The Sims

Will Wright developed the remarkably popular computer game, 'The Sims' -- a combination of divine architect and urban planner.

1 minute read

December 19, 2004, 11:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"It's easy to feel good about The Sims. Children adore it and parents approve: not simply because it is constructive and repays long-term planning, but because playing God has its responsibilities.

...When he sold SimCity to Electronic Arts, the financial security allowed Wright - now obsessed by the ideas of the architectural design guru Christopher Alexander, author of A Pattern Language, and devouring works such as Abraham Maslow's Motivation and Personality and Paco Underhill's Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping - to concentrate on an idea he had been toying with since 1994: a kind of virtual doll's house, the idea that would eventually become The Sims."

Thanks to Chris Steins

FULL STORY: Sims like us

Friday, December 17, 2004 in The Age, Australia

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