RHYSMOON

A talented, funny, and creative streamer. Rhys Moon tells it how it is without holding back. His Twitch streams are high energy and always humorous. Rhys is a vocal member of the LGBTQ+ community and we are all here for it.

I want to start by thanking you for agreeing to speak to me. It is an honor to talk with you, honestly.

Why don’t you start by telling us about yourself, who is Rhys outside of The Sims Streamer we know and love?

Thank you so much for having me! So, my name is Rhys, I’m in my 20s and I live in Wales with my fiance and my dog, Dougie. Outside of Twitch, I work full-time - five days a week, 9-5. When I’m not working or streaming, I still play games but I watch a lot of TV and films, too. I love anything sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and rewatching all my favorite TV shows.

How long have you been playing The Sims? Which version is your favorite? why? (if you have played more than Sims 4)

I’ve been playing The Sims for around 20 years - am I an old-aged pensioner? Almost. But I do like to think of myself as a Sims Veteran. I started playing The Sims (1) on PS2 then moved to PC. I’ll split my favorite games into two categories: console and PC. My favorite console Sims game is The Urbz. That game is still so amazing and I play it to this day! I stream it from time to time. It was just so different from any other Sims game - the graphics style, the fashion, the world, and oh my god the humor! I played it recently and I forgot how cheeky it was! My favorite PC Sims game has to be The Sims 2. I still play The Sims 2 as much as I can. To me, no other Sims game can compare. It’s just so heavily storybased and I love it. You simply cannot get bored when you play it. I actually remember the jump from The Sims to The Sims 2 and it was like a completely different game.

What made you start playing the game (e.g. what pulled you into the Sims?)

I actually remember the first time I picked up The Sims. It was on the PS2. My brother had one but I didn’t and I used to play it while he was out. I was never good at games (I’m still not now) and he played a lot of shooters but I remember he said The Sims. So I was like right ok let’s give this a whirl and I fell in love with it instantly. The Sims on console was amazing because the camera was 360 degrees and you couldn’t do that on The Sims on PC. I actually prefer The Sims on console because the story mode is there and it’s brilliant now!

You are well known in the LGBBTQ+ community and are seen as an inspiration to many LGBTQ+ players. What does that feel like? What do you hope that the community learns/gets from your streams?

That is actually so lovely so thank you so much. I really don’t consider myself as an inspiration in all honesty but if someone

does feel inspired by me then that’s absolutely wonderful. I’m unapologetically myself and I think people can see that in streams. There’s no beating around the bush with me. I am what I am and that’s that luvs. I do remember a viewer saying in chat once about how they felt confident to come out after being active in my Twitch community and I thought that was the nicest thing ever.

You started your stream recently, how has the response been? Do you have any plans to join a Twitch LGBT+ community collab in the future?

I started streaming around the end of July/ start of August 2020 and the response (yet)!

You had to have a kidney transplant (luckily your mom was a match) and started streaming while you recovered from the surgery. What was this experience like for you?

Looking back, it was actually a really traumatic experience. I can barely remember the first few days (shoutout to the drugs at the hospital - miss you, angel). It was just a really weird time of my life. I was in recovery for around 6 months which is when I picked up The Sims again properly. I saved some money up while I was off work and bought a gaming laptop, webcam, microphone - all the

I’ve got is completely overwhelming. I’ve made lovely friends and I do feel that it’s changed my life because all I used to do was work then just chill at home. Now, this is a hobby of mine and something I get excited about. I would absolutely love to join an LGBT+ collab! I’m actually extremely shy when it comes to networking with other streamers. There are SO many creators that I’d love to play a game with. No stream - just purely play a game with but I’m too scared to ask! I actually made my New Year’s resolution to reach out to more creators but it’s halfway through the year and I haven’t made any progress streaming gear and really got into the game again. Playing games was a complete coping mechanism for me. I could hardly do anything. I was just on the sofa for weeks and weeks so The Sims and Animal Crossing really kept me going. It was a very strange time in general because while I had my surgery, the pandemic really started to pick up. I was really lucky - I was the last person in my country to have a kidney transplant before they canceled all operations because of the pandemic. Afterward, I was just at home with my fiance and we didn’t see anyone else for months which was a bit hard because I’m very close to my friends and family so going through

major surgery and not having a support network around was strange and hard at times. Shout-out to my fiance for being a legend

Aside from the ones we know from your stream, do you have any other games that you enjoy playing?

Yes! I love Animal Crossing, Genshin

Impact, and Phasmophobia. I LOVE horror games but don’t play them too much. The only reason being is that most of them are shooters and I’m so bad. I play

Phasmophobia a few days a week with fellow Simmers, MissSimReno, and Rachel

Pedd. We’ve become so close over the last few months. We’re always messaging each other like ‘who is free today please gals?! We need a game of Phasmo’! It’s lush because we make time to play together. Shoutout to those pair for being absolute stunning friends to me.

You are known for being straight with people on your social media, you tell it how it is without holding back (which I admire about you) How do you find the community reacts to his honesty? Has it ever caused you trouble?

Talking straight is the straightest thing about me and that’s no lie. I don’t think it’s ever caused me trouble from what I can remember! I don’t think I’ve ever gotten into an argument with anyone. I honestly don’t care enough to argue with someone. I just want to eat crisps, drink

Fanta Lemon and get on with life.

Your Twitch bio says that you are ‘just a gay on a mission’ what is your biggest goal when it comes to your online presence in The Sims community?

I forgot this was in my bio and I’m weak thinking about it now. Why am I like this omg?

I don’t feel like I have a solid goal in all honesty. All I want to do is create a really fun space for people who enjoy the same games as me. I feel like I’ve done that but of course it would be nice to create an even bigger community! I like to hope that

I will reach Twitch Partner one day but we’ll see. In regards to The Sims, it would be 98

nice to be an EA Game Changer because I just think it would be so fun! I don’t feel like it would ever happen for me because my content is solely on Twitch and I feel like most Game Changers have a big YouTube audience and have content across different platforms. But nevermind, I’m just doing me and I enjoy what I do!

The new pack was just announced (Cottage Living) are you excited? Disappointed? Were you expecting this as a theme?

Oh my god - I am so excited! This is the smallest thing but I’m really happy the pubs are called pubs and not bars. I actually mentioned this to SimGuruPopcorn recently as they came into my stream and they said that the Team they worked with made sure it was authentic and I love that! I’m really excited to have more animals in the game and the build buy items look awesome from what we’ve seen so far! It’s also nice to see a British-style world in The Sims. I’ve wanted one for a long time so I’m really excited to see what it’ll be like.

What are you looking forward to most in the new pack? (E.g. what features do you hope are included?)

I did see that the pond tool is coming back. A long time coming but I’m so happy it’s here. I hope our Sims can actually ride the llamas. Who doesn’t want to see Eliza Pancakes riding down Willow Creek on a llama?!

You build a lot in your streams, what is your favorite build style?

Building has always been my favourite! The styles I usually go for are modern, contemporary or cute cottage vibes. I’m really inspired by clean, Scandinavian interiors and architecture and The Sims 4 has such good items for this type of style.

Have you been playing the new Dream Home Decorator? What do you enjoy about this pack? What do you dislike?

Yes, I’ve been loving it! The build buy items are literally gorgeous and completely my style. I was actually shocked by how much furniture we did get

and how customisable it is. You can make so many different shapes with the storage. Who needs IKEA?! I was sad to see no windows - I always love new windows. I really feel a few more wall coverings and some floorings would’ve just put the cherry on the top for me with this pack.

We all love the Sims to pieces, but there are some major flaws in the game. What do you wish the Sims team would fix first? Let’s pretend that EA had a major server meltdown and your Sims game has been destroyed. When you contact them they tell you it will take some time to fix but they can give you one of each pack to play for now, which do you choose and why?

I am taking City Living to the grave with me. I love that pack so much. The world, the apartments, the Townies - I love it! Whenever I start a new let’s play, I always start at San Myshuno. It gives me Neon East vibes from The Urbz - that’s probably why I love it so much.

Which is your least favorite pack in this game?

My least favourite pack would have to be Get Famous. I’m not super keen on the gameplay aspect of my sim being famous. In my opinion, Del Sol Valley was a completely missed opportunity as a whole. It just so small! As it’s based on a Californian city, I feel like there should’ve been apartments/condos and glitzy nightclubs. I just want to live my Paris Hilton fantasy.

What do you wish that every Sims player knew or what would you tell them if you had the chance?

There is a great deal of hate online, but you seem to have a very welcoming community of people over on Twitch. How do you maintain such a positive community? What advice would you give other streamers who want their community to be as welcoming as yours is? Your community is only positive if you are positive and the people you have in it are positive. People do not have to do anything extreme for you to ban them for your channel. It’s a space that you’ve created. If someone isn’t fitting with your vibe and they’re being a certain type of way in your chat then you’re allowed to remove them. It sounds harsh but it’s your community and you’re allowed to set a boundary.

What advice would you give someone who is just starting out with streaming or YouTube?

Play games that you enjoy. Keep your personality authentic and your audience will find you. It may take time but it’s the only way to do it. I’m still trying to navigate this myself as my community is still small. There can be really happy times, sad times and stressful times, There are days where I feel like I’m going backwards but just push on because there’s an entire audience out there who doesn’t know that you’re their favourite content creator yet.

Follow Rhys On: Twitter: @RhysMoon_ Twitch: Rhys_Moon Instagram: rhysmoon