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INTERVIEW WITH CARL
RATCLIFF OF CARL’S SIMS

By Emsey P. Walker
We managed to grab some spare time from the super busy Carl Ratcliff, who is the creator of
Carl’s Sims, an online guide for The Sims 3 and our number one resource for Sims players.

G

ameOn: What was it about

Coming off that project and feeling

The Sims that made

burned, I wanted to cover something

GO: How many hours do you think
you have spent playing The Sims?
CR: Easily thousands, especially

you want to dedicate to making

fun that had potential to create

such a comprehensive guide?

something with dozens or hundreds

if you factor in time that was

of pages. The Sims 3 provided what

spent playtesting for each page

guides about nine years ago,

I was looking for in a new project

I’ve written. With the expansions

and wanted to eventually cover

- an entertaining game with loads

and all they offer, it’s a game you

Carl Ratcliff: I started writing

something really popular for PC. I
had played Sims 1 and 2 a bit, and
found my PC was finally modernized
enough to enjoy The Sims 3 right
when it was released, and I loved
it. Liking a game was crucial to me

“WITH THE EXPANSIONS AND ALL
THEY OFFER, IT’S A GAME YOU
CAN EASILY SINK HUNDREDS
OF HOURS INTO WITHOUT
IT FEELING REPETITIVE.”

being able to stick with it for such a
big project. It’s a game with a lot of

of distinct content to write about. I

can easily sink hundreds of hours

systems, and that is important for

wrote a couple of test guides to see if

into without it feeling repetitive.

me as a guide author. You have each

people would read them, and it blew

individual skill, career, trait, etc.

up to the point I realized I’d be doing

game and be one of the pre-

so I found there was a lot to write

the fans and myself a disservice not

made characters in The Sims,

about. I wrote a guide to Spore that

to explore the opportunity and write

who would you be and why?

ended up being all of four big pages.

as much about the game as I could.

24 // The Sims 4 Special Edition

GO: If you could jump into the

CR: Geoffrey Landgraab of

The GameOn Magazine