As video game The Sims celebrates its 25th anniversary, fans of the virtual life simulator help to explain why its remained so popular for so long.For many younger gamers there has never been a world without The Sims. The original was released in 2000 and was intended as a spin-off of sorts from city-building game SimCity. Created by renowned (but now increasingly forgotten) creator Will Wright, its premise was a simple one: a virtual dollhouse in which you controlled the lives of customisable characters called sims the daily lives of which you could control in detail or leave them to enjoy on their own.This was all decades before the phrase cosy game was coined, a modern genre of video game that focuses on non-violent gameplay and includes some of the best-selling titles of all time, such as Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.Most cosy games tend to be made by indie developers, with major Western publishers happy to waste tens of millions copying other trends, no matter how oversaturated they seem to be, but always reticent about anything thats aimed at an audience in any way different from the norm. And this in an industry that is constantly complaining about the need for growth and finding new audiences.PIC 1Although I am not ashamed to admit I was firmly addicted to The Sims 2 for some time, following its launch in 2004, theres no doubt that the primary audience for The Sims is women. Thats still rare today but it was almost unheard of in the late 90s, when the game was originally in development. (1996 hit Barbie Fashion Designer is generally regarded as the first major video game to be aimed primarily at women and its customisation options do share some similarities with The Sims.)The original The Sims, when it was still viewed as an experimental spin-off, wasnt laser-focused on a particular group but over time publisher EA has refined its marketing, and the games themselves, to create something more innocuous and safe.With the first two games though, there were a lot of interesting rough edges. For this article I asked a number of Metro staff members, who dont usually write about games, for their memories of the franchise and almost all of them talked about how they used to torture their sims by trapping them in a room without a door and watching them go crazy.From the beginning, The Sims has allowed players to create their own buildings and house layouts and while many players used this to make dream homes and recreations of TV and movie locations, theres few that didnt at least experiment with seeing what happens when sims are trapped in a room with another character they hate or where they run out of food or the oven catches on fire.My best memory of The Sims is when me and my ex stopped speaking when I was 20 and I made him as a sim and drowned him, recounted one colleague who was too embarrassed to formally take part in this feature. Meanwhile, the trick of trapping a sim in a swimming pool and then deleting the ladder to get out is one that has been recounted to me multiple times while writing this article, as you can see in the anecdotes below.Even by the time of The Sims 2, in 2004, this sort of emergent gameplay was being discouraged by EA and while todays entries are considerably more complex they dont have the same anarchic open-endedness as the original. You can be a kind overlord or a more diabolical influence (EA)Despite the franchises success its future is somewhat opaque, with plans for The Sims 5 recently being cancelled, as EA instead decides to continue to support The Sims 4 for the foreseeable future since its success has never really waned, thanks to a steady supply of expansions and new content. Although a spin-off codenamed Project Rene is currently in testing, even if the fan response so far is mixed.More TrendingThe complaints are that its too safe and corporate, which The Sims never was originally. It was a daring and innovative game, not only in terms of who it was trying to appeal to but what it was attempting to achieve with its gameplay.How can I play The Sims games today?The Sims 4 was first released in 2014 and is free-to-play on PC, with EA making their money from paid-for expansions and downloadable content. There are versions of the game for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 (plus The Sims Mobile, which stopped receiving new content last year) but its always best to play The Sims on PC, due to the wide range of fan-made extras you can add to that version.For the 25th anniversary, EA has re-released The Sims and The Sims 2, which had been unavailable for years. Although that hasnt gone as well as fans hoped, since both have technical issues that mean they dont work as well as they did in the noughties. Although thatll probably be fixed over the next few weeks.The Sims Legacy Collection costs 17.99 and The Sims 2 Legacy Collection costs 24.99 and are available now on Steam.It encouraged a level of experimentation and customisation that is second only to Minecraft and it seems strange that there is such clear evidence for the popularity of more freeform games and yet most video game companies would rather just make another online shooter instead, because its something they know how to do and is, in their view, less of a risk.Thankfully, the imaginations of those that play The Sims are not so dull and its their love and enthusiasm for the series that is certain to keep it going for another 25 years. The Sims 2 was already slightly more sanitised than the first one (EA)Virtual conspiracyOne of my earliest gaming memories includes sitting at my best friends computer, keeping a lookout for her parents as we doomed sims to a watery death, searching for swimming pool stairs.Despite not being exactly multiplayer-friendly, The Sims has always been a talking point among me and my friends, even 20 years since we began playing.Now, I get to share that with my children, as my four-year-old helps me create sims, design houses, and pick what they do next. I havent taught her about the swimming pool stair deletion yet, though. RebeccaRelationship traumaI love The Sims but play it in a really boring normie way where theyre all massive overachievers with perfect lives and every single positive trait.One time an ex-boyfriend asked to play with me and he decided to make a vampire dungeon under the house with victims kept in actual cells and I think this moment really contributed to our breakup. SophieFamily bondingI grew up watching my older siblings play The Sims 2, before I was allowed to and was always so jealous, because it looked so cool.Eventually, when I was allowed to play, I was obsessed with building the perfect homes and making unique families Bella Goth [a pre-made sim family you could take control of] was my favourite.When I was about 11, I was given The Sims 3 with expansion packs as a gift and it quickly became my friends and I largest obsession. I would call their landline phones and they would come over and we would create the weirdest Sims with the deepest voices and most weird personalities, which was peak comedy at that age.I got back into the game when I was about 18 in university, when the transition to The Sims 4 happened. During covid, I downloaded most of the expansion packs. I cant believe its been 20 years my friends I grew up playing the game with still send me Sims memes. It was such a part of the late millennial early Gen Z psyche. Sarah H. Sims can die or even turn into ghosts (EA)TikTok dramaPlaying The Sims for me was my childhood I would spend hours on end creating the perfect family, life, getting a good job (with a sneaky cheat code or two). If I was in a bad mood or feeling evil though, I would enjoy watching people burn when a fire broke out, and trapping them in a room with it.I now spend ages seeking TikTok accounts where the real drama plays out like a telenovela. Mermaids and evil spirits having children and cheating on partners. Sarah B.Teenage addictionI quickly became obsessed with The Sims as a teenager: just one play in the mid-2000s had me absolutely hooked. Its not an exaggeration to say that, on some days, I could be attached to my PC playing The Sims for 12 hours straight (in todays gaming world, thats probably the normal, but for a 16-year-old girl in 2004? Thats a lot).Something happened to the concept of time when I logged in and set up my vulnerable little computer beings in their weird little houses Id even miss meals by accident, while trying to force the characters into relationships and situations, like the always-disastrous and somewhat worrying pool without a ladder to climb out of set-up.One second it was 9am, the next it was late evening and Id barely moved from my chair, save for the odd snack run or toilet break. Nothing could tear me away from those fake humans, destined to live a life under a giant green diamond, as I controlled every moment of their existence.The Sims is considered one of the most addictive games of all time and with good reason in a hectic and confusing world, it gives the player a chance of absolute control, something were all lacking in reality. Oh, and a bit of legal deviance. LucyLifetime attractionI remember playing The Sims for the first time at a friends house and being amazed by the endless choices.In reality I was bound by convention, culture, rules but in The Sims I could be anyone and do anything. Over 15 years later it still provides the same feeling of escapism for me. NatalieDreams and nightmaresThe Sims has been a huge part of my life ever since I can remember. From watching my mum play The Sims Makin Magic as a young child, to starting home businesses in my own Sims 2 gameplay, building entire neighbourhoods in The Sims 3, to attempting the 100 baby challenge in The Sims 4.I have vivid memories of my sims collapsing in the desert in the unnecessarily difficult Sims 2 DS game, and even my most memorable nightmare as a child was related to The Sims! My love of gaming began with The Sims, and I will always hold a soft spot for it. MaisieLanguage difficultiesI remember the time my mum kicked off at me over using Simlish [the invented language of the game].I pleaded with her to buy me The Sims 2 Pets from Woolworths and rushed home to play it on my PlayStation 2.She was in the kitchen and overheard the Sims talking and assumed Id changed the language. As it was my first time properly playing I had zero idea that they didnt speak English.We reset the Playtation 2 about 10 times as I sobbed crying, only for her to call my uncle; he gave an explanation and I was dealt an apology from my mum.Safe to say when I returned home from school the next day I had a copy of The Sims 2 waiting for me alongside the Pets expansion. MichaelA good playerWhen I think of The Sims now, at 30 years old, having spent hours and hours and hours playing it as a kid (and beyond), a whole wave of memories come crashing back.I was that weirdo who didnt like to torture my Sims I preferred them to live happy, fulfilled lives spanning multiple generations. Cue the motherlode and rosebud money hacks, and my families were rolling in cash, building huge mansions and living out epic careers that child-me could only dream of.Watching burglars prowling into my sims houses was genuinely terrifying, as was the moment I couldnt stop characters from crossing deaths door. But the traumatising moments were worth it for the joy this weird and wonderful game brought into my life.Aliens, mermaids, grim reapers, ghosts, gothic families with mystifying backstories it has it all! Sabrina Whats your Sims story? (EA)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy