Research Paper Final Draft

Everyone plays games. They are a worldwide attraction. Many may be the simple board game kind of person, and prefer to roll the dice or flip the cards by hand. Then there are those that are console based gamers. Consoles started with the Odyssey console, released in 1972, to today’s Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, and X-Box 360. Maybe it’s the simple Pong that people today still enjoy playing, or maybe it’s Paperboy, or Mario Kart Wii, or Medal of Honor. Then there are the computer based games that have captured many gamers’ attention. Some started computer gaming by playing the simple game of solitaire at work on their computer when bored and nobody was watching, while others bought computers just for the thrill of gaming. Some may prefer the original computer games, such as chess, compared with today’s computer games, such as Everquest or The Sims 3. Some games are rollovers to different consoles. The Sims franchise started on the PC, but has since been released on other console platforms, such as the Nintendo DS, the handheld PSP, the X-Box, the Nintendo Wii, and the Playstation 2.

The games that fascinate me in particular include; the Kingdom Hearts franchise, the Tomb Raider franchise, The Sims franchise, Mario Kart Wii, and Wii Sports. Some online based games that I play includes; Farmville, Mafia Wars, Evony, Bloodlines, and Mobsters. These are mainly Facebook or MySpace game applications, except Evony. Mario Kart Wii is a console based and online based game, where you can choose to race opponents within the nation, or worldwide via the internet. The Sims franchise, excluding The Sims Online, is not really an online based game, but you can have a lot of interaction with the world wide web, such as downloads off The Sims 1/2/3 websites, or the online item exchange, and so forth.

In a variety of ways, games do supplant narratives as privileged cultural forms. They involve main characters, plot, and story lines into the games. The big difference is that compared to writings and narratives, you’re not reading nearly as much as you would when reading a book. A book is all about reading, and using your imagination throughout the story to help you create what the characters and environment looks like. Games, on the other hand, are about creating the story as you go along. You already see the characters and the environment; you just don’t know how the story will play out. This is one way that reading and playing are similar. You start out with not knowing how the story will play out. In a book, you turn page-by-page and continue learning more and more about the characters, their background, and the environment. It’s similar in games. When you start out, you usually have the basis of what is needing to be done, but you don’t know how to do it. You have to learn more about how to control the characters, and in a variety of games, you can choose to talk to different characters, or choose to ignore different characters, based on how you want to play the game. Some decisions allow you to go forward in the game. Other’s end the game right there by getting you killed, or making you have to backtrack your steps because you went in the wrong direction.

Every game is a narrative from as far as I can tell. From the creator’s point of view, it is also a kind of writing. They have to be able to tell the complete story before being able to apply it to the game. So, in a way they had to write the game as a book first, before adding the graphics and whatnot to the game. Games such as chess and football are narratives. With chess, it’s a story of defeating or being defeated. In football, it’s a similar concept, only you are playing as characters instead of board game pieces. Every game has some sort of narrative behind it, to explain the meaning of the game, to explain how to play the game, and then the storyline or progression of the game as you play. The creators of the game creates the story for you to follow along with usually, but in many recent games, such as The Sims franchise, especially its most recent sequel, The Sims 3, the creators of the game only create the foundation, which then allows you to start from wherever you want. You can create your own family, watch them grow, have children, die, and continue playing the lives of the offspring. You can choose to try to lead the world in world peace, or try to conquer the city through evil. Games such as The Sims 3 have an endless amount of storytelling, and allow you to be the narrative of the game.

After interviewing Will Wright, creator of The Sims franchise, the Canwest News Service stated “Following on from his bestsellers like "The Sims 3" and "Spore," Wright is working on new franchises that can go beyond games to the Web, mobile devices, and traditional Hollywood outlets like television and film.” The Sims franchise, along with Spore, has already allowed gamers to combine storytelling computer simulation games with online multimedia by allowing the gamers to upload shared content to the web. Will Wright comments that The Sims 3 is a game, like his other creation, Spore, that is already part of the web. The fact that he's trying to create games that go beyond the web is mind boggling. (Canwest News Service. ""The Sims" creator eyes the world beyond games." http://www.canada.com. October 6, 2009)

With the web being a worldwide communication thread for Sims gamers, people are able to share content with each other from anywhere in the world. The web also allows Sims gamers to download new content into their game from The Sims 3 Store for a fee, or sometimes even for free. So, there are two ways to add new content to The Sims game via web, either through The Sims 3 Store, or through The Sims 3 Exchange. The exchange is different from the store due to the fact that everything the gamers download from the exchange is for free. Also, another difference is that everything that is offered to be downloaded from the exchange is already in the game content-wise.

The Sims 3 Store is all Maxis made content. It may be buildings, Sims, objects, or clothing. Either way, it's all created by Maxis. Also, most of the objects that can be received from The Sims 3 Store have to be bought with Sims Bucks, which is pretty much the same as human dollars. The difference is that $1.00 equals 100 Sims Bucks. You can only buy Sims Bucks starting at $10.00, so when you transfer The Sims Bucks from however you bought it, either from a department store or through an online site, your $10.00 Sims Bucks Card will transfer to your Sims 3 Account as 1000 Sims Bucks. Then you can use what you transferred to your account to purchase content offered at The Sims 3 Store online. Sometime The Sims 3 Store has exceptions, such as holiday items. For instance, with Halloween and Thanksgiving being so close, you are able to go to The Sims 3 Store and download the Halloween or Thanksgiving Content Package into your game from The Sims 3 Store for free. You don't have to use any Sims Bucks to purchase the content.

The Sims 3 Exchange is different from The Sims 3 Store in a variety of ways. The exchange is where gamers can upload their content onto their Sims 3 page to share with the world if they have created an account on The Sims 3 website. They are able to upload their buildings, Sims, objects with their designs, videos, and photos that they created within The Sims 3. Another feature the exchange has is being able to download other people's content into their game. The only exception is the photos and videos. Using the web to exchange content within the game allows gamers around the world to add new content to their game at anytime.

The Sims 3 exchange also gives authorship to the content uploaded. Each gamer can create their own account within The Sims 3 website so that they can show off their content and share it. When others view one's content, they are also able to see who the creator, or author, of the content is.

Even so, within the game itself, each gamer is the author of each Sims life within the game. They are able to build a neighborhood to their liking, so that it looks like where they grew up, like some big city, or even a like a fictional neighborhood. They can create building to look like homes from their neighborhood, town homes from a big city, or a castle from a novel or movie. They are able to create Sims who look like their family, like celebrities, or like fictional characters.

Each gamer is able to be the author of their own world, and choose to have the characters do as they please, or what the gamer wants them to do. One may choose that they want to live their life through The Sims and create their family so that they can become who they dream of being. If they want to choose to live out the lives of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, for example, they can choose to create the celebrities to their liking, or choose to download them from the exchange where other gamers have already created them. Then they can create a story about how Pitt and Jolie become unhappy, get divorced, and Pitt goes off to marry Jennifer Aniston instead and live happily ever after. Maybe they are Harry Potter fanatics, and wish to create the world of Harry Potter. They are able to do so, and live out the lives of Harry, Ron, and Hermione to their liking. With the Harry Potter example, this is where remixing comes into view.

Remixing is a big part of The Sims for many gamers. There are many different kinds of fanatics out there just waiting to create the world of one of their favorite characters. Harry Potter is a character that many Sims fans enjoy creating and placing into the Sims world. With the video option available within The Sims 3 game, gamers are able to create a video of Harry Potter. They can choose to play out Harry Potter's life the way the story tells it, or gamers can create a new life for Harry Potter, and choose to have him do as they please. If they choose to do either, they can then upload the video onto the web for others to view. The video option within The Sims 3 gives gamers many new experiences. One is the previous example of Harry Potter. Though this is one way to use the video mode in the game, there are many other creative ways that gamers can use the video option.

Maxis, the creators of The Sims, hold competitions for best videos. Each competition usually has a theme to it. Holidays are a major time for Maxis to hold such competitions. During Halloween, Maxis announces the information about the contest through The Sims 3 website, including all the details about it and the date when the competition ends. During this time, gamers can create scary videos, haunting videos, and so forth. One aspect about the game is that after Sims die, they can come back as ghosts. With this aspect within the game, it allows gamers to be more creative and use the ghosts within the game to their advantage. Once the competition has ended, awards are given. Usually it's Sims Bucks that can be used in The Sims 3 Store. Sometimes it's an expansion pack that was just released for the game, or that is about to be released.

Another way videos are used for the game is to give instructions. They can be used as a kind of instruction manual. Other gamers create these videos to help out fellow gamers with how to build, be promoted in a workplace, and so forth. This could be very helpful for anyone who is new to The Sims 3, or for anyone who is simply stuck and doesn't understand what to do next to further their Sims in a career. With new expansion packs coming out frequently, these videos can be created to help other gamers out in the new expansion pack as well.

Expansion packs are what the name says they are: expansions. They add new content to the game, while keeping all the original content in the game. They are not a whole different game, but the same, only with more content added to the original Sims 3.

In the past, a new expansion pack was released for The Sims and The Sims 2 every six months. The Sims 3 was just released in June, 2009. The first expansion pack for The Sims 3 has yet to be released, but the release date is November, 2009. This is nearly six months after The Sims 3 was first released to public. Expansion packs are used to give gamers more game play within The Sims 3. Each expansion pack brings new Sims, objects, clothing, buildings, and locations to The Sims 3 world. For those who play the game constantly, the expansion packs allow the fanatics to not get tired of the game play, and bring new experiences to the game.

The expansion pack that is to be released this November is called The Sims 3 World Adventures. This expansion pack brings three new areas to The Sims 3: Paris, Egypt, and China. Within the expansion pack there will be real places that can be visited by the Sims, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, and the Pyramids of Egypt. New characters are introduced, along with new skills and traits that can be learned. For those gamers who may never be able to see these places in real life will be able to explore them through their Sims.

When using TheSims3.com, many new objects introduced in the exchange and in the store will not be usable without the new expansion pack. This encourages gamers to buy the expansion packs as they are released so that they can be able to download anything that may only be able to be used within the expansion pack, and not just the original Sims 3. To be able to tell the difference between original items and expansion pack items, Maxis places icons by the different web content to differentiate what objects can be downloaded for the expansion pack or for the original game itself.

The web has been a huge influence on The Sims franchise. With gamers being able to download content off the website, it allows gamers to share content with gamers all over the world. The Sims 3 Store is a new installment for the franchise. Before, with The Sims 2, there were Content Expansion Packs that you could purchase at any store that sold games. The web has made it so that gamers can download the content off of the web, where before you would have had to buy the whole content expansion instead.

Being able to share videos via the web has allowed gamers to view other cultural details from different countries where The Sims 3 is being sold. Gamers are able to be friends with anyone from around the world through their own account on The Sims 3 website. They can download Sims that look like gamers from different countries all over the world, allowing that culture to be seen within their own game.

The web has brought the world of gaming into a new era. With the internet, gamers can communicate with anyone anywhere in the world. The Sims 3 is only one of many games that use the web as a way to help play the game. Other games, though maybe in different ways, allows gamers to be an author, in some aspect, within the game they are playing. Also, the web allows the gamers to share what they have, or communicate with other, via the web.