How was your first encounter with The Sims franchise?

[Slingsby]

We will have a board dedicated to Sims Medieval, like we have a board for World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, etc.

I guessed you would, because you're a good person and an efficient Administrator 

[annieb]

Growing up we always had a lot of Sims games around. I remember SimCopter, SimCity, SimTower (one of my favorites!), SimSafari, SimTown and probably others. Someone bought the original Sims game for my older sister right when it came out, so I started playing it then (whenever she would let me). After that we just kept going!

I did take a little break between Sims 2 and 3. I had almost all the Sims 2 expansions when I bought a mac and they wouldn't work anymore. I wasn't going to spend all that money again, so I was excited with Sims 3 came out!

I'll keep playing as long as my computer will handle it! I don't know about new standalone games, but I'll stick with the Sims.

[gerrr00]

I don't remember why I bought the Sims 1.  The game had only been out for a little while.  No expansion packs were available when I got it, so it was fairly new still.  I think someone made the recommendation and I decided to try it out.  I was hooked the first minute I started playing.  The rest is history. 

[Joria]

I was baby sitting my little grandaughter, (she is now 21), watching her play Sims.  I thought, "dear Lord, how can that child be interested in such a boring game?"  She kept trying to convince me to play it so I gave it a shot.  I was right.  BOOOORRRRIIINGG!  It was the first Sims, maybe Sim City.  Sims 2 came along and my great-granddaughter, who we are raising, asked for Sims2 for a gift.  I figured it would probably be a snore but since we pamper her a lot we bought it.  Hey......this isn't boring.    Hmmm,  wonder if I could play it?   So, she let me use her disc to load it onto my, (better), computer.  In order for us to both be able to play I had to buy my first EP.  She was stuck with the original disc.  (no more pampering, we're talking Sims here!)  When the next item came available, and I don't remember which SP it was, I had a new disc and she could now upgrade her game.  Poor kid was always one disc behind and slowly starting to play other games instead.  I still don't have all the Sims2 EP's/Sp's, yet.  It kind of got waylaid by Sims3.  So now all those lovely Sims2 things are gathering dust while I indulge in Sims3 every single day, morning, noon and night, and dream of the time when I could have two pc's so I could dedicate one to Sims2 and the several thousand downloads I saved, and one for my Sims3.   Hmmm, might need a third one for Medieval.  Yes, I admit it, I'm a Simaholic.  She gets annoyed by it, her friends think I'm the coolest grandma ever and I just tune it all out and focus on my game play.  (Ok, I don't tune her out.  She's too awesome for that.)

[Naga]

You're the coolest simmin' grandma ever!

[niuri_cigarete]

You're the coolest simmin' grandma ever!

haha I totally agree with you! I wish I had a grandmother like that

[Gheez]

Really interesting thread. Enjoyed reading about how you all started.

My first encounter was with Sim City, then Sim Earth and Sim Ant.  Used to regularly read a pc gaming magazine, it had reviews of The Sims and I so wanted to play it, when it first came out.  Had to save up and buy a better spec pc first though.  Spent a lot of time building houses and creating family and friends.  Something I no longer do after one of my friends, in sim form, tried to put out a fire and failed.

Fortunately, I'd just upgraded to a new computer when the Sims 2 was released, so no waiting.  I hadn't read many reviews of it, but was looking forward to the genetic aspects of it and children growing up.  I didn't realise that there were alien abductions.  I still remember my surprise (and delight) when it happened in-game for the first time. 

When my pc broke down, I was disappointed to find that I couldn't play The Sims 2 on the new laptop.  I heard about The Sims 3 coming out and my laptop seemed to meet the specs, so I took a chance and bought it.  I love how well it runs on my laptop but I do hope to have a computer with a good graphics card, at some stage, as I'd love to play with graphics on full. 

I think one of my favourite parts of the game is the little bits of humanity/humour that has been built in.  The little things that make you smile - like dropping the hot dog on the floor and putting it back on the grill or the Grim Reaper using the trampoline after harvesting a soul.  I'm hoping that there will also be humour in The Sims Medieval.

[athena]

I first saw Sims or TS1 browsing in the sale game section of the store and the "build" features was what excited me, I recall saying to myself, "Wow! How cool would that be to be able to choose different wallpapers and floor tiles in rooms".  So I got to learn how to build houses faster than I got to learn how to take care of the families in them! My first family was simple enough to begin with, a husband who had a job, a housewife, and a daughter (I remember the Sims children were never babies and they don't grow up).  Anyway, the father and daughter were doing fine, but the wife became depressed and crazy at home, I couldn't make her do anything except cook and sleep because she would always say "I'm too depressed".  You see at that time, activities at home were far less than now, one can only read books, use the telescope, paint but if the Sim is depressed, forget it, they won't do it and the depression would spiral into despair. I don't recall how I saved the wife, I guess the family worked hard to cheer her up. Things became better when Sim DeLuxe arrived, it was fantastic! More items, more wallpapers, I think that was the time when the Sim can be kidnapped by a flying saucer (and my favorite Sim did get abducted!), she fell to earth fine but had a memory of the abduction.  Anyway, my computer's memory was too small to accommodate the other expansions like pets or vacation etc. I got tempted to download the cc stuff I saw from third party sites (great items!) which caused my game to crash! I had to re-install the game  That was how I developed the phobia for cc contents, upto now my game is clean.  Then I moved on to Sims2, I was so excited I bought the Sims 2 even before I had a computer to play it in (my old computer can only play TS1).  I played TS2 in my laptop when it came, the game loading was pretty slow, but I was able to play the game with the EPs like Seasons (my favorite), University, Vacation, Apartment Life, Hobbies(?) plus some of the SPs, I never was able to get Night Life bacause it was out of stock.  Anyway, I totally loved the new concept of bringing up children in Sims 2, plus the graphic details one can get close to the Sims inside the house. It was a year before I transitioned to TS3, by the way, I bought my new desktop with the specs of TS3 in mind. It took me longer to transition to TS3 because I just couldn't leave my TS2 legacy family behind, I mean they were in their nth generation and I was pretty attached to them and to their story, so every now and then I play TS2 when I can.  I am now into TS3 mainly again for its better capability to build things and to have different designs and colors of the stuff and CAS, Ambitions also made the game more interesting since the Sims can do more things at home, I have all the EPs and SPs now since my computer can take it. The only other game I have been playing faithfully is Diablo (since it first came out) and moving on to the newer releases, I play Diablo when I feel like I want to be a heroine (amazon, I used to be a rogue) and kill some big monsters and gather some cool rewards from the kill.  

[helen]

I played The Sims as soon as it came out in 2000, I was 20. I actullay used to play all night after work instead of partying. Before that I had played Sim City and Sim Ant. I loved it and was hooked form the start. My adult family including my husband think I am mad. My kids think it is cool.

[Anushka]

Same as you Helen, and similar as Joria, children in family think I'm cool, but adults think I'm mad. Well, I nurture my inner child with Sims
First encounter was with Sims1 but I was just off to university and didn't own a computer, so on rare weekends I was able to check it out, but didn't like it that much. SimCity2000 was my favorite game until Sims2 (OK, I have some other games I loved back then and still do). When Sims2 were out, well that was it, I owned all EP's, SP's and tons of CC and only uninstall Pets (got annoyed with all yowling and barkling and digging holes, and werewolfs, and tons of dogs in Sim relationship panel and memories, and not being able to control pets). When Sims3 were announced I was so anxious for release date! I used to watch TV when my Sims played Sims3 hehehe. But I was expecting baby in that period and didn't rush to get it. I got Castaway in meanwhile and loved playing it, and had Sims2 always ready. Then, on my birthday almost 2 year ago my husband gave me new graphic card so Sims3 would run smoothly (and NeverWinterNights2 and GTAIV). Finally getting the game was disappointing - looked so empty, return to Sims2 also didn't work out cause of poor graphic and all the loading, and then WA was out, and since then, I can't get off the computer, he he. I moved to another country and have some turbulent period in life but Sims are pretty constant getaway. I find the guide year ago, when I got the WA, but, didn't check the forum until getting the ambitions. I actually rush into DaVinchi challenge to explore the ambitions through it, and get pretty low score for that! Anyway, I was still missing SimCity, so now I'm playing with CAW too, and practically all other games are forgotten. There is just not enough time in a day. One more thing, I got myself my first computer out of my first salary, and asked specifically for configuration optimal for Sims2.

[Katluvr]

I first started playing SimCity on my Nintendo console (I forget which one, maybe N64) many years ago.  I also played the various GB, GBA, and DS handheld Sims games and loved them.  Then I tried the Sims or the Sims 2 on PC (maybe 6-8 years ago) and that was a complete failure.  I couldn't figure out what to do or how to keep my sim happy (or alive for that matter), so that left kind of a bad taste in my mouth.

Fast forward to 2007 when my friend, Kari, finally succeeded in getting me to try World of Warcraft - at which point I was well and truly hooked on computer gaming.  At Christmas this year I noticed Kari wasn't playing WoW as much and asked her fiance where she was.  He said she was playing TS3: LN.  Since she has never steered me wrong on a game yet, I decided it was time to check out TS3.  I'm not sure if TS3 is just that much better/more user friendly than the original/TS2 or if I'm just more experienced with how PC games work from 4 years of WoW, but I just took to TS3 really easily.  That was last month.  In 6 short weeks I have turned into a full-blown sim-a-holic, have added all 3 expansions and all 3 stuff packs, and started an immortal dynasty attempt. 

Needless to say my level 83 night elf druid is not feelin' the love these days.

[Sportsfan]

My first encounter of the franchise was buying the sims ambitions app for my iPod touch. I liked it so much that I decided to get the pc game.

[CSquared2]

Thanks, Sportsfan, for bumping this up.  I didn't know this topic existed, but it's great to read how everyone got involved.

I first encountered Maxis when I was in high school, 1995-1999, so sometime in there.  My first game was SimLife.  It was sort of biological simulation.  It wasn't very interactive, though.  Once you had your world set up, the only thing you could do was mess around with it, but that was precisely what I wanted to avoid doing.  I liked just sitting back and watching my world fail miserably, which is what they always did.   

I don't remember when I first got Sims 1, but it was early on.  My first sims were Rosenfeld and Shirly Wright.  Shirly electrocuted herself while changing a light bulb and standing in a puddle of her own urine.  My first sim death.  Rosenfeld found a new wife, Celestina.  I remember how hard it was to get them married.  I moved Celestina into the Newbies' empty house and had to wait a million years for her to walk by so Rosenfeld could establish a relationship.  Thank goodness there was no aging for adults!  The Wrights had four daughters.  They had four because that's how long it took for me to get the hang of kids.  The first baby was taken when her parents went off to work and left her alone.  I had no idea someone had to stay home with her!  The second failed in school and went off to military school, never to return.  The third was also taken as a baby when she cried all night because her bassinet was in a different room than her parents' and they didn't wake up.  The fourth daughter finally survived.  Not a great track record!

Sims 1 went to college with me in 1999.  I played it until 2005.  I bought Sims 2 in 2004, but my laptop couldn't handle it.  I had the game, but couldn't play because I couldn't afford a new computer.  In 2005, my laptop was stolen.  My parents took pity on me and bought me a new one capable of playing TS2.  As with TS1, I had all the EPs and SPs.  Never have I gotten my money's worth from anything other than maybe food and my car.  My new laptop began lagging in 2007 when Bon Voyage came out.  I knew Sims 3 was in the works and I knew my laptop would never suffice.  My boyfriend came to the rescue this time.  For our first anniversary in 2008, he bought me the computer I have now.  He's also updated it with a graphics card, a power supply and a lot of new RAM along the way.  Now I have all the EPs and SPs for TS3, with the exception of Barnacle Bay.  Sometimes I feel like I don't have a life, like I should get a hobby or something, but you know, The Sims is my hobby.  There are few things I enjoy as much, and virtually nothing that has entertained me for so long.   

[Leto85]

Nice story CS. Normally I often won't read posts that long, but you got me hooked.

[Sportsfan]

Nice story csquared, and im glad I'm not your kid. (not meaning to be offensive)