Full disclaimer:

This is not my post it was posted by reddit u/blacksalamander here I just thought it was cool so I wanted to share. I copied the whole post here so you don’t need to go there if you don’t want.

The Post:

I was looking at some unused Sims 2 stuff at the Cutting Room Floor, when I found this quote by Will Wright that I find pretty interesting. This is part of bigger quote where he is talking about the Idea of Story Recognition Mode for Sims 2, basically how the game would recognize how you are playing the game, and change its “vibe” accordingly (E.g., if you bought creepy things, it would turn more towards horror, if you Sims kissed a lot, it would go towards romance, etc. You can read the full thing here).

What I find more interesting is the point about how he avoided the idea of a interactive story for the first game, and how he prefers the game just being a “simulation”. Because I was watching a video about Sims 1 recently where the creator mentioned how Sims 1 feels like a different genre of game than the rest of the series, and I have to agree. To me, Sims 1 feels almost like a strategy game, more than a life sim, since (at least when I play) I have to spend every second trying to just keep my Sim alive, instead of making some sort of story for them. And I think that’s one of the reasons I find it hard to get attached to them like I do with my Sims in other games.

So, that got me wondering, how was Sims 1 “meant” to be played originally? Since apparently a focus on story was not intended and only happened for the sequels because the fans were playing in a different way then “intended”? Are the people who wreak havoc on their Sims technically playing more accurately to Will’s vision than the ones trying to make a story? I know it’s a sandbox game so you can play whatever way you want, but I’m just going with what he says here.

Moreover, it’s also interesting to think about how Sims 2 would be if it was more similar to Sims 1, since Sims 2 is obviously waaay more story focused than the original game. But going back to the Story Recognition Mode, I’m glad they scrapped that idea. It sounds cool on paper, but personally, I think it would get annoying really quickly.