Ever owned an ant farm? Wanted to be a mad scientist? A cloning geneticist? Sit-com director? God? You’re in luck.

You get to play at all those things in The Sims, the latest life simulation computer game from Maxis and Electronic Arts. It was created by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual persons (“Sims”) in a suburban household near SimCity. This game allows you to create a fully-realized, populated neighborhood of “Sims,” virtual people whose lives you control. Live out your darkest fantasies or just try to get along-the game experience is wide-open.

Instead of objectives, the player is encouraged to make choices and engage fully in an interactive environment. This has helped the game successfully attract more casual gamers. The only real objective of the game is to organize the Sims’ time to help them reach personal goals.

The Sims was first released on February 4, 2000. By March 22, 2002, The Sims had sold more than 6.3 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling PC game in history; the game has shipped 16 million copies worldwide as of February 7, 2005. Since its initial release, seven expansion packs and sequels, The Sims 2 and the newest sequel The Sims 3 (each with their own expansion packs), have been released [update 2009]. The Sims has won numerous awards, including GameSpot’s “Game of the Year Award” for 2000.