StrawberryYogurt wrote:
Main Poll Question:
Do you think the Sims 4's execution & aim of being more 'inclusive' has been moreso helpful or harmful to the game/series as a whole?
I wouldn't use the words "helpful or harmful". I would use the word "changed". The sims series, beginning with Sims 1, used to have an enormous amount of gameplay. Silly and absurd things happened. There was a great deal of wildly fun stuff. And you played the game you wanted to play - with sims that were just sims. No representation of anyone. Just made-up characters who only represented themselves. Sure there were archtypes. This is common when storytelling is involved. But you played the game using the characters, and the focus was on the "playing".
Now it is a dollhouse. Nothing wrong with having an inclusive dollhouse. But once you start
marketing your game as " create yourself and live your life", then you owe it to everyone to make sure they can make themselves and live the virtual life that they want to live. So, if the game fails, on any level, to offer the tools to create everyone who plays it, the game can be branded as racist, sexist, ageist, ableist, anti- this, pro-that, etcetera, etcetera.
There is no walking back from this type of marketing. Instead of focusing on gameplay, the focus must now be on meeting the expectations created by marketing. "Does this game allow myself and my life to be represented with the same equity that it allows everyone else to be represented?" The answer will always be "no". There is only so much that can be created and added at any one time. It will never be equal portions for all peoples. There will always be a level of disappointment for the group who was not included in this batch or this update. And because of the marketing, that disappointment will always be taken deeply personal.
I think that the choice to market the game with the focus on "creating your simself" instead of focusing on "ack! those sims put too much soap in the washing machine and now the laundry room floor is covered in bubbles!" has put this game into a very narrow area, and there is no getting out of it. I think this has caused the gameplay to suffer.
But for those who like the dollhouse... they have the right to expect what was marketed to them.
