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Simoleon to USD Exchange Rate

In December of 2012, a forum post by oli_thorne was submitted claiming that the value of one simoleon was equal to $13.40 USD. I am here to prove that wrong. He justifies this using the conversion rates for the cost of gold per gram in USD and in simoleons. Then he goes into further detail by claiming that the “Dromedary” (The most expensive non-DLC sim couch) would be $16,080USD. While some high end couches do reach that cost point and his math may be accurate, this is by all means not an accurate conversion factor. For starters if $13.40USD equaled one simoleon, then the cheapest couch in the base game (the “Prim and Proper”) would be an exuberant $3,015, which is absolutely outrageous for the cheapest couch on the market. So we know that oli_thorne’s claim was wrong, now let’s try to solve this conversion ourselves.

Take the “4-Everything Van”, which is based on the 2009 Chrysler Town & Country for example. It has an in game price of 6,100 simoleons. When the Sims 3 Base Game came out in 2009 and when this variant of the Town & Country was new, it had a Market Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $26,340 - $36,780. However, for the sake of this argument, we will be using the base models of all cars used as examples. So to compare 6,100 simoleons as the same as $26,340 would be saying that one simoleon equals $4.32USD. The next car we will be taking into account is the 2012 Toyota Prius MK2 which was added into the game as free in store content. This car has an in-game price of 5,500 simoleons while its 2012 MSRP was $24,000. This would give us an exchange rate of $4.36USD per simoleon. So far we have a relatively steady rate. But what will happen to this rate as we add in more expensive cars? For example, the “VFN Kompensator” comes in at 36,000 simoleons and is based on the 2009 Audi A6. While the base model A6 Premium had an MSRP of $45,100… we will be using the more expensive Audi A6 4.2 Liter Prestige model which has an MSRP of $60,950. This is because not only is it described as “hyped and expensive” as well as having a “V16 engine.” This would allow us to infer that it is referring to the fully loaded A6 variant. Also the V16 engine can be assumed to be the Audi V8 engine in non-Sim world since eight can be divisible by sixteen, which may seem illogical or supportive however, it is closer to V16 than the other V6 variant. This would give us and exchange rate of $1.69USD per one simoleon, which is significantly less than our other exchange rates. The final car we will be taking a look at is the Margaret Vaguester which has an in-game price of 105,000 simoleons. This car represents a 2009 Porsche 911 Turbo which had an MSRP of $128,700USD, providing an exchange rate of $1.23USD equaling one simoleon. So, as you can see, with cars, the higher the price, the smaller the price gap is. However, the average exchange rate for the cars would be $2.90USD per one simoleon.

Next up, we will look at houses. Each tile in a Sims 3 house is nine square feet. Therefore, I built and furnished two 10x10s in completely different locations and completely different furnishings to compare. This way there will be a possible range for home square footage cost. On average, the cost per square footage of a home is between $20USD - $100USD per square footage, depending on the cost of materials, location, and desired furnishings. Therefore, one of the 900sqft homes is cheaply made, in an inexpensive location, with crummy furniture. This will be compared to the $20USD per square foot. On the other hand, the other 900sqft home is much nicer, with high quality materials, expensive furniture, and a desirable location. Both can be found in the spreadsheet below:

Lot 1 Value 1,200Simoleons
After 10x10 walls placed 4,000Simoleons
Walls included in 2x3ba 300Simoleons
After cheapest doors/windows placed as necessary 5,360Simoleons (12windows)
After Int.+Ext. paint 5,620Simoleons
Free Hardwood used
After cheapest furniture (Furnished Value) 10,351Simoleons
Unfurnished Value 7,651Simoleons

Lot 2 Value 6,800Simoleons
After 10x10 walls placed 9,600Simoleons
Walls included in 5x4bd+3x5ba 980Simoleons
After most expensive doors/windows 14,850Simoleons
After Int.+Ext. paint 15,902 Simoleons
After most expensive stone floors 18,042Simoleons
After most expensive furniture (Value Furnished) 91,456Simoleons
Unfurnished Value 55,926Simoleons

So based on these calculations, the house that was 7,651 Simoleons unfurnished would cost $18,000USD, giving us a conversion factor of $2.35USD per one Simoleon. Meanwhile, the home that cost 55,926 Simoleons would cost $90,000USD, giving us a conversion factor of 1.61USD. Therefore, the home average is $1.98USD per one simoleon.

To conclude, Simoleon conversions to US Dollars become smaller as prices ascend. Therefore, the conversion factor for sim furniture (including cars) is approximately $3USD = 1 Simoleon and the conversion factor for sim houses is approximately $2USD = 1 Simoleon.


(Also if anyone would like to see the exact houses used for these conversion factors, just send me a message.)

Comments

  • creativemetaphorcreativemetaphor Posts: 1,543 Member
    Therefore, one of the 900sqft homes is cheaply made, in an inexpensive location, with crummy furniture. This will be compared to the $20USD per square foot.

    This is the only place I think your understanding is a bit off. Square footage costs for houses are based on material quality, yes, but the same quality materials will still cause a vastly different square footage cost between a small and a large home to the tune that the small home will always cost *more* per square foot, not less.

    Here's why: square footage cost is obviously the average cost of the house divided by the total square footage, but the actual costs of any given square foot in the home will be very high for kitchens and bathrooms (cabinetry, plumbing, fixtures, etc) and very cheap for most of the rest of the house as open spaces.

    So a small house will still need the basics of a bathroom and kitchen but will have less open square footage to offset the high costs of these areas. So a 900 SF house in your example will actually run the high end of the square footage costs, say $100/SF, not the low end. A very large house of medium quality materials will be on the lower end of the square footage costs.

    The game even reflects this reality in a way, if you build a game house using the exact same "materials" but make one larger and one smaller, and compare, the smaller one should cost more per square foot than the larger one, even if it costs less overall, because of the cabinets and fixtures being far more expensive than the walls, wall coverings, and flooring. I haven't actually tried this because it actually never occurred to me! But it should hold true.

    I still like your car price comparisons and the whole thing is just pretty cool :)

  • yomanlol101yomanlol101 Posts: 4 New Member
    Therefore, one of the 900sqft homes is cheaply made, in an inexpensive location, with crummy furniture. This will be compared to the $20USD per square foot.

    This is the only place I think your understanding is a bit off. Square footage costs for houses are based on material quality, yes, but the same quality materials will still cause a vastly different square footage cost between a small and a large home to the tune that the small home will always cost *more* per square foot, not less.

    Here's why: square footage cost is obviously the average cost of the house divided by the total square footage, but the actual costs of any given square foot in the home will be very high for kitchens and bathrooms (cabinetry, plumbing, fixtures, etc) and very cheap for most of the rest of the house as open spaces.

    So a small house will still need the basics of a bathroom and kitchen but will have less open square footage to offset the high costs of these areas. So a 900 SF house in your example will actually run the high end of the square footage costs, say $100/SF, not the low end. A very large house of medium quality materials will be on the lower end of the square footage costs.

    The game even reflects this reality in a way, if you build a game house using the exact same "materials" but make one larger and one smaller, and compare, the smaller one should cost more per square foot than the larger one, even if it costs less overall, because of the cabinets and fixtures being far more expensive than the walls, wall coverings, and flooring. I haven't actually tried this because it actually never occurred to me! But it should hold true.

    I still like your car price comparisons and the whole thing is just pretty cool :)

    Thank you for the input, yes your are correct. Thank you for correcting me, I hadn't really thought about that. While I did think about building another larger house as a third comparison, I decided not to keep it going for longer than it already was. Thanks again for the insightful comment, I appreciate it especially since this took a lot of time it's nice to know you took time out of your day to write this so thank you.
  • creativemetaphorcreativemetaphor Posts: 1,543 Member
    Yeah, it must have taken a long time to put all that together! That's pretty impressive! Even at a $2 exchange rate, I wish I made that kind of money at work that my Sims do :smiley:
  • CravenLestatCravenLestat Posts: 13,735 Member
    Yeah, it must have taken a long time to put all that together! That's pretty impressive! Even at a $2 exchange rate, I wish I made that kind of money at work that my Sims do :smiley:

    900 simoleans for picking a flower at a park....sims got it made. :D Oh look a cockroach in a dumpster 2 bucks... sweet!!!.What do you do for a living Craven?? I am a self employed roach salesman.
    I Play Sims 3 On A Potato

    DfydFiZ.gif
  • SimKeatsSimKeats Posts: 2,186 Member
    I could be rich by just owning a Sim dog, Fido, whats this? More gems? Good boy!
  • IreneSwiftIreneSwift Posts: 6,247 Member
    @CravenLestat Cockroaches in dumpsters are worth more than cockroaches running around? Any time my sim catches a cockroach, the value is $0.

    ****

    What about food prices? My sim can buy a breakfast burrito from a food merchant for $5. An individual serving of falafel is $30. Using the OP's coversion factor on meal prices makes them unrealistically high.
  • SimKeatsSimKeats Posts: 2,186 Member
    @IreneSwift makes a really good point, in general, the prices for things are kinda all over the place. Hundreds of dollars for books, too.
  • IreneSwiftIreneSwift Posts: 6,247 Member
    edited July 2016
    @SimKeats I was just thinking about it again, and came back specifically to mention books. Nobody would buy books at the prices sims pay for them, even if the conversion were 1 simoleon = 1 U.S. dollar. And bubble bath costs 100 simoleons. Of course, that's a lifetime supply, so maybe it's not quite so unreasonable.
  • king_of_simcity7king_of_simcity7 Posts: 25,102 Member
    Interesting thread :smile:

    Can someone convert it to UK currency?
    Simbourne
    screenshot_original.jpg
  • yomanlol101yomanlol101 Posts: 4 New Member
    @ireneswift You make a good point. Overall this was for buy mode items but eventually I'll make another forum post going into further details on the cost of other items.
  • SimKeatsSimKeats Posts: 2,186 Member
    @yomanlol101 the problem is, if you compare the price of "low cost" items they are more expensive than real life, and if you compare the price of "high cost" items they are cheaper, which would make a comparison to real costs problematic.
  • plushtrap_107plushtrap_107 Posts: 1,435 Member
    Ok, if I've converted it right:

    Sim furniture (including cars) is about £2.29 = 1 Simoleon
    Sim houses is about £1.53 = 1 Simoleon
  • KevinL5275KevinL5275 Posts: 2,489 Member
    900 simoleans for picking a flower at a park....sims got it made. :D Oh look a cockroach in a dumpster 2 bucks... sweet!!!.What do you do for a living Craven?? I am a self employed roach salesman.

    You gotta sell roach clips, too. LOL :D
    I'm a 48 year old married man, with a beautiful wife, a cat, and a simverted personality.My Sims 3 Pictures
  • lisamwittlisamwitt Posts: 5,079 Member
    edited July 2016
    I always think $1=1 simoleon. Just because my mind wants to go there. I assume that most people think about it the same way (only with their own currency), which is probably part of the point. Like Simlish. I don't think proper conversion is actually possible because they just pulled it all out of their keisters. But you certainly put a lot of thought into trying.
    No matter how you look at it, Sims pay weird prices and make ridiculous amounts of money.
    Gallery ID: LadyGray01
  • king_of_simcity7king_of_simcity7 Posts: 25,102 Member
    lisamwitt wrote: »
    I always think $1=1 simoleon. Just because my mind wants to go there. I assume that most people think about it the same way (only with their own currency), which is probably part of the point. Like Simlish. I don't think proper conversion is actually possible because they just pulled it all out of their keisters. But you certainly put a lot of thought into trying.
    No matter how you look at it, Sims pay weird prices and make ridiculous amounts of money.

    Same is me. I think one Sim is = to one pound :smile:
    Simbourne
    screenshot_original.jpg
  • yomanlol101yomanlol101 Posts: 4 New Member
    lisamwitt wrote: »
    I always think $1=1 simoleon. Just because my mind wants to go there. I assume that most people think about it the same way (only with their own currency), which is probably part of the point. Like Simlish. I don't think proper conversion is actually possible because they just pulled it all out of their keisters. But you certainly put a lot of thought into trying.
    No matter how you look at it, Sims pay weird prices and make ridiculous amounts of money.

    I mean I see where you could think that but it doesn't make that much sense. Especially with furniture and real estate. If you build something like a 4,000 square foot house in real life it's definitely going to cost more than $80,000.
  • lisamwittlisamwitt Posts: 5,079 Member
    edited July 2016
    lisamwitt wrote: »
    I always think $1=1 simoleon. Just because my mind wants to go there. I assume that most people think about it the same way (only with their own currency), which is probably part of the point. Like Simlish. I don't think proper conversion is actually possible because they just pulled it all out of their keisters. But you certainly put a lot of thought into trying.
    No matter how you look at it, Sims pay weird prices and make ridiculous amounts of money.

    I mean I see where you could think that but it doesn't make that much sense. Especially with furniture and real estate. If you build something like a 4,000 square foot house in real life it's definitely going to cost more than $80,000.

    Oh, I know it doesn't make sense logically, that's just the way my mind wants to work. So I can make some sense of their money I guess.
    You never know though. Our 3,000 sq. ft. house was $175,000 and I've seen some half the size for twice that.
    I honestly do love that you put so much thought into it. I'm one of those who tries to match Simlish to real words in songs and reads Sim backstories like they're real historical figures.
    Gallery ID: LadyGray01
  • jillbgjillbg Posts: 4,600 Member
    @IreneSwift Those approach the food prices when you live in Africa or Tahiti... :#
    NymlADp.jpg
  • jillbgjillbg Posts: 4,600 Member
    @yomanlol101 Really cool to have put in that kind of work and thought into the simlish finances! :D
    NymlADp.jpg
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