EA has just taken the wraps off the newest expansion pack for their popular simulation game, The Sims 3: Late Night. To celebrate El33tonline has an exclusive interview with the Associate Producer for the game, Grand Rodiek.

Read the interview below to find out more about what Rodiek thinks the secret behind The Sims success is and whether there are plans to take The Sims online or into space soon!

El33tonline: Happy Birthday Sims! Not many games will still be popular on their 10th anniversary. What is the secret of The Sims?

Grand Rodiek: It’s conceptually simple, but hard to execute. Humour, creative empowerment, and a dash of the unexpected mixed in with believable, real life experiences. The Sims is also unique in that it is so universal. It represents life. You can go to any country in the world and people play The Sims and they can find themselves in it. It is a game that transcends borders, demographics and gender. One of the main reasons for its popularity is the ability for the players to transport themselves into that world. Also, it is a game that makes you laugh out loud.

The Sims was one of the first games to open up gaming to a much wider audience and an incredibly creative one. The Sims is based in a world that most everyone can recognize even if they were a non-gamer and is at its core a reflection of life and our culture.

El33tonline: Do you think that The Sims will lose their appeal in the next 10 years, or will you add multiplayer deathmatch?

Grand Rodiek: Our game lets players become an architect, tell the greatest love story of all time, or travel to faraway lands in minutes – these are timeless themes in the same way that saving the damsel in distress is compelling. That doesn’t mean our job is easy! But, the ability to shape (or misshape) tiny lives is pure fun, so as long as we keep pushing ourselves creatively I think we’ll be relevant.

El33tonline: It seems that an MMO of popular franchises is the “IN” thing these days, and The Sims would lend itself really well to the formula. Has EA considered taking The Sims online?

Grand Rodiek: As you’ve noticed it’s very enticing, but creating an MMO is one of the most difficult challenges in the game industry. For now, our focus is on creating incredible single-player experiences in The Sims 3 that can be shared with our awesome online community.

El33tonline: The Goth family has been around since the first Sims game, are they based on any particular family besides the obvious Adams Family connection?

Grand Rodiek: The Goths are moulded over time based on current cultural jokes and our player’s expectations and feedback. This is the same with all families we create. Every new neighbourhood we create has the potential for a few dozen hilarious families!

El33tonline: What new feature of The Sims 3 are you most excited about?

Grand Rodiek: I love Moodlets and how they factor into Traits, Skills, Careers, Lifetime Happiness, and just the overall silliness of the game. Moodlets present the player with so many chances for amusing storytelling and good strategy gameplay.

El33tonline: What feature of The Sims 3 are you the least happy with? What would you change if you could do it again right now?

Grand Rodiek: If I had infinite time and budget I would make every career in base game active and involved like the ones in The Sims 3 Ambitions. The base game careers are a nice introduction to The Sims 3 and a good way to earn Simoleons, but the careers in The Sims 3 Ambitions are just so superior in every way.

El33tonline: Where do you draw your inspiration from for the expansion packs? Do you listen to community requests?

Grand Rodiek: We design expansion packs with three sources in mind: Community, marketing, and our own creative whims. The community has a laundry list of feature requests that we are constantly reading and filtering on the official forums and unofficial community sites. They have great ideas and we love the constant feedback. Our marketing partners also have lots of ideas – they are always running surveys and focus tests to find out what type of features and themes players want to experience. Finally, we as a creative development team have features we want to implement and things we want our players to experience.

We try to find the best balance between the three and create something incredible. For example, we’re really excited about the newest expansion pack, The Sims 3 Late Night as it answers the community’s requests to have even more interesting and unpredictable social situations for your Sims. Your Sims get the VIP treatment now all set in a new urban living filled with high rise homes. The game is full of ways to have a life far beyond the typical day-in-the-life of a Sim. You can become a celebrity, a bartender, a mixologist, a vampire, and more!

El33tonline: If I have a really good idea of where to take The Sims in their next expansion, who should I contact?

Grand Rodiek: I would go to TheSims3.com. Head to the Forums, then go to the Ideas & Feedback section. We have an amazing dedicated community team that, along with the developers, try to work our way through the ideas.

El33tonline: How many expansions can we expect for The Sims 3 before the decision for a full sequel is made?

Grand Rodiek: There isn’t a specified number or requirement. We want to continue to make amazing experiences that we haven’t done before and build upon the solid experience players have with The Sims 3. The Sims 3 is an amazing creative platform and there are a lot of really cool things to do still.

El33tonline: What will drive the eventual decision to make a sequel to such a successful franchise?

Grand Rodiek: The Sims 3 is a huge game with a lot of great gameplay, so we are focused on experiences for The Sims 3 at this time.

El33tonline: Besides working on the game, do you still actively play The Sims 3 yourself?

Grand Rodiek: A large part of my job is testing and playing the game, which means I spend many hours every day involved with my Sims and their stories. I always play as a player, so for me, work IS play. I tend to play other games when I go home, but that’s a good thing as we can draw inspiration and ideas from other games, art, television shows, music, and more.

El33tonline: What other games (current or future) have drawn your attention?

Grand Rodiek: I love to play EVE Online. Every day is different in space! I play a lot of Words with Friends on my iPad (when my girlfriend lets me have a turn!) and I’ve been trying to work my way through Red Dead Redemption. I’m also dying to play Deathspank! I play anything and everything on every platform.

El33tonline: Will Wright was the original creator of The Sims, what role did he play, if any, in The Sims 3?

Grand Rodiek: Will Wright worked on Spore for a long time, including throughout the development cycle of The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. He had a huge influence on the creation of The Sims 3, but did move on to work on new adventures.

El33tonline: You have released an official World Builder toolset, can we expect an official furniture or prop creator that will allow you to model your own furniture?

Grand Rodiek: Anything is possible. At this time, we’re observing what the community creates using Create a World and Create a Pattern and we’ll go from there! Both of these free tools have been received really well by players and we hope to continue to deliver fun, creative new tools for players to enjoy.

El33tonline: Allowing your Sims to travel to faraway countries in “World Adventures” was a big success. How about letting them have “out of this World Adventures” and send them to space?

Grand Rodiek: I’ll be honest – we have wanted to do that for a while. It all depends on what our players want. If enough people say “give us Sims in space,” well, who knows what will happen?

El33tonline thanks Grand Rodiek for taking the time to answer our questions!