Further Analysis of Game Media

BCM215 - Blog Post 2

Image: Maxis/EA

This blog post revisits the study of "The Sims," using nostalgia, persona, and narrative as frameworks to explore and analyse the iconic games’ impact. The examination will delve into how the game evokes memories and past experiences, allows players to experiment with various identities, and generates personal narratives. By focusing on these elements, we’ll reveal how "The Sims" video game franchise mirrors individual and collective experiences, showcasing its role as a dynamic medium for self-expression and storytelling. 

Nostalgia in "The Sims" extends beyond recreating familiar environments; it’s evident in how players use the game to revisit and reshape significant life events. For example, many players choose to replicate their childhood homes or entire neighbourhoods, focusing on specific details like the colour of a bedroom or the layout of a family kitchen to evoke a sense of comfort and familiarity (Boym, 2001). This act of rebuilding the past is not just about visual accuracy but about recapturing the emotions and memories associated with those spaces. Furthermore, nostalgia manifests when players create Sims that represent deceased family members or friends, allowing them to interact with and “relive” moments with loved ones who are no longer present. This reflective nostalgia serves as a powerful tool for emotional processing and connection with the past, making "The Sims" a space for memory preservation and personal healing (Davis, 1979).

Image: Pedestrian TV

The concept of persona in "The Sims" is intricately linked with the game’s role-playing elements, where players experiment with identities and social roles that may be constrained in real life. Gee (2003) explains that video games provide a safe environment for exploring different aspects of identity. In "The Sims," this is evident when players create Sims with different gender identities or sexual orientations, allowing for exploration of these facets of self without real-world repercussions. This idea is further supported by Turkle (1995), who discusses how digital environments allow for the fluidity of identity, enabling users to explore and construct different personas. This extends to social roles and careers, where players often craft Sims who pursue alternative life paths—such as becoming a famous artist, scientist, or even a supernatural being—thereby testing out lives that differ from their own. The game’s flexibility in “persona” creation makes it a space for both self-expression and self-discovery, challenging societal norms and expanding the breadth of human experience (Gee, 2003; Turkle, 1995).

The narrative in "The Sims" is distinctively emergent, shaped entirely by player interaction rather than a pre-written script. Ryan (2001) discusses how digital games challenge traditional narrative structures by enabling player-driven stories that can branch in multiple directions. In "The Sims," this narrative emerges from player decisions—whether it’s building a multigenerational family or focusing on individual achievement. For instance, a player might guide their Sim through career milestones and personal development, reflecting values of success and ambition. Jenkins (2004) expands on this by describing games as "narrative architecture," where the player's actions and choices construct the story's framework. These player-generated narratives are not just events within the game but also mirrors of how players interpret and navigate life’s challenges and milestones. This emergent narrative structure allows for stories as complex and varied as the players' own experiences, making "The Sims" a powerful medium for narrative exploration and expression (Ryan, 2001; Jenkins, 2004).

Image: Maxis/EA

Interconnections and Cultural Significance 

The interplay between nostalgia, persona, and narrative in "The Sims" demonstrates how the game acts as a reflection of the player’s inner world and societal context. Nostalgia drives the recreation of past experiences, informing the personas players craft by imbuing their Sims with aspects of their own identity and history (Boym, 2001; Davis, 1979). These personas then navigate through player-driven narratives that reflect the player’s values, beliefs, and aspirations (Gee, 2003; Turkle, 1995). For example, a player who values family might create a narrative centred around generational legacy, while another who values freedom might focus on a Sim’s journey of self-discovery and independence, personally in my own recent playtestin of the game, this is an aspect I really have focused on and think should be expanded. This synergy between concepts not only showcases the versatility of "The Sims" but also highlights its cultural significance as a medium for exploring and expressing complex ideas about identity, memory, and society (Ryan, 2001; Jenkins, 2004). 

Timeline for upcoming Audio-Visual Component:

I've now gathered a nice range of academic sources and general knowledge on the Sims franchise through the making of these previous two blogs. With my chosen game media concepts I can now work towards the upcoming audio-visual component of this task by breaking up the necessary steps as follows:

Weeks 8-10:

Continue playtesting game, for original visual content and first hand research, thus forming my analysis.

Weeks 10-11:

Begin compiling data and content for video, early editing stages. Using canva, website and Youtube.

Week 12:

Finalise script, finalise editing, have a strong conclusion on analysis based on my chosen concepts. Publish Assessment 3 using moodle and wordpress.

REFERENCES: 

Boym, S. 2001, The Future of Nostalgia, Basic Books, New York.

Davis, F. 1979, Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia, Free Press, New York.

Gee, J.P. 2003, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, Computers in the Schools, vol. 20, no. 3-4, pp. 15-24.

Turkle, S. 1995, Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet, Simon & Schuster, New York.

Ryan, M.-L. 2001, Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Jenkins, H. 2004, Game Design as Narrative Architecture, in N. Wardrip-Fruin & P. Harrigan (eds.), First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 

OpenAI, 2024. GPT 4 Research. [Online]

Available at: https://openai.com/index/gpt-4-research

[Accessed September 2024].