The Major Effect "The Sims" had upon the Gaming World (and why we don't talk about it)

You can send me all the ensure you want! I'm a girl and guess I was a nerd/dork early on... loved to read and play video games, mostly at arcades though. I remember being jealous that I didn't have an Atari! I guess I kind of agree that sims made it more mainstream and acceptable for girls to be interested in computer games even if I didn't need it to be acceptable for myself? I think I played Sims and Tombraider together when they came out and can't remember playing video games at home before that not because I was female but because there was nothing out there that interested me other than arcade type games or card games. Remember at that time we were still using a dial-up connection if you were lucky enough to be able to afford a home computer so there wasn't much to chose from that was interesting. (to females? I dunno?)
I know now my favorite games besides the Sims usually have a virtual life element.... like if it's an action game you can craft or have a home to decorate or put trophies in... or a farming game with a virtual life element. None of them hit the same spot the Sims does but I feel like they are getting closer to providing that and maybe we do have the sims influence to thank for that.