

Sims may receive guests at their home lot, invited or not, from other playable lots, or from unhoused non-player character (NPC) Sims. Sims are influenced by the player to interact with objects or other Sims. It has been described as more like a toy than a game. The Sims technically has unlimited replay value, in that there is no way to truly win the game, and the player can play indefinitely. The presentation of the game's artificial intelligence is advanced, and the Sims will respond to outside conditions independently, though often the player's intervention is necessary to keep the Sims on the right track. The structure of the game is an agent-based artificial life program. Several sequels in The Sims series have been released - The Sims 2 in 2004, The Sims 3 in 2009, and The Sims 4 in 2014. The game has also been commercially successful, being one of the best-selling PC games of all time with 11.5 million copies sold. It also won several awards and placed 31st on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list. Upon release, The Sims garnered widespread critical acclaim and was described by Wright as being successful in attracting casual and female gamers. Seven expansion packs were released from 2000 to 2003, each of which added new items, characters, skins, and features. Wright was inspired to create the game by Christopher Alexander's 1977 book A Pattern Language, and Scott McCloud's 1993 book Understanding Comics later played a role in the game's design. The game's development was led by Will Wright, and the game was a follow-up to Wright's earlier SimCity series. A series of expansion packs were also released that add new content and features to the game, such as new careers, items, locations, and scenarios.

The game features an open-ended gameplay, where players can choose their own goals and objectives, and customize their Sims’ appearance, personality, skills, relationships, and environment. The game allows players to create and control virtual people, called “Sims”, and manage their daily lives in a suburban setting. The Sims is a social simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts in 2000.
