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Genre:
Strategy
Developer:
Maxis
Publisher:
Electronic Arts
Target Release Date:
Q1 2000
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By Robert Coffey
4.The Sims
Social Darwinism Made Easy
What is the appeal of the Skinner box that is the home? Security, tranquility, the sense of wholeness that can only come by surrounding yourself with those you love? Nah.
I think it's more along the lines of an old Steve Martin routine in which he entertained thoughts of raising a child and teaching said offspring all the wrong words for everything. He relished the thought of a child raising his hand the first day of school and asking, "May I moo dog-face to the banana patch?" This is the appeal of The Sims - the ultimate expression of the entire Sim franchise - a game where you can run amok with the lives of people, without running the risk of jail for child abuse through enforced idioglossia. Maxis, the company that practically created the so-called "software toy" genre with SimCity, is now preparing to deliver the ultimate toy - human lives.
Birth of an artificial nation
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