Hands of Artists Article

Glendon Jones (creator of "The History of the Luddites") admitted that The Sims 2 really isn't his thing, but he did at least scour some well known Sims 2 community sites looking for custom content while working on his creation. Most people I talked to though, just saw the game as a tool for this competition and really didn't have any knowledge of the gameplay, EP's or the huge community which follows it, which I thought was a shame.

Another exhibit of note was the spoof Expansion Pack named "The 10 Plagues" which not only allowed but encouraged you to inflict suffering on your Sims. Introducing the 10 biblical plagues to your game you would have the power of fire and ice rain, swarms of locusts, lice and frogs falling from the sky. Don't expect EA to snap this pack up any time soon though! Alexis Feurer of team behind it explained that much of this interactive demo was created by applying Photoshop elements to game video and stills, rather than actually creating the custom content which might have made it all possible in game.

"City Swap" by Ohal Grietzer and Bengt Brummer took 2nd place in the Machinima class and is presented as the first Sims based reality TV show. It's a video which shows how a girl from New York and a Sim from Pleasantview trade cities for a day on "a journey of tantrums, betrayal, laughs and even love".

The exhibit in New York includes over 50 submissions and is open to the public until May 12th. If you happen to be in the city then you might well enjoy a trip to the Chelsea Art Museum to see the creations for yourself.

I have intentionally kept the details of many exhibits to a minimum in this article so that there is still plenty for you to explore for yourself, but I hope I've provided you with a taster of what you can expect, and shown the whole community that The Sims is bigger than just a game you pick up in a store.. much bigger!

If you cant make New York then there are still two other exhibits yet in California, in San Francisco's 79 Gallery between June 26th and July 19th, and in Los Angeles at the Maltz Gallery between July 14th and August 11th. I'm not sure whether or not I will be at those events yet, but head there if you can as each event will include all unique exhibits from its local university or college.

I'll leave you with a random selection of other works of art from New York which should give you some idea of the variety of creations displayed, on page 3.

/Steve.

You can read more about "The Sims™ in the Hands of Artists" at the Sims 2 Official Site.