Kelsey Impicciche is best known in The Sims 4 community for completing the 100 Baby Challenge on the Buzzfeed Multiplayer YouTube channel. However, she also runs her own channel that features content about The Sims 4 and other games. She’s also got a brand new The Sims 4 series coming to her personal channel in hopes to fill the void the end of the 100 Baby Challenge left in her viewers.
In an interview with Game Rant, Impicciche discusses different facets of The Sims, including its community and its various iterations and content. She also talks about what it’s like to be a YouTuber, how she personally deals with negative comments, and her cosplay endeavors. This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
GR: What was the first Sims game you ever played?
KI: I think I played The Sims 1 and I also played a couple of those Roller Coaster Tycoons and there were a couple of SimCity kind of things that I probably played? But I wasn't as interested in those once I started playing The Sims 1. And then The Sims 2 came out and I remember I was just so excited. I was like, “oh my gosh, it's new, I can't wait to have it!” I remember all of the townies and all of their stories and stuff like that. Then I never played The Sims 3. I totally missed that whole era, hilariously, which is most everyone's favorite of the games and I totally just skipped past that one.
GR: Would you ever go back and play it?
KI: I definitely would, yeah! I think I downloaded it right as The Sims 4 was being teased, so I played it for like a hot second. But I remember I just had a Mac at the time, I didn't have a PC. I wasn't a PC gamer at that point, and it was really hard to run the game. It was just very glitchy and very frustrating so I never really got into it. And then when The Sims 4 came out it was so much smoother and the graphics were so much nicer, in my opinion, that I was like “oh I love this.” [The Sims 3] is not good if you don't have the right set up and it costs a lot to get the right setup, so it's not for everyone, but I've heard great things about it.
GR: What would be your favorite Sims 4 expansion pack?
KI: I did a video on this and then everyone always asks, and I always forget what I chose which is really bad! But I think it was Seasons, that's probably most people's favorite. It just adds a lot of depth to the gameplay, adds more variety in terms of you feel like you're moving through the seasons with the Sims. So I think that's, in my opinion, a pretty necessary expansion for the gameplay aspect of realism. Fun wise? I really do like City Living. I love getting to go to the little city events that come through in the town and getting to be like “oh it's the Humor and Hijinks Festival, we’ve got to go!” That part's really fun, so I really like that too. I like stuff that adds to the gameplay a lot.
GR: What would you say your favorite game pack is?
KI: Oh, Vampires for sure! For sure, Vampires or Parenthood. Parenthood I feel like I don't utilize a lot of, but I think it still added a lot of things that I might not even notice of things to do between parents and children. Like all the parental skills and things like that, and things to do with your kids. I think I probably use that a lot especially since I play a lot of family gameplay. And then Vampires I just think is the best occult, they just absolutely nailed it. It's so fun to level up your vampire and all of that kind of stuff; I think Vampires is just really well done.
And also a lot of the build and buy I end up using in other homes quite a bit because there's not as much vintage-ish stuff that nails it. And I think they did a good job with balancing super vampire-y stuff with stuff you could actually use every day. Versus Realm of Magic, as much as I really wanted it to be great, the build and buy stuff is so specific that there's no way I'm going to use it in any other context, to be honest, it's just so specifically made for that pack.
GR: What’s your favorite stuff pack?
KI: Tiny Living I think is one of my favorites. There's so many that it's hard to choose, but I really love Tiny Living. I think the build and buy objects are so nice, so cute, it's definitely a different style than a lot of the other packs have. It's mid-century modern, so if you're looking for that, it's harder to find in the other packs so this is the only one that has a lot of really cute build and buy. And then gameplay-wise it's fun, especially when you're starting out a new save and you're not cheating and everything. It's really fun to make a tiny house because you get bonuses and things are a little easier on you when you're first starting gameplay.
But yeah I would say Tiny Living for sure and I'm actually really enjoying Paranormal, funnily enough not as much for the actual paranormal part, but for the build and buy, it's so good! I love all the little things, especially if you want to make things that are a little more eclectic or a little more magical-looking, it's really good for that. I almost prefer Paranormal stuff to Realm of Magic stuff in terms of if you wanted to make a witchy-looking build.
GR: How did you feel about Kits being added to the game?
KI: I'm mixed. I never went through the era, like I said, I missed all of The Sims 3 and I believe The Sims Store was in that era, I missed all of that, so I'm not familiar with all of that. I will say, I'm in a privileged position that I do this for work, so I have enough money to have all of the packs. I also have contacts at The Sims that sometimes give me packs early so I can work with them and show them off. So, I will say that I don't have the same budget restrictions that I used to. When I first started playing The Sims, I could only get maybe one or two packs so I really had to choose the ones that I really wanted. Especially when I was a kid, my parents would only get me a couple. So I totally understand that feeling, although I can't relate to it now as much, fortunately for me, but unfortunately for my review, I'm a little biased.
I would say that the build and buy and CAS stuff obviously very much appealed to me, the two that already came out. Especially the Country Kitchen, it was so cute, all the stuff was, like, bangers. Every single item was a great item, they put a lot of detail into it and I could see myself using it in so much gameplay and making so many different things. And the CAS stuff, the outfits, they're pretty cute if you're into that stuff. I really do like the pleated skirt, that's something I haven't seen.
I don't really see a lot of good skirts in The Sims without getting Custom Content and so that was very cute and nice. I would love to see better gameplay additions. Bust The Dust? Not for me, like adding chores in The Sims is never the thing I'm interested in! Like I hate laundry, like I don't want to do that one, but I like the stuff in [Laundry Day]. Whereas with this one, you can't even download it without having to deal with dust in your Sims’ home, so it wasn't my favorite.
I will say that if I were in the position I was before where I could only get so many packs, it might open up the ability a little bit for me to add more clothes cause I just want clothes or add more build and buy, cause I just want that. But at the same time, I do understand why people can be frustrated because you know it's still $5 and $5 is different to everyone. For some people, it's just a coffee, for some people it's a lot more. And I understand this idea that some people have to complete The Sims and want to buy everything in The Sims, so I can see it from all sides.
For me personally, I think it's a bonus like I think all new Sims content is great and I'm never going to be upset by getting more content. But I will say I think they could've probably added something people were looking for more in terms of the gameplay kit. I think they could've added a more sophisticated attraction system, which I know a lot of people would love. Or even like more to do for teens, that would be a really cool kit. I'm excited by the concept though! This could open up a lot more micro fixes, but I would also say it is unfortunate for people that don't want to pay for their game to be fixed. I can see all the sides, but for me, I am excited about the possibilities and I am hopeful.
Yeah, at the end of the day, The Sims is a game and EA is a business, and I can totally see the side that they can't give us free content every year and be able to pay all their employees who are building this game. I've met some of them and they only want the best and are really working hard and put so much passion and love into all the things that they do. It's not always exactly what everyone would want, but they have such a varied audience that you can't really please everyone all the time. So I definitely can sympathize in every aspect. But for me personally, I'm always excited for new Sims content, especially as a creator! If there's something new to do and something new to show, it kinda refreshes the game and makes it more fun. So I'm excited by the kits, but I can understand why other people wouldn't be.
GR: What was it like filming for The Sims Spark'd?
KI: It was so cool! It was such a really cool and surreal experience. When we were making it I didn't know where it would be going. I remember when I first got the phone call, they were very hush-hush with what it was but they were like "would you be interested in a competitive Sims show?" And they kind of made it clear from the beginning I wouldn't be participating. I think if I was participating I would get a lot more nervous, to be honest. It was hard! Oh my gosh, the things that they all did in the time that they did I could not imagine the stress and the things that they made in such short times, like [it's] still mind-blowing.
It was really cool to be surrounded by people that love this game and all took it really seriously. Everyone was super sweet and it was super hard to be a judge. I now have a newfound respect for people that are judges in TV shows because I never wanted to send anyone home, it was not fun doing the dramatic parts. I did not like it at all!
Y'know, it's easy to give constructive feedback for me because I work at Buzzfeed and work on a team so we all would give constructive feedback as a normal part of my job. But giving it to someone that's a competitor in a game show is just so much different and so much harder. And I knew a lot of the people too, I knew a lot of the creators on there so it was also like these are people I respected and watched their content. It was very surreal but so fun, I would 100% love to do it again and see how the show could progress.
I think it would be exciting to see future seasons we could see a cast of people we might've never seen before online. And speaking from my point of view as a creator, I know I'm not the best Sims player. I know I make huge mistakes and I also know I'm not super great at building or even making Sims, I'm not as detail-oriented as some other people could be. Just seeing the things on the gallery or on Twitter, I love seeing these insane beautiful builds that people do. It's very impressive so I feel like there are some Sims fans out there that could really knock our socks off.
GR: The fun part about The Sims is it's all about having fun. So you don't have to be the best player because it is just a simulation.
KI: I think that's the beauty of the game too, is you can totally be an expert at building or you don't have to be. You can make a little square and put all the things in the square, which is what I did when I was a kid, and I think you'll still get some aspect of fun out of it. There's no competitiveness inherently in the game, so it's nice to take that off of it. I feel like in a lot of gameplay there can be inherent competitiveness and I'm an inherently competitive person so it's hard for me to let go of feeling like a failure if I'm not good at the game immediately. I think that's what's so appealing for The Sims is that the game can be whatever I want and it's mainly about whatever I make it about. So if I want it to be about storytelling then I get to just have fun creating a story, or if I want it to be about a challenge I can invent the challenge myself.
GR: Do you feel The Sims community has more positive or negative reactions to new Sims 4 content?
KI: That's hard — the community's a mixed bag. I feel like online you tend to find more people talk more online when they're dissatisfied. You find that people are more wanting to voice that [negativity] than they are excitement or general happiness, especially if it's not extreme. If you're like "oh I'm excited about it" I'm not gonna like, run to the rooftops to tweet that out, but people are more likely to tweet when they feel upset or dissatisfied. So I think it's hard to judge, but just based online I will say I think there's a lot of mixed reactions for pretty much every announcement that The Sims makes.
I think that's just a signal that there's so many passionate players like there's people that really love and care about this game and use this game every day so that they know so well where the issues are or what they would love to do in the game that they can't. And there's been so many iterations of the game that it's even like "well this game had it but this game doesn't" so you can really compare a lot easier than any other game. Especially since this game in general and its new iterations are still the same concept.
Whereas other games, take for example The Legend of Zelda, yes you can compare Breath of the Wild to Skyward Sword, but at the end of the day they're two different games with two different plots and the mechanics are going to match the plots. Versus The Sims is the same mechanics in every game, so the differences are what those mechanics are. So it's much easier to compare and be like "well I liked that in that and it's not in this" and it's hard to know why. Like it's hard to know, for example, why there haven't been bunk beds until this month. Has it been that hard to make them? Have other projects been more important? Like we won't know. So it's hard to be like "well it was in the old game, I liked it so much, why hasn't it been here until now?"
I think it depends on the announcement and I also think it depends on just your point of view online. Who you're following, are people more [critical], or are you following more people who just get excited? I'm on the side of "I just get excited over everything," so I tend to just enjoy every new announcement. But I do think that there are so many passionate players that there are always going to be some people with critiques. Which I think makes the game so unique and exciting is that the players and the devs do have this dialogue and have this ability to impact and grow the game to make it better over time.
GR: How do you personally deal with negative comments?
KI: Most of the time I try not to read them, or ignore them, because some things I can change and work on and grow from, and some comments are actually good critiques and things like "I didn't know that." And some things are just complete differences of opinion and [those are] the hardest ones. I've done some playthroughs that maybe my Sim makes a choice that's a little out of character but it's maybe a choice I made for x-y-z reasons. And it's hard to read when so many people dislike the choice and I didn't even realize that they wouldn't like it until later. And I can understand where people are coming from but I can't change the past, and I have a vision for where it's going that it's completely a difference of taste. And that's really hard.
Most of the time I try to just not respond, every once in a while I'll say something on Twitter, to be like "hey, I see you, you're not shouting into a void. I understand where you're coming from, here's where I'm coming from, hopefully, we can understand each other better now." But for the most part, I find that even when I try to do that it still becomes kind of a sounding bubble and the people that relate to me and already understand are going to be the ones that respond positively to that. And the people that still feel the way that they felt with the negative comments are still going to dig their heels in and still be kind of mad about these choices. So it's hard. You can't please everyone and it's something I still battle with every day because I'm a people-pleaser by nature, so I really want to please everyone.
But at the end of the day, I think it's definitely taught me a lot about myself and how to grow and make better content, but also make content at the end of the day that I enjoy the most. Because if I'm enjoying it, at least people are enjoying me enjoying something that I'm doing, rather than me pandering to people because I think they want that and then maybe being wrong or being right. Because everyone has a different opinion anyway and then I'm not being my authentic self online, if that makes sense.
GR: The beauty of The Sims is that everyone can have their own game style, but then the issue comes when people try to tell [content creators] how to play the game that [they] have a vision for and see where it's going overall.
KI: Right, or I think maybe things some plotlines are more fun than others. Like, I love playing the villains, and I found out a while ago that my audience does not like the villains. So for me, it's really fun to be like "oh yeah, this sister is going to betray this other sister" and they emote so much with the hurt sister that they're not enjoying the fun of the drama. For me, it was such an eye-opening experience to be like "oh they really feel bad for this character that I've created and hurt" and they can't even get past it to be like, "ooh, tea," y'know.
So that was a big learning experience, but the process is always a little painful when it feels personal. They're still Sims, they're still there to be a narrative. You can love your characters, even as a writer. I used to want to write when I was in college and you can love your characters but they can't grow unless you put them through conflict. And there's no story unless there's a lot of conflict. There's always that line with what people are going to enjoy and what people are going to say "woah, that's too much." You're not always going to get it right, for sure.
GR: How has the pandemic and quarantine affected your creativity levels?
KI: There's some days that I'm feeling very creative and inspired and excited because in many ways my job hasn't had to change, and that's been a gift. Being able to create content from wherever is a privilege that I'm so grateful for. It's so much fun to be able to connect with an audience that just wants to have fun and enjoy content and I want that too so we kind of come together for that. But then there's some days that I've been sitting in the same room every day, all day for months and I don't have much else to offer sometimes.
So I've learned a lot about the creative process through Covid and I think that the best thing I can do for myself to keep my creativity flowing is to take time to refresh. Like [watching] other creators online or new movies that are coming out, things like that. Because I'll find more creative inspiration and get more excited to make new content when I'm taking the time away from it too.
I've done it in the past where I've just filmed even if I wasn't feeling it and some days it totally works out and I can get out of the funk. Sometimes it doesn't work and the video’s not my best and I don't love it and people don't love it when they're watching it. So I've found that it's easier in my cadence now filming at home to wait just a day or two to film something, then I'll do that and take that day to work on the projects that I don't need to be on camera for. And then make sure that I'm prepped mentally for filming another day. Lots of learning.
GR: What has been the most rewarding part about being a YouTuber?
KI: Oh my gosh, I mean all of it is so rewarding. I think when I first started my own YouTube channel, which was like, 6 years ago, I started because I was inspired by creators like John and Hank Green, Hannah Hart, and Grace Helbig. And when I was in college I went through some big down moments in my life, probably the most depressive moments of my life, and I always felt more seen and understood when I was watching YouTube. So whenever I hear people say that back to me, that they've been going through rough times or that I make them feel like they're home, that's the greatest gift I could ever receive is to be able to be that person for someone when someone was that person for me.
It's a unique experience of feeling known and understood by someone that you've never talked to. There's a very special relationship between comfort creators and the people that find comfort within them and their content. It's such a gift that I get to be that for some people. It's also very fun when people are like "I got The Sims, I started playing The Sims because of you." That's always so fun because it's great to feel like I've introduced someone to their new favorite thing.
GR: What is your favorite YouTube video that you've uploaded on your channel?
KI: One of my absolute favorites is the one where I make a giant Rice Krispy treat. It's not Sims related but it is truly a chaotic good video if I had to put it on that spectrum. I love chaotic good [videos] that's so weird and fun and silly and insane. I would say that's probably one of my favorites on my channel. I'm sure there's a Sims one but there's not one distinctly that comes to mind yet, but hopefully, soon there will be one coming around that I'll be super, super proud of.
GR: The 100 Baby Challenge is almost done - is it bittersweet to say goodbye to the series you've been doing for over 2 years?
KI: It is. We already completed filming in January, so it was really hard in January. You can see I fully cried in the last episode, it's so embarrassing! I haven't seen the edit of the last videos yet myself but I tried to be very thoughtful with the finale. I know already some people might not like it because I don't necessarily age up every Sim. But I find that most creators don't, I think once they have the last baby they're like "I did it! I don't want to keep going." And it's true, there's a lot of grind to that show. I think the things I found the most interesting and the most fun were the family dynamic and the stories. It was really hard to say goodbye, it's pretty much a full era of my life and my career. It's what I think introduced most people to me and my content, so it's probably been one of my greatest successes in my career.
It's still bittersweet seeing the final videos come out and seeing everyone starting to feel sad that it's going to end. I'm just very hopeful for the future and hopefully I can fill that 100 Baby-shaped hole in people's hearts. I don't know if I ever will, but I'm going to do my best to try. It's definitely bittersweet, especially career-wise it's like, half the time I've been at Buzzfeed has been doing this. It's both sad and scary to try something new. When I first started the challenge, it was kind of like a joke, it wasn't something I took very seriously. I was like "if it works out, it works out," so there was no pressure on the challenge when I first started it. Now I do feel a little bit of pressure [for] what to do next. So I hope I can deliver.
GR: What other games are near and dear to your heart?
KI: All of The Legend of Zelda games, especially Breath of the Wild, but mostly Ocarina of Time. Those were the games that made me fall in love with gaming. With my N64, my brother played them and I watched him play them all growing up when I was really little and I probably couldn't play that advanced of a game yet. I also really loved playing Overwatch. That was probably one of my first competitive online games that I actually fell in love with that one's definitely got a special place in my heart. Animal Crossing is another big one, especially the most recent one. I haven't played the other ones besides [Pocket Camp]. It helped me through the beginning of Covid and brought a lot of my Twitch community together when we all really needed something to soothe our brains... I'd say for most of my life I've been a Nintendo fangirl.
There's just something about the way they create such lovable characters and fantastical worlds that are just so much fun to play and it helps take the pressure off. I'm not huge into games that add pressure, I'm not good at them. I also don't play enough to get good at them because the anxiety is too great, so I like games that are a little more soothing or forgiving, and Nintendo was that for a long time for me. Now I'm a little better at the other games but I'll still call all those other kinds of games my comfort games.
GR: What made you want to get into cosplay?
KI: I trained to be an actor through college and I've always loved creating characters and reading and nerd culture in general, and I also loved dressing up. So, when I discovered cosplay it appealed to me because it was like, you can dress up as your favorite iconic superhero characters on days that weren't Halloween and [have much more quality costumes] than Halloween. That was very appealing to me, but I was very nervous.
I think I was a fan of cosplay for like 5 years before I considered doing it myself. There's that thing of like "oh, you cosplay?" like some people think it's weird to dress up. You still get that if you go out in a cosplay to take photos on a street in Los Angeles, there will be so many people going by like, "Halloween's in October!" I'm like, "Wow! What? I had no idea! I thought it was today, thank you for informing me!"
I think the turning point was being at Buzzfeed and I was pitching video ideas and I was like, "what if we transformed into our favorite Overwatch characters ha ha, wouldn't that be a great video?" And they were like "Yeah, sure" so I made it. Like a lot of things in life that I've always wanted to do but felt nervous to do, I tend to make videos so I get an excuse to do them, but also you get a little bit of the story of me coming out of my comfort zone. And that was one of 'em. That video where I get transformed into D.Va from Overwatch is my very first cosplay, I suppose.
And from then I kind of just, I caught a bug and all I wanted to do was cosplay. I met more people that cosplayed through that process, so I had friends who were gonna go to Comic-Con and cosplay and I could cosplay with them. Once you find that group it's so much easier to take that step. I've only maybe done group cosplays three times? I normally am a little bit of a "I want to be this character so I'm doing it" kind of person.
It's herding cats to try to get people to group cosplay sometimes. But a couple times I've been a Spider with a couple of other Spiders, or I did one that was some of the group of Big Hero 6, that was really fun. It's very fun to go as a group. Or I did one where we were the Sailor Scouts, but there's no photos of me as Sailor Moon because I wasn't happy with the wig.
There's so much artistry that goes into cosplay and I am the worst at pretty much all of it. I tend to find people that are specific in those things and work with them on the cosplays. It's always kind of fun to meet new people that are like "oh, I do 3D printing and I can 3D print this thing" and then someone else can help me paint it. Every once in a while I'll try to do some more hands-on ones.
My first EVA foam try-out was the face crown for Wanda in her Halloween look from Wandavision. and it went fairly well so I'd be interested in doing [that again] but it's a very simple craft, it's not like making full armor with the foam, which is a whole other thing. I find it fun to try some of the projects on my own. But people can fully dedicate their lives to crafting gorgeous cosplays and I am always in awe of that community, they're so talented. Similar to The Sims community.
GR: What is your favorite cosplay you've done so far?
KI: My favorite cosplay I've ever done was Wonder Woman. I think it was a very scary cosplay because when I bought it, I was like "oh Wonder Woman, it's fine" and then when you start realizing what pieces she wears, it's pretty revealing. It's like, her whole leg is out and then the skirt is very short and the top is just this corset. Also, she has darker hair and I'm very pale too — luckily it was the summer, so I had a little bit of a tan at that point — but I was just very afraid that I would look very bad in the outfit or be nervous in it.
Also, the way that the costume comes together, sometimes you'll work with really great cosplay people, and then sometimes you'll work with people that you're not as familiar with or aren't as communicative. So I was very nervous about how the cosplay would look on my body too, how it would fit together because they're often custom-made for your figure. If you accidentally gave measurements and they accounted for them and then they happen to be wrong somehow, none of it will fit you.
I remember that one was the scariest to put on, but once I had it on I looked very different than myself. I remember walking through Comic-Con with it on and just running into a very little girl who was also Wonder Woman. Her face when she lit up and saw me and that made that the best costume I'd ever worn. Seeing a little girl truly believe you're Wonder Woman is like the coolest experience you could ever have in your life! And she gave me a hug and she had her little lasso and her mom took a ton of pictures and her mom ended up posting them on Instagram and tagging me so I luckily have the photos too. Being Wonder Woman was just so empowering and so exciting and I was really happy to have had that experience of being too afraid to wear the costume and then when I put it on it felt great. It made it more meaningful.
GR: What cosplay are you hoping to tackle next?
KI: This year I'm kind of just going with the flow as to what happens since there probably won't be any conventions this year. I'll probably just go with whatever piques my interest from pop culture that comes up throughout the year. But the next big investment piece I want to do whenever Cons are available again, I've always wanted to do a Lady Deadpool. I'm a big Deadpool fan and I think that would be really sick to have that leather outfit. I don't know how I would do it because [in] some versions she has the burned up face and then sometimes she just has a ponytail.
So I don't know exactly what way I would do it, but that's one of the ones that's been on my list for a while that I would love to do... It would be fun because when you're wearing the costume you also get to kind of inhabit the characters a little when you're moving around or people take photos of you. I feel like Deadpool would be one of the most fun, besides Spider-Man. Being a Spider is always a fun time because you can be a total goof. But Deadpool you can just be a total nutcase and everyone's gonna love it... I feel like it's so freeing to do that.
[End.]