Will Wright (game designer) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Will Wright
Wright speaking at the 2010 Game Developers Conference
Born	William Ralph Wright (1960-01-20) January 20, 1960 (age 65) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Alma mater	Louisiana State University Louisiana Tech University The New School
Occupation	Game designer
Known for	SimCity The Sims Spore
Spouse(s)	Joell Jones ​ ​ (m. 1984, divorced)​ Anya Zavarzina
Children	2

William Ralph Wright (born January 20, 1960) is a famous American video game designer. He is best known for creating popular games like SimCity, The Sims, and Spore. Will Wright also helped start a game company called Maxis, which later joined Electronic Arts.

In 2009, he left Electronic Arts to start a new company called Stupid Fun Club Camp. This company was a "think tank" for entertainment, where Wright and Electronic Arts worked together on new ideas.

His first computer game was Raid on Bungeling Bay in 1984. But it was SimCity that made him very well-known. Maxis, the company he co-founded with Jeff Braun, published SimCity. Wright kept making games that focused on simulations, like SimEarth and SimAnt.

Will Wright has won many awards for his game designs. He is most famous for creating The Sims series. The first The Sims game came out in 2000 and became a huge hit. It led to many sequels, including The Sims 2, The Sims 3, and The Sims 4, plus many expansion packs. His game Spore, released in 2008, is about evolution and scientific progress. It sold over 400,000 copies in just three weeks.

In 2007, he was the first game designer to receive the BAFTA Fellowship. This award had only been given to people in the film and TV industries before.

Early Life and Learning

Will Wright was born on January 20, 1960, in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was an engineer, and his mother was an actress. He went to a Montessori school until he was nine. After his father passed away that same year, he moved to Louisiana with his mother and younger sister. He finished high school when he was 16.

Wright's interest in game design started when he was a child. He loved the Chinese strategy board game Go. He said it had "simple rules" but "complex strategies," which fascinated him. As a teenager, he also enjoyed playing board wargames like PanzerBlitz.

After high school, Wright studied architecture at Louisiana State University for two years. Then he moved to Louisiana Tech and changed his major to mechanical engineering. He was very interested in robotics, space, military history, and languages. In 1980, he moved again to The New School in New York City. There, he bought an Apple II+ computer and taught himself how to program. He spent five years in college but did not get a degree.

His Career in Games

Will Wright decided to make games for the Commodore 64 computer. His first game was Raid on Bungeling Bay in 1984. In this game, players fly a helicopter and drop bombs over islands.

Wright found that he had more fun creating the islands for Raid on Bungeling Bay than actually playing the game. This gave him an idea for a new game that later became SimCity. It was hard for him to find a company to publish the game at first.

Designing Games

Will Wright and other game developers at a BAFTA event in Los Angeles in July 2011.

In 1986, Wright met Jeff Braun, who was interested in the computer game industry. Wright called their meeting "the world's most important pizza party." The next year, they started Maxis in Orinda, California. SimCity (1989) became a huge success. Many people say it is one of the most important computer games ever made.

After SimCity became popular, Wright designed SimEarth (1990) and SimAnt (1991). He also helped design SimCity 2000 (1993). Maxis made other "Sim" games too. Wright's next game was SimCopter (1996). While these games were not as big as SimCity, they helped establish Wright as a designer of "software toys." These are games you can play forever without winning or losing.

Wright is known for his interest in complex systems. Many of his games are based on these ideas. For example, SimAnt was inspired by a book about ants. SimEarth was based on the Gaia Theory, which looks at Earth as a living system. SimCity was inspired by ideas about how cities grow. Wright's goal is to give players "possibility spaces." These are simple rules that combine to create complex and interesting game worlds.

In 1997, Electronic Arts bought Maxis.

After losing his home in a big fire in 1991, Wright was inspired to make a game about rebuilding a life. He started working on an idea for a virtual doll house. It was like SimCity, but it focused on individual people. This idea became The Sims. The game was originally about designing houses, but it changed when someone suggested that virtual people should rate the homes.

The people at Maxis were not very interested in The Sims at first. But Electronic Arts saw the potential because of Wright's work on SimCity. Electronic Arts released The Sims in February 2000. It became Wright's biggest success. It even became the best-selling computer game of all time. Many expansion packs and spin-off games followed. He also designed an online version called The Sims Online. By 2006, The Sims games had earned Electronic Arts over a billion dollars.

In 2005, Wright announced his game Spore. He showed how the game used methods to reduce the amount of work game developers needed to do. Wright hopes to inspire other game creators to try new and risky ideas.

Wright believes that games, especially simulations, can help improve education. He thinks they can teach children how to learn.

After Maxis

After becoming one of the most important game designers, Wright left Maxis in 2009. His first new company was Stupid Fun Club. This studio focused on "video games, online worlds, storytelling, and even toys."

In 2010, a TV channel called Current TV announced that Will Wright and his team would make a new show. The show, called Bar Karma, started in 2011. It used ideas and story twists suggested by an online community. Stupid Fun Club operated for four years before closing. Many of the team members then joined Wright to create a social media app and graphic novel builder called Thred.

In 2011, Will Wright joined the board of directors for Linden Lab, the company that made Second Life.

At the Game Developers Conference in 2018, Will Wright announced a new mobile game called Proxi.

In 2021, Wright announced another new project called VoxVerse, in partnership with Gala Games. VoxVerse will be a blockchain game. Players can create areas to explore and share them with others. Creators can even trade or sell their works using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrency. Wright said that blockchain and NFTs help support his vision for the game. The game is being made by Gallium Games, a studio he co-founded with Lauren Elliott.

Awards and Recognition

Will Wright received a "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2001. In 2002, he was added to the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame. He was the only person to get both honors until 2006. In 2007, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts gave him a fellowship, which was the first time a game designer received it.

Many magazines and websites have called him one of the most important people in gaming, technology, and entertainment. These include Entertainment Weekly, Time, PC Gamer, and GameSpy. He also received the PC Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

Personal Life

Will Wright lives in Oakland, California. He is an atheist. In 1984, he married artist Joell Jones, and they had a daughter named Cassidy in 1986. Their home and many of Wright's early career records were lost in the Oakland firestorm of 1991. Wright and Jones separated in 2008. He later married Anya Zavarzina.

Wright is on the board of trustees for the X Prize Foundation. This group creates public competitions to encourage new technology that helps humanity.

Hobbies and Interests

In 1980, Will Wright took part in an illegal cross-country race called the U.S. Express. He and his co-driver drove a special Mazda RX-7 from New York to California in 33 hours and 39 minutes, winning the race. He only raced once.

Since 2003, Wright has collected items from the Soviet space program. These include a 100-pound hatch from a space shuttle, a seat from a Soyuz, and control panels from the Mir space station. He also collects dolls, dice, and fossils.

Wright used to build competitive robots for BattleBots with his daughter. One of his robots, "Kitty Puff Puff," would wrap opponents in tape to stop them from moving. This technique was later banned. After BattleBots, he became interested in how humans and robots interact.

Games He Designed

Images for kids

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  A robot

See also

In Spanish: Will Wright para niños