I wish there was a transcript available. I find it very hard to sit and watch 20 minutes of info-tube, but am quite willing to read an article. I'll just have to do it at some point - I love Sim history. In articals and interviews
(like this one), as you pointed out, Will Wright said that while working on
Raid, he enjoyed building the city and it lead to Sim City. As he played that, he then he wondered about all those people in the city. Then there was a
fire in his home and it caused him to question how people prioritize when setting up a home, all of which lead to The Sims, originally designed as an architectural game. But the little people were so entertaining! And Wright is one of those admirable characters He's curious and into everything. Check out his bibliography for the Sims. It's vast and varied and has much to do with science, sociology, psychology, as well as architecture and language. So much informed the design of that game. (This article talks about
some of the influences .)
Addicted to The Sims since 2000.