Using wheelchairs as just one example, to show how this is very tricky to get right:
Wheelchairs are by chairs. By definition. If a person in a wheelchair wants to use a table or other object at seat-hight, they just roll up. Another seat there would be in the way, and it'd be handy for another person to remove it.
On most community lots, objects that require a seat to function with will have seats in the appropriate places, because they're required for normal sims to interact with the object. Try using a chess table without any chairs around. So when the person in a wheelchair wants to use a table or other object that requires sitting, which solution would people prefer:
- Either the wheelchair disappears while the person teleports into the seat, or the seat magically fades out while the person rolls up to the space. This would be the easiest option, but it would also be the laziest, and we know there'd be blowback for Maxis taking the lazy way out.
- The person would roll up next to the seat and transfer into it. This would leave a wheelchair object blocking paths in the world, and would probably have some odd graphical consequences depending on the type of seat; do your animations assume the presence of arms on chairs, or not? This would work, but it would be slow, and prone to graphics issues.
- The sim can't interface with the object unless there's a clear spot for them. This is the most "realistic", but it also makes things a PITA when able bodied sims attempt to use the object while visiting the lot.
- Allow sims to move objects of their own accord. Do you really want sim autonomy moving objects around lots and stuffing random objects in their inventories?
And this is a relatively simple case, where the odds of coming off accidentally insensitive are low. But just looking at basic gameplay interactions, these are things that would need to be figured out. I wonder which, if any, of the above options would make people the happiest.
