Suggestion - Sims 4 - Sims with Disabilities
I honestly believe Sims 4 is the perfect environment to represent people with disabilities. There are very few major games which do so. Elements that could be put in include: Wheelchair Bound Sim...
Forum Discussion
I do understand your point on the gameplay mentioned being hard to implement (Some ideas I thought were pretty good!) But some would be likely impossible. Though I can't tell you how wrong you are about "Most disabled that do play don't do it to be reminded of their disability." Absolutely wrong. As someone who is disabled himself and wheelchair bound at 3 feet tall and with PLENTY of disabled friends, I can tell you we all have talked at one time or another of wishing more games had inclusion of wheelchairs, prosthetics or other disabilities.
No, it shouldn't make the gameplay clunky, but maybe think of it being "An alternative way to play." Just like a real disability is "An alternative way to live."
Obviously... we don't get the choice irl... But in a sense, most games don't give us the choice either. I've actually made a character heavily based on myself that is wheelchair bound and recreated him in a game called "Second Life". I get a lot of questions why I'd make him disabled... Like.. "Don't you wanna forget about that stuff for a while?" My answer is always the same. "He is a part of me. So is the disability. The wheelchair isn't WHO I am. But it is a part of who I am. And I'd rather accept it than to pretend it doesn't exist."
Not to mention... It makes those with disabilities feel more included to have some form of representation in a game they love. Sure, it's not possible to get EVERY disability represented properly... But even starting with wheelchairs, prosthetics, and the like would be a huge step in the right direction. (Look at the avatar system Xbox has rolled out in the last few years doing just that, including wheelchairs and prosthetics as well as a few other things of that nature, props to Microsoft!)
Again, some of the elements mentioned wouldn't make for good gameplay but I think others were fantastic ideas and could for sure be done if not better implemented.
@BLAZECAST Thank you for saying that. I'm also disabled and got really offended by that comment.
What confuses me about this thread was that the individuals who say that us disabled folk don't want to see their disabilities represented in this game often aren't disabled themselves and seem to have the mindset that just because some disabled folk use this game as escapism from their disability that there should be no disability options for everyone. I personally use a lot of mods to incorparate disabilites into my game (working elevators not just for apartments, wheelchairs, prosthetics, canes, hearling aids, etc.) so I know it's not impossible to include these things and if there are people who didn't want to play the game with disabilites included, they could simply not create disbled sims in the same way that if people don't want plant sims sims in their game they don't create plant sims. I find it frustrating that we get no representation in this game just becuase we're seen as "too logistically difficult" or "unwanted" when I know so many people who would love to create themselves and others in this game, disabilites in all: for a life simulation game it seems rather ridiculous to exclude something at least 15% of the world population experiences (which is over a billion people btw) or at least not give us the option to.
I don't know how immersion-breaking it would be, but the Realm of Magic portals would work right out of the box. The elevator mod my friend uses for residential use is based on the RoM portals.
I take it you by accident omitted a . in your figure. 2.7 million Americans needs a wheelchair on a daily basis (source NCBI). In the world there are about 1% ( Source Wheelchair Foundation).
That aside I for one would love to have elevators and the ability to make ramps in the game.
- @jpkarlsen I'm not American and also know the Sims has a worldwide fanbase so I used a worldwide statistic rather than a localised one. Furthermore, since the thread have moved on to talking about disability in general, I was talking about disability in general as well rather than just wheelchair use though the statistics you included are good to include and also show why it would be good to include things like wheelchairs in game
or even for those of us who don't have disabilities but have characters or family with them, I think wheelchairs, service dogs, and functional medical equipment would be a refresher from everyone being perfect. maybe even mental illness and neurodivergence?
I have several characters who use wheelchairs, and prosthetics, and it would be nice to have the level of realism added to both destigmatize but also as a sort of therapy perhaps?
