Hmmm….
Well…..
Ehhr…
Uhmm….?
See…we’re talking about a life simulator here. There’s no way you cannot NOT represent or include things that reflect real life because we as a bunch of emotional human beans will always be on the lookout for something that we can relate to. We’re a bit annoying that way.
This is why I believe an interesting and fun life simulator like the sims should aim for inclusivity and representation by giving the player the tools to create anything they want or feel they need without being too specific.
I personally have a huge dislike for literal representation of (sub) cultural / religious behavior and items (this is where owning a pc and custom content could play a significant role) BUT I always appreciate gameplay and worlds and architecture and objects that merely suggest something from - or is inspired by- a particular region / culture in the world.
Don’t take away from a player’s own imagination and creativity. Support it. Encourage it.
For example, CAS is a wonderful feature that lets us play with genetics and anything else that healthy humans are BORN with or develop in their lifetime. Therefore I appreciate the addition of more skintones and natural hair colors and textures only because I want my characters to look as versatile as the peoples around me. This only makes sense.
However, the sims who belong to minority groups -e.g. occults and somewhat hairy male sims- deserve the same attention since they are also part of this game. ?
I love attire that is inspired by cultural, historical and modern fashion. Same goes for worlds. Geography, climate, and again, gameplay that suggests culture related activities -such as eating with chopsticks or simply a fork- is always welcome. Wait a sec…do sims eat their soup with a fork too? ?
It doesn’t matter. With food recipes being the rule to the exception, I just feel uncomfortable with anything too “Real Life Literal” added to this game. I repeat, game. Not “real life”. Game.
Say for example we were to get kilts inspired by Scotland, which would be great by the way, yes? Scott-ish kilts?
The moment you try and be literal about them kilts: “Now folks to celebrate Scottish inclusion, we want you to know that this tartan with these colors and that pattern and these socks belongs to such and such Clan”…you gonna ask for heaps, no, Highlands of trouble. Trouble with about 480 + Scottish clans you failed to include. Clash of Clans.
I would be very unimpressed by such literal representation, plus, who cares about Scottish families? I certainly don’t. I want to create my own clans. And don’t bite my head off you Scots! I’m only yer big aul pesky brother from across the mire AArr. ?
Anyhoo, speaking of clash of clans, something similar happened with the addition of pride flags and slogans. One flag was missing, BAM! Bird poo all over social media aka Twitter Storm. Funny thing is, there is already enough decoration in the game to celebrate some of these specific communities. Why so literal? You offer folks a finger, they want the entire arm -make that body- that belongs to that finger.
But whoever complained, was spot-on! You either do it right, or you don’t do it at all. There can’t be room for mistakes. That’s part of the issue.
And with this kind of letter-for -letter, real world symbolism….there are too many unintentional mistakes to be made. Waste of time and too stressful on the dev team. Seriously. It puts the game in danger of feeling one sided and political.
Why not keep it light and avoid Social Media Sharknadoes? This is already difficult enough considering the fact that we all live on Cancel Culture Planet, but It’s the only bad weather you could possibly stop from happening.
As others suggest, improve the game tools and systems so the ideas and ideals you stand for actually make sense.
Add an attraction system; work on the Ai; give us a couple more sliders; add a skin detail brush and a bodyhair menu ; fix the deformed clothing on certain frames; stop the Nancy Landgraab invasions of every single friggin’ world if I choose so and let some of my sims NOT HAVE A DARN SMERT PHONE DARNITT!!!
Etcetera.
Give us more options and improve the basics!
In my opinion slapping all these woke bandaids onto the game does not improve anything and will only cause more cases of the notorious “ I Feel Left Out “ syndrome. Oh Yawn and where’s the fun in that?
Just a sec…
Oh no……my sim kid wants me to eliminate the Cthulhu that lives under her bed. I can see it right there. IT’S GOT TENTACLES FOR HEAVEN’s SAKE!! ?
K Gotta go, CU later. And thanks.
