Representation
I will do my best not to come across as being "political" for that is NOT my intent. I want to start out with that I love the Representation we have in the game. From February showcasing Black Simmers...
Forum Discussion
A lot of this can be done with just the name generator.
For Asians, most of my Asian sims were Korean with Chinese Surnames (oops) before I got the Mountain Pack.
For Hispanics, there is an extremely obvious nod that could be done with Cottage Living - since the Llamas are a Quechua animal of the High Mountain Andes of Peru.
As someone with South American roots, I didn't find the game's Hispanic aspects to be too Mexican. I found them to be 'too mix-maxed'.
Notice how:
- the base game and many packs/EPs are a generic Mix of 'US / Canada / Northern Europe',
- "Island Living" is a generic mix of anyone from Oceania / the Pacific.
- Salvadora is a generic Mix of Latin America,
- but then Snowy Escape was specifically Japan.
I found that Jarring. Snowy Escape should have been a generic mix of East Asia if it was following the pattern. A 'fictional Asia'. Not Japan specific.
Korean players even noted this - they presumed it would be generic Asia and so it felt appropriate to protest the shrine. But then they got a Japan-EP where that shine actually made sense. Except nowhere else in all of Sims 4 is any content so specific to a specific nation. Even Strangerville could potentially be in Australia or the USA (though this is a stretch so it's "almost" as specific as Snowy Escape).
...
For Native Americans it becomes a dangerous issue - it is illegal to falsely claim any given thing is made by a native tribe. Many representations of uses of tribal names are protected by law. Yes you see things like certain car brands disrespectfully using the names of tribes for the names of their cars - but the auto industry can buy Congressmen and get an exemption. Your other options end up toxically racist like certain major sports team names that are racial slurs.
The Island pack was a missed opportunity to represent the Caribbean. You'd need a game pack that added another set of Islands to fix that.
A lot of ground has been made recently in covering ethnic groups commonly found in the USA - and expanding the name generator could help with this further. Skin and facial feature presets though, are where they need to be at present.
There's long been a lot of name and CAS coverage for people of Europe.
Handling ableism issues would actually make for a great gamepack idea. It would require a lot of new animations and CAS additions.
.
For Asians, most of my Asian sims were Korean with Chinese Surnames (oops) before I got the Mountain Pack.
For Hispanics, there is an extremely obvious nod that could be done with Cottage Living - since the Llamas are a Quechua animal of the High Mountain Andes of Peru.
As someone with South American roots, I didn't find the game's Hispanic aspects to be too Mexican. I found them to be 'too mix-maxed'.
Notice how:
- the base game and many packs/EPs are a generic Mix of 'US / Canada / Northern Europe',
- "Island Living" is a generic mix of anyone from Oceania / the Pacific.
- Salvadora is a generic Mix of Latin America,
- but then Snowy Escape was specifically Japan.
I found that Jarring. Snowy Escape should have been a generic mix of East Asia if it was following the pattern. A 'fictional Asia'. Not Japan specific.
Korean players even noted this - they presumed it would be generic Asia and so it felt appropriate to protest the shrine. But then they got a Japan-EP where that shine actually made sense. Except nowhere else in all of Sims 4 is any content so specific to a specific nation. Even Strangerville could potentially be in Australia or the USA (though this is a stretch so it's "almost" as specific as Snowy Escape).
...
For Native Americans it becomes a dangerous issue - it is illegal to falsely claim any given thing is made by a native tribe. Many representations of uses of tribal names are protected by law. Yes you see things like certain car brands disrespectfully using the names of tribes for the names of their cars - but the auto industry can buy Congressmen and get an exemption. Your other options end up toxically racist like certain major sports team names that are racial slurs.
The Island pack was a missed opportunity to represent the Caribbean. You'd need a game pack that added another set of Islands to fix that.
A lot of ground has been made recently in covering ethnic groups commonly found in the USA - and expanding the name generator could help with this further. Skin and facial feature presets though, are where they need to be at present.
There's long been a lot of name and CAS coverage for people of Europe.
Handling ableism issues would actually make for a great gamepack idea. It would require a lot of new animations and CAS additions.
.
