The Sims 2

The Sims proves that the best-selling game of all time can feature the non-violent real world.

It dispels myths about the inherent crudity of games. Sims 2 adds a fully 3D environment that sets an even better example for what a human simulation should look like. The limitation inherent in the Sims is its emphasis of materialism and its lack of individualistic ideas or social possibilities. Sims 2 improves on its predecessor in a myriad of ways but only nominally expands the possibilities for characters to achieve life aspirations beyond career advancement.

"It is one of the resounding paradoxes of the game industry that its all-time best seller consists largely of performing household chores."

—Steven Johnson, The Long Boom , The New York Times

Penny Arcade on Sims:

“I've said in the past that what distinguishes me from him (and perhaps from you) is that I am willing to meet a game half-way. There may be more points of distinction, but this one is germane to the discussion. I can (as an archaeologist might) use a tiny broom to brush away particulates on an otherwise fascinating surface. Gabriel’s issue with Will Wright’s games (if I am paraphrasing him correctly, here) is that Will Wright doesn’t do the opposite: they won’t meet him. He’s hesitant to even call them games, actually. They often don’t define any kind of linear progression outside of those you determine yourself, which for him is the equivalent of handing someone a box of potentially intriguing but largely alien widgets and telling you to “knock yourself out” before running in the opposite direction.

Of course, systems based on interlocking parts I must generate a narrative framework to contain, well... Yes. I probably don’t need to tell you that even the construction of an ordinary sentence, clearly stated, is my life’s great pleasure. I have esoteric refrigerator magnets, I have an H. P. Lovecraft set and a Cooking set whose coitus has breached a terrifying, if perhaps overly specific, cavern of linguistic delights. So the management of towns, the ratios of their districts, yea, even unto the codified feng shui of their tiny living rooms bears a certain grammar that has been my constant fascination.

I don’t know if this specifically is a console/PC gamer distinction, I’m open to a discussion on the topic, but I believe that is my associates’ contention - that I’ve been trained as a PC gamer to find the sweet liqueur even in an otherwise revolting bonbon - isn’t entirely without merit. Simultaneously,

I find interacting with systems I have personally imbued with meaning to be an experience that transcends the raw mechanics of most games I play. So, yes. I am willing to put up with a lot, if the upshot is that I can author universes.”