Sims really will flirt with anyone.

"MidnightAura;c-16272798" wrote:

"DeservedCriticism;c-16272659" wrote:

"drake_mccarty;c-16270538" wrote:
In Sims 3 their gender preference was determined by who they were romantic with (default was no preference at all I believe). It was totally possible to create bisexual Sims who actually had interest in both genders, or one. In Sims 4 it seems that every sim is bisexual, or just open to whatever regardless of what gender you instruct them to be romantic with. Kind of a shallow mechanic IMO.

It's a problem a lot of games sadly fall for. They believe this is more inclusive or fair or accessible for everyone, the problem being this just makes characters feel more shallow. Mass Effect romantic interests feel less genuine because it's difficult to believe every single person on the ship is bisexual. Fallout 4 companions feel absolutely ridiculous when the robot is hitting on you or the married man with a wife and kids is suddenly gay for you. Sims just feel less characterized and like the system is just too lazy to account for the gender preferences of each one.

I prefer Fallout New Vegas' approach, a game which btw was praised by feminists, LGBT groups, Mormons and a number of other minority groups for doing something very simple: by recognizing that being a part of a minority is not a character trait and should never ever ever act as a personality. The game had 8 companions total including one lesbian and one gay guy. Neither of them would fully announce their sexual preference unless it came up in conversation (or you attempted to hit on them as the proper gender) and both of them were characters just like everyone else. Additionally, there were perks to give your character an aptitude for hitting on the opposite gender or their own. Different perks would correspond with different target NPCs, resulting in different benefits. This is because the game didn't lazily decide quest target #5 was somehow lesbian, bisexual, a gay man and straight simultaneously (somehow), but rather quest #5 would involve a gay guy while quest #7 then benefitted women since the target was a straight male, and so on and so forth. This gave them more personality and the universe more realism.

Honestly, with a game like the Sims...? Gender preference should be added to CAS, or Sims should be assumed straight until the player themselves does something to change this. I think the former solution would be much easier to code in and would add to personalities of the Sims far better, but I fear they probably won't include such a thing out of fear it'd offend somebody. I really think the fear of offending people just needs to stop. I mean until partway through the last game, large breasts were somehow considered inappropriate. I got news for the offended: large breasted women exist, gay people exist, lesbians exist, and the inclusion or exclusion of such things on a checklist in CAS is not gonna change that.

Off topic I love fallout and agree about the companions. Never played new Vegas but I plan too.

Anyhow back on topic we should have a way to set our gender preferences in cas. I mean with the Sims 2 you could set turn ons and turn offs in cas so if you gave a female sim a turn on of "formal wear" and beards/facial hair you were setting her up to be attracted to males. I like the attraction system, I like that we can set their preference by flirting with the desired gender and then the sim will ways use the desired gender for romantic interactions but the player can change it should they want too by pushing for romantic interactions on the opposite gender and then the balance will shift.

I agree we are never likely to get such a preference set in cas because it would offend someone. I expect that is why sims don't appear to have a gender preference and will happily float between both and the player cannot stop it any more than they can stop sims hitting on their in laws

TBH Maxis already inserted their whole stance on LGBTQ people by implementing gender options for transgender Sims. Sexual preference honestly should have been included in that, but it wasn’t and I think it’s more likely that’s due to a lack of programming versus a fear of offending someone.

Who are they going to offend? Gays? Straights?