Forum Discussion

Strangelovekraf's avatar
Strangelovekraf
4 years ago
Solved

Racial slur widely used in gallery

While browsing the gallery I came across an extremely unpleasant discovery... The word filters that are in place (and at times, even filter completely mundane language) can not filter for a well know...
gameplay issue
  • EA_Cade's avatar
    EA_Cade
    3 years ago
    Hey all,

    I've merged these threads together to prevent spam. This issue was re-escalated to the Sims team for investigation on Thursday, we are currently evaluating how best to address this issue with the gallery and how content filters and flags are implemented.

    This is one of those things that I may not have updates on for a while as we're dealing with several departments at the moment, but silence ≠ nothing being done.
xochiquetzl_xkvn's avatar
xochiquetzl_xkvn
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago

Considering how long this thread has been open, this may not be the correct place for this but I wanted to bring awareness to the situation.

I genuinely appreciate how open and inclusive The Sims 4 is, and the incredible creativity shown in the gallery. I obviously don't want that to change.

I'm honestly not sure how EA/Maxis handles complaints about gallery content, but it appears that you have some banned words and the option to report content, but that reporting content does little if anything. In other words, I'm reasonably certain that you don't have human moderators looking for offensive content, although I would hope that a human being looked at items that were flagged. 

That said... I would suggest that you get one of your Jewish employees to search the term "Jewish" in the gallery and sort by number of downloads. Depressingly, there's an antisemitic stereotype couple with over 1200 downloads and comments like "lmao sieg heil." This is, shall we say, not welcoming to Jewish Simmers who would like to represent themselves in the game. This item has apparently been in the gallery for many years and many people commented to say that they were reporting it, and yet it remains.

If you don't understand why the item in question is an antisemitic stereotype, here's a link. TL;DR: The rich greedy Jew is a stereotype rising out of historical antisemitic oppression in which Jews were denied entry into most professions, but were allowed to lend money because money lending was a sin in Christianity (usury has since been redefined  from "lending money with an interest rate at all" to mean "charging excessive interest") and therefore banking was a profession forbidden to Christians. This stereotype is harmful because it encourages hatred and dehumanizes Jews into malevolent stereotypes.

Let's assume that you don't want to "squash the creativity" of the creator, and that's why the item has been in the gallery for years. Can you at least consider removing the item because it's a magnet for offensive comments and hate speech?

Thank you very much for reading this far, and please consider evaluating whether or not your gallery flagging system is effective.

Scobren's avatar
Scobren
Legend
3 years ago

Yeah there are a few racist terms I wish were banned from Gallery too. I am tri-raced myself and my empathy goes out to Jews since my minor Christian religion has a history of oppression too, so I am all for having options and honestly a better way to report and flag offensive posts too. One of my friends has been trying to get Jewish foods into the game too and making some amazing foods to show the Gurus. I think whole Gallery needs a much needed upgrade anyway, so better filtering system would be nice to find different cultures in the Gallery too. I don't like the algorithm it is currently using likes and number of downloads because there are so many amazing content creators that don't get featured as much.

  • xochiquetzl_xkvn's avatar
    xochiquetzl_xkvn
    Seasoned Ace
    3 years ago

    @Scobren  Yeah, the gallery has banned the name of a Jewish holiday, so the creator of an item for that holiday can’t label her creation with the proper name (It’s a Sukkah, the little hut you have dinner in during Sukkot). Okay, sure? I guess I can see what word you think the creator is trying to say, fine, but then to turn around and ignore years of complaints on an actually offensive item? 

    I know the issue isn’t limited to antisemitism; there was a thread here about Romani people recently as well. ☹️ But the new wedding pack sent me to the gallery looking for Jewish wedding venues, and that was a nasty surprise. 

    (And I would love more Jewish foods in the game!) 

    [Editing to avoid the dreaded thread bump 😉 for a vaguely relevent joke... I just saw someone else in the gallery talk about the Sukkah she'd put in her Synagogue build by referring to it as "my contribution for Jewish shake-a-lemon week." ROTFL!!!]

    • EA_Cade's avatar
      EA_Cade
      Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
      3 years ago
      Hey all,

      I've merged these threads together to prevent spam. This issue was re-escalated to the Sims team for investigation on Thursday, we are currently evaluating how best to address this issue with the gallery and how content filters and flags are implemented.

      This is one of those things that I may not have updates on for a while as we're dealing with several departments at the moment, but silence ≠ nothing being done.
  • kaiwryplays's avatar
    kaiwryplays
    3 years ago

    I think I know who your friend is and I think we follow each other on Twitter. I hope we do get more Jewish foods. I also saw people asking for a Jewish wedding arch. I can't remember the name. But I wish mws represented more cultures.

    • xochiquetzl_xkvn's avatar
      xochiquetzl_xkvn
      Seasoned Ace
      3 years ago

      @kaiwryplays  If you google for the Judaism Stuff Pack by PandoraSims, she has a chuppah (Jewish wedding canopy) that I used in my Wedding venues. There's also a glass wrapped in a napkin to step on that gives you a happy moodlet! <3

      • kaiwryplays's avatar
        kaiwryplays
        3 years ago

        Yes I think I saw that stuff pack and I thought they could have added the stomping glass as a wedding tradition in mws and just use the animation for playing in puddles. I didn't get the stuff pack tho because I rather get an in game Maxis version but thanks for the recommendation. I'm not Jewish but I love the addition of new cultures because I like having my sims represent a certain culture because I get to try new things lol. 

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