Uncategorized

SIMS FREEPLAY – CSP

Leave a comment

The Sims Freeplay is a strategic life simulation game developed by EA Mobile and later with Firemonkeys Studios. It is a freemium version of The Sims for mobile devices; it was released for iOS on December 15, 2011, released for Android on February 15, 2012, released for BlackBerry 10 on July 31, 2013, and released for Windows Phone 8 on September 12, 2013.

In 2018 The Sims was banned from 7 countries due to a claim about the games explicit LGBT content. The ban applies to seven countries in Asia: China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt. Users who already had the game downloaded would still be able to use it, however the game wouldn’t be updated – example of regulation

Media Industries:

  • Developed by, Maxis, EA Mobile, FireMonkey Studios and Blue Tongue Entertainment and was published by EA
  • Multiple platform releases between 2011 and 2013 (iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry)
  • Facebook page, like the website was/is a marketing hub – updates, events and competitions announced ​
  • The Sims FreePlay is a spin-off from the hugely successful Sims franchise first published by Electronic Arts (EA) in 2000
  • The game has seen 200 million downloads since 2011

Media Audiences:

  • The Sims franchise has demonstrated that there is strong market for female gamers
  • Expansion packs available for The Sims FreePlay reinforce the view that the target audience is predominantly female
  • Target audience of 12-25 mainly female but still targets males
  • Secondary target audience young adults who extend game playing onto convergent social and participatory platforms​

Media Languages:

Construction of the Sims reality as ‘normal’:

  • Mundane tasks – e.g washing hands, cleaning
  • Time management
  • Prioritises necessitates / essentials
  • The Sims world provides equality – gender, race, sexuality
  • Gerbner – cultivation theory – predict that media viewing influences the values and beliefs that people have and the things they believe are “reality”
  • Aspirational performance that may never be replicated in real life – personal identity​

Media Representations:

  • Non-threatening pastel colours (colour important in terms of brand identity)
  • Representations anchored by ‘innocent’ non diegetic music​
  • A capitalist society- you have to go to school, get an education, find a job
  • People as consumers- lots of examples of Sims spending money and this being desirable
  • The police represented positively 

Media Theories:

  • Judith Butler – ‘gender as a performance’
  • Gauntlett – ‘younger generations aren’t afraid of social changes’ and ‘gender fluidity’
  • Gerbner – cultivation theory

Sims involves typical gender stereotypes such as traditional gender roles (boys – karate, blue / girls – ballet, pink). Being young is desirable – older people excluded from the game. The rich people are predominantly white

Leave a Reply