Playing virtual God has proved to be appealing. "The Sims 1" was already the world's best-selling video game when Electronic Arts Inc. sold more than a million copies of "The Sims 2" within 10 days after its September release, the biggest video game launch in the 22-year history of the Redwood City, California-based company.

That's a lot of success for a video game that is not a gore fest, has no real plot, no score, not even a real way to win. In fact, "The Sims 1" almost was never made. The game studio doubted the prospects for a game that consists solely of letting players direct the lives of virtual people as they complete everyday tasks, such as eating, furnishing a house and using the toilet. There are no winning or losing players in the Sims -- no points to rack up. It's essentially a virtual doll house.

"I was describing a game that involved going to the bathroom and taking out the trash at a time when most games were about saving the world or slaying the terrible dragon," Sims creator and acclaimed games maker Will Wright told the Sydney Morning Herald in August.

It took five years and a team that grew to 120 developers at its peak to create "The Sims 2." It was a major effort to meet the expectations set by "The Sims 1," which was released in February 2000 and has topped the PC game charts since, despite the fact that its core engineering team consisted of only four people.

"'The Sims 2' was a much bigger endeavor," said Tim LeTourneau, senior producer of "The Sims 2." "Think of 'The Sims 1' as kind of an independent movie and of 'The Sims 2' as a Hollywood blockbuster." Four years ago, LeTourneau worked on international versions of "The Sims 1."

The long-awaited sequel is based on the same principles as the original game. The Sims, the virtual people in the game, still have needs that have to be fulfilled, according to social scientist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. However, the game was completely rebuilt and Wright played only a limited role as he is busy with a secretive new project.

Maslow's theory of human motivation originated during the 1940s and 1950s. He argued that human behavior can be best explained as a quest to satisfy primal needs, such as hunger and safety, before other demands, such as love, self-esteem and self-actualization. The Sims are programmed in this way, so if they are hungry they won't enjoy a computer game, for example.

In "The Sims 2," the Sims have much more complete personalities. Players for the first time can control their Sims over an entire lifetime and play with different generations of Sims. Like in real life, an adult Sim is shaped by childhood experience and genes. Traits will be passed on from Sim parents to children and Sims can now be traumatized: If a kid, for example, has a miserable youth a player can end up with a

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