Using Technology and Innovation to Simulate Daily Life

ENTERTAINMENT COMPUTING Identity/FINAL/bac.htm#1). With The Sims, however, Wright has Using Technology created a deeper game that embodies a philosophy based on the writings of Christopher W. Alexander, an Austrian- born architect long popular among soft- and Innovation to ware engineers. Alexander developed a theory of “fit” to describe how homes and sites work spatially and psycholog- ically (http://www.greatbuildings.com/ Simulate Daily Life gbc/architects/Christopher_Alexander. html). For Wright, basing his work on the the- Michael Macedonia, US Army Stricom ories of leading thinkers is familiar terri- tory. The Sims’ predecessor, SimCity, draws on the urban planning theories of MIT’s Jay Forrester. SimCity lets players knew something was up when I saw game through a combination of great construct and manage whole cities and my daughter shouting at our com- technology, a believable simulation envi- respond to crises like fires and earth- puter, scolding one of her Sims—a ronment, a superb user interface, and a quakes. (Information on the latest version I simulated male who kept making a fun game design. in the series, SimCity 3000, can be found mess of his house. To undo the dam- age, my exasperated daughter had to An original design, superb interface, and give him specific and detailed cleaning instructions. Just like a guy! extraordinary AI combine to make a computer Yet hers must have been the sort of reaction Will Wright dreamt of when he game of everyday life more compelling than first settled on the concept of The Sims the reality it models. several years ago: To create a synthetic dollhouse and embody it in a computer game. Besides topping sales charts and PAST AS PROLOGUE at http://www.simcity.com.) The Sims, generating endless discussions among The Sims recalls two previous efforts: however, offers a much more intimate computer gamers, The Sims has received The 1986 Commodore 64 game Little experience. The game works at the level attention from such prestigious publica- Computer People and the 1996 Tama- of a single household you create and man- tions as The New York Times and The gotchi Virtual Pets. In Little Computer age. You control every aspect of your Wall Street Journal, where Dean Taka- People, developed by David Crane and Sims’ lives, from searching for a job, to hashi (9 July 1999, Page B1) points out Sam Nelson for Activision, you control buying furniture, to helping them develop that “In an industry best known for the life of a minute person who has come relationships with their friends and lovers. blood and gore, computer-game designer to inhabit your computer. You interact Will Wright is an alternative thinker. with your guest by typing keywords. NUTS AND BOLTS Intellectual may be more like it.” Activision still sells a version of the game Your Sim family measures its success in Far more than a dollhouse, The Sims for Windows, and a shareware version the game by tracking its personal wealth evokes comparisons to a Greek myth in can be found at http://members.xoom. in an ongoing effort to acquire new mate- which you can play the deity, manipu- com/_XMCM/lcp_research/links.htm. rial items, bigger homes, and higher pay- lating the lives of unaware humans. The Debuting first in Japan and a year later ing jobs. Although many game reviewers trouble with this model—and what in the West, the Tamagotchi were sold in have criticized the Sims materialistic pur- makes the game so intriguing—is that toy stores as a tiny handheld LCD video suits, it would have been difficult to con- just like mortals in Greek mythology, game attached to a key chain or bracelet. struct the game otherwise: Good game your Sims often frustrate your plans with The game’s object is to simulate the play requires a measurable objective. their own autonomy. proper care of a virtual chicken, accom- That game play is realistic and logical. Moreover, Wright’s game demon- plished through performing the digital To obtain good jobs your Sims need to strates how game development can influ- analog of certain parental responsibilities network with friends, can’t miss work ence computer science. The Sims achieves that include feeding, playing games, without risking termination, and must its success through both advanced com- scolding, medicating, and cleaning up keep their kids happy so that they’ll puting technology and an understanding after the Tamagotchi (see http://info. obtain A’s. Thus the primary skill you of its users. It brings players into the berkeley.edu/courses/is296a-3/s97/Focus/ need to play the game is the ability to plan 2 Computer and queue instructions for your Sims. Appropriately, according to Will, the code name for The Sims was Jefferson—as in Thomas Jefferson of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” fame. Courtesy of Maxis © 2000 Electronic Arts Courtesy of Maxis © 2000 Electronic Arts Agent architecture Although The Sims represents a micro- perspective of urban life, its design is far more complex than the SimCity series. As Maxis general manager Luc Barthelet explained, SimCity’s AI architecture most closely resembles cellular automata. The Sims AI, on the other hand, takes an agent approach. In his notes for Imagina 99, Figure 1. SimCity, Will Wright’s most famous game to date, looks at city management from a Jamie Doorbos, the simulation engineer macroperspective. Inspired by the urban planning theories of MIT’s Jay Forrester, the game for The Sims, states that “The Sims uses a confronts players with several economic and political challenges, then throws random fairly straightforward model to simulate disasters into the mix to keep the excitement level high. human behavior. Several sets of variables in each character describe and control the from the state to the goal. omy. Will Wright and his team have done instantaneous needs of a person, their Each object in the world describes to extensive research into what makes this preferences for activities, their abilities, the Sims how it operates. For example, a game attractive to players. The role of and their relationships to other Sims and stove would contain the behaviors put the player is to set the stage and make the their environment.” food in, cook food, take food out, serve key decisions about a Sim’s life. The Characters have motives such as food, and eat at the table. The objects player must decide to build or buy the hunger, while players can adjust person- advertise their capability to satisfy each house, design or modify it appropriately, ality values such as neatness. Using these Sim’s needs, such as hunger, as part of an make appliance and furniture purchase parameters, you could even create the interaction protocol. The benefit attenu- decisions, design the personalities of each Odd Couple, if you wished. The real intel- ates depending on distance and intensity Sim family member, select the Sims’ jobs, ligence, however, lies embedded in the of need. So if a Sim isn’t very hungry, it’s and overcome the Sims’ tendency to obey objects with which the Sims interact. To unlikely to forage by moving from their baser instincts, such as pleasure implement this design, Doorbos wrote a another room to the kitchen. seeking, which interfere with their ability real-time scripting language called Sim- to achieve happiness. For example, a Sim Antics to create object behaviors. Sim- User interface may find it gratifying to fall in love with Antics has a visual programming front Eric Bowman is the chief graphics his neighbor’s wife, but doing so will end called Edith, which is similar to the developer for The Sims. He and his team probably destroy both Sim families—a object-oriented graphics program Visio. chose to present the Sim household from consequence that transforms the game Individual Sims achieve autonomy by an isometric view. Bowman’s team also into a morality play. The game also attempting to find the best action for developed the attractive sprite anima- encompasses tragedy: Your Sims can die. every object and each interaction with tions that key off the behaviors of each The simplicity of the game’s user inter- that object. To avoid performance hits Sim. Sims sometimes turn to the player face deepens player immersion. Although from state explosion, however, not every to express themselves with a combina- always present, the controls remain unob- object is queried every time a Sim tion of visual conversation balloons and trusive. Most all input occurs via mouse, searches for the best action. The Sims audio clips of the unintelligible Sim lan- and the game can be learned in a few min- must search, move, reach, and use the guage SimSpeak—a dialect that many utes from the tutorial that introduces you wide variety of objects available in the gamers say sounds like the gibberish to the Newbie family. (See Don Hopkins’ Sim world, such as chairs, telephones, adults mouth on Peanuts animated spe- Web site at http://catalog.com/hopkins/ showers, and so on. cials. As Sims move through their homes, simcity/WillWright.htm for more insights The game determines how each Sim the walls become cutouts to keep the into designing simulation user interfaces. moves via path planning that uses a mod- Sims’ actions visible. Hopkins is a member of The Sims pro- ified A∗ search algorithm. This algorithm gramming team.) finds the optimal path from the Sim to its IMMERSIVE GAMEPLAY Much like SimCity, The Sims also goal by using a best-first search in which Despite all its technical bells and whis- allows a variety of extensions for cus- the cost of any search state is the cost of tles, The Sims’ ultimate beauty lies in its tomizing players’ worlds.

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