How was your first encounter with The Sims franchise?

[Leto85]

I played it since the first Sims came out back in 2000 (when I was young and beautifull). But I thought my first encounter was even further back, in 1999 when I was 13, but the game maybe wasn't legal at that date.
Anyway, I didn't 'fall in love' with it right away from the start. Actually, I didn't even get it how to play the game without ending up with a bunch of sims peeing themself or being so depressed that they either where on the edge of starvation or going crazy from sleep deprivation.

But times have changed! It was my favorite sister (I only have one) who had helped me how to handle virtual families. And after that, I've played the Sims as I never did before. I got some breaks and played other games (or totally no game at all) also, but I found myself always getting back to sims.

And that's it. The rest is history. Now tell me your story.

[Margerita]

Well I first encountered The Sims when my mom got our first old slow computer sometime around 1999/2000.
I think she also went into one of those game clubs or something and the first monthly game was the original the sims game, it wasn't quite love at first play but I did like the game.

[Pam]

Nice topic. 

I'm actually relative new to Sims.  I knew nothing about it until I was working on the Jay Is Games website and a couple of people complained that Virtual Villagers wasn't like Sims.  I asked around to my fellow Help Squad members and was told about Sims.  I still had no interest in it.  I'd never seen it, so it didn't matter.  One day while browsing the internet, I came upon a blog called Kev and Alice.  It was a story told using Sims 3.  I was fascinated and went to my local Best Buy and purchased it.  Little did I know, it had just been released a couple of weeks prior to that.  I stumbled around and made a character.  Had no clue what I was doing, but was quite enchanted by all of it.  When I went online to search for help, I found Carl's Sims 3 Guide.  Yes!!  A year and a half later, here I am.  I absolutely adore this game.  The only others I play now are Farm Frenzy and Bedazzled, just to have a quick break. 

Now I'll be moving into Sims Medieval, which will be my first experience with a standalone Sims game.  Woot!

[Leto85]

Now I'll be moving into Sims Medieval, which will be my first experience with a standalone Sims game.  Woot!

Be free to share your first encounter about that here, if that is not too much off topic.

[niuri_cigarete]

I've played since 2002. My dad got me the game for my 14th birthday and I'm a fan since. Ha ha, I remember playing it on evenings, and I didn't know how to delete walls, so there were lots of weird wall-leftovers in my house. And I couldn't speak English back then, I was even below the beginner level, lol. Ah, those days...

I have tried every single The Sims game there is. I've borrowed some from my friends, rented some (which, I think, wasn't legal actually, but I didn't have a clue back then). I've got The Sims 3 as a Christmas present from my sister and I've bought Ambitions and Late Night by myself. These are my favorite till now.

[Slingsby]

Be free to share your first encounter about that here, if that is not to much off topic.

I'm hoping some "Super Moderator" is going to create a new Sub-Forum just for Sims Medieval 

We are definitely going to buy it ... but we will probably wait until some first impressions have been posted.  In any case, we're off on a long holiday shortly after it's released, so we won't be be able to play for a while!

[Leto85]

I've played since 2002. My dad got me the game for my 14th birthday and I'm a fan since. Ha ha, I remember playing it on evenings, and I didn't know how to delete walls, so there were lots of weird wall-leftovers in my house. And I couldn't speak English back then, I was even below the beginner level, lol. Ah, those days...

1999 was the year I started to learn English. I remember forcing myself to write down and speak out all those unknown words. I will never forget the Dutch translation of ruler, as that was the only word I couldn't remember in a test, which made my grate a 9, instead of a 10. Poor me...
As for the walls, that made me laugh! I also didn't know the true meaning of the Ctrl key. So I saved after every wall I've placed, so I was sure to be able to get back to my previous savefile if I accidentially dragged a wall to the right instead of dragging it left.

[niuri_cigarete]

1999 was the year I started to learn English. I remember forcing myself to write down and speak out all those unknown words. I will never forget the Dutch translation of ruler, as that was the only word I couldn't remember in a test, which made my grate a 9, instead of a 10. Poor me...
As for the walls, that made me laugh! I also didn't know the true meaning of the Ctrl key. So I saved after every wall I've placed, so I was sure to be able to get back to my previous savefile if I accidentially dragged a wall to the right instead of dragging it left.

I've started my English lessons in 1997/8. Before that I've watched Cartoon Networks all the time and the only word I knew was 'apple' I never had a constant English teacher (during all my 11 years of language learning I had about 20 teachers, the one that lasted longest was here in university, for 2 years in a row), that's why I couldn't understand almost a single word in the game till 2005, when I've said "That's it, i have to learn it by myself or I'll stink" and started translating huge texts in my free time. The reason I did this was because my second language (German) was so poor (And still is!) I barely could read a text and I'm not talking about understanding it. By 2006 I could write and read almost freely in English. The only barrier i have now is speaking it I tend to forget every single word in my vocabulary when I need them

As for walls I did the same thing but thinking about loading time back then gives me shivers... And I actually didn't know how to delete an object too for quite some time XD

[Slingsby]

How did we start?  Well ... we had both retired [early] and in the process bought a new computer which happened to have SimCity pre-loaded.  That led to us discovering The Sims, I guess around 1999/2000, since when we've become "addicts"    We had TS1 and nearly all expansions, and the same with TS2 and now TS3, although being rather older than most of you, we skipped the occasional 'unreal' stuff ... we're not really interested in robots, mummies or vampires    

Oh, and we've just weakened and [30 minutes ago] pre-ordered Mediaeval [a difficult word to spell correctly!!] Limited Edition ... saving £9 on the full price, and earning double BA Frequent Flyer Miles in the process  

[malteser60]

Hmm, I always liked simulation games, and prior to the sims I played lots of SimCity, as well as others like Theme Park. Anyhow, must admit I finally got bored of SimCity - there's only so many times you can chuck people out of the helicopter   - and somehow I got hold of the Sims. Now, for the life of me I can't remember how I got hold of it. I think somebody gave me a copy of the game. So, started playing it and was instantly hooked! I loved it. So after about 6 months went out and bought Sims deluxe, and then the exansion packs after that. I've still got all my sims 1 games and EPs (although I lost the Superstar box so I don't have the code anymore).

I can't remember when I stoped playing the sims for a while, was for a few years, then I started playing it again, but by then I knew sims 2 had been released. Alas my laptop would never have been able to cope with it, however I got a new laptop, so the first thing I did was to go out and buy the Sims 2, except I then realised Sims 3 came out. So I bought that instead. So I skipped Sims 2 altogether. And now I'm back to being addicted to the Sims.

Edit: meant to also say, Pam, I also read Alice and Kev, I was astounded by it, it really moved me. I can see why it would have gotten you onto the sims.

[Naga]

The year was 1999. My uncle went to work every day, and my aunt messed out in his computer while I did 6-year-old's stuff. She called me to see the new game my uncle got, and it was -wait for it... wait for it...- The Sims. I was always scared to do anything with Bob and Betty Newbie, such as improving their house or getting them a baby, because I thought they were created by my uncle and all that. When I found out they were the tutorial family, it took about 5 minutes for their house to be demolished and both die in a particularly accidental fire. Game knowledge: 1.

The next year, my uncle got Livin' Large, the first expansion for The Sims. Made sims wish stuff to genie, always went wrong. Every house I made (they were all ugly boxes) had a Servo. The years after that, I made my mom buy me every expansion. Most kids, upon buying a toy or anything alike, feel really good for having bought it, go home, play once or twice, and then leave the toy to rot. Not me. My toy (expansion pack) kept me entertained until the next expansion came out. I got all of them and got to learn a little more. Game knowledge: 3.

When TS2 came out, I knew how to speak english, so the tutorial was of use (unlike with TS1, where I just clicked around). Loved the game, knew how to do everything. Expansion release date = expansion-buying day. Got all expansions, but got somewhat bored of the game by Apartment Life, so didn't play it much. I didn't play any stand-alone games then, such as The Sims Stories. Game knowledge: 6.

Maxis got me back with Spore. Seeing that potential, I knew that TS3 would be awsome, and I was right. When in need of help (World Adventures, mostly) I would read this guide until I got the answer. By the time Ambitions launched, I realized I had to register in the forum, because just reading wasn't enough (proved by this wall of text). I have high hopes for Medieval, and plan to contribute as much as possible with it's guide.

[DeNile]

My first encounter? I believe I was in 4th grade, so 7 years ago in 2004. My friend Ian was sick and I went to deliver his homework, and found him in his basement, playing The Sims. I was hooked just looking at it. After playing with him for years and years, I got my own copy when my mother got a computer. The game was a love of mine, I owned the Deluxe Edition, but I never knew of The Sims 2.

When I discovered The Sims 2, I begged my mother to buy the Deluxe Edition, which she did. For a while after that I was bribed with Sims expansion packs in order to get me to do my chores. I own all of The Sims 2 expansion packs because of that, but none of the Stuff Packs, I never had an interest in them.

Anyways, when I found out about The Sims 3 I was thrilled, I begged my mother, bribed her and eventually got her to pre-order it for Christmas of that year. I threw a gigantic fit when it got held back to June, and was even more upset when my computer wasn't powerful to handle it. We ended up getting the computer upgraded just to play the game, mostly just so my mother hadn't wasted so much money on the Special/Limited Edition of The Sims 3 for nothing. After we got in upgraded I was hooked for good, I ended up staying up later than I should have and waking up at 4 in the morning just to play the game. I've gotten almost every expansion since, except for Outdoor Living Stuff, which I will be getting at the end of February. I'm thrilled by the game and when I got a laptop for my 16th birthday, I was more than thrilled that I could play the Sims at a higher graphics setting! I was playing at Medium instead of Low! It was amazing.

I've also read Alice and Kev and loved it, I really love reading all the stories, the ones that are more like Sims and not Soaps anyways. Some of them... well I'm sure most of us have encountered them at once point.

[templesmom]

I am not sure how I found out about the sims but I bought Sims 1 before pets was released and loved it. I loved the community and downloaded lots of extras for my sims. I ended up buying all the expansions and eagerly awaited the dawning of Sims2. Played that till the cows came home and then I got pregnant with Temple and didn't think I would have time to play the Sims3 when it came out so I wasn't too excited about the Sims3 but right after Temple was born (may 9) my loving husband bought the game for me and I wanted to find out somethings about it and found this site and now not only do I have a great game to play when I can, I have this great community to chat with.

[Asleep]

My dad used to work for Apple, so whenever we went to visit him a work, I always saw Sims 2 expansions and stuff packs at the Apple Store. Never the actual Sims 2 game. If they did have it, I probably would have bought that instead. For my eleventh birthday, I got fifty dollars from my grandparents, and after much consideration and though, decided to use it to buy the Sims 3. I love the game, and have never regretted my choice.

[CharlotteDaBookworm]

I was staying at my aunts for a week with my brother and sister shortly after my 11th birthday and was bored so they let me on their computer on a game called sims 3. Been hooked since.