Hello Sims Team,
There's one specific issue that always bothered me since the release of the Sims 4 that I will like to bring some light on. I am a long-standing fan of the franchise ever since the Sims 2, and my favorite characters of the aforementioned game are the Caliente sisters. As someone with Arabic-Mediterranean roots, the fact that learning (via the family tree) the main characters of a video game shared my background filled me with joy and I obviously gravitated towards playing hours with their household. I was also greatly pleased with their return in the Sims 3 in Barnacle Bay as they stayed mostly true to their original selves. But my disappointment was disproportionate once they returned for the Sims 4 too. Their original mother in the family tree, Ni-ghat Al Mahmoud (the fact that a perfectly valid name gets censored is also an issue to be adressed), got replaced by Katrina Caliente who doesn't have anything to do with their original background. Worst of all, the sisters' skins were much more light than in their previous incarnations. This event filled me with great sadness and send to me the sentiment that I no longer feel welcomed by the franchise. And this still bothers me to this day everytime I load up the game and see their household. The original excuse of "different timeline" didn't make any sense to me. A character's background and skin color shouldn't change in any circumstance regardless of whatever timeline.
Now, this post is not meant to discourage the game developers to bring back older characters into the newer game. I personally love to see my favorite characters brought back into a new light. But with the Sims 4 having a very powerful CAS system for representation, I feel more effort could easily and should be put into respecting the characters' intended background and skin color. This comment also goes towards the returns of Dirk Dreamer and Holly Alto in Get Famous having very different skin tones and even eye colors compared to their original selves. I'm just hopeful to see better representation in subsequent packs and games, and also hopeful to be heard this way.
Thanks in advance for acknowledging this post.
EA Staff (Retired)