It’s the game that lets you build your dream home, control virtual lives (and remove the pool ladder and see what happens). Twenty-five years and 200 million copies on, what’s made The Sims such a success?

“The Sims had really kind of seeded that desire for homeownership in me at a young age,” said Elle Hunt, a journalist based in the U.K. “And I’d spent the interim 20 years walking away from that dream a bit.”