GamesLife SimThe SimsThe Sims designer Will Wright says a ‘Britney Spears-level’ pop star loved her ‘mundane’ life in The Sims: ‘It is so boring, it’s wonderful’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesLife SimThe SimsThe Sims designer Will Wright says a ‘Britney Spears-level’ pop star loved her ‘mundane’ life in The Sims: ‘It is so boring, it’s wonderful’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: EA)

Designer of The Sims Will Wright appeared on Twitch today to talk about his next life sim, Proxi, and share a few memories about The Sims. During the stream onBreakthroughT1D’s channel, Wright explained why he was building his next life simusing the real memories of the people playing it, and shared some of his memories about the iconic simulation games he made at Maxis.
One topic that came up is an element of The Sims that is still a bit perplexing, even for those who have been playing for years: how is it that everyday activities like washing dishes and using the bathroom—typically boring affairs in real life—are somehow fun when you do them inside The Sims?
“I’ve always believed you can take almost anything, I could just take a rock off the ground, and make a game about that rock,” Wright said. “It might be little microbes growing across the surface, going through the seasons, all sorts of things. If you zoom into the right scale of space and time, I’m sure I could make a pretty cool game about a rock.”
That could explain why doing chores like paying bills and mopping floors is enjoyable in The Sims, but Wright pointed out that the unexciting routine of The Sims busywork can also be appealing for people whose lives are genuinely chaotic.
“A very famous pop star in Germany, kinda like Britney Spears-level, we heard she was a big Sims fan,” Wright said. “She was a workaholic, she would go from concert to concert to concert.”
This pop star’s only downtime was while she was being transported between shows, and that was when she’d play The Sims. “I asked her, ‘tell me what your life is like in The Sims’ and she said ‘Oh, it is so boring, it’s wonderful.'” Wright said. “A mundane life, getting up, having a routine, that was her fantasy.”
Unfortunately, Wright didn’t spill the beans on who the actual pop star is, saying “I forget her name.” But we can always speculate, right? I don’t think Nena (99 Luft Balloons) was still a big deal in 2000 when the first Sims game launched—in fact I think the band broke up around 1990. And unfortunately, Nena is about where my knowledge of German pop music begins and ends. If you have any other (better) guesses, I’d love to hear them.
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The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April
Lords of the Fallen publisher embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its games
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’
If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo video
Square Enix launches new anti-harassment policy to protect its employees and partners from abusive fans
The Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcements
Path of Exile 2 numberlord spends 16 straight days killing rare monsters to prove that a stat that makes loot better makes better loot
Palestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 Nakba
Piranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’
Marvel Rivals’ latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod scene
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