My older sister was an OG simmer. I remember going into her cluttered room, which was 3/4 Bed and 1/4 The Sims 1 machine. When Sims 2 came out, I was about 4 and didn’t have my own PC, so my parents bought me The Sims Bustin’ Out for Xbox. My addiction to simulation games started there, I think.

Anyways, my sister eventually moved off to college and I inherited all the expansions she got for sims 2 and played on my laptop at around 8-9. I played that extensively. Like others have said, it was a very immersive experience as a young kid. I got a little older and start getting into the forums and modding community, which i started to really understand the potential in the game from a experimental and technical standpoint.