What is your name?
Jerry
What do you do for a living?
I'm an IT Manager for a US based software company located in London. We are in the electronic exchanges/financial markets.
How old are you?
Sim Age 32 ;)
What Sims fan-site do you operate?
KILLERSIMS.COM
How did you go about creating it?
KILLERSIMS went online end of February 2000. Since I was living in Germany at that time I didn't really get the game before mid-March. But I checked through the file structure of things that came with the tools already available and started working on things and posted them on the website. I was amazed that they were acually working in the game when I finally got it. That's basically how it started. When I got the game I spent more time exploring the files than playing the game and KILLERSIMS finally came up with the first texture replacements, I think these were the books or so. Later we made the Sims pee yellow and made them somehow drive the cars and other stuff.
What's your role on the site?
I am the webmaster, object creator, and hacker.
How long have you been playing the Sims games?
Overall probably not more than 40 or 50 hours. Since developing new downloads and managing a website is very time consuming besides having a real full time job, there's not much time left for playing the game and there's always the pressure and demand on updating the website. With every new EP I promise myself to get some play time but it never happens. I spent some time in TSO though and I really enjoyed (I even got my own wallpapers in the game LOL) but I will definitely PLAY The Sims2 . I believe I am the worst Sims player ever. Oh well I spent weekends and nites playing the old SimCity versions and Sim Tower - but that was before KILLERSIMS.
What drew you to them?
To The Sims? You know that's funny and I have mentioned it in another interview already. Since I got my first computer in the 80's and developed my own software I always thought about creating a Let's Play House game but never actually got the opportunity due to the restricted available RAM, colors and money ;) I forgot about it over the years, then I was on a business flight to Chicago at the beginning of 2000 or end of 1999 and read a report about the upcoming game THE SIMS - and I knew this would be KILLER !!! - I was a bit pee'ed that somebody did what I wanted to do a while back but at the same time - amazed that somebody finally did it and not only dreamt about it!
What is your favorite Expansion Pack?
I am not too sure. I really like all the latest EP's with the community neighborhoods, I like Unleashed because of pets and Hot Date because of the Downtown area. I first thought Superstar was a bit driven away and not realistic for a day-to-day Sim and would have prefered a 'Sims Go To Work' EP but then there were new opportunities with the studio lot. Same with Makin' Magic. I really love the Magic Town!
Do you play any other games, or types of games as fervently?
I used to play Half Life, Doom and Quake day and nite for a while. I also bought some MS Flight Simulators but never really got too deep into them. I used to play Railroad Tycoon, Ages of Empire and A.D. 1603 and 1504 since they were running on my crappy laptop without any issues ;)
Do you have any great Sims fan-site stories?
Ummmm..... KILLERSIMS brought down a few servers for good - does this count?
What can visitors expect when they come to your site?
A whole lot of downloads and things users won't find anywhere else. We also have a eGroup community with 5000+ members.
What are you most looking forward to about The Sims 2?
As an object creator - to explore the new files and offer custom content that is not available on every website. As a gamer - to really play the game and get into it!! Yes I'm really looking forward to it.
Now that you've seen it, what do you think of EA? The Sims 2?
I really love the whole environment. I am already working in a software company so the whole environment isn't too new to me but I really enjoyed it, especially meeting with you guys and talking to THE Will Wright. For The Sims 2, I can't wait, send me a pre-release!!
What do you think of the Create-A-Sim tool?
Perfect! You can create any Sim you want. It's pretty cool. I'm only a bit concerned about the Sims birth explosion with millions of new Sims popping up all over the world and losing control. There will be a lot of new websites offereing new content and with the file size ISP's will hate you guys! ;) You should really offer the option to watermark the Sims created by the tool with a creator signature as well as offering the option to take screenshots with a white, black and customized bitmap background (see Luc here, using a bitmap as a background is probably the best) so we can use screenshots of created sims for the websites.
How'd you like meeting Will Wright?
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I only hope he enjoyed it as much as I did ;) I hope he can still use his right hand after signing all the CD's for me ...
Any parting thoughts for the Community?
Only - the Sims Community is great and I am proud to be part of it. I know that a lot of Simmers adopted the community to be a part of their real lifes. People found new friends over there and share their emotions as well as personal problems, help each other. I know about a few people being handicapped and seriously ill, about people that don't have a job, no money, people that have all kind of problems. They found a new hope and joy in playing The Sims and being part of the Sims community and if this was the only thing the game was made for - I would like to say - great job Maxis! you created the best community ever and gave people a few sunny days.
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