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title: Family Tech: &lt;i&gt;The Sims 3&lt;/i&gt; | TIME
description: Tech Reporter Josh Quittner discovers how easy it is to create -- and creatively torture! -- a character in the new version of the Sims video game
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og:description: Tech Reporter Josh Quittner discovers how easy it is to create -- and creatively torture! -- a character in the new version of the Sims video game
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# Family Tech: _The Sims 3_

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HR8OOrrA.m3u8" -->
## Video: Family Tech: <i>The Sims 3</i>

[Watch (HLS stream): Family Tech: <i>The Sims 3</i>](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HR8OOrrA.m3u8) (2:47)

![Family Tech: <i>The Sims 3</i>](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/HR8OOrrA/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2009-06-24. Tech Reporter Josh Quittner discovers how easy it is to create -- and creatively torture! -- a character in the new version of the Sims video game_


---

Jul 27, 2023 1:10 PM UTC

---

## More From This Series

[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

[Family Tech: Fitness Gadgets](/video/FL7akRuH/)

### Family Tech: Fitness Gadgets

[Family Tech: DASH GPS](/video/cUAI6CT4/)

### Family Tech: DASH GPS

[Family Tech: Headphones](/video/Ryq8Ebev/)

### Family Tech: Headphones

---


## Transcript

>> He's burning. This is excellent. Greetings from Northern California. This month marks the release of Sims 3. Sims is the best- selling PC game of all times. It's sold more than 100 million copies. And what surprises me about it is how enduring it is. Take Clem here, for example. Each of her older sisters when through a very serious Sims period. I didn't think Clem would because since then, there had been all sorts of online worlds that have come along, and Clem likes to play in those. So, I figured she'd completely avoid the Sims. But that was not to be. She totally loved Sims 2 so much that when she heard that Sims 3 was gonna come out, she insisted that we-- we get an early look.

>> Could we create a character already?

>> So, let's create a Sim. One of the things I notice about Sims and how people use it is you can create a character that you love or a character that you don't, and you can just-- in the latter case-- torture them, and torture them, and torture them. Thomas Woodchuck. You can give your own Sim all sorts of characteristics, something like 50 different traits. So, each Sim becomes very, very, very unique. Once you've created your character, you enter the Sims world. And again, Sims 3 has new stuff to offer-- better graphics and new things to do, dropping on friends, make out, get pregnant, and age?

Well, I know getting old is rotten, but I've got to do better than that to get rid of Thomas. I can't play this game all night. I decide to send Thomas job- hunting with his resume-- that should be painful. And then, have him work out. Next, he fights a cop. Unfortunately after that, Thomas is so exhausted he has to go to sleep. I know there must be some new mischief I can get him into. So, I decide to wake him up and make him cook something unhealthy. Uh- oh. Wait, the oven. That should do the trick. Beautiful. Beautiful. That's a beautiful thing. Oh. The fire burned out. And he's not dead. Now, what are we gonna do?

>> Well, we could always go to the pool and drown him.

>> Excellent idea.

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