This is a question asked by many players who only played one of these two games. At first glance, you might notice that there are characters customized by players on the screen doing things and that everyone owns a house tailored to their own preferences, but this is where all the similarities stop. 

To further illustrate this point, let’s talk about the differences and similarities between these games.

Gameplay

The main difference between these two games is the gameplay. Second life is a mix between an MMORPG and a chatroom while The Sims 4 is a single-player life simulation game. The Sims is also a game that is linear in a way, meaning that your sims have a life cycle and there are specific goals each of them has to fulfil. Second life has none of that, so you can basically do whatever you want every day.

Another great difference is that Second Life requires a constant internet connection, while with The Sims, you only need the internet to download content, and then you can continue playing offline.

Housing

When playing The Sims, you are given a few different plots of land where you can design a house in a way that you want, or even rent a house. The plots of land can easily be changed in the editor, but the customization options are fairly limited.

Second life has land that falls into three categories: general, mature and adult. The land type, land size and location all affect the land price, and most of the time, if you want a better plot of land you will have to spend real money on it. It can get really expensive at times.

Character Customisation

This is the category where Second Life definitely wins. While in The Sims, you face a lot of limitations when creating your character, mainly with the clothes, Second Life gives you almost limitless character customization options. There are many, very different, clothing options, skin textures and even animation packs for you to choose from.

The Sims Characters are limited by their design, and this is not a bad thing. Characters in second life have more options simply because it is a game where your interactions with other players matter a lot. This notion further shows how different these two games are and that they shouldn’t really be compared at all.

Price

Last but not least is the pricing. The Sims has a set price, and although it is a bit steep, you get all of the features of the game once you pay it.

Second Life, on the other hand, works with a freemium model. You can play the game for free, but if you want to access advanced features, you will need to pay real money. Individual things are usually cheap in Second Life, but the price can quickly become astronomical if you get too immersed.

All in all, everything mentioned above is used to illustrate how different these games are, and it is really up to you which of them you prefer.