SIM GURUS ALANA & MEGZ

SIM GURU GU AL ANA A

The Sims Freeplay was introduced on December 15th 2011 and The Sims Mobile was first announced on May 9th 2017 and released on March 6th 2018.

Since both games have been released they have become a vastly popular game amongst Sims fans.

SimmedUp Magazine and Alaeryn Chats to Sim Gurus Megz and Alana

It’s such an honor to speak with you, Alana! Our readers know you well as the Sims Mobile and Sims FreePlay community manager, and so I know they would love to know you beyond their favorite mobile games.

A: Where are you from? How did the place you grow up inform your interest in games?

Alana: Hi A, it’s so great to be cha�ng with you and the readers of SimmedUp, thanks for invi�ng me to chat! I’m from Melbourne, Australia and was introduced to the world of video games from my big brother at a young age. I grew up playing lots of Nintendo games such as Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers but the one game that really sucked me in was The Sims. If you told a 10 year old me that in a few years �me I would be working on a Sims game I probably wouldn’t believe it, it’s a dream come true!

A: What did you do before Sims Mobile and Sims FreePlay? Before Firemonkeys? What’s your story?

Alana: Since I graduated from university I’ve always been in some sort of social media and community management role. Before EA Firemonkeys I worked in the educa�on industry, which was a great experience but was never really my passion. When I saw the role adver�sed at Firemonkeys for a community posi�on, I knew it was exactly what I wanted to do with my career. It was what I was passionate about and it sounded exci�ng.

A:

As community manager, it’s part of your job descrip�on to stay involved in the mobile community at large. What are some of your favorite types of crea�ons from Sims Mobile players?

Alana:

I’m constantly scrolling through our social channels and keeping up to date with the community. My favourite types of crea�ons from the Sims Mobile players would have to be the community run compe��ons. I love these so much because they can be crea�ve and also very meaningful. There is nothing more special than when you see different players coming together to share their houses, Sims’ life stories and some�mes sharing more personal experiences. The great thing about The Sims franchise is that everyone can share their story and find their community.

A: Why community management? What do you like most about this job?

Alana: I chose the path of community management because I’m a people person. I love working close

and talking with people and this job lets me do this all day, everyday! I also love the fact that you can be crea�ve as a community manager. As I’m in charge of all the social channels I work with the team to create the social posts. What’s great about this, is I get to brainstorm with my team about new ways to present content in entertaining and innova�ve ways.

A: You serve as community manager for not only Sims Mobile and Sims FreePlay but also two other �tles. Can you tell us those �tles and what you like about those communi�es? A: The mobile community can be a massively crea�ve bunch. What does the studio have planned to help channel some of that energy? Any upcoming challenges or compe��ons coming up that you can tell us about?

Alana:

The community is very crea�ve, I see that everyday from all the cool houses and stories we get tagged in on Instagram and Twi�er. What really blew me away in 2020 were our entries for the ‘Raise the Roof’ compe��on, which was so hard to judge! Players responded well to the compe��ons that we

Alana: That’s correct, I also manage the communi�es for our other mobile �tles: Need For Speed: No Limits and Real Racing 3. I love all my communi�es because they are different, but there are also many similari�es have run, so it’s something that would be great to explore this year as well. What the compe��ons may be about, I can’t say, but there does sound to be a hunger for more!

between The Sims and the racing players. For example, like in The Sims, self expression is also important in the racing world. I love when players share their custom liveries for their cars. It also brings

A: How are FreePlay’s and Mobile’s communi�es the same? How are they different?

Alana:

The Sims Freeplay and The Sims Mobile

me so much joy when I see the players get excited about new race tracks or new cars we bring to the game. “Since I’ve been community manager for the Sims Mobile we’ve released some cool new features, the biggest being Mul�level Build Mode in TSM”

communi�es have their similari�es and their differences. From what I see on our social channels, The

A: It seems many people at Firemonkeys studios have to wear many hats. Is this accurate? If so, does this get stressful?

Sims Mobile community tends to be more storytellers. There is also a closer community vibe on Mobile due to the social features like par�es. The Sims FreePlay

Alana:

What’s great about Firemonkeys is that the development teams are really close. While everyone has their own roles or projects they’re working on it’s really easy to get support from your team members. We have pressure to hit deadlines and to put out new and exci�ng updates for our players every few months, but in the end all of it is worth it when we see the feedback from our players. community on the other hand seems to really focus on building and interior decora�ng. That’s not to say there are no story tellers in The Sims FreePlay community or no builders in The Sims Mobile community, there are different Simmers in each community.

A: What else do you want our readers to know?

A: What changes have you seen in the mobile Sims community since you became community manager?

Alana:

Since I’ve been community manager for the Sims Mobile we’ve released some cool new features, the biggest being Mul�level Build Mode in TSM.That was fun to watch the reac�ons of our players who were excited to get a new feature that they had been asking about since launch. Alana: We have some really fantas�c content coming up for The Sims Mobile and The Sims FreePlay for New Year. The team definitely out done themselves in 2020 with updates that were jam packed with events to keep everyone busy over the holidays and I’m excited to see how our players react to the new updates.

MEGZ SIM GURU ME G

It’s an honor to speak with you, Megz! You and the Firemonkeys team transformed the Sims Mobile in just a few months, so I know our readers are excited to learn more about you. Let’s start at the beginning.

A: You have an extremely robust gaming repertoire yourself! What are some of your favorite games to play? To stream?

Megz: Hi A, thanks for having me as part of your January issue of SimmedUp magazine! Like my colleague and friend SimGuruAlana, I also live in Melbourne, Australia. When I’m not working with the studio on all of our epic updates for The Sims Mobile & Sims FreePlay, I like to play, review and chat about video games with my friends on our YouTube and Twitch channel! I absolutely love playing The Sims 4, Animal Crossing NH, ac�on RPG and narra�ve adventure games but will try anything at least once.

A: You’re the marke�ng specialist at Firemonkeys. Why marke�ng? What do you like most about the job?

Megz: That’s correct! I got my dream marke�ng role at EA and now I work alongside an incredibly talented team that includes Alana, PLUS the inspira�onal game devs on FreePlay and Mobile! I’ve always been super passionate about video games, but studying marke�ng at university and understanding buying behaviour and the psychology behind why people have brand loyalty and love certain products - it all evolved from there!

A: Tell us more about what you were up to before Sims Mobile and Sims FreePlay. What’s your story?

Megz: Before EA I volunteered all of my free �me to work at esports tournaments and pop culture events like PAX and Comic Con! I helped out at booths, cha�ed to people in queues and network with other industry peeps! A�er a while I started to be put forward for hos�ng and presen�ng opportuni�es and have even interviewed a few high profile developers for the YouTube channel I create content for! I’m really passionate about mee�ng others in the local industry here in Australia that are also hustling to make change for diversity and inclusion and spreading the word of what they’re working on.

“Before EA I volunteered all of my free �me to work at esports tournaments and pop culture events like PAX and Comic Con!”

A: Can you tell us your target demographic for each A: FreePlay and Mobile have similar underlying game game? How are they the same? How are they mechanics: players tap their device screens to move different? their chosen Sims through commodity-earning

Megz: No ma�er how people play The Sims, it’s through real-�me events that they cannot expedite definitely fair to say that ‘Simmers’ are all such the way Sims Mobile players can. Do you see Sims crea�ve players! I guess you could define our mobile Mobile using this system more in the future? demographics as either a ‘stylist’ that love the latest CAS fashion, hair and makeup; a ‘storyteller’ that has Megz: Not really, because if they both had similar game elaborate history and rela�onships with all of their play styles, then it would always feel like you’re kind of Sims; or a ‘builder’ that designs huge ‘MTV Cribs’ style playing the same game! Both games require different mansions for their families so they can live a lavish (and separate) mechanics to be successful (and lifestyle (or maybe even �ny homes!) in their game. As individual) Alana pointed out, both SFP and TSM have their differences but each play to their own strengths to A: Sims 4 is currently undergone a massive skin tone empower all of our players in some way! overhaul to be�er represent players of all skin

A: Sims FreePlay enjoys rich gameplay experiences upda�ng makeup hues to be�er match Sims of colour. through quirky quests, exci�ng live events, and How do you see Sims Mobile con�nuing to represent beau�ful building items. How do you see FreePlay its players? Sims FreePlay? con�nuing to evolve if at all?

Megz: Totally! Sims FreePlay turned 9 in December of Maxis and the voices of their passionate players! We (woah!) and we have an love the latest overhaul expert team of ar�sts, “Firemonkeys have big plans of skin tones and new engineers, animators, makeup sliders that add designers and producers for The Sims Mobile” more choices and working together every opportuni�es for you to day. Every update we create is always full of special customize your Sims, and express your Sim’s style. Both content to make players’ Sims lives feel authen�c and the SFP and TSM teams are invested in making more meaningful. We’re all excited about what the future improvements over �me - and we want to make sure holds for SFP, especially in the building space - we it’s done authen�cally and meaningfully. know our players want more space to get their crea�ve juices flowing! A: If you could add anything to either FreePlay or Sims

A: What is the studio’s vision, then, for Sims Mobile?

Firemonkeys have big plans for The Sims Mobile. We’ve got a longgggg wishlist of dreams (we know you do, too!) that we’re all excited to con�nue working on in the new year. This year, we focused on delivering impac�ul ‘quality of life’ features to con�nue making TSM one of the best ‘Sims’ experiences on mobile. Our vision for the future is to con�nue listening to our players, so we can focus on areas that they want to see get be�er. Watch this space!

events. However, FreePlayers must see their Sims colours. Alongside adding skin tone sliders, Sims 4 is

Megz: Our studio is constantly inspired by the ac�ons

Mobile, what would you add and why?

Megz: It’s my DREAM to help get the par�es feature working be�er on TSM (how amazing would that func�onality be if it worked perfectly?!) because Alana and I could hang out with players online a bit more.

A: Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

Megz: Thanks for giving us a pla�orm to answer these great ques�ons, A! Please give us a follow on Twi�er @SimGuruMegz & @SimGuruAlana so we can check out how you celebrated the holiday season in SFP and TSM <3