What was your first game in the Sims Franchise?

I started with Sims 1 not long after it first came out and have played all the PC versions since then... My favourites have probably been TS2 followed by TS3, I remember spending hours on those games.

I started with The Sims 1 when I was around 10 and I think it's still my favorite to this day. There's just something about the simplicity and silliness I find so appealing and I don't think any of the others fully captured the same feeling (although they're still fun don't get me wrong) which might be due to being a different studio and team?
I was actually very excited that The Sims 4 was supposed to be going back to basics as but I'm disappointed in the lack of random events and silliness. With each new game, I feel like it's slowly becoming tamer and puts me in too much control over everything. I want to be surprised and I miss how easy Sims could die. The Sims 1 was unpredictable and challenging, the Sims 2 was as well but I hated the fulfillment bar as it made the game feel too goal-oriented, the Sims 3 is probably my second favorite but at the same time it lost a lot of its funny moments and it's where I started to feel like the game was too easy, The Sims 4 I really enjoy (maybe tied with 3 but for different reasons), but I do what more random events, I hate feeling like I'm in control of every detail, I want stuff to happen to my Sims that I have no control over. In future iterations, I hope they actually do go back to the beginning where it's quirky and surprising. I want to feel like I'm playing more of an actual simulation game rather than a really nice looking dress up and decor game.

I started with Sims 1. I have played Sims 2 (which I still enjoy today), Sims 3 (which I kinda enjoyed except for the Sims themselves), and Sims 4 (I gave up on it due to the actual gameplay).

I was very late to the gaming scene. I didn't begin to play, in earnest, until the summer of 2005, when I was 50 years old. As for the bonus question, loving Sims2 the way I did, and it being my first real gaming experience, I would have to say, yes, I did think the next iteration of this game would be all the better. In my naivete I truly thought EA/Maxis would expand upon the best of Sims2 in ways I couldn't even imagine. Had they given us Sims2 with the three life-range options, I would have been ecstatic. While Sims3 had many things I liked, it was also fraught with problems. Basically, the game engine appeared unstable. I play on a gaming rig and had problems with it, even after that one was replaced by the one I have now. I still had problems. The only remedy was loading it up with NRaas, Industry mods. Bless Twallen and his talent! I did learn not to remove Sims3, until I was pretty well certain I had no need to go back to it. The Sims, themselves just were on the blah side of things. Not at all the zany, lovable, hysterically funny Sims from Sims2. We gave up too much for that wonderful open world. I like the Sims in Sims4 better.

The sims 1. I was also very much a fan of simcity as well. Is it sad that I forgot that game was apart of the sims franchise? I would play it in middle school all the time in my computer class. Was pretty much a free class where we played games all day.

My daughter & I never heard about the Sims games until we discovered Sims 3 Diesel in EB Game Store at the mall. Now we both play the Sims 4 games & sometimes just our faves from Sims 3 that Sims 4 still doesn't have.

The Sims on PS2. Then I 'upgraded' to the PC version.

I don't think my first game influenced how I feel about the direction of the franchise. The console version was quite restrictive and goal-based, whereas I prefer a more open game.

I loved The Sims when it first came out as it was all so much simpler then. I managed to use batch files to change colours of objects like the Vibromatic Heart Bed. I changed one to shades of blue! I didn't want it to end. I didn't understand what Drew Carey or jumping out of cakes was in those days though.

I would have preferred later iterations to be better upgrades of 2 personally.

Would not want to go back to those days. I remember it had very limited gameplay back in the day.