"We Aim To Be Inclusive"

"loonatheworld;c-17744736" wrote:
I think a lot of this would be solved if the Sims 4 stopped making worlds that read as American and actually did research to engage with a variety of cultures, or if they just stuck to doing solely American inspired things. I think players are forced to care a lot more about their representation when you basically get one shot at it in the game and it's usually bungled.

This is one of my main complaints about the game: It's too US-centric.
They really should be looking into hiring people with history degrees, who are local to other countries, as advisors on what to include, and what not to, to avoid stereotyping, and potentially offensive scenarios.

Like, as a non-American, so few worlds actually read as anything but American. I'm Scottish, and hence British via being in the UK, and Britechester was clearly meant to be inspired by the UK except...? No stoves in dorms, you have to pay fees in a way that reads as American, and no traditional parts of Scottish, Welsh, English, or Northern Irish universities were included. The two univesities thing was super foreign to the UK audience and even in the world you couldn't engage with "normal" parts of culture here, like building two houses sharing a wall that aren't on the same plot. If I remember correctly, the Sims team admitted they had no idea all of this made it read as American.

I hate the way they do universities.
They too, are too US-Centric. The developers really need to look into the university experience of cultures outside of the US.
I will admit that they did it a little bit better this time around, by not forcing your sims to move onto campus to attend uni. I have so many friends who completed uni while living in their family home, or in share houses that were nowhere near campus. On campus dorm living is mostly only the experience of rural and international students, and the few who attend from a different city.

but I do feel sad about it in the Sims 4, because their one attempt at something close to mine was completely inaccurate and in that way, I totally get why Korean simmers were frustrated. They don't have anything close to Korean and it is hard to not be frustrated the one Asian world has caused upsets with their culture.

It makes me wonder how Americanised that one Asian-esque world is.
Non-American things are often treated like an exotic plaything, it's stereotypical, and fetishised.

And I don't think the Sims team is aware of how easy it would be to expand the cultures included! Evergreen Harbor easily could have been Swedish, given that Sweden is known for being eco-friendly, having the Northern Lights, and having evergreens. Britechester easily could have been a far more authentic look at the UK (and ideally, one specific country within it to avoid historically awkward conflation). Why couldn't San Myshuno have been Tokyo themed, leaving the snow themed pack to represent another culture?

It would have been interesting to have the snow themed pack with an Australian theme.
We have mountains, we have ski resorts, there is snow... in winter.
The rest of the time, it could have been a bit The Man From Snowy River

https://media1.tenor.com/images/14953cde7be6c230a0b185da29963dc4/tenor.gif?itemid=11221538

Ooh, look! Snow!
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FlakyPiercingArmedcrab-small.gif

They need to commit to doing a variety of cultures well or they need to stick to being America (and considering they cannot realistically manage every culture on earth, I know what I'd encourage them towards).

I think they need to avoid any particular cultures, even their own.
They need to generalise more, and blur the boundaries.
They should never have done 'a Japanese' world. It should have been a north eastern Asian world, or a south eastern Asian world, or a central Asian world. Something less specific.

They could to a Scandinavian world, and not be specific to any one culture in the region. Or a North African world, or a west African world, or a Mediterranean world. They will never get any particular culture, other than their own, right. But generalising a region, rather than a specific culture, they would have a better chance of not doing things so badly.