Videogames: The Sims FreePlay - Audience and Industries

The second aspect of our in-depth case study on The Sims FreePlay focuses on the audience and industries key concepts.

We need to know how videogames audiences have changed, how the industry is regulated and also the companies behind the game. However, the most significant aspect of this concept is the 'freemium' model that The Sims FreePlay uses.

Notes from the lesson: Audience

The Sims FreePlay: Audience

• The Sims franchise has demonstrated there is a strong and lucrative market in female gamers.
• When The Sims was first pitched by creator Will Wright he described it as a ‘doll house’. 
• The development company Maxis weren’t keen because ‘doll houses were for girls, and girls didn’t play videogames’. EA then bought Maxis, saw potential in the idea and one of the most successful ever videogame franchises was born.
• Expansion packs available for The Sims FreePlay reinforce the view that the target audience is predominantly female.

Participatory culture

• The Sims franchise is one of the best examples of Henry Jenkins’ concept of participatory culture.
• Since the very first game in the franchise, online communities have created, suggested and shared content for the game.
• ‘Modding’ – short for modifications – is a huge part of the appeal of the game. Modding changes aspects of the gameplay – anything from the strength of coffee to incorporating ghosts or even sexual content.

Notes from the lesson: Industries

Regulation: PEGI

• The videogames industry is regulated by PEGI – Pan European Game Information.
• In the UK, the Video Standards Council is responsible for regulating game content. In 2012, PEGI was introduced to UK law to make the age ratings legally enforceable.
• It is illegal to sell games to people below the age of the rating.
• The Sims FreePlay is rated 12+ due to mild references to alcohol, sexual content and similar adult themes.

Electronic Arts

• The Sims franchise is owned by Electronic Arts (EA), a huge name in the videogames industry.
• The Sims FreePlay was developed by Firemonkeys Studios, EA’s Australian subsidiary.
• The franchise was originally developed by Maxis after EA acquired the company.
• EA is famous for big-budget console games such as the FIFA series but has moved more into mobile gaming in recent years.

The 'freemium' model

• The Sims FreePlay uses the ‘freemium’ model – free to download and play but with in-app purchases. 
• Although initially more popular with smaller, independent game developers, the freemium model is now a huge revenue generator for major publishers like EA.

The Sims FreePlay CSP - Audience and Industries blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'The Sims FreePlay CSP - Audience and Industries blog tasks' and complete the following tasks.

Audience

Read this App Store description and the customer reviews for The Sims FreePlay and answer the following questions:  

1) What game information is provided on this page? Pick out three elements you think are important in terms of making the game appeal to an audience.

2) How does the game information on this page reflect the strong element of participatory culture in The Sims?

3) Read a few of the user reviews. What do they suggest about the audience pleasures of the game? 

Participatory culture

Read this academic journal article - The Sims: A Participatory Culture 14 Years On. Answer the following questions:

1) What did The Sims designer Will Wright describe the game as?

2) Why was development company Maxis initially not interested in The Sims?

3) What is ‘modding’? How does ‘modding’ link to Henry Jenkins’ idea of ‘textual poaching’?

4) Look specifically at p136. Note down key quotes from Jenkins, Pearce and Wright on this page.

5) What examples of intertextuality are discussed in relation to The Sims? (Look for “replicating works from popular culture”)

6) What is ‘transmedia storytelling’ and how does The Sims allow players to create it?

7) How have Sims online communities developed over the last 20 years?

8) What does the writer suggest The Sims will be remembered for?

Read this Henry Jenkins interview with James Paul Gee, writer of Woman as Gamers: The Sims and 21st Century Learning (2010).

1) Why does James Paul Gee see The Sims as an important game?

2) What does the designer of The Sims, Will Wright, want players to do with the game?

3) Do you agree with the view that The Sims is not a game – but something else entirely?

Industries

Electronic Arts & Sims FreePlay industries focus

Read this Pocket Gamer interview with EA’s Amanda Schofield, Senior Producer on The Sims FreePlay at EA's Melbourne-based Firemonkeys studio. Answer the following questions:

1) How has The Sims FreePlay evolved since launch?

2) Why does Amanda Schofield suggest ‘games aren’t products any more’?

3) What does she say about The Sims gaming community?

4) How has EA kept the game fresh and maintained the active player base?

5) How many times has the game been installed and how much game time in years have players spent playing the game? These could be great introductory statistics in an exam essay on this topic.

Read this blog on how EA is ruining the franchise (or not) due to its downloadable content. Answer the following questions:

1) What audience pleasures for The Sims are discussed at the beginning of the blog?

2) What examples of downloadable content are presented?

3) How did Electronic Arts enrage The Sims online communities with expansion packs and DLC?

4) What innovations have appeared in various versions of The Sims over the years?

5) In your opinion, do expansion packs like these exploit a loyal audience or is it simply EA responding to customer demand?

The ‘Freemium’ gaming model

Read this Business Insider feature on freemium gaming and multiplayer games. Answer the following questions:

1) Note the key statistics in the first paragraph.

2) Why does the freemium model incentivise game developers to create better and longer games?

3) What does the article suggest regarding the possibilities and risks to the freemium model in future?

Regulation – PEGI

Research the following using the Games Rating Authority website - look at the videos and FAQ section.

1) How does the PEGI ratings system work and how does it link to UK law?

2) What are the age ratings and what content guidance do they include?

3) What is the PEGI process for rating a game? 

A/A* extension tasks

Read this New York Times feature on freemium gaming - you may need to create a free account to access this. Think about the influence of Temple Run and why the bigger gaming studios like Electronic Arts used to avoid the freemium model. Why are they now embracing it?

Complete for homework: due date on Google Classroom.

OSP assessment: Learner response

Your Online, Social and Participatory media assessment was a great opportunity to test yourself on two key aspects of Media Paper Two - an unseen question and a 25-mark essay. 

The first part of your learner response is to look carefully at your mark, grade and comments from your teacher. If anything doesn't make sense, ask your teacher - it's crucial we're learning from the process of assessments and feedback as we move towards the exams at the end of this year. The second focuses on using the mark scheme as a learning resource and developing our skills in essay planning and structuring.

Your learner response is as follows:

Create a new blog post on your Media 1 Exam blog called 'OSP assessment learner response' and complete the following tasks:

1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

2) Read the whole mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Identify three specific aspects from Figure 1 (the Google Home advert) that you could have mentioned in your answer (e.g. selection of image, framing and focus, colour, text etc.)

3) Now use the mark scheme to identify three potential points that you could have made in your essay for Question 2 (Hesmondhalgh - validity of theory/narrow range of values and ideologies).

4) Use your exam response, the mark scheme and any other resources you wish to use to write a detailed essay plan for Question 2. Make sure you are planning at least three well-developed paragraphs in addition to an introduction and conclusion.

5) Finally, identify three key areas you plan to revise from the OSP unit before the January mock exams (e.g. CSP elements or media theories) having looked at your feedback from this assessment.

If you do not finish your learner response in the lesson your work is returned, this needs to be completed at home by your next exam lesson.

Videogames: The Sims FreePlay - Language & Representations

Our first videogames CSP is The Sims FreePlay (2011).

This is another in-depth CSP so will require significant work and research to complete your case study.

Background: mobile gaming

• The videogames industry has changed massively since the emergence of the smart phone and app store distribution model.
• Mobile gaming has changed the audience demographics for gaming and brought the industry into the mainstream.
• The app store model means tech giants such as Apple and Google are making significant sums from mobile gaming but mobile hits can still earn developers millions.
• Angry Birds made developer Rovio $200m in 2012 and broke 2 billion downloads in 2014. This paved the way for the market we see today.

The Sims FreePlay

• The Sims FreePlay is a spin-off from the hugely successful Sims franchise first published by Electronic Arts (EA) in 2000.
• The game is a strategic life simulation game (also known as the sandbox genre). 
• The Sims FreePlay takes the game on to phones and tablets and uses the ‘freemium’ model that makes money via in-app purchases.
• The game has seen more than 200 million downloads since 2011 – remarkable success.

Representations

The Sims franchise offers range of representations on gender, age, race/ethnicity, sexuality, capitalism and even reality itself.

One aspect of The Sims is the values and ideologies that the game reinforces. Although it has been praised for its liberal values over, for example, LGBTQ+ representation, it could also be argued that the game reinforces dominant American capitalist ideologies.

Expansion pack trailers

A useful way to analyse representations in The Sims FreePlay is to study the trailers produced by EA to promote expansion pack DLC. For example: 





Using these expansion pack trailers, we can study the representation of gender, age, race/ethnicity and much more.

The Sims and postmodernism

Watch this introduction to Baudrillard from 8-Bit Philosophy:



Baudrillard argued that our culture now perceives the ‘copy’ (media representation) as more real than the ‘original’ and stated that we live in a culture where the ‘fake’ is more readily accepted than the ‘real’ – therefore creating hyperreality. This blurs the line between fiction and reality.

The Sims franchise is a perfect study in hyperreality as it allows players to create an entirely constructed life through the game.

The Sims FreePlay social media channels also provide an example of simulacra – they are situated in the real world and interact with real players but feature entirely constructed fictional content from the game. Here, they also make intertextual references to real celebrities. Where is the line between fiction and reality?

You can read more on Baudrillard, Hyperreality, postmodernism and The Sims in these notes - you'll need your Greenford Google login. 

The Sims FreePlay CSP - Language & Representations blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'The Sims FreePlay CSP - Language & Representations' and complete the following tasks.

Language / Gameplay analysis

Watch The Sims: FreePlay trailer and answer the following questions:

1) What elements of gameplay are shown?

2) What audience is the trailer targeting?

3) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?

Now watch this walk-through of the beginning of The Sims FreePlay and answer the following questions:

1) How is the game constructed?

2) What audience is this game targeting?

3) What audience pleasures does the game provide?

4) How does the game encourage in-app purchases?

Representations

Re-watch some of the expansion pack trailers and answer the following questions:

1) How do the expansion pack (DLC) trailers reinforce or challenge dominant ideologies?

2) What stereotypes have you identified in The Sims FreePlay?

3) What media theories can you apply to representations in The Sims FreePlay?

Representation reading

Read this Forbes article on gender and racism in The Sims franchise and answer the following questions:

1) How realistic does The Sims intend to be?

2) How has The Sims tried to create more realistic representations of ethnicity?

3) How has The Sims responded to racism and sexism in society?

4) What is The Sims perspective on gender fluidity and identity?

5) How does The Sims reinforce the dominant capitalist ideologies of American culture?

Read this New Normative feature on LGBTQ representation in The Sims franchise (the website link no longer works but that will take you to the text of the article - you'll need your Greenford Google login to access). Answer the following questions:

1) How did same-sex relationships unexpectedly help the original Sims game to be a success?

2) How is sexuality now represented in The Sims?

3) Why have fans praised the inclusion of LGBTQ relationships in The Sims franchise?

4) Why did the Sims run into regulatory difficulties with American regulator the ESRB? How did EA respond?

5) How is sexuality represented in the wider videogames industry today?

Reality, postmodernism and The Sims

Read this Paste Magazine feature on reality and The Sims franchise. Answer the following questions:

1) What does the article suggest about the representation of real life in The Sims 4?

2) What audience pleasures did the writer previously find in The Sims franchise?

3) Why the does the writer mention an example of a washer and dryer as additional DLC?

4) In your opinion, has The Sims made an error in trying to make the franchise too realistic?

5) How does this representation of reality link to Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality - the increasingly blurred line between real and constructed?

The Sims FreePlay social media analysis

Analyse The Sims FreePlay Facebook page and Twitter feed and answer the following questions:

1) What is the purpose of The Sims FreePlay social media channels?

2) Choose three posts (from either Twitter or Facebook) and make a note of what they are and how they encourage audience interaction or response.

3) Scroll down the Facebook feed briefly. How many requests for new content can you find from players? Why is this such as an important part of the appeal for The Sims FreePlay?

4) What tweets can you find in the Twitter feed that refer to additional content or other revenue streams for EA?


Extension: Postmodernism academic reading

If you're interested (or planning on studying Media or Cultural Studies at university), read this highly academic and challenging summary of hyperreality, implosion and postmodern theory from the University of Chicago. Consider how these approaches apply to the digital media landscape we’ve been studying and in particular the videogame industry and franchises like The Sims. For example, linking to our work on postmodernism and The Sims, how could The Sims FreePlay's social media presence be an example of Baudrillard’s hyperreality and simulacra?

Due date: on Google Classroom

Videogames: Henry Jenkins - fandom and participatory culture

Our first lesson in Videogames explores the work of Henry Jenkins -  a named audience theorist and an expert in fandom and participatory culture.

We need to apply Jenkins's ideas to our upcoming videogame CSPs but also think back to where his ideas are relevant with other media texts we have studied. His work on participatory culture links with Clay Shirky in places and the concept of fandom is important to many media texts - from TV drama to Taylor Swift in particular.

Videogames: an introduction

Videogames is our final in-depth media topic. Our Videogames CSPs are The Sims FreePlay and Horizon Forbidden West.

These are in-depth CSPs and need to be studied with reference to all four elements of the Theoretical Framework (Language, Representation, Industries, Audience) and all relevant contexts. This will then be tested in the Media Two exam with a 25-mark essay question.

The videogames industry is a huge media market – bigger than video and music combined. It is worth more than £4bn – more than double its value in 2007. Remarkably, these figures do not include mobile and free games such as Fortnite (which has over 600 million players worldwide).

With games like FIFA/FC, Red Dead Redemption and Call of Duty each selling millions of copies, it is important to consider the influence games can have on audiences and society.

Henry Jenkins: participatory culture

Henry Jenkins is an expert in fandom and participatory culture. Key to this idea is the concept of the ‘prosumer’ – audiences that create as well as consume media. This culture has revolutionised fan communities with the opportunity to create and share content. It also links to Clay Shirky’s work on ‘mass amateurisation’.

Fandom is now big business – with Comic-Con events making millions. More importantly, the internet has demonstrated the size of fan communities so it is no longer a minority of ‘geek’ stereotypes but mainstream popular culture (such as Marvel, Harry Potter or Doctor Who).



Jenkins defends fan cultures and argues that fans are often stereotyped negatively in the media because they value popular culture (e.g. films or games) over traditional cultural capital (high brow culture or knowledge). The irony is fan culture is often dominated by middle class, educated audiences.

Jenkins discusses ‘textual poaching’ – when fans take texts and re-edit or develop their meanings, a process called semiotic productivity. Fan communities are also quick to criticise if they feel a text or character is developing in a way they don’t support.

Henry Jenkins - fandom blog tasks

The following tasks will give you an excellent introduction to fandom and also allow you to start exploring degree-level insight into audience studies. Work through the following:

Factsheet #107 - Fandom

Read Media Factsheet #107 on Fandom. Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) or log into your Greenford Google account to access the link. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What is the definition of a fan?

2) What the different types of fan identified in the factsheet?

3) What makes a ‘fandom’?

4) What is Bordieu’s argument regarding the ‘cultural capital’ of fandom?

5) What examples of fandom are provided on pages 2 and 3 of the factsheet?

6) Why is imaginative extension and text creation a vital part of digital fandom?

Henry Jenkins - degree-level reading

Read the final chapter of ‘Fandom’ – written by Henry Jenkins (note: link may be blocked in school - try this Google Drive link if you need it.) This will give you an excellent introduction to the level of reading required for seminars and essays at university as well as degree-level insight into our current work on fandom and participatory culture. Answer the following questions:

1) There is an important quote on the first page: “It’s not an audience, it’s a community”. What does this mean?

2) Jenkins quotes Clay Shirky in the second page of the chapter. Pick out a single sentence of the extended quote that you think is particularly relevant to our work on participatory culture and the ‘end of audience’ (clue – look towards the end!)

3) What are the different names Jenkins discusses for these active consumers that are replacing the traditional audience?

4) On the third page of the chapter, what does Wired editor Chris Anderson suggest regarding the economic argument in favour of fan communities?

5) What examples does Jenkins provide to argue that fan culture has gone mainstream?

6) Look at the quote from Andrew Blau in which he discusses the importance of grassroots creativity. Pick out a sentence from the longer quote and decide whether you agree that audiences will ‘reshape the media landscape from the bottom up’.

7) What does Jenkins suggest the new ideal consumer is?

8) Why is fandom 'the future'?

9) What does it mean when Jenkins says we shouldn’t celebrate ‘a process that commodifies fan cultural production’?

10) Read through to the end of the chapter. What do you think the future of fandom is? Are we all fans now? Is fandom mainstream or are real fan communities still an example of a niche media audience?

Due date: on Google Classroom.