I bought TS2 shortly after it was released but didn't get to install it until just before x-mas that year (had to wait til I bought a new computer). My daughter was a pre-teen at the time and I knew she would love it but with only one computer that could run it, I didn't want to be fighting over which of us got to play in the evenings. I managed not to have her catch me playing for a few days <laughs> but once she did, well, I ended up buying another computer a few weeks later.
I played Sims 1 in 2004 right before the release of Sims 2 and I was estatic even though I found the managing of my Sims needs hard to keep up with. The Sims been around even before Sims 1 as Maxis started with Sims Town which I still own but Sims 1 was more in managing your Sims. However when I first played Sims 2 I was in love with it even the base game and sadly never went back to Sims 1. I would play hours on end making up soap opera stories and though I found the loading screens and the quarter block environment an nuisance I had the best time playing it.
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I read an article about Sims 1 before it came out - on cNet or somewhere like that - and made a point of filing my tax return early so I would have money to get the game as soon as possible when it came out. I remember it was winter. I remember being so intrigued by the things I'd read and it was the first game I was seriously interested in enough to actually make a place in my budget for.
When I got it, I was so addicted that I was the last to bed and the first to rise, just so I could sneak to the computer and play Sims. I used to pretend I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, then go play and never go back to bed. When I heard the first alarm clock going off in the morning, I would save and shut down real quick then scoot into the kitchen to pretend that I was being nice and getting up early so I could make the coffee for everyone. I had the sleepy innocent face perfected!
When Transmogrifier came out, I discovered texturing and it was that magic moment where you suddenly realize that you've found your reason to live, lol. I became way, way, way beyond obsessed with retexturing sofas and chairs and beds. Then I learned how to make your own lamps and flower arrangements to add to the game, and between textures and images of things I wanted to make for my game I was always filling up my hard drive and having to delete stuff to make room again. I didn't bother pretending to sleep anymore, and my family had caught on anyway. Thank goodness I had my own computer. I sleepwalked through work many, many days, but it was worth it. I eventually had to upgrade to a 20 gig hard drive for it all that I couldn't wait to fill up.
Discovering the Sims awakened a creativity that I never would have even known existed. It's given me so many memories and helped me through so many hard times that it became like a part of me. In a roundabout way, it taught me things about myself that I never would have come to realize any other way. It is something that will always be a part of me, and those memories I will always treasure.
I hadn't heard of the Sims because basically my family was anti video game, and then later they started letting me play a couple of games but Sims 2 wasn't one of them because they were opposed to the concept of woohoo.
Unfortunately they were highly controlling and I eventually had to run off and be homeless to get out. I was couch hopping with a friend of a friend and it was December 31st 2009. They let me play Sims 3 on their computer and I was hooked.
Saw the sims unleashed trailer as a kid and was immediately like “What is this?!”
We didn’t have a pc back then but did have a PS2 (lol this seems kinda funny in retrospect), which eventually they did make a console version. I discovered a friend’s older brother, had the PS2 version and invited myself over to ask to borrow it. He was more a call of duty kinda guy, or whatever it was back then so pretty much gave it to me! So many good memories of me and my younger siblings playing 2 player though! And so many hours! Like legit one of my favourite features across all the console releases (and defo missing in the sims 4 console version!)..
Although we had the PS2 version that was loads of fun, I was still desperate for the pc version with all the expansion packs etc. Then I remember the sims 2 came out. When we finally bought our first PC (around my birthday), I was lucky enough for my uncle to get me the Sims 2 & university! The upgrade and difference, needless to say, mind blown
I was 13 and both a good friend of mine and one of the kids I babysat had the game and played it. I didn't have a computer in my home at that point so I couldn't get it but as soon as I got one that would play the game (a few years later) I bought the Sim City 2000 version which I still have.
Thank you everyone for sharing your lovely memories and stories. I keep forgetting how sharing and trading video games used to be such a big thing back then. And it blows my mind how so many of you (myself included) played the sims in such a social way with your siblings/children/classmates when the game was designed for single player.
I remember when TS1 first came out. I honestly could not understand why anyone would want to play a game like that. Why would I want to deal with having a sim eat, sleep & pee. It just did not sound fun, in any way! But I had a few online friends that played and one kept after me, wanting me to give it a try.
I finally gave in and said I would but when I went to the store to buy it, TS2 was on the new release shelf and the box said they took care of their needs better. Needless to say, I bought TS2 instead. I also thought it would be nicer to get the new version that everyone would be learning, then one people were leaving behind.
I've been hooked on sims ever since I got TS2 installed and started playing the tutorial. (for ts3, I loved CAW)
I mentioned my daughter in my previous post in this thread and she still plays occasionally. She bought TS4 on Easter and called me to tell me how much she was enjoying it and talked me into finally buying it (before toddlers were added, TS4 wasn't even a blip on our radar). The timing was right since it was on sale for $10 (and the EPs were 40% off). By the end of the week, I'd bought every expansion pack, game pack and stuff pack. <laughs>
I first found the Sims 1 at Walmart and bought it not realizing my PC wouldn't run it because it was the DVD disc. So I had to wait a week and I finally got the right disc. Then I stayed with my aunt for a weekend and she introduced me to the Sims 2. I spent the whole visit playing the game. She let me take the game home but sadly the same situation it was for a DVD drive, so I had to beg my mom for weeks until she finally broke down and bought it. I've loved this game since day 1! I never get bored and now with the Sims 4 it really does seem like possibilities are endless. It's surprised me in how far it's come these last couple years. From that first day to now I always have a special place for my Simulated pixels.
I remember when TS1 first came out. I honestly could not understand why anyone would want to play a game like that. Why would I want to deal with having a sim eat, sleep & pee. It just did not sound fun, in any way! But I had a few online friends that played and one kept after me, wanting me to give it a try.
Yes I had the same thoughts when I first heard of it. Did not sound fun at all. In my mind I was thinking, 'isn't this just a really customisable dollhouse on a computer?' Yet weirdly I've been addicted for almost 20 years. I love that you and your daughter are still very much into the game, and hope that this game continues to grow.
From the range of age 5 to 10 I really wanted a game where you can build and create your own little world, customising every house, shop and person. But I was pretty sure that a game like that couldn't possibly exist so the closest thing I had to my dream was Zoo Tycoon 2 which, as the name implies, only lets you build a zoo. Then suddenly when I was like 10 my older brother installed The Sims 3. And oh boy did he regret it! I occupied his computer for hours, creating huge families and customising rooms. My first sim family had four kids, a dog, a cat and practically lived in a huge box. My parents weren't happy, my brother weren't happy, but I felt like the happiest human being on earth so they all just had to deal with it
I'm not much of a gamer. I liked Portal 2 and I have occasionally made it through a point and click adventure game, but otherwise I never really played anything. My husband, who is an avid gamer, kept trying to get me interested in various games, but all of them bored me pretty quickly. My hobbies are art and writing and I dislike anything with rules.
Then one Christmas with family, I saw my cousin get the Sims 3 Supernatural pack and for some reason it intrigued me. I had never even heard of the Sims games before that. My husband (I think he really wanted me to like computer games) promptly bought me the base game and supernatural pack for my birthday a couple months later.
Neither one of us had any idea how to play the game or what to expect. I wanted it to be like a doll house that I could just do make-believe stuff with and create my own stories, and I immediately had an idea for a story about a grumpy old man living alone in a creepy old mansion haunted by a little ghost girl.
I had fun creating the characters in CAS, but then was disappointed in play mode when I discovered that I could not afford a mansion, that my characters (even the ghost!) needed to eat, sleep, shower and pee a lot, that they both were obsessed with watching the TV, and that even my husband couldn't figure out how to get into build mode to edit the boring, modern looking, house they could afford so that it would have two beds. My poor sleep deprived sims kept getting mad and waking each other up, because they refused to share it even though it was a double bed.
Then the old man set fire to the house in a careless mac and cheese accident (classic rookie move!), zombies kept lurching around at night, and making them both freak out, and the little girl ghost aged up suddenly to a teenage ghost (which made me angry because I wanted her to be a little girl). And I quit in frustration. I didn't touch it again for about a year and a half even though I felt guilty about how much money my husband had probably spent on it, and the fact that he seemed disappointed I hadn't liked it, every time I saw the icon on the desktop.
He finally convinced me to try it again (turns out he'd secretly played it during that year and a half and figured some stuff out). I learned about build mode, aging off, cheat codes, and mods. I made myself a rowdy band of rogue computer hacking fairies, and my life has never been the same since.
When I was a wee lad on my cousins computer. I was hooked the moment I first played- especially with building houses. I remember the weeks after that I kept on drawing blueprints and floor plans at school during recess, my notebooks were full of it! And that was Sims 2. Sadly when we moved a lot happened and was not able to play another sims game until a few years later when I stumbled upon a Sims 3 copy on sale. Been playing since then, which has been 9 years to date!
2002, I was 9 years old. My sister and I were at my friend's house and she showed us a game that you can put people to woo-hoo. Then we convinced our mother to buy us TS1 and some expansion packs, but she bought some pirate ones and we didn't manage how to properly install. After that, my mom bought the whole original collection that came in a cd case, and bizarrely the CDs for the base game came duplicated, it was Friday night when we tried to install and realized that, I cried a lot. The next Monday we went to the game store where we bought it, returned the product, took a new one, went to our house, installed the base game and all expansions packs (it took sooooo much time) and from then until today we are addicted to the whole franchise lol.
I first played The Sims on PS1. I was in my early 30s and wondered what all the fuss was about. I guess it turned me into what I still am now, a meter juggler. I need to learn to stop monitoring the needs and let 'em get on with it!
Also, I preferred building than playing, but hung up my toolbox now that I can just download a nice lot from the gallery.
First time would have been The Sims in 2000. Fairly recent divorced and on my own. They have been my entertainment and company since then.
I got my 10th Anniversary Badge today but I presume this is for sims3 as it was May 2009 I registered for that one. Wow where has the time gone.
"Every child matters. If we fail our children, we are bound to fail our present, our future, faith, cultures, and civilizations as well."
I was 10 years old and my older brother bought TS2 to try and allowed me to play it. He wasn't that into the game so he ended up giving it to me because I adored it. Birthdays and Christmas (or if my parents had extra money to waste on me) I'd get new packs, then TS3 came out and I got it, and the rest was history.
Thank you everyone for sharing your lovely memories and stories. I keep forgetting how sharing and trading video games used to be such a big thing back then. And it blows my mind how so many of you (myself included) played the sims in such a social way with your siblings/children/classmates when the game was designed for single player.
One of my favorite things to do was to have friends over and let them play The Sims. It's almost just as fun to watch someone else explore the world.
For me it was my grandmother who got me into the Sims, she basically taught me how to play the game it was also my first PC game at the time if i remember right it was the Sims 2 double deluxe, it was and incredible experience as it sorta made me enjoyed thing's i normally find mundane and the amount of story telling and roleplay what made me really falk in love fully.
I was either 10 or 11, and a friend of mine had the game. She showed it to me when I was over at her house one day and I was hooked instantly. My parents were a bit leery letting me play it since it was rated T, but they realized how cartoonish and outrageous it was, so they relented, and I never looked back.
I was in my early twenties. I was visiting my family for Christmas and my stepsister was playing it. She was 11 or 12 at the time. I gave it a try and I remember her walking in and I asked for advice and all she could say was "I've never seen a sim with all their needs that red before."
Once I got my own copy I got the hang of it and owned a couple of expansions, but never got truly hooked. Once Sims 2 came out and the sims started to age and change over time I developed a true obsession. I spent more hours of my life in that game than any other I've ever played (though Dragon Age Inquisition comes close).
I couldn't play Sims 3 because I could not give up rotational play. I stuck with Sims 2 until my computer died and I lost all my saves, conveniently a few months after Sims 4 was released.
I was 8 years old and my first games were TS1 Complete Collection, TS2, and Sims Bustin Out (I got MySims and TS3 in my tween years)
I remember my first experience of death in both TS2 and Bustin Out
Bustin Out: Sim of mine starved to death, I'm still haunted by the in pain sound they make when they die
Sims 2: I had a family of three sisters (?) they ran a toy shop home business and one day one of the sisters were both tired and hungry so while she was making a sandwich for herself she fell asleep then woke up and died, I remember crying while witnessing it and it was really gloomy just watching her other two sisters sobbing over her grave
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When I got it, I was so addicted that I was the last to bed and the first to rise, just so I could sneak to the computer and play Sims. I used to pretend I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, then go play and never go back to bed. When I heard the first alarm clock going off in the morning, I would save and shut down real quick then scoot into the kitchen to pretend that I was being nice and getting up early so I could make the coffee for everyone. I had the sleepy innocent face perfected!
When Transmogrifier came out, I discovered texturing and it was that magic moment where you suddenly realize that you've found your reason to live, lol. I became way, way, way beyond obsessed with retexturing sofas and chairs and beds. Then I learned how to make your own lamps and flower arrangements to add to the game, and between textures and images of things I wanted to make for my game I was always filling up my hard drive and having to delete stuff to make room again. I didn't bother pretending to sleep anymore, and my family had caught on anyway. Thank goodness I had my own computer. I sleepwalked through work many, many days, but it was worth it. I eventually had to upgrade to a 20 gig hard drive for it all that I couldn't wait to fill up.
Discovering the Sims awakened a creativity that I never would have even known existed. It's given me so many memories and helped me through so many hard times that it became like a part of me. In a roundabout way, it taught me things about myself that I never would have come to realize any other way. It is something that will always be a part of me, and those memories I will always treasure.
Unfortunately they were highly controlling and I eventually had to run off and be homeless to get out. I was couch hopping with a friend of a friend and it was December 31st 2009. They let me play Sims 3 on their computer and I was hooked.
I got it for myself sometime in 2010.
We didn’t have a pc back then but did have a PS2 (lol this seems kinda funny in retrospect), which eventually they did make a console version. I discovered a friend’s older brother, had the PS2 version and invited myself over to ask to borrow it. He was more a call of duty kinda guy, or whatever it was back then so pretty much gave it to me! So many good memories of me and my younger siblings playing 2 player though! And so many hours! Like legit one of my favourite features across all the console releases (and defo missing in the sims 4 console version!)..
Although we had the PS2 version that was loads of fun, I was still desperate for the pc version with all the expansion packs etc. Then I remember the sims 2 came out. When we finally bought our first PC (around my birthday), I was lucky enough for my uncle to get me the Sims 2 & university! The upgrade and difference, needless to say, mind blown
I finally gave in and said I would but when I went to the store to buy it, TS2 was on the new release shelf and the box said they took care of their needs better. Needless to say, I bought TS2 instead. I also thought it would be nicer to get the new version that everyone would be learning, then one people were leaving behind.
I've been hooked on sims ever since I got TS2 installed and started playing the tutorial. (for ts3, I loved CAW)
I mentioned my daughter in my previous post in this thread and she still plays occasionally. She bought TS4 on Easter and called me to tell me how much she was enjoying it and talked me into finally buying it (before toddlers were added, TS4 wasn't even a blip on our radar). The timing was right since it was on sale for $10 (and the EPs were 40% off). By the end of the week, I'd bought every expansion pack, game pack and stuff pack. <laughs>
Yes I had the same thoughts when I first heard of it. Did not sound fun at all. In my mind I was thinking, 'isn't this just a really customisable dollhouse on a computer?' Yet weirdly I've been addicted for almost 20 years. I love that you and your daughter are still very much into the game, and hope that this game continues to grow.
I'm not much of a gamer. I liked Portal 2 and I have occasionally made it through a point and click adventure game, but otherwise I never really played anything. My husband, who is an avid gamer, kept trying to get me interested in various games, but all of them bored me pretty quickly. My hobbies are art and writing and I dislike anything with rules.
Then one Christmas with family, I saw my cousin get the Sims 3 Supernatural pack and for some reason it intrigued me. I had never even heard of the Sims games before that. My husband (I think he really wanted me to like computer games) promptly bought me the base game and supernatural pack for my birthday a couple months later.
Neither one of us had any idea how to play the game or what to expect. I wanted it to be like a doll house that I could just do make-believe stuff with and create my own stories, and I immediately had an idea for a story about a grumpy old man living alone in a creepy old mansion haunted by a little ghost girl.
I had fun creating the characters in CAS, but then was disappointed in play mode when I discovered that I could not afford a mansion, that my characters (even the ghost!) needed to eat, sleep, shower and pee a lot, that they both were obsessed with watching the TV, and that even my husband couldn't figure out how to get into build mode to edit the boring, modern looking, house they could afford so that it would have two beds. My poor sleep deprived sims kept getting mad and waking each other up, because they refused to share it even though it was a double bed.
Then the old man set fire to the house in a careless mac and cheese accident (classic rookie move!), zombies kept lurching around at night, and making them both freak out, and the little girl ghost aged up suddenly to a teenage ghost (which made me angry because I wanted her to be a little girl). And I quit in frustration. I didn't touch it again for about a year and a half even though I felt guilty about how much money my husband had probably spent on it, and the fact that he seemed disappointed I hadn't liked it, every time I saw the icon on the desktop.
He finally convinced me to try it again (turns out he'd secretly played it during that year and a half and figured some stuff out). I learned about build mode, aging off, cheat codes, and mods. I made myself a rowdy band of rogue computer hacking fairies, and my life has never been the same since.
Also, I preferred building than playing, but hung up my toolbox now that I can just download a nice lot from the gallery.
I got my 10th Anniversary Badge today but I presume this is for sims3 as it was May 2009 I registered for that one. Wow where has the time gone.
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One of my favorite things to do was to have friends over and let them play The Sims. It's almost just as fun to watch someone else explore the world.
Once I got my own copy I got the hang of it and owned a couple of expansions, but never got truly hooked. Once Sims 2 came out and the sims started to age and change over time I developed a true obsession. I spent more hours of my life in that game than any other I've ever played (though Dragon Age Inquisition comes close).
I couldn't play Sims 3 because I could not give up rotational play. I stuck with Sims 2 until my computer died and I lost all my saves, conveniently a few months after Sims 4 was released.
I remember my first experience of death in both TS2 and Bustin Out
Bustin Out: Sim of mine starved to death, I'm still haunted by the in pain sound they make when they die
Sims 2: I had a family of three sisters (?) they ran a toy shop home business and one day one of the sisters were both tired and hungry so while she was making a sandwich for herself she fell asleep then woke up and died, I remember crying while witnessing it and it was really gloomy just watching her other two sisters sobbing over her grave