The Simsknowledge community

Michelle SchraderENGL 42501: Writing for New Media

Assignment 1: Examining Knowledge Communities

What is The Sims? The Sims series is a single player, life simulation computer game. There are 4 installments in the series: The Sims, The Sims 2, The Sims 3,

and the brand new The Sims 4 Including multiple expansion packs that provide more content and gameplay Spinoff game The Sims Medieval The Sims Online (shut down: August 1, 2008)

Created by game developer Will Wright Maxis Software / Electronic Arts Creator of SimCity and Spore

The Sims was released on February 4, 2000 The Sims 4 (release date: September 2, 2014)

Sims titles expand beyond PC games: Mobile game on iOS, Android Console games on Nintendo DS/3DS/Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 Facebook game “The Sims Social” (shut down: June 14, 2013)

Who are Simmers? A simmer is a player and fan of any of The Sims titles. Usually more than just a casual player, but can be applied to all

players

What is the Knowledge Community?Main knowledge community:

The Sims PC titlesOther related communities:

The Sims console gamesThe Sims mobile gameThe Sims MedievalSimCity series

Knowledge Community: as defined by Lévy and Jenkins

“voluntary, temporary, and tactical affiliations” “reaffirmed through common intellectual enterprises and

emotional investments” Members…

“…may shift from one group to another as their interests and needs change…”

“…may belong to more than one community at the same time.” “mutual production and reciprocal exchange of

knowledge” “prod individual members to seek out new information

for the common good”

The Sims as a Knowledge Community Simmers are voluntary players and fans Having an enjoyable experience with the

game is a mutual goal of all Simmers Simmers can be members of one specific

KC Or have membership in multiple KCs for the

different games, expansion packs, or interests May shift their membership as new series or

expansion packs are released Information and creations are shared

through a variety of online mediums Simmers help each other out Simmers seek out information from

various sources to share with the community

Where are the Simmers?ForumsFan sitesWikisSocial mediaBlogs

Some of the many Sims

Knowledge Community channels/media:

The Sims Official Forum Perhaps the main hub of the

KC forums.thesims.com/en_US Multiple sub-forums (various

KCs) General Discussion Sims and Modeling Stories and Legacies

And more! Part of the official Sims

website Monitored by EA employees

called “SimGurus” Previously The Sims 3 forum

The Sims Official Social Media The Sims brand has many

official social media accounts Controlled by EA Simmers can interact with each

other Responses from EA

representative(s) Facebook Twitter

SimGurus have their own Twitter accounts, too!

YouTube Tumblr Google+

ModTheSims modthesims.info Site where Simmers share

the mods and overrides they create Also share other creations

Forums Moderated by Simmers

Provides news Serves The Sims 2, Sims

3, and Sims 4 KCs Also includes a Sims 1

forum/KC

NRaas Industries nraas.wikispaces.com Consists of:

Mod sharing Wiki Forum

Exclusively for The Sims 3 KC Home of the extremely popular

mods: MasterController StoryProgression Traveler Overwatch ErrorTrap

The Sims Wiki sims.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sims_Wiki Wiki

Can be edited by anybody Consists of 10,000+ pages Information about all Sims series

Including console and mobile games Sims and wiki news Community discussion threads Fanon

Simmers share their own Sims and stories

Blogs Social media

SimsVIP simsvip.com News posts

Simmers can leave opinions, questions, and interact through comments

Forums Links to other Sims sites Social media

YouTube “Let’s Play” Walkthroughs Tutorials Vlogs Machinima Storytelling Official Sims / EA

Promotional videos Producer

walkthroughs

The Dark Side The Sims knowledge community can also go beyond legitimate ways

of sharing knowledge and creations. Illegally sharing copyrighted material Sharing files with bad mods Sharing files with viruses and malware Sharing content that was not created by them

(Stealing from other Simmers) This is combated by:

Simmers in the community who report stolen creations. Both on The Sims site & file sharing sites

Promoting the use of Delphy’s Custard EA takes care of locating illegal file sharing of their copyrighted material

and getting it removed from the file sharing site.

Simmers & EA: a Love-Hate RelationshipThe Love

Game developers for The Sims 3 Store have created downloadable content based on what many Simmers’ ideas posted in The Sims 3 forums.

The HateSome Simmers have protested the release of The

Sims 4Missing features from previous Sims titlesSome Simmers created petitions on the forums

The Mixed FeelingsRepeated expansion pack themes

Simmers asked for farm stuff…

No EP, but they did get all this from the Store team:

…and this isn’t even all the items in the sets!

One of many Sims 4 Simmer-created petitions from the forums…

…but EA did not change their release date.

Seeing Double? Triple?