In January 2011, SimGoodie was a small but active Norwegian fan site covering The Sims 3 and its expanding roster of packs. The site's monthly archive for that month, now preserved through the Wayback Machine, captures a community in transition: redesigning itself for the new year while sharing early details about upcoming content.
Two posts, one excited community
The January 2011 archive contains just two posts, but they paint a vivid picture of how fan sites operated during The Sims 3's peak expansion era.
On January 7, SimGoodie returned from a brief hiatus to share the Norwegian logo and HD box art for The Sims 3 Luksus i Det Grønne stæsj (the Norwegian localization of The Sims 3 Outdoor Living Stuff). The post's tone is casual and direct, telling readers "Vi er nå litt tilbake!" (We're a little bit back now!) while noting the team was still working on the site's 2011 redesign.
Three weeks later, on January 30, the site published what it called the SimGoodie Magasin, a digital magazine format updating readers on SimGoodie's plans for 2011 and previewing upcoming Sims packs. The post included a practical viewing tip: the magazine pages were best viewed side by side ("Det beste er å se sidene side om side!"). That detail reflects how fan sites of the era often experimented with creative content formats beyond standard blog posts.
What the sidebar tells us
The archived page's sidebar and navigation reveal as much about the community as the posts themselves. SimGoodie had 96 registered members, an active forum, and social accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. A community poll asked readers whether they enjoyed the "Sims Journal" format, with response options ranging from enthusiastic ("Veldig, vil følge med vær måned!") to confused ("hva er det?").
The site's navigation listed coverage for The Sims 2, The Sims 3, and The Sims Medieval, with dedicated sub-pages for expansion packs translated into Norwegian: Reisefeber (World Adventures), Drømmejobben (Ambitions), Helaften (Late Night), and the then-upcoming Generasjoner (Generations), which would arrive alongside patch 1.22 later that year.
The monthly archive counts tell their own story: 57 posts in September 2010, 46 in October, then a sharp drop to just 2 in January 2011. Fan sites run by small volunteer teams often followed this pattern, bursting with activity around major releases and quieting during content droughts.
Why this archive matters
Norwegian-language Sims coverage was never abundant. SimGoodie billed itself as "Norge største Sims fanside" (Norway's biggest Sims fan site), offering news, downloads, tutorials, and forums in Norwegian at a time when most Sims community hubs operated exclusively in English. For players searching for pack names, gameplay tips, or community discussion in their own language, sites like SimGoodie filled a gap that larger English-language outlets never addressed.
This archive page is a small window into that era, preserved here as part of SimGoodie's ongoing effort to restore its legacy content.
Source: SimGoodie legacy archive (simgoodie.com)