In August 2013, SimGoodie's Alexander Ahlsen packed a suitcase full of Sims memorabilia and flew from Norway to Cologne, Germany. EA had invited a handful of fan-site creators from across Europe and beyond to attend Sims Camp and GamesCom, offering the first real look at The Sims 4. What followed was five days of developer presentations, hands-on demos, city tours, boat dinners, and very late nights with fellow Simmers who actually understood the obsession.
This account was originally published on SimGoodie.no on September 1, 2013, by Alexander Ahlsen. It has been restored from the legacy archive and adapted from Norwegian as part of SimGoodie's archive revival series. The story below is Alexander's.
Day 1: landing in Cologne
On August 19, 2013, Alexander flew to Zürich to meet Frida, a Swedish Simmer, and Joyce, his EA Community Manager. The three caught a connecting flight to Cologne, landing at 2:05 p.m. under clear skies. At the airport exit, two people stood waiting with The Sims 4 signs and The Sims 4 sweaters, ready to shuttle the group into the city.
At the hotel, a dedicated check-in area staffed by EA personnel greeted arriving guests with goodie bags, name tags, and event information. Alexander and Frida dropped their bags and joined a group of Simmers already heading out to explore Cologne on foot. The feeling of meeting other people who understood the Sims fixation, Alexander later wrote, was unlike anything else. A photo from that city walk, taken by Asia, captured the mood of the afternoon.
Back at the hotel that evening, nearly 30 attendees descended on a local German restaurant. Almost everyone ordered burgers. The chaos of that many people arriving informally at a single kitchen was, as Alexander put it, mild pandemonium. He turned in early, knowing the next day would be a big one.
Day 2: the press conference and a traditional German dinner
Breakfast was an event in itself. The Simmers occupied almost the entire hotel restaurant. After eating, the group gathered in the lobby to board the dedicated Sims Camp bus, covered in Sims Camp and The Sims 4 stickers, for a guided tour of Cologne. They visited the famous cathedral, learned about the city's history, and walked through the old quarter.
Lunch was at Chino Latino, a modern restaurant with a buffet spread that included a chocolate fountain. Alexander and Frida did not hold back. From there, the group visited Cologne's chocolate museum for further sampling.
That evening, the Sims Camp bus delivered them to the EA press conference at GamesCom. Everyone wore plumbobs on their heads, drawing stares and camera phones from everyone they passed. Entry was restricted to invited media and the Sims Camp group. When The Sims 4 segment began, the attendees cheered loud enough to be heard in the official press conference recording.
Dinner followed at Gaffel am Dom Brauhaus, a traditional German restaurant, with EA staff and the full group of Simmers. The set menu featured onion soup, a meat main course, and apple cake. Alexander sat alongside Maria from Capital Sims, several German fan-site creators, Rosana from SimsNetwork, and Rachybop. He also got to know Zeke, known online as iPodZeke1.
After dinner and the walk back, Alexander and Zeke settled into the hotel bar to talk about The Sims and the broader community. Joyce, the Community Manager, joined them later, and the three had a long conversation before calling it a night.
Day 3: first look at The Sims 4
Day 3 was the centerpiece. The Sims Camp bus dropped the group at the GamesCom convention center, where they entered through a VIP entrance. A glass corridor led to the Sims Camp area, marked by the event logo, life-size Sims 4 figures, and EA staff greeting them at the door.
The morning opened with an introductory session covering the full schedule for the days ahead, introductions to the EA staff and developers on-site, the rules for the Sims Camp area, and a walkthrough of where everything was located.
The first masterclass was a Create-a-Sim presentation by Jill Johnson, known to the community as SimGuruJill. Alexander described her as bursting with energy and warmth. She walked through the overhauled CAS tools in The Sims 4, and Alexander was stunned by the depth of what the new system allowed. After the presentation, attendees got hands-on time. Alexander teamed up with Rachybop and the two spent the session testing every new feature they could find.
During a break, Alexander and a few others stepped out onto the GamesCom show floor and spotted The Sims 4 booth. Its scale caught him off guard: a single Sim figure stood roughly five meters tall. Because this was a press-access day before the public opening, the halls were quiet enough to explore freely.
After lunch back at Sims Camp, Grant Rodiek led a second masterclass on emotions in The Sims 4, demonstrating how Sims would express and react to a wider emotional range. The group did not get hands-on with the full game that day, but watched extended gameplay.
That evening, the entire group boarded a boat for dinner on the water, joined by EA producers and SimGurus. Alexander initially sat with Arthur from Simified, Amália from Alala Sims, Rachybop, and Zeke. Partway through the meal, he and Zeke moved seats to join SimGuruJill and SimGuruKing, a conversation Alexander described as ridiculously fun. After dinner, the party moved to the roof of the boat for music and socializing under the open sky, talking with Simmers and producers alike and taking photos together.
Back at the hotel, Alexander, Alexis from SimsVIP, and Zeke continued the evening in the bar before heading up to Alexis's room, where Rosana from SimsNetwork joined them. Sleep that night totaled around four hours.
Day 4: masterclasses, fans, and the farewell dinner
The final full day at Sims Camp started with SimGuruGraham welcoming the group and running through the last day's agenda. The third masterclass, led by Aaron Houts and titled "Building a better life," covered the new build and buy tools coming to The Sims 4. An embargo prevented Alexander from sharing specifics at the time, but his reaction was a simple "wow."
Between sessions, Alexander ventured onto the show floor, now open to the general public. Several visitors recognized him and asked for photos, something that caught him off guard and meant a great deal. He also met and posed for a photo with SimGuruRachel during the day.
After lunch and a brief interview with SimGuruJill, the group sat down for the fourth and final masterclass, led by Marion Gothier. Marion had worked on animation for The Sims series since The Sims 2 and walked through the animation advances headed to The Sims 4. Alexander also took a photo with Marion and Zeke.
The afternoon included hands-on time with The Sims 3: Into the Future, though Alexander admitted he was so absorbed by everything Sims 4 that he didn't give it his full focus. He planned to write a proper article after a future Stockholm event.
Before leaving the convention center, the group watched a segment of The Sims live stream, where two Sims Camp attendees were selected to appear on camera. Alexander was relieved not to be chosen, joking he would have been a nervous wreck. Everyone gathered for a final group photo at the Sims Camp area.
The farewell dinner was at Gilden im Zims, a traditional German restaurant where a private room had been set aside with a custom menu. The room was sweltering. Several people went outside to talk because the heat was unbearable. Alexander sat with Alexis, Zeke, Grant, and Soraya from Sims Nieuws.
After the meal, the producers said their goodbyes and left for a different venue. Alexander admitted it was hard to watch them go. He and Zeke returned to the hotel bar, where they said goodbye to attendees with early flights the next morning. Alexander cried.
Later, after others returned from the restaurant, the group migrated to the SimsVIP room and stayed up talking until around 6 a.m. Nobody wanted the week to end.
Day 5: going home
The last morning was heavy. Saying goodbye to people who shared something this specific and this intense was not easy. Alexander went back to sleep for a few hours before a taxi arrived around 2 p.m. to take him, Frida, Joyce, and Chrillsims to the airport. He flew part of the way with the group before catching a separate connection back to Oslo.
At home, the adjustment hit hard. Nobody around him understood the excitement, and there was no one to have those deep Sims conversations with. But the trip had given him new friends and memories he intended to carry forward. Asia photographed Alexander on this final day, one of many images from a week the SimGoodie community helped make possible.
Alexander credited SimGoodie's readers for making the journey happen and thanked EA for the invitation. He closed the original article with a hope that Sims Camp would happen again and that he'd be invited back. He promised that more articles about The Sims 4 were on the way, with continued news and coverage coming to SimGoodies.com.
SimGoodie legacy archive (simgoodie.no)