Reflections on the Sims

In honor of the Sims 4 Base Game becoming free for everyone, I’m reflecting on my many years playing the Sims game and giving you a list of my favorite sites for the game. For those unfamiliar with the Sims franchise, the first Sims was created by Will Wright and published by Maxis in February 2000. You may have heard of another popular Maxis game from that era called SimCity. The game allowed you to play in a simulation controlling ordinary people with basic needs (comfort, hunger, social, etc.) that needed to be met, rent to be paid, and a life to live. You could spend your time building and decorate lavish (or not so lavish) homes or focus on controlling your sim’s every move. Expansion packs soon came along, which added additional features such as pets, going on vacations, and supernatural Sims to your game. Since then, the franchise has spawned multiple spinoffs and is currently on the 4th version of the game. The 5th version has been announced but is still in early development, and additional content for the Sims 4 will be released at least through the end of 2023. I highly recommend reading (or watching) Gamespot’s “History Of The Sims: How A Major Franchise Evolved From City-Builder To Life-Simulator.”

Before I give you a complete list of my favorite Sims 4 websites, let’s start with the one with a great article on where to get the Sims 4 base game for free.

The Sims Community article “The Sims 4 Base Game is FREE: Where to get it“. The Sims Community also happens to be my favorite site for Sims-related news. It also has several excellent tutorials, guides, and links to custom content. Now on to the links!

Table of Contents

The Basics – Specific pages with great information

Game Guides and other how-tos

Custom Content and Mods

YouTube Channels

The Basics – Specific pages with great information

To start, here’s a list of pages with specific information that I find or have found helpful. The sites may be listed later in my lists, but these are the pages that are not to miss.

• How to Play Sims 4: A Beginners Guide
  • If you’ve never played the Sims or haven’t played the Sims 4, start with the Sims Community beginner’s guide. As of the day I’m writing this post, it’s newly written (it was published 10/18/2022), so it’s up to date on everything you should know about the Sims 4.
• The Sims 4: How to ensure a healthy game!
  • The Sims Community does a great job explaining how to keep your Sims game healthy and running smoothly. It might sound odd to need to take steps to keep a game running smoothly, but with the Sims, CC, or Custom Content, it is one of the best parts of the game. CC is created by fans and can sometimes cause issues if you have too much CC or when there’s a new update to the game.
• The Sims 4: Getting Started with Mods and CC
  • Now you might be wondering what exactly custom content is, where do I find it, and what do I do with it. The Sims Community also has the answers to those questions and more in this article. I will also list some of my favorite places to find CC and mods later in this post.
• The Sims 4 – Mods and game updates
  • And just in case you wonder what EA’s policy is on mods and custom content, here’s a link to their policy. Spoiler alert, they’re ok with it.
• Game Controls & List of Hotkeys to Help you Play
  • You can use a mouse to play the Sims just fine, but sometimes it’s easier to use the keyboard. Carl’s Sims 5 guide has all the shortcuts to make gameplay a little easier, especially if you like building.
• The Sims 4 Build Guide
  • Speaking of building, the Sims VIP has an excellent guide that covers more about building than I could show you, along with screenshots and easy-to-follow instructions.
• The Sims 4 Cheats
  • Finally, here’s a list from the Sims Community with the cheat codes for the game. If you haven’t played the Sims, you may wonder why I would include a link to cheat codes. Cheat codes in the Sims have been known and used since the first game. Since the Sims games have traditionally been more of a “sandbox” type game, without any end goal outside of those you set for yourself, cheats aren’t necessarily about winning quickly or easily. Building cheat codes, for example, can let you move objects in ways you wouldn’t usually be able to. You can also increase or decrease a Sims starting funds. Try creating a game with a Sim that’s broke for a challenge. Even if you prefer not to use cheat codes, I highly recommend reading about them so that when you encounter others talking about them, you’ll know what they’re talking about.

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Game Guides and other how-tos

Sites with guides and other great information on the Sims 4 and its many, many expansion packs, game packs, Stuff packs, and Kits.

• Sims 4 Official site
  • This is the official site for the Sims 4. The Sims franchise is owned by Electronic Arts (EA), and the official site has some good information. Just click the two lines in the upper right-hand corner of the screen (next to the button that currently says “Play for Free” to see a list of options from more information on the game packs and kits to FAQ, Tips and Tricks, and News and Updates.
• Sims Community
  • I’ve already linked to a few pages on this site in the above list, so it shouldn’t be surprising that it’s listed again. This site has great content, from news and reviews to game guides and recommended custom content.
• Carl’s Sims 4 Guide
  • Carl doesn’t seem to update his site as often as he once did, but it still has a lot of excellent guides and content. His guides, in particular, go into a lot of detail about things you may have missed or just can’t figure out how to make work in expansions and game packs through Cottage Living.
• Sims VIP
  • The Sims VIP is another excellent site with several guides to many of the Sims 4 expansion and game packs. As a bonus, many of their guides are PDFs, so you can save them to your computer and read them offline if you prefer.

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Custom Content and Mods

Here are some of my favorite places to find custom content and mods

• The Sims Resource (TSR)
  • This is probably one of the best-known sites for custom content for the Sims. I’ve used it since Sims 3, and it gets bigger yearly. In addition to custom content, it does have a blog with news and tutorials. Content is free to download, but some content is “VIP early access,” which means you’ll have to wait a period of time before being able to download it unless you’re a VIP.
    • VIP membership cost varies depending on how many months you sign up for. At the time of this post (10/24/22), it looks like one month is $11.00 and can go as low as $2.00 a month if you pay the total amount of $24.00 yearly. I’ve been a VIP member for at least four years and have found it well worth it. In addition to downloading the early access content, you can add items you want to download to a “basket” and download them all at once rather than one at a time with a short wait in between.
• Mod the Sims
  • Mod the Sims is another excellent site for finding custom content. It may not be as big as the TSR, but the custom content is all free, with no waiting. It also has tutorials, help, and a discussion board.
• Twisted Mexi
  • Twisted Mexi is an individual contributor to the Sims and has created my favorite Mod of all time; Better BuildBuy: Organized Debug. This Mod adds a lot to the game, especially if you like building. Rather than try to explain it myself, I’ll link to his introductory explanation video: Better BuildBuy: Organized Debug Objects & More! | The Sims 4. He also has several other useful mods that are worth checking out.
• Sims 4 Gallery
  • This is the official Sims 4 gallery where you can find households, lots, and rooms to add to your game. Some of those do require you to download custom content for them to show up properly in your game. This link goes to the web version of the gallery outside the game. You can also access the gallery from inside the Sims 4. Check out this article from EA for more information on the gallery, The Sims 4 Gallery Overview.

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If you’re interested in becoming a VIP member of The Sims Resource, do me a favor and click the image below. I’ll get some credit for referring you if you decide to join, and the link takes you directly to information on the VIP program.

YouTube Channels

If you prefer to watch rather than read. Check out some of my favorite Sims YouTube channels.

• The Sims Offical Channel
  • The official Sims YouTube channel. Lots of content, news, and trailers.
• LGR – Sims 4 playlist
  • LGR covers more than just the Sims. He posts at least once a week, covers retro technology, and reviews old and new games. This link is to his Sims 4 review playlist. He does a great job covering the expansion packs, some game packs, and other add-ons. If you’re unsure which expansion you want first, watch some of his reviews to get an idea of which one you find most interesting.
• lilsimsie
  • Kayla is a true Sims fan who posts various Sims-related videos nearly every day. She’ll cover news, build, and try challenges, and I find most of her videos entertaining or valuable.
• Kate Emerald
  • Kate is a builder. She has speed builds where you can watch and wonder how she figured out how to build a Polly Pocket (vintage style) house in the Sims. She also has a ton of great building tutorials.
• itsmeTroi 
  • Troi offers videos on updates to the games and news and has a lot of great videos covering the best mods and custom content in the Sims community.
• MsGryphi
  • Tonya is another favorite builder of mine. She has several impressive speed builds videos on recreating a specific house and some tutorials and commentary along the way.
•  The Sims Lore
  • Looking for deeper dives into the history of the Sims, both current and old? They have them. Everything from the storylines of specific worlds, neighborhoods, and NPCs (non-playable characters) to histories of particular items that have survived multiple versions of the Sims games can be found here.

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I know I’ve missed someone’s favorite Sims site or YouTube channel. So tell me in the comments what’s your favorite place to find more Sims goodness online.

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