‘The Sims’ is bringing its inclusive spirit to reality TV show
Deep down, singer Rayvon Owen already knew he was gay when a classmate introduced him to “The Sims” back in 2003, when they were in sixth grade in Richmond, Va.
“I grew up in a very conservative, religious home; my mom was super strict and over my shoulder a lot, and when I started playing ‘The Sims’ I would show her this happy typical family with a white picket fence,” he said. “And she was like: ‘Oh good, I like this game. You get a job, you manage money, get a wife and kids.’ ”
Owen laughed. One of the most popular games in the world, “The Sims” has for two decades provided young people a virtual social sandbox to explore the joys, terrors and mysteries of adult life for the first time. While puerile toxicity does characterize some precincts of gaming, “The Sims” has long been at the vanguard of mainstream entertainment inclusion simply by giving players choices.
“So I had one neighborhood in the game for when my mom was watching,’’ Owen continued. “But little did she know that then I had my real neighborhood where I was married to a guy and living in a home with a man — or several men — and doing all these promiscuous things that were totally unthinkable in the real world I was living in, growing up in the church and all that.”
Owen, 29, who now lives in Los Angeles, did not discuss his sexuality publicly until 2016, after appearing as a finalist on “American Idol.” He is now the host of a different reality TV competition: “The Sims Spark’d,” a new show based on the game on TBS. New installments of the four-episode season will premiere at 10 p.m. on Fridays as part of Turner’s ELeague brand and will arrive on BuzzFeed’s Multiplayer YouTube channel the following Mondays.
While competitive esports have long been broadcast around the globe, “Spark’d” is poised to become the first mainstream reality show based on an electronic game. And as a reality show, it hews closely to the triedand-true formula popularized by hits like “Project Runway,” with 12 contestants competing in various in-game challenges while vying to win $100,000.
For contestants — 10 women, two men — the series draws mainly from “The Sims” content creators with significant followings on YouTube and Twitch. While there are some relatively minor conflicts, “Spark’d” is not heavy on interpersonal drama. The cameras don’t follow the contestants back to their hotel and the overall vibe of the show is wholesome rather than salacious.
Instead, the show focuses on allowing the contestants to tell stories in the game that reflect their own lives and experiences. Issues of gender, sexuality, race and class figure heavily.
In that sense, the true narrative emerges from the personal meaning the game seems to hold for both contestants and judges, almost all in their 20s.
“The theme of the show and the game is you come as you are and play however represents you,’’ said Tayla Parx, 26, a singer and songwriter who is one of the judges. “For me as a bisexual Black woman, I always found the game really valuable.
“Being able to play with family dynamics and sexual dynamics, it’s made to explore the boundaries of you in a way that’s really beautiful. The worst that can happen is you rebuild again if you don’t like it.”
Will Wright, already an acclaimed game designer as the creator of the popular and influential “SimCity,” first conceived “The Sims” after his family lost its home to fires in Oakland, Calif., in 1991. In its planning stage, the project was called simply “Dollhouse.” In the years since the first version of the game was released, in 2000, the basic premise has remained the same: Give players the ability to create some fantasy rendition of real family life. Players create various characters, known as Sims, and homes and then direct them as they desire.
“It’s all about, how do we make the game reflect the world we live in?’’ said Lyndsay Pearson, the general manager of “The Sims” for the video-game company that publishes it, Electronic Arts. “The world we live in changes and the stories our players want to tell change and we embrace that. For the show, that’s really what we want to come through.”
The game series has sold more than 200 million copies and more than 10 million people play every month, according to Electronic Arts. About two-thirds of players are girls and women between 13 and 30, the company said. Craig Barry, the chief content officer for Turner Sports, said the show was a good fit for TBS’s E-League Friday night programming window as the network tries to expand its coverage of gaming culture beyond hardcore esports.