Twenty-one years ago today, the first-ever Sims game was released. Developed by Maxis and Electronic Arts, the Sims was one of the first games to ever give players a life experience where they could customize their own characters and put them in their own predicaments. This includes having a job, throwing a birthday party, accidentally causing a fire and starting a family.

The game has roughly seven stages of life for your sim to start at, ranging from a toddler to a senior citizen. Sims’ ages do not depend on real-world time. They run on a clock in the game that can be sped up or slowed down on the player’s command. This meant that time itself was truly in the player’s hands. When your toddler grew into a child, they would go to elementary school and start making friends. When they grew from a child to a teen, they have a choice of having a significant other. When your sim became an adult, that is when the game fully began, with many roads for your character to go down.

The game at the time was loved by many people, saying how fun it was to watch their characters grow and interact with one another. They later added different DLCs that could be purchased to give your characters different looks and styles. The Sims was so successful that it was able to spawn three more titles afterward that built around the original and continue to be played till this day.