So. This is something I’ve thinking about a lot lately. The concept of gaming, and what defines a gamer? I’ll argue a bit about it.
So what I’ve been thinking about is the concept, or perhaps, definition of being a gamer. Technically, and by just listening to the word, we can all agree it’s about someone who plays games, easy enough. The general person you think about when you say gamer is a person who plays games as “Call of Duty”, “World of Warcraft” or “Skyrim”, and of course, similar games.
But after long hours playing “The Sims” and having deep conversations with my platypus, I started to wonder if someone who plays “The Sims” is a gamer? She, among others, had this clear opinion that The Sims is a mainstream game, and not generally a gamers game, but after seeing the way I, and some of my friends play it, started to doubt it.
I had a small argument, no big one, just a small one, on Facebook today about The Sims be or not to be, where he stated that ” And please, if we call sims a “game” what should we call Skyrim or Mass Effect or Limbo.”
But I’d say, The Sims is a game, or, what makes it less a game than the others? Because of it’s lack of plot?
This isn’t entirely true, that it lacks a plot. First of all – you have the Stories series. Life Stories, Pet Stories and Castaway, which all are based on a story, where the game tells you what to do next, and what to achieve to get to the next level. My personal fave is Castaway, because of it’s tropical environment and Robinson-kind of plot. Out of the three, this is the one most complex. Isn’t that a game, then?
And then we got the regular The Sims, and if we begin on The Sims 3 for a while, no, unlike Stories, these games hasn’t got a specific plot, the plot is what you make it. Most people think, and perhaps the general audience playing The Sims only make this “make sim, get married, get kids, die”. but I don’t.
I don’t just make a sim, get it married and get kids and that’s that. Any family I make, I make for a purpose. Cullens first purpose for instance, was to try out The Sims 3, obviously, but as more expansions came, their “plot” changed. At first, they were just a random family, I guess you could say. But then “World Adventures” occurred, and then Rosalie became Indiana Jones going on stressful (for me) quests seeking and digging graves like an idiot. I don’t even know anymore how many times she’s been burned or electroshocked.
Then “Ambitions” came out, and the plot changed again. Not only was Rosalie an adventurer, but now she was also a stylist, and on the same time, Edward got a proper “job” by becoming a self-employed painter, and this changed the plot further. However, somewhere here The Cullens story “ends” in plotchanges, as their locations made it impossible to continue.
I have after this created families to try out certain expansion – We have one Rosalie (I have no imagination, alright?) doing the “Late Night”, we have another Rosalie who got a horsefarm in “Pets” and we got a Candace trying out the world in “Showtime”. All of these sims have a cause, a plot – perhaps not a very complex one, Late Night-Rosalie only had for a goal to become a famous director and hitting the full famebar, Pets-Rosalie to make it to level 10 as a horsebreeder (and winning all the races) and Showtime-Candace to become a superstar.
And apart from Pets-Rosalie, they all have aquired their goals and purpose, and from now, you either leave it there, or you evolve their plot further. This is all on how you decide to play it, and the same goes for The Sims 1 and The Sims 2.
His next argument was ” playing only ONE game many hours doesnt make you a gamer. Its like watching Incepton 50 times and calling yourself a “cinefil” or whatever.”
On this one, I can agree. But then the question arises. Is The Sims “one game”? Is them all together “one game”?
I would say not. The Sims, The Sims 2, The Sims 3 and The Sims Stories varies A LOT from each other. The basics are the same, you make a sim. (this does not go for Stories though). It’s just like The Elder Scrolls series (or not EXACLTY like, but you get what I mean), it follows up each other, but it ain’t the same. Not in the slightest, and people who play The Sims, knows this. The Sims is the basic little brother, who introduces you to the game, where you get the idea and get’s to try it out.
When The Sims 2 comes along, it’s like a whole new world with new cities, new worlds to explore, and new “things” to explore, such as more complex characteristics, Universities, Businesses and even living in apartments.
And then The Sims 3 comes along, and all of a sudden it’s not “down town” anymore – it’s once again a whole new world, were you can access downtown by only zooming out, even more complex characteristics, you got horses to explore, you get to go on heavy adventures, you even get the ability to travel to your friends game and perform or just see the other sim! (this is something I wanted already during The Sims 1 era)
The Sims stories has NOTHING to do with the others except from the concept of Sims, as you actually get a storyplot where you are told how to reach the next level and after a while “winning” the game, which you never do in the actual game.
But if we leave The Sims for a while, my next question arises.
What games counts as gamers games?
As you have understood, I play The Sims. But even if it may so seem, I don’t only play The Sims. Apart from The Sims, my favorite game is the myst-like game Atlantis( in this case, both 1 & 2). I also play fantasybased horsegames such as the Starshine Legacy (four pieced), the fantasybased game Star Academy Legacy (four pieced), strategy games as Svea Rike and Journalist, and also games based off movies/books as The Harry Potter series, The Pirates of The Caribbean, “sports”games as Quidditch and on occasion, I play PlayStation games such as “Riding Star”, “Disney’s Hercules”, “Barbie Sports”, “The Little Mermaid 2”, “Spyro: The Dragon” and “Kingsley”.
So, is these gamers games? Except from Atlantis, none of these games are specifically “complex”, maybe even considered childrens game (and some of these are) but still.
So I leave the question open to you.
What actually defines a gamer?
and
What games qualifies as gamers?
and
Based on what you read, would you qualify me as a gamer?
And before I wind this up, I’ll put in Meljanz once again so you get this straight.
// Sara
Sara Hammerzmith 