“…(F)ew probably ever envisioned The Sims as a tool for serious social and personal expression. Who would have thought, for example, that abuse victims might turn to The Sims to unburden themselves of past torments?

Yet Sims players are expressing themselves in that and many other ways via the game’s family album feature, which was originally conceived as a way for players to photograph, collect and publicly share important moments in their Sims’ lives. What no one imagined — least of all The Sims’ designers — was that thousands of players would quickly bypass the album’s intended use and instead use it to create dozens of staged snapshots, crafting what can be complex, scripted, multi-episode social commentaries, graphic novels or even movies, as it were, with the Sims starring in the lead roles.” Wired