by Jayne Clarkson

Created on: June 23, 2009   Last Updated: March 22, 2010

The Sims gaming brand, has become a 21st century icon. The second installment in the series, " The Sims2" was introduced during 2004 and followed on from where it's predecessor, "The Sims" left off . Of course, "The Sims2 " is bigger, brasher, louder more surreal and a generally more exciting experience.

For those who have never played any of the Sims titles (I'm guessing you live either in a cave or on the the moon), the basic concept concerns building a happy life, including housing, friendships, romances and children. The key to success in this game is to keep your sims as happy as possible, by fulfilling their every whim.

When the game begins, each player has to create a sim from the choices available. They can be male or female, with a number of children or completely childless. It is entirely up to you. You begin the game  with a limited amount of money, and with this money it is important to build a house for your sim or sims.

I mentioned earlier that the key to success in this game, is to cater to the whims of your sims. One of the defining features of this game is that the needs of the characters are visualised, in the form of a crystal. This is in order for the player to be aware of how their character is feeling.

For instance, if your character has been well rested, fed and watered, their crystal will be green. However, if your character's mood changes, so will the colour of their crystal, from green to amber to red. The more unhappy your character becomes the redder their crystal becomes. Each character has a number of needs; namely

Hunger, Comfort, Cleanliness,fun,relationships, toilet use

It is important to keep your character as happy as possible, in order for them to progress through the game. I have found many times to my cost, if I haven't catered for my character's happiness, they either remain stuck in the same employment for a very long time,get hungry or dirty . At times they have even died!

So how to keep "The Sims" happy?  Much of this is obvious. In order to find money, they need to find work. This isn't as difficult as it sounds, because each virtual day , the newspaper boy delivers a newspaper where a job is advertised. The more money they earn , the happier they tend to become. Each piece of furniture or tool or game, has a particular score which replenishes each crystal. As the value of each object gets higher so the score for each object gets higher.

It also follows that your character is

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