THIS SIMS LIFE

One of the earliest fan projects we worked on was for Electronic Arts, while working at Wieden + Kennedy in Portland. If there was one project that inspired us about the growing influence of fan communities it was this one.

EA were in the process of launching The Sims 2. An already very successful game franchise, they had set themselves some pretty tough sales targets and were struggling to see how they might better explain the game’s unique appeal. Unlike most games, The Sims is not about killing, exploring, driving really fast or even winning. In fact, it is more like a creative tool than it is a conventional game.

 

We were fascinated about the different ways Sims fans played the game. From Builders who construct the most stunning architectural designs, to the Story-tellers who use the game to create elaborate narratives, or even the self-styled Deviants who like nothing more than screwing around with their creations, there is no one way to play.

Rather than make an advertising campaign about the game we decided to make a campaign about its most interesting players. We invited influential members of the international Sims community to come to the EA studio in Redwood Shores and show us what they loved about the game. Partnering them up with writers and editors we created a series of weird and wonderful short machinima films.

We found the whole creative development experience so interesting in fact that we approached Mtv North America about making a feature documentary on the game and its obsessive, wildly creative fans. They liked the idea and we produced This Sims Life. It seems we were not the only ones to find the subject interesting with the finished documentary syndicated globally around the Mtv network.