A recent online survey of PC gamers has revealed that “The Sims” is one of the most popular and best-selling games of all time.

Electronic Arts, distributors of the game, announced that the virtual life game created by Will Wright and Maxis, has sold more than 7 million copies worldwide (2002) to dethrone Myst as the best-selling computer game of all time. If you combine The Sims with all of its expansion versions, The Sims series will have accounted for more than 13 million sales worldwide.

The Sims was first released on February 4, 2000, and since then, seven expansion packs and a sequel, The Sims 2, have been released.

The great appeal of the game is that instead of fulfilling a series of objectives, players engage in a fully interactive environment and are encouraged to make decisions about everyday life. It is up to the player to decide how he wants to spend his “virtual day”, with the only real goal of how to organize his time and activities to help him achieve his personal goals.

Like real people, Sims (which also refers to the virtual character in the game, as well as the game itself) have a certain amount of free will, which means they can choose to ignore a player’s commands and do something else that they think is more important, like real people. For example, you may want to take them to the supermarket or visit a friend, but if their energy level is too low, the Sim may simply decide to sleep to build up their energy reserves.

The game requires players to make decisions for their Sim characters about personal development (such as adding specific activities like exercise and reading to enhance creativity and logic), personal hygiene (how often to clean the house, wash dishes, or carry garbage out), personal finances (what kind of work you do and how you spend your income), eating and sleeping.

Let’s say the Sim doesn’t eat or sleep enough, or hasn’t created a healthy environment, they could get sick and die. If the Sim does not have enough recreational activities, their fun level bar drops and they become depressed (but never to the point of suicide).

Players also have control over how their Sim character relates to other characters. They can turn your Sim into a nasty person who insults, slaps, or even attacks other Sims, which typically means they are insulted, slapped, and attacked in return.