9 years ago

King and Queen "gendered" Doors with new update

So with the new Sims 4 update, the game's gender system has been completely overhauled. One thing I was curious about after moving my new genderqueer sim in was how this would interact with the gendered doors, known as "Queen's Door" and "King's Door", usually used for single sex bathrooms so only sims of a certain sex can enter. I did a little testing with my cis male sim (man with all setting set to male default), and my non-binary sim ("man" with feminine frame, ability to get pregnant, and pees sitting down). Both were able to pass through both the King and Queen doors without any difficulties, so it seems the restrictions were removed entirely (unless it was just for show and didn't have any special restrictions before the update, but I think they did, and they certainly imply it).

My thoughts on potential updates:
The biggest one for me is in the description of the Queen's Door

Only female sims are allowed beyond this door. Any problem with that?

compared to the King's Door

Only male sims are allowed beyond this door.

Now while neither is true, as there is no longer a sex restriction, and sex is no longer clear, my issue is with "Any problem with that?", which appears only for the females' door, and is unnecessarily aggressive. Unfortunately it bears the disturbing reality that many trans women face, where using either single-sex bathroom can (and frequently does) mean facing violence of any and every kind. As such, that phrase can be very triggering for people, and as it doesn't resonate with the welcoming attitude of the new overhaul, it has no place.

Regarding functionality and appearance:
Right now, the doors serve no purpose as special doors, as they don't actually function any differently than any other doors. I see 3 potential things that could be done with them

remove them

keep them for aesthetics/non-functioning role-play

adjust their function to the new update

The first 2 are fairly self-explanatory, but there are some different options for adjusting their function. As sex is no longer clearly defined, they can't exactly just be returned to their previous functioning. If they're going to sort Sims, as they're primarily used for bathrooms, most logical would be sorting based on whether they stand or sit to pee, and possibly reflecting that on the doors with an image of a urinal and toilet, instead of the irrelevant man/woman symbols. They could also possibly use a name update that no longer reflects gender. Alternatively, they could sort based on gender, or possibly reproduction setting, where sims who can't reproduce can use either door, if the purpose is to prevent pregnancies.

Anyways, those are my thoughts on it, share what you think (be kind), and hopefully we can get a mini-update for them.

musikitty
9 years ago
I totally agree on changing the description's wording, and I agree that the doors should reflect the new update's changes. I like the idea of adjusting them for sit down/stand up peeing. Alternatively, since there is still a choice in CAS between "male" and "female" (albeit with different sub-choices for how those males and females present), and since the male/female choice can be changed later, I'd say you could make the argument that the male/female choice is how the person chooses to be identified, and thus it should be fine to make the doors reliant on those choices instead of any of the other characteristics (i.e. physiques, pregnancy) which would represent things a person usually can't choose.

Hm... I don't know. Somebody ask GLAAD to get back here and help....
Aerihk
9 years ago
I agree with the "male/female" designation reflecting more so the Sim's identity/gender. I believe it affects pronouns, otherwise, physical attributes affected by it are minimal; mostly whether or not they have breasts (which you can kind of expand a breastless chest to give it similar shape anyways, so it's mostly about if their chest is covered or not, I think).

Oddly enough, my cis-male sim is set that he can pee standing up, but I have yet to see him do so. I'm starting to wonder if that feature wasn't implemented properly, or as intended.
GoldenBuffy22
9 years ago
SO now the bathroom doors no longer work? *sigh* Well I hope they fix that. I like having male and female restrooms.
gozeppelin
9 years ago
It helps that unisex restroom doors have existed ingame for a while now.
l_LilMagician_l
9 years ago
I'd like to keep those doors functioning as they are, since they're useful when creating working, separate bathrooms. And I believe there is a general bathroom door already in game where either sex can enter.

Perhaps they can release a modified door that will look the same but have the functions you desire, and leave the previous doors be for those who still want them.
kwanzaabot
9 years ago
The "got a problem with that?" description to me seems more like a "girl power" sort of thing. You know, "strong, independent women don't need no man" sort of stuff.

Look at the context. Do you really think Maxis is trying to be aggressive towards trans people? I mean, really?
Voeille
9 years ago
Does anyone remember the build/buy interactions from TS3 that you could use with testingcheats active? They could add something like that to TS4, and then we’d be able to choose custom options on the door – the same options we have in CAS.
ChrisinLiberty
7 years ago
I'm trying to change the description of these doors to make them more appealing, even though the "Any problem with that?" carries some kind of attitude. It does appear to be unnecessarily aggressive, but one thing that may have come to my attention is that the Queen's Door expects the player, especially if its a male, to not spy on Female Sims while going beyond the room where the door is.
This applies to the fact that I heard some men sneaking on women's bathrooms just to spy on them and that is definitely a horrible thing to do.
So the "Any problem with that?" just expects male Sims to not attempt to disturb Female Sims' privacy of some sort.

However, when I tried to change the description of the doors, it broke Build/Buy Mode completely, since when I tried placing objects on the world, it triggers a Script Call Error. I tried asking on the forums hoping for anyone to fix the issue, but nobody replied/cared. I'm hoping that one day there's a solution to this.
Pollyrhythm
9 years ago
"Aerihk;14873167" wrote:
Oddly enough, my cis-male sim is set that he can pee standing up, but I have yet to see him do so. I'm starting to wonder if that feature wasn't implemented properly, or as intended.

Males apparently don't need to pee much lol. It's been like that for a while where they sit more often than stand.
luthienrising
Hero+
9 years ago
"Polyrhythm;14873289" wrote:
"Aerihk;14873167" wrote:
Oddly enough, my cis-male sim is set that he can pee standing up, but I have yet to see him do so. I'm starting to wonder if that feature wasn't implemented properly, or as intended.

Males apparently don't need to pee much lol. It's been like that for a while where they sit more often than stand.

My recollection of the developers' explanation is that the sit/stand choice depends on how far down the need has gotten. That's since launch.