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CNN Live Today

'The Sims' Go Online

Aired December 11, 2002 - 11:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, listen up, all you wannabes. If you have ever dreamed of a bigger, better, more glamorous life, well, there is an online world calling your name.
CNN's technology guru, Daniel Sieberg here joins me -- Sieberg -- my nickname for him is the cyborg.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: That's all right.

HARRIS: Daniel Sieberg is here with a demo of the latest game "The Sims."

SIEBERG: "The Sims Online," yes. "The Sims" have been around for a while now. In fact, "The Sims" are so popular they have sold about 20 million copies of "The Sims" and the expansion packs out there. Seventeen different languages around the world.

The idea behind the game is you create a virtual character, you can create an alter ego for yourself, or you can try and replicate your own life, and you get a choice of different skin types, you get to choose your body. You can see the images back here.

HARRIS: Skin types?

SIEBERG: You can choose anything you want to try and create your character, even the face types, down to as many details as you want. Once you create your character, you get a plot of land in this virtual world, set up your house with as many things as you can afford -- you get a certain amount of money, or what we call in the game "simolians," at the beginning of the game, and you can spend it to enhance your house as much as you possibly can, but the key to this game, the "Sims Online" which is coming out next week, allowing people to interact online, is this teamwork or this chatting, communicating with everybody in this massive online community that's going to be established starting next week when the game is officially released. "The Sims" came out a couple of years ago. Now, people are going to be able to go online, and in fact, we have got cnn.com's Scott Thomas (ph) playing a test version of the game right now, and he is interacting with this virtual community...

HARRIS: Wait, wait, wait. We're paying this guy to come to work and play? That is what this guy gets paid to do?

SIEBERG: That is right. He is making simolians for us on the game right now. We should point out, you do have to pay $50 for the game and then $10 a month, and that is real money. But Scott, what can you tell us? Where are you at right now in the game? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, what we're doing right now is we are looking at an example of a plot of land that someone would built their business or residential area on. We have people that are improving their intelligence in the game, skills you would use in a job such as mechanical, repairing equipment, or a broken refrigerator you could learn to repair yourself.

SIEBERG: And you can challenge everybody that is in that room, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct, correct. Everyone is pretty much in an online chat, but it uses a bubble format so you know directly who's talking to you.

HARRIS: So how many people would you be in contact with at one time on this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world, from what I've seen in the beta test right, I've seen hundreds of houses that have popped up, and I think the max on a house is 18 characters.

SIEBERG: They're expecting at least about a half a million people to sign up just about right away, and potentially from there, it could grow much bigger than that.

HARRIS: You say it's a game, but what do you do? What are you competing for, or against, or whatever? Or are you?

SIEBERG: Exactly. In this case, you're not actually out to win or lose, and we talked to Will Wright, who is the designer of the game. He has been around for a long time, from Maxis and Electronic Arts. He says that the game is more about interaction, about chat, about building up your house and your belongings, and the sense of community, that you really have to work together in this game.

There's not an ending to the game. It's not a shoot'em up game like we're used to seeing in a lot of cases, but it -- a lot of the things you do in the game are fairly mundane. You have to make sure you feed yourself, you need to go to the bathroom, you need to clean up your house, otherwise you get very upset. The character can get very disgruntled. You may not be able to do the things that you want to do. You may want to get a job or do something, become famous. There is all sorts of different things...

HARRIS: If you had a job, you wouldn't be playing this game. Is this like a guy thing, or is this something...

SIEBERG: You know, the demographic places this right across the board, but you do have to have a lot of time on your hands. Again, you have to invest in the game, the more you're in the game, the more you can acquire, and the better you can do. So, it lures you in and tries to hook you.

HARRIS: Daniel Sieberg. Thanks for blowing my mind again. You do it every time we get together.

SIEBERG: Any time.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 11, 2002 - 11:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, listen up, all you wannabes. If you have ever dreamed of a bigger, better, more glamorous life, well, there is an online world calling your name.
CNN's technology guru, Daniel Sieberg here joins me -- Sieberg -- my nickname for him is the cyborg.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: That's all right.

HARRIS: Daniel Sieberg is here with a demo of the latest game "The Sims."

SIEBERG: "The Sims Online," yes. "The Sims" have been around for a while now. In fact, "The Sims" are so popular they have sold about 20 million copies of "The Sims" and the expansion packs out there. Seventeen different languages around the world.

The idea behind the game is you create a virtual character, you can create an alter ego for yourself, or you can try and replicate your own life, and you get a choice of different skin types, you get to choose your body. You can see the images back here.

HARRIS: Skin types?

SIEBERG: You can choose anything you want to try and create your character, even the face types, down to as many details as you want. Once you create your character, you get a plot of land in this virtual world, set up your house with as many things as you can afford -- you get a certain amount of money, or what we call in the game "simolians," at the beginning of the game, and you can spend it to enhance your house as much as you possibly can, but the key to this game, the "Sims Online" which is coming out next week, allowing people to interact online, is this teamwork or this chatting, communicating with everybody in this massive online community that's going to be established starting next week when the game is officially released. "The Sims" came out a couple of years ago. Now, people are going to be able to go online, and in fact, we have got cnn.com's Scott Thomas (ph) playing a test version of the game right now, and he is interacting with this virtual community...

HARRIS: Wait, wait, wait. We're paying this guy to come to work and play? That is what this guy gets paid to do?

SIEBERG: That is right. He is making simolians for us on the game right now. We should point out, you do have to pay $50 for the game and then $10 a month, and that is real money. But Scott, what can you tell us? Where are you at right now in the game? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, what we're doing right now is we are looking at an example of a plot of land that someone would built their business or residential area on. We have people that are improving their intelligence in the game, skills you would use in a job such as mechanical, repairing equipment, or a broken refrigerator you could learn to repair yourself.

SIEBERG: And you can challenge everybody that is in that room, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct, correct. Everyone is pretty much in an online chat, but it uses a bubble format so you know directly who's talking to you.

HARRIS: So how many people would you be in contact with at one time on this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world, from what I've seen in the beta test right, I've seen hundreds of houses that have popped up, and I think the max on a house is 18 characters.

SIEBERG: They're expecting at least about a half a million people to sign up just about right away, and potentially from there, it could grow much bigger than that.

HARRIS: You say it's a game, but what do you do? What are you competing for, or against, or whatever? Or are you?

SIEBERG: Exactly. In this case, you're not actually out to win or lose, and we talked to Will Wright, who is the designer of the game. He has been around for a long time, from Maxis and Electronic Arts. He says that the game is more about interaction, about chat, about building up your house and your belongings, and the sense of community, that you really have to work together in this game.

There's not an ending to the game. It's not a shoot'em up game like we're used to seeing in a lot of cases, but it -- a lot of the things you do in the game are fairly mundane. You have to make sure you feed yourself, you need to go to the bathroom, you need to clean up your house, otherwise you get very upset. The character can get very disgruntled. You may not be able to do the things that you want to do. You may want to get a job or do something, become famous. There is all sorts of different things...

HARRIS: If you had a job, you wouldn't be playing this game. Is this like a guy thing, or is this something...

SIEBERG: You know, the demographic places this right across the board, but you do have to have a lot of time on your hands. Again, you have to invest in the game, the more you're in the game, the more you can acquire, and the better you can do. So, it lures you in and tries to hook you.

HARRIS: Daniel Sieberg. Thanks for blowing my mind again. You do it every time we get together.

SIEBERG: Any time.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com