The Sims FreePlay CSP - Language & Representations blog tasks

 Language / Gameplay analysis

Watch The Sims: FreePlay trailer and answer the following questions:

1) What elements of gameplay are shown?

How players can customise their sim, how they can design their homes and get a job- living your dream lifestyle

2) What audience is the trailer targeting?

Everyone- they had sims for both genders and all ages- growing a family, being a teenager

3) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?

Vicarious pleasure- living through the lens of someone else (the sim)

Now watch this walk-through of the beginning of The Sims FreePlay and answer the following questions:

1) How is the game constructed?

Gamers can create their sim with different accessories and clothing. It offers tutorials for  people to use and gives weekly quests where payers get rewards for regular playing e.g. mystery

2) What audience is this game targeting?

All audiences- players can customise characters to look like them (skin colour, gender, older, younger)

3) What audience pleasures does the game provide?

Personal identity- can pretend to be someone else

Intertextuality- SimChef = Masterchef

Diversion & Entertainment- customising characters and playing the game

4) How does the game encourage in-app purchases?

Product placement to unlock further DLC

Time: 'lets play crystal speeds up time'

watching ads to make money

Representations

Re-watch some of the expansion pack trailers and answer the following questions:

1) How do the expansion pack (DLC) trailers reinforce or challenge dominant ideologies?

Reinforce:

• Age: teen rockstar. Age is reflecting what is expected e.g. teens going school; pregnant mother
• Gender: chic boutique targeting females (fashion runway)

Subverts:

• Element of choice- identity e.g. men coloured 
• Game promotes education and good grades

2) What stereotypes have you identified in The Sims FreePlay?

• Women caring about fashion- in the boutique, catwalk
• Young girl (teen) ballet, boy doing karate
• Chief of police- middle aged white male
• Police and donuts 
• Quirky forensic lead
• Black male 'Mr nice guy'
• Teens: dating in the mall
• Pregnancy- diverse couple (interracial) 'doting father' who was involved with his child

3) What media theories can you apply to representations in The Sims FreePlay?

• Van Zoonen- gender stereotypes and objectification
• bell hooks- power structure & society 
• Gauntlett- fluidity of identity
• Gilroy- approaches to representation (conceptual map)
• Gramsci- Marxism & hegemony (values and ideologies in the game reinforces, could be argued to reinforce dominant American capitalist values)

Representation reading

Read this Forbes article on gender and racism in The Sims franchise and answer the following questions:

1) How realistic does The Sims intend to be?

"We’re not really looking for realism, we’re looking more for believability,”

2) How has The Sims tried to create more realistic representations of ethnicity?

By creating an Asian character that does indeed appear less cartoonish

3) How has The Sims responded to racism and sexism in society?
We don’t really have a message—there’s no racism message, there’s no tolerance message. 

4) What is The Sims perspective on gender fluidity and identity?
We have same-sex marriage in our game. Our Sims will not discriminate based on gender preference whatsoever. But there’s a line where it becomes too real. 

5) How does The Sims reinforce the dominant capitalist ideologies of American culture?

Sinhaseni brings up an example of a Sim whose main character trait is a dislike of children gaining points by breaking his child’s toys, but more than 6 million children in America are affected by child abuse and neglect every year.

Read this New Normative feature on LGBTQ representation in The Sims franchise (the website link no longer works but that will take you to the text of the article - you'll need your Greenford Google login to access). Answer the following questions:

1) How did same-sex relationships unexpectedly help the original Sims game to be a success?

2) How is sexuality now represented in The Sims?

3) Why have fans praised the inclusion of LGBTQ relationships in The Sims franchise?

4) Why did the Sims run into regulatory difficulties with American regulator the ESRB? How did EA respond?

5) How is sexuality represented in the wider videogames industry today?

Reality, postmodernism and The Sims

Read this Paste Magazine feature on reality and The Sims franchise. Answer the following questions:

1) What does the article suggest about the representation of real life in The Sims 4?
These days, it’s more about accessorizing a comfortable veneer of suburbia than it is about banging aliens and werewolves, aiming for the kind of life you fantasize about before finding out that adult life actually sucks.

2) What audience pleasures did the writer previously find in The Sims franchise?

The Sims 3 was a magic fantasy free for all smorgasbord of human indulgence. - Sims 4 was more realistic of life instead of the idealistic version the other Sims offered

3) Why the does the writer mention an example of a washer and dryer as additional DLC?
At the time I had no interest in adding yet another maintenance ritual to my Sim’s daily routine, but also, as I told my fellow Sims fans, it was almost an act of defiance. I have no desire to do laundry in real life, why would I do it in a Sims game after so many years of not having to at all? 

4) In your opinion, has The Sims made an error in trying to make the franchise too realistic?
Yes, making it too realistic breaks the boundary of hyperreality and the reason why many people play videogames in the first place- to escape. If the gratification of playing a videogame no longer involves diversion and escapism, then consumers will not want to play.

5) How does this representation of reality link to Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality - the increasingly blurred line between real and constructed?

The Sims ability to give their players an immense hyperreal experience by offering characters that look like them. giving sims jobs and the American dream of owing and decorating your home. However, Sims offers an idealistic version of life but the Sims 4 brings back the struggles that people endure in real life like not being able to afford your dream lifestyle

The Sims FreePlay social media analysis

Analyse The Sims FreePlay Facebook page and Twitter feed and answer the following questions:

1) What is the purpose of The Sims FreePlay social media channels?
To market the game more and communicate with their fanbase to see their feedback and learn about the updates they want. Their social media also gives Sims the ability

2) Choose three posts (from either Twitter or Facebook) and make a note of what they are and how they encourage audience interaction or response.

• The latest post is a new update for the Christmas season. It encourages the audience to update and do the to do list: Save Simsmas, Win the SimTown Bake Off, Crochet a sweater, Celebrate our 13th Birthday

• Another post is about an upcoming update where players have more options for the appearance of their sims. New jewellery, hairstyles and accessories. Fans would be encouraged to respond because they most likely had been wanting and anticipating a new update.

• The next post is letting players know about the new sims hijab update. This would encourage an audience to interreact with this tweet because more players will feel represented with how diverse the game has become.

3) Scroll down the Facebook feed briefly. How many requests for new content can you find from players? Why is this such as an important part of the appeal for The Sims FreePlay?

There were many comments from fans asking for new updates under their posts. This is an important appeal because when Sims producers listen to fans and give the updates they want, the fans keep playing

4) What tweets can you find in the Twitter feed that refer to additional content or other revenue streams for EA?

Some additional holiday content like Halloween and Christmas editions