The Sims 2 brought Sim genetics and multiple life stages, as well as a slew of expansions that added all kinds of features, from college life to changing seasons. The Sims games have come quite a long way, each iteration introducing something new. It’s easy to see the universal appeal of the Sims games, as they somehow manage to capture the quirks of everyday human life-including biological needs, academic and career aspirations, and social relationships-in a simplified but endearingly relatable form. Just from my personal experience, I think Sims players may be among the most diverse I’ve encountered, encompassing both casual and more mainstream gamers, as well as people who usually don’t play games at all. I say this not only because hundreds of millions of copies of Sims games have been sold in countries around the world, but because it’s one of the few games that I can talk about with my non-gamer friends, and they’ll at least be familiar with the life-simulation concept of the games.

Since the original The Sims came out in 2000, the Sims series has become one of the most successful game franchises I can think of.

Sims 4 expansions cost too much