It is of these explanations that one believed never to have to do, as it seemed the very evidence.That it was like the nose in the middle of the figure: too blatant so that it is necessary to talk about it.It was before our eyes.It was enough to look.That we shared the same cultural horizon with his colleagues and that there was therefore no question of driving open doors.

The fall was terrible.At the bend of a discussion with the editorial staff on the next edition of our theme devoted to names in video games, where we are interested in the sometimes unknown origins of certain major licenses (such as Tomb Raider, Mario, Tetris or Final Fantasy), the famous Maxis video game, the Sims, was mentioned.An idea that I supposed to dismiss without difficulty.

And then this happened.

A vergence in strength.Several of my colleagues did not suspect the origin and the meaning of the name of the Sims, while the video game literally gives control of small characters that we bring to life on a daily basis, by sending them to work, by making themdo activities.In short, it seemed obvious: this game is so called, because it is a life simulation.

What happened that day in writing was a thunderbolt.But also a revelation: if they didn't know anything about it, maybe other people do not know it.So here are some elements of explanation on the origin of the names of the Sims.You should know that this video game was developed under the direction of Will Wright, on behalf of the Maxis (for the development part) and Electronics Arts (edition) studios (edition).

It's a simulation ... of life ...

But before the Sims, Will Wright forged a name on a completely different game, which this time offers you not to manage characters, but an entire city.You probably already know the name of this license: it is Simcity.Born in 1989, she gave rise to numerous suites and variations until 2014.The Sims license, it started from the 2000s.

This filiation between Simcity and the Sims is told in various articles, such as those of Mentalfloss or Gamespot, which recall that these games of course enter the category of simulation games, where it is necessary to manage for one a municipality and for theOther a home.Game Spot title elsewhere: The history of the Sims: how a major franchise has evolved from the construction of a city to a life simulation.

For her part, Mentalfloss adds "[Will Wright] finally had the idea of a game in which the player would build a house and introduce advanced human simulation to see how she would react.Wright first called this Dollhouse concept ", in French a dollhouse.It is only later that the final name will be chosen.Sims.

We also find this explanation also directly on the jacket of the game, where we can read as a subtitle the simulator of people from the creator of Simcity. Et dans une interview accordée en 2008 à Rock Paper Shotgun, Will Wright a confié queSims visaient à traduire une interrogation qu’il avait dans les années 90 : y avait-il moyen de simuler le comportement humain ?

Can we one day talk to our colleagues after that?