Meet Gary, another winner of The Sims 3 University Life’s Inspiring Creativity Contest.  Gary’s contest entry won him a Master Class Studio Visit to meet The Sims 3 development team at their studio in Salt Lake City, Utah. Read below to find out how Gary first got involved with The Sims.

I couldn’t be bothered with video games, then one Christmas our daughter asked for The Sims 2. She hated building the houses and asked me to do it. Next thing you know she’s giving up altogether and guess who’s hooked? And so I built…. and built, and built. A few years prior to getting unwittingly involved in Sim building, I made a career change. It was at this time that I went online to feed my growing Sim building fetish. The things I saw when I started searching around the fan sites were just mind blowing. Connecting with others, asking questions, and sharing your builds for others to download…. now I was hopelessly and irreversibly hooked.That was late 2008…

The other contest winners and I had the opportunity to present our ideas for an upcoming expansion pack. It was wonderful being able to participate in a trial process of creating a new game. Many things had to be taken into perspective like how many objects should be in a world, how many NPC's must be pre-programmed, etc.Since I'm more of a player than a builder, I learned a lot more than what I expected. All of this topped with great food and magnificent hospitality, I couldn't have asked for a better trip. The Sims 3 team, you did an awesome job!

For more from Tysha, visit her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thehuynhstory.

Meet Tysha, one of the winners of The Sims 3 University Life’s Inspiring Creativity Contest. Tysha’s compelling story of how The Sims changed her life secured her spot for the Master Class Studio Visit to meet the development working behind-the-scenes on The Sims 3 games! Read below to find out how The Sims has changed Tysha’s life and about her experiences meeting the development at The Sims Studio in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A little about me…

I have been playing The Sims 3 since March 2012. I spend most of my time creating stories. My favorite stories to tell are ones with Sims who are hopeless romantics but also childish.  I knew I loved The Sims when Istarted have withdrawal problems.

Winning the Master Class and VIP Studio Visit with The Sims 3 contest was already a surprise, but what happened once I arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah was even better! I had great opportunity to meet and greet with the many different people who help make the Sims such a great game. I met very interesting and upbeat team members from animation, game design, engineering, and SimGurus Brittany and Lauren, just to name a few. Not only were the employees animated and friendly, the studio was filled with this playful atmosphere that you could expect from The Sims. To many of the employees, the studio was like a second home. Many of them enjoyed the game just as much as I did. Others showed passion in building, just like other members of the Simmer community. It was amazing to see how hard every individual works on these stuff packs, worlds, and expansion packs. I even had the chance to love the experience myself.