What year did you start playing your first The Sims game?

I can't remember what year I started playing, but I have been playing since Sims 1. I think there were still EP's being released.

I got Sims 2 after a few EP's were released and then after playing that for awhile I went through a phase where I lost interest and didn't play again until Sims 4 came out, so I completely missed out on 3. It's a shame really, because it sounds like it's awesome, but I can't justify spending the amount of money that it would cost to get that and all it's expansions when I'm already invested in Sims 4.