"We Aim To Be Inclusive"
For those that pre-ordered the Snowy Escape Pack, I got notified by a user that bowing at shrines can no longer be done. The Sims 4 team aims to be inclusive, yet actively censors and removes Japanes...
Forum Discussion
I don’t see this issue as a religious problem. Sure, some Japanese Simmers seriously believe in the religion, so I never say all of us don’t, but I just believe that Japanese people usually have little religious belief and mostly tolerate the others’ religions and those kind of issues. Besides, we all knew EA has avoided a lot of exact religious objects in The Sims’ history. I rather questioned that point. Why did they add such accurate thing now? Because they believed it was supposed to be so, or they just thought it’s just a spiritual fantasy that no one cares? Either way, I think they didn’t try to consider enough, both of Japanese culture and the game.
What I got pissed off and what made most Japanese Simmers go into a wild rage, I think, is this “inclusive” solution. Religion, culture, whatever, those words are too serious. It’s just how we are. Customs are formed by a certain number of people who have lived in the same place together through a certain amount of time. It’s a root of how you are, that you have to embrace and face from the birth. EA denied our way in the so-called “inclusive” way, supporting the other side, anti-Japanese people. It means EA is thinking they can modify the other’s way arbitrarily and make it favorable in its perspective. They should have at least asked us “What do you think?” before the modification.
I see this blind “Shame on your root” vibe sometimes, especially when I’m with privileged one, mostly wealthy Caucasians. When you consider changing your original name to English one, when you somehow feel relieved with no photo requirement on your resume, it’s totally “shame on your origin” moments. It’s sad you can’t be proud of your own, and you can’t spend normal life in the way you are without any discrimination.
Trust me, I’ve never seen Japanese Simmers cooperating such tight in the local bulletin board. At first, they said “we have to be just polite and don’t get so worked up. Certain people acknowledge our polite attitude, so they will pay attention to our voices.” But once they noticed that EA’s “inclusive” way was to support only anti-Japanese activists, and moreover, to ignore Japanese voices pretending nothing has happened, they started saying “OMG, we have to raise our voices otherwise EA will abuse us.” The reason why so many Japanese Simmers made new accounts here and posted their opinions towards EA without hesitating their English skill, including me, is simply because they were terrified by EA’s “inclusive” way. EA intervened our realm and cut it off from ours arbitrarily, without any respects.
I see this as a bad communication issue. We sent tons of messages to EA and posted many opinions to this forum. There is even a feedback thread from Japanese in the forum but we’ve seen no response from EA yet. It’s weird that SimGuruGraham surely wrote on his twitter “… we listen to them as representatives of the cultures that we draw inspiration from.” No, they don’t. They don’t listen to us at all. Instead, they build a wall, sending back only templated messages, navigating to the “Contact EA” page over and over, and deleting some big threads here. This “EA doesn’t listen to us” phrases are commonly seen among the feedback threads about glitches now. The ultimate cause of this issue is, too, that EA doesn’t care simmers’ voices anymore. If only EA had shown a “we are listening to your voices, Japanese” attitude, maybe many of them would have stopped barking and moved on. EA’s priority is now making a new pack that produces their profits. Even if a new one breaks the old features, they won’t care how Simmers feel.
The following is my opinion, but I believe that EA doesn’t care how Japanese simmers feel about this pack from the start, because, in my opinion, their goal was to mimic Ghost of Tsushima, the worldwide hit inspired from Japanese culture. It’s becoming a red ocean in the game market right now. They see this as a business opportunity, so they decided to make the second brew of tea. You know, in Ghost of Tsushima, there are Inari Shrines and Onsen spots throughout the open world. EA picked up the similar architectural style for the both objects in The Sims 4, while that kind of lighting is not that common for hot springs in Japan and was, however, originally used for temples.
Other than the religious issue, I personally think Salary person career is also horrible to play. Not only Japanese but also many people out there are right now going through tough and serious job problems in this COVID-19 period. Do you really want to face those problems in the game, too? Is that Salary person career in The Sims 4 fun and hilarious enough to be its gameplay? I honestly don’t think so. I believe that the devs thought “huh, what is that samurai’s loyalty to the boss in the modern age?” then, ding! The desperate workaholic was born, I guess. So, my answer to “Why such thing now?” in the first paragraph is because they just stole not only culture but also gameplay from the others.
They are no longer able to come up with the great idea of gameplay in the perspective of “what’s fun gameplay in The Sims 4?” Their priority is making money in the easiest way. They’ve stopped imagining how Simmers would react to their work, and eventually they’ve lost the magic to make their game fun.
What I got pissed off and what made most Japanese Simmers go into a wild rage, I think, is this “inclusive” solution. Religion, culture, whatever, those words are too serious. It’s just how we are. Customs are formed by a certain number of people who have lived in the same place together through a certain amount of time. It’s a root of how you are, that you have to embrace and face from the birth. EA denied our way in the so-called “inclusive” way, supporting the other side, anti-Japanese people. It means EA is thinking they can modify the other’s way arbitrarily and make it favorable in its perspective. They should have at least asked us “What do you think?” before the modification.
I see this blind “Shame on your root” vibe sometimes, especially when I’m with privileged one, mostly wealthy Caucasians. When you consider changing your original name to English one, when you somehow feel relieved with no photo requirement on your resume, it’s totally “shame on your origin” moments. It’s sad you can’t be proud of your own, and you can’t spend normal life in the way you are without any discrimination.
Trust me, I’ve never seen Japanese Simmers cooperating such tight in the local bulletin board. At first, they said “we have to be just polite and don’t get so worked up. Certain people acknowledge our polite attitude, so they will pay attention to our voices.” But once they noticed that EA’s “inclusive” way was to support only anti-Japanese activists, and moreover, to ignore Japanese voices pretending nothing has happened, they started saying “OMG, we have to raise our voices otherwise EA will abuse us.” The reason why so many Japanese Simmers made new accounts here and posted their opinions towards EA without hesitating their English skill, including me, is simply because they were terrified by EA’s “inclusive” way. EA intervened our realm and cut it off from ours arbitrarily, without any respects.
I see this as a bad communication issue. We sent tons of messages to EA and posted many opinions to this forum. There is even a feedback thread from Japanese in the forum but we’ve seen no response from EA yet. It’s weird that SimGuruGraham surely wrote on his twitter “… we listen to them as representatives of the cultures that we draw inspiration from.” No, they don’t. They don’t listen to us at all. Instead, they build a wall, sending back only templated messages, navigating to the “Contact EA” page over and over, and deleting some big threads here. This “EA doesn’t listen to us” phrases are commonly seen among the feedback threads about glitches now. The ultimate cause of this issue is, too, that EA doesn’t care simmers’ voices anymore. If only EA had shown a “we are listening to your voices, Japanese” attitude, maybe many of them would have stopped barking and moved on. EA’s priority is now making a new pack that produces their profits. Even if a new one breaks the old features, they won’t care how Simmers feel.
The following is my opinion, but I believe that EA doesn’t care how Japanese simmers feel about this pack from the start, because, in my opinion, their goal was to mimic Ghost of Tsushima, the worldwide hit inspired from Japanese culture. It’s becoming a red ocean in the game market right now. They see this as a business opportunity, so they decided to make the second brew of tea. You know, in Ghost of Tsushima, there are Inari Shrines and Onsen spots throughout the open world. EA picked up the similar architectural style for the both objects in The Sims 4, while that kind of lighting is not that common for hot springs in Japan and was, however, originally used for temples.
Other than the religious issue, I personally think Salary person career is also horrible to play. Not only Japanese but also many people out there are right now going through tough and serious job problems in this COVID-19 period. Do you really want to face those problems in the game, too? Is that Salary person career in The Sims 4 fun and hilarious enough to be its gameplay? I honestly don’t think so. I believe that the devs thought “huh, what is that samurai’s loyalty to the boss in the modern age?” then, ding! The desperate workaholic was born, I guess. So, my answer to “Why such thing now?” in the first paragraph is because they just stole not only culture but also gameplay from the others.
They are no longer able to come up with the great idea of gameplay in the perspective of “what’s fun gameplay in The Sims 4?” Their priority is making money in the easiest way. They’ve stopped imagining how Simmers would react to their work, and eventually they’ve lost the magic to make their game fun.
