Influences and origins There were social simulation games before there were video games. The earliest forms being physical cities created for educational purposes made of miscellaneous household items. School teacher, Doreen Gehry Nelson created in-class city building that eventually helped shape the game
SimCity and more. Her city simulations allowed students to imagine, build, and re-build a city in their own image incorporating real world learning. The Nelson siblings, Doreen (school teacher) and Frank Nelson (architect), can be accredited for the creation of the roleplaying game,
Purium, which was purposed at a 1971 Smithsonian Institution workshop. Later
Purium became an inspiration used for the baseline of future social simulation games. Claire Curtin, an educational software producer, co-designed
The Sims with Will Wright and Roxana Wolosenko. The three designers invited skilled teachers like Doreen Nelson to create informational teacher guides to facilitate gameplay in
Maxis games. But there are several important precursors to
The Sims and the social simulation genre. Firstly, one of the game's creators Will Wright acknowledged the influence of
Little Computer People, a
Commodore 64 game from 1985. The games are similar, although
The Sims is described as having a richer gameplay experience. which have generally also informed the gameplay of this genre.
Animal Crossing was released in 2001 for the
Nintendo 64 in
Japan. While released towards the end of the life cycle of the Nintendo 64, it developed a following that led to it being ported to the
GameCube and released throughout the world. As the game's popularity has surged, this series has also been described as a social simulation game.
Story of Seasons, a series that began in 1996 and is often compared to
Animal Crossing, has also been described as a social simulation game. Its social simulation elements are derived from
dating sims, a subgenre that dates back to the early 1980s, with games such as
Tenshitachi no gogo Since the initial success of these games in the early 2000s, video game journalists have begun to refer to a group of similar games as belonging to the social simulation game genre.
Recent history Several other social simulation games have emerged to capitalize on the success of
The Sims. This includes several sequels and expansion packs, as well as games like
Singles: Flirt Up Your Life with heavy similarities. == Types ==