The Sims: fictional virtual worlds sill a success? innovate?

EA have announced thatThe Sims has sold 100 million units worldwide, making it the biggestselling PC game series ever. And who, honestly, would have predictedthat when the original game launched in 2000. Back then the PC gamingscene was a masculine mix of first-person shooters, real-time strategyand role playing games. Not, you'd think, the ideal place to launch agame about relationships, decorating and emotional management. 100million copies of The Sims sold and 8 years on and, er, the PC gamingscene remains a masculine mix of first person shooters, realtimestrategy and role playing games. Except this time the role playing isdone online. But the point remains - the Sims has been an incrediblesuccess in a PC gaming market that has failed to really innovate.
You'dhave expected a rush of PC games aimed at the mainstream, morefeminised audience attracted in by The Sims. But they never came. Andthe few that did never got close to challenging The Sims dominance.Perhaps the huge growth in casual gaming - think online Bejewelled etc- has filled this gap? But in a declining PC game market the success ofThe Sims is a notable achievement.

EA has revealed the first details of Sims 3,the next generation of its multi-million selling life simulation. Duesometime next year, the game will feature a totally new engine, as wellas a host of intriguing features.
Paramount, perhaps, is the new open neighbourhood system, whichgives players seamless access to the outiside world, rather than therather limited 'community lots' system from Sims Unleashed, Sims 2,etc. You'll be able to head out, shop, meet virtual pals, spy onneighbours, etc. There's also a much more detailed and intricatecreate-a-sim feature, allowing players to fine tune skin tone, bodyshape and hair styles from a large array of options. There areincreased customisation options in the home, too, "from floors toflowers, fashions to sofas, wallpaper to window shades and more..."
But is there still a place for The Sims as a major phenomenon?
Oh sure, the series is enormous,and still shifting add-ons and expansionpacks in huge numbers. And EA,of course, has a whole section of its business dedicated to this onefranchise. But when you think about it, the first title was released in2000 - three years before Second Life, four years before World ofWarcraft, five years before Club Penguin and several years before theexplosion of sites like Facbook and Myspace. It could be argued thatsince The Sims invented and marketed the concept of the mainstream lifesimulation, the online virtual community has emerged and more-or-lesstaken over its role as a computerised social experience.
Are the people who bought and enjoyed The Sim back in the day, nowinvolved in real-life virtual communities? Are they now playing Pogoand Popcap games, while updating their Bebo pages and keeping tabs ontheir Second Life identity? Have they moved beyond the solo,imaginative environment represented by Will Wright's simulation? Evenif they haven't, I wonder if the game can ever be the overwhelminglypopular and discussed experience it once was.
On the other hand it could be arriving at just the right time.There's talk of Facebook fatigue; according to market research companyComScore, the number of MySpace users dropped from 72 million inOctober to 68.9 million in December 2007. Second Life is hard to getinto, and once you're in, you're at the mercy of griefers and, well,strangers who use virtual identities as disguises. You're still playinggames, but you don't always know the rules.
But the Sims universe is your universe - it's a solipsistic comfortzone. The NPCs may have their own agendas, but they're working within areadable, logical construction. By extending the game to include asimulacrum of an online virtual world, EA is offering the pre-supposedadvantages of virtual exploration and interaction, without theinconvenience of actually having to deal with other people. Not onlythat, but you can also customise the world in your own way, and youdon't have to worry about pleasing or offending others.
To paraphrase Woody Allen, don't knock The Sims, it's virtual interaction with someone you love.