The Sims 3: EA Maxis' Ben Bell Interview

Huge interview with the executive producer of The Sims 3 at EA Maxis, Ben Bell.

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Kikizo: When you teach him how to fish, is that its own reward?

Bell: There is a whole progression through that skill, getting different fish - especially if you're a cook fishing is a really good thing to do. By fulfilling the wishes you also get the Lifetime Reward points that you can spend on these special rewards.

Lifetime Rewards are character modifications that you can buy - big character modifications and objects that really change the game. So I can make it so my Sim never has to pee, I can give him a steel bladder. I make it so he never has to go to work, I can make him a professional slacker. Higher up, if I want my Sim to have lots of kids I can give him a fertility treatment... if I'm really into collecting things I can get this thing called the "Collection Helper", which will highlight the location of all of the insects and seeds and artefacts you can collect in the world, it shows them on the map...

Or I could buy a Teleportation Pad to instantly move around town. So the reward for fulfilling your wishes is that you keep your Sim happy but you also get to unlock a lot of these special rewards.

Kikizo: I'm aware that you have 97 lots max in each neighbourhood. Is the layout randomised?

Bell: It is a set town, but you can change the location of any of the houses and you can change all of the people who are there. We're also... for anybody who registers their game, you'll be able to download a second town. That's a free perk when you register the game.

Kikizo: Will that be available at launch?

Bell: Yes.

Kikizo: Maxis published a Sims MMO back in 2002, which was a mixed success. Did you learn anything in particular from that experience?

Bell: Absolutely. Creatively there was a lot to be gained. We learned a lot about what people do and don't want from their Sims single player experience, and we learned a lot about what people want from an online game too.

The Sims 3 is a single player game with the exception of the fact that it is massively sharable. So you can customise every pixel of a household, and everything I do - I could have my Sim go out on this hill, paint that vista, put it online so people can download it. I could show you my diary, you guys get to see this one aspect of my life, or I could output my whole household online, and episodically update you on what my family is doing, put on a reality show online...

Kikizo: Would the game generate your diary automatically for you, like a news feed, or would you have to do that manually?

If I share my household, it would go on my website, and anyone who's paying attention to my website would get an update: "Remy's household was updated on Ben's player page" and then I could do a personal log alongside of it. So people can check in and see what's happening. For a lot of people I know who like to write, that's one way they like to use the game. It's kind of an experimentation platform.

Kikizo: That sounds a little like what goes on with Second Life - musicians and artists use it to publicise their work...

Bell: It's interesting... Second Life is a game where you are a specific person - The Sims is a game where you can have many people. Definitely Second Life is something I've played with, but I feel like The Sims is just such a different kind of game, there's such a huge established audience, it's kind of a very unique experience that only we deliver.

So those kinds of experiences are cool, but I think we're something different. We're your tool for creating your reality, and nobody else can interfere with that. You have complete authority in this town, and I think that's something that's really important for people to have.

Kikizo: Thank you for your time.

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