As we get ready to celebrate 15 years of all things The Sims, we wanted to share a few of our favorite fun facts. Do you have a favorite Sims fun fact? Why not post them here for all of us to enjoy?
It Started with a Toilet
The first object ever created for The Sims was a toilet featured in the 1993 prototype. A variety of ways to interact with the toilet were introduced, from using it to cleaning it. According to the team, it was also the only object in the original game that different genders used differently—male Sims tended to leave the seat up!
When is a Language not a Language?
Sims speak Simlish, an expressive emotion-filled language that defies translation. In creating Simlish, the development team experimented with fractured Ukrainian and Tagalog, the language of the Philippines. Inspired by the code talkers of WWII, The Sims creator Will Wright also suggested Navajo. Over the years, fans have learned to recognize some words like Dag Dag for hello and nooboo for baby. My personal favorite is Sul Sul.
Funny Money
Sims have their own form of currency called Simoleons. The currency originated way back in early eighteenth-century Britain, where sixpence were often slangily called a Simon. Simon mixed with the much more valuable French gold coins called Napoleons became Simoleons!
Play it your Way
The appeal of The Sims is that there is no “right way” to play. Some players spend all their time building cool houses or following the personal lives of their Sims, while others like to create chaos wherever they go. Are you one of those players? If you have ever trapped your Sim in a room without a door, then the answer is probably yes!
Before they were Stars
The Sims has always sought out rising musical talent. Paramore, Katy Perry, Lily Allen, Fun, Bastille plus many others all recorded tracks in Simlish just as they were on the brink of mega-stardom. Wonder who the next megastar will be?
Comments
Definition of the plumbob: "A plumb-bob or a plummet is a weight, usually with a pointed tip on the bottom, that is suspended from a string and used as a vertical reference line, or plumb-line. It is essentially the vertical equivalent of a "water level".
The instrument has been used since at least the time of ancient Egypt to ensure that constructions are "plumb", or vertical. It is also used in surveying to establish the nadir with respect to gravity of a point in space. They are used with a variety of instruments (including levels, theodolites, and steel tapes) to set the instrument exactly over a fixed survey marker, or to transcribe positions onto the ground for placing a marker."
The 1959 sci-fi film Journey to the Center of the Earth also references the plumbob. "In Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1880, Professor Sir Oliver Lindenbrook (James Mason), a geologist at the University of Edinburgh, is given a piece of volcanic rock by his admiring student, Alec McEwan (Pat Boone). Deciding that the rock is unusually heavy, Lindenbrook, mostly thanks to the carelessness of his lab assistant, Mr. Paisley (Ben Wright), discovers a plumb bob inside bearing a cryptic inscription. Lindenbrook and Alec discover that it was left by a scientist named Arne Saknussemm, who had, almost 300 years earlier, found a passage to the center of the Earth. After translating the message, Lindenbrook immediately sets off with Alec to follow in the Icelandic pioneer's footsteps."
The Sims 4 Olympus was going to introduce a blue plumbob color.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sim enim est vita
Not exactly obscure, but at this point some people here have probably never played the original.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Was there a cheat? Huh, you learn a new thing everyday.
Yours sincerely, Joseph
Just type in "nessie" at the neighborhood screen. You can only spawn one at a time, though. Wouldn't want it to get TOO crowded.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out next time I play (which won't be for ages because my laptop can't play anything at the moment).
Yours sincerely, Joseph
Now after the update you can place the once previously cosmetic toilet roll on the far side of the bathroom, and your sims will reluctantly shuffle towards it with their pants 'round their ankles in an amusing waddling manner in order to finish their 'business'.
Patches
A patch is a piece of software designed to update a computer program or its supporting data, to fix or improve it.[1] This includes fixing security vulnerabilities[1] and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance. Though meant to fix problems, poorly designed patches can sometimes introduce new problems (see software regressions). In some special cases updates may knowingly break the functionality, for instance, by removing components for which the update provider is no longer licensed or disabling a device.
Video games Patches
Video games receive patches to fix compatibility problems after their initial release just like any other software, but they can also be applied to change game rules or algorithms.
DLC Free or otherwise
Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content for a video game distributed through the Internet by the game's official publisher or other third party content producers. Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from aesthetic outfit changes to a new, extensive storyline, similar to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes, objects, levels, challenges or other features to a complete and already released game.
Just in case somebody forgot that game content are not fixes they are DLC and should be separate from patches to prevent further breaking of said game.
Fun Fact 2: In The Sims 2 there was a cheat called Joke please which told an awful joke.
Infinite Diversity, Infinite Combinations
Thanks to 06bon06 for my lovely new signature pic
Nice! Thank you!
Fun Fact: Many of the Sims' last names are the names of CEOs and Producers in the early series. Like Le Tourneau.