This choice might be a bit "controversial" when compared to the first two entries in this feature (Counter Strike and Final Fantasy) as it's not considered, as far as I know, as one of the "best" or "greatest" gaming franchise of all-time. But it's certainly one of the most widely recognizable, even in the non-gaming world.
In fact, come to think of it, I really haven't played a lot of "Sim" games in my life. I remember a friend of mind when I was 12 who played a LOT of SimCity (It was 17 years ago, I can't remember which one it was, I'm sorry) and I also remember, around that time, trying a simulation golf game but I cannot recall the name of that game either. After a quick Google search, it might be something like Golf Resort Tycoon. Although I don't remember the name being that long. And I might have downloaded that game illegally with LimeWire or some P2P software. Typing these sentences makes the whole thing feel like it happened 56 years ago.
Anyway, Sim games as a whole never really caught my attention. When it comes the The Sims franchise, I've actually never played any of them. Sure, the fact that I have been primarily a console gamer for the past 15 years has a lot to do with this, but I'm fairly certain I wouldn't even have bought or tried any of these games even if presented with the opportunity.
That doesn't anything away from those games, who have generally received (barring The Sims 4) high praise from gaming websites and magazines throughout history. Furthermore, the 4 main Sims games are amongst the highest-selling PC games in history, each selling north of 5 million copies, with the first one hitting 11.24 millions. It's fair to say this is one of the most successful and well known franchises in the gaming world.
Other "Sim" games have been quite successful in their own rights, namely the SimCity franchise and its multiple iterations in the past 30 years.
It's highly possible I spend the rest of my life never trying any of these games, but I still wanted to acknowledge their existence, success and popularity in the gaming world.
