A fan who is playing The Sims since the first game has unearthed a relic of the past in the form of a printed screenshot. The original Sims the game was released in 2000 and looked very different from the current iteration of the title. Despite outdated graphics by today’s standards, the game introduced some innovative gameplay mechanics that paved the way for The Sims 4 be the beloved game it is today.
The franchise has always tried to keep things familiar enough for ages 12 and up, even turning the creation of new generations of Sims into rather inexplicit “Woohooing.” One thing that The Sims There was never any actual swearing, although Sims can shout curses in Simlish. That’s why Symbiosist on Reddit it was so surprised to see one of your Sims drop the F-bomb in the game, circa 2004.
The image shared on Reddit shows a printed page with a screenshot of The Simswith a Sim named Pablo saying “Fuck you. I am tired.“The Redditor turned to the community to find out why this might happen, and longtime fans have some theories.
The Sims character’s curse surprised this fan so much that they printed a proof
Cursing is not standard in The Sims
According to the Redditor, seeing the swear word seemed so unexpected to them that “I was in disbelief and immediately pressed the print screen button.“They insist that they did not modify the game and that this is not an altered image. They even remember”cropping the image in Microsoft Paint and then printing it because I knew no one would believe me.“The printed screenshot stayed in your scrapbook for 20 yearsonly to resurface now, still equally confused.
Fans in the comments came to the Redditor’s rescue, offering suggestions as to what might have happened to cause this. Some suggest that the Redditor’s parents may have played the game and modified it without their knowledge. The most likely explanation, however, is that there was some hidden code included in a furniture package the Redditor downloaded. As a Reddit user Various-Ghosts8695 explains: “it seems quite likely that some creator thought this would be a funny addition to the game.“
Modding has been around for almost as long as games themselves
While “adding swear words” wasn’t an advertised part of the furniture packs the Redditor downloaded, modders at the time liked to have fun with their downloadable content. Various-Ghosts8695 remembers a mod that turned all puddles blood red. Some other strange mods from the first and second installments of the game include a giant baby mod which, as the name suggests, turned all Sims into giant babies, or the OMGBBQ mod, which was also about babies but in a much darker way.
Now, 20 years later, changing to The Sims is still thriving, and a simple swear word wouldn’t be so out of place among the many mods of all kinds that can be installed. The nostalgia of the printed screenshot of The Sims it can’t be beat, even if the solution to the mystery was as simple as some modder’s idea of a silly prank.