Introduction

With "Big Brother" being an international phenomenon, it is not unreasonable to expect that some country somewhere is broadcasting its own series at sometime during the year and John De Mol (the man who came up with the idea) is becoming even richer. The British series of Big Brother is halfway through their third series and the USA's third series will be starting shortly.

After the success of the first series of "Big Brother" in the UK, there was a documentary showing how the series had gone around the world and showed the different houses and a few bits of what had gone on.

With this article, I aim to point you to the other Sims fansites that have done their own series of "Sim Brother" or "Big Brother" variant, those that have tried, those that are scheduled and those that are still running.

Finished

Sim Brother (Germany) is, I believe, the first fansite to use the name "Sim Brother", although I was using the term myself with my test houses. I wish my understanding of the German language was better to understand the reports. There were 14 housemates - don't ask me how he did it - and it ran for eight weeks with weekly reports. The series finished quite a while ago and I don't know how he handled the eviction process. I recommend this site as I did get a lot of inspiration from it. It even closely represents the format of a "Big Brother" website. The site includes certain custom walls and floors to download but not the house itself.

Sim Sisters have done a series of websites including their own versions of "Survivor" (three series so far). However, I was interested in their series of Sim Big Brother. To look at their second series, click here. The way they have done these series is a bit of a cheat, but I am very impressed with their ingenuity in creating screenshots. These are done by creating positions from Simpose superimposing them on appropriate shots of the house. These sites are worth a look for a different perspective.

Postponed

Political Sim Brother had a good idea in just including politicians. The website looks quite smart and was scheduled to start on May 25th. However, a month on and it still has not begun. Sadly, I do not recommend this site. It includes a downIoad of the house being used, which will not work properly in your game unless you have downloaded the Sim Brother house from this site as it includes the custom walls I made and a lot of custom objects from other sites. The house is effectively an elaborate refurbishment of the house available from this site and done without the consent of TSZ. Even though I do not recommend it, the link is there for you to judge for yourself.

Simming The Net had a try at running Sim Brother. However, it only ran for a day. I am a bit disappointed as the plotline looked very promising. I know the site was supposed to be changing servers, and hopefully they might continue the series after they have moved.

Scheduled

SimInsane has a series of Sim Brother scheduled and is hopefully starting at the beginning of July. I have to give this site a mention as I offered to design the house that Ant will be using for his series. I wish him well and recommend people to have a look once the series has begun.

Running

The Sims Extreme is running their own series of Sim Brother and can be found by clicking here. I recommend this site as it is updated daily and although some of the plotlines appear to be very similar to the currently running series of "Big Brother" in Great Britain, it is an impressive effort. Available for download is a copy of the house used in the series. The housemates have just nominated two people for eviction. Visit it, read the reports and vote.

Conclusion

I would have recommended a visit to Little Brother but sadly this site has closed. This site had a light-hearted spin on the Sim Brother theme and had already run two successful series. If the site ever comes back up, Tom, let me know.

If there are any sites out there that have done their own series of "Sim Brother", are currently running one or have one scheduled, please email me giving me your URL and I will include you in my next article.

And don't forget ...

Sim Brother II is coming to this site soon. Stay tuned.

Written at 04:34 on Tuesday 25 June 2002 by Andy.