belief systems, redesigning their homes 

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

Van Zoonen - the possibility that sex is "developed through media language" 

Lobby - character is "built" as opposed to given to us 

Gauntlett - manliness speculations

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?

Exceptionally practical endeavors offers to part of genuine to make it all the more energizing for the intended interest group. 
2) How has The Sims tried to create more realistic representations of ethnicity?

Attempting to make the characters not so much 'silly' but rather more practical 

3) How has The Sims responded to racism and sexism in society?

not a game that advances resistance ' it's under player control' 

4) What is The Sims perspective on gender fluidity and identity?

The designer clarified that despite the fact that it is a fascinating idea, sexual orientation smoothness should be progressively arranged out before it is displayed in the game. 

5) How does The Sims reinforce the dominant capitalist ideologies of American culture?

game urges you to find a new line of work and strive to empower to open certain highlights in the game 

mirrors the money driven nature of the high society american perspectives.

Read this New Normative feature on LGBTQ representation in The Sims franchise and answer the following questions:

1) How did same-sex relationships unexpectedly help the original Sims game to be a success?

The Sims 4 is excessively genuine and the author addresses how one can 'escape from reality' 

2) How is sexuality now represented in The Sims?

Idealism and dream - the different Supernatural and dream extension packs empowered gamers to facilitate this experience of preoccupation. 

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

"I want to do clothing, all things considered, for what reason would I do it in a Sims game after such a large number of long stretches of not having to by any means? " 

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

As individuals playing the game won't have the option to recognize reality and signs because of them being engaged into the game,

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?

The article proposes that the Sims 4 doesn't have a similar fervor as the Sims 3. The Sims 4 is excessively genuine and the author addresses how one can 'escape from reality' (the primary explanation individuals play computer games) when they are choked in a game that expects them to carry on with a typical, customary, local life. 
2) What audience pleasures did the writer used to find in The Sims franchise?

Idealism and dream - the different Supernatural and dream development packs empowered gamers to assist this experience of preoccupation. 

3) Why the does the writer mention an example of a washer and dryer as additional DLC?

The author communicates her failure in that specific DLC. She never wound up utilizing the development since it helped her to remember reality "I want to do clothing, all things considered, for what reason would I do it in a Sims game after such huge numbers of long periods of not having to by any means? " 

4) In your opinion, has The Sims made an error in trying to make the franchise too realistic?

It could be contended that, a game being reasonable is constantly a positive thing, anyway other may contend this is a type of idealism and attempting to get away from ordinary issues, so causing it practical may to feel to crowds that they can't escape their purported regular issues since it could be reflected in the game, in this way this loses the intrigue of the game. 

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

It is clear that Sims depicts this, as individuals playing the game won't have the option to recognize reality and signs because of them being engaged into the game, they won't have the option to distinguish reality or develop.

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?

The motivation behind The Sims FreePlay online networking channels is to keep players mindful of any new updates accessible or just around the corner. 
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.

Cross stage display for support players 

Sims 4: Tiny living stuff pack 

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?

There are a ton of solicitations, from players, for new substance 

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

"Official maker and senior supervisor of the sims establishment had a conversation with he Women's definitive group in Melbourne. She talked about her 17+ year game advancement".
5) Linking to our work on postmodernism, how could The Sims FreePlay social media presence be an example of Baudrillard’s hyperreality and simulacra?

Indeed, on the grounds that they are advancing a game which isn't genuine, yet genuine in our minds, which connects to the hyperreality Baudrillard talks about, and how the media-immersed society has been progressively divided because of things, for example, these.