“The Sims 4” is the fourth installment of the iconic "The Sims" series, a game that allows players to simulate their own lives or fictional lives that they create. As “The Sims” games evolved with changing social norms, “The Sims” has introduced some much appreciated game play features, such as same-sex couples being an option, even in the teenage phase of life. This is a great thing. Because that is the time when most people come to terms with their sexuality, and begin to feel attracted to other people around them, in a different way than when they’re younger.
Here is a photo of two men who are romancing each other with the “Offer Rose” action a lovely reminder that “The Sims 4” knows that love is love.
To accompany this photo is one of two women, one is being romanced by the “Kiss Hand” Action.
Along with the option to date and marry sims of the same sex, players can also marry and raise a family with their partners, since the adopt option is available for any sims, regardless of relationship status or partner. In fact, the sims a player creates don't have to get married at all, and can still raise a family. Since attitudes on marriage are changing, and more people are seeing it as a huge financial investment, and/or a level of vulnerability they aren't comfortable with, it’s refreshing to see that “The Sims 4” allows players the option to decide for themselves what they want their characters’ lives and relationships to be like. This aids the player in constructing their own narrative and granting some always appreciated agency to the player.
What’s even more interesting as well is that “The Sims 4” allows players to customize their sims in terms of gender. In the “Create-a-Sim” mode, there's a drop down menu where players can determine their sims physical frame, clothing preference, whether they can get pregnant, get others pregnant, or neither, and whether they can use the toilet standing, as shown below.
In addition to this, players aren't constrained to typically feminine and masculine voices, so any sim whether they appear to be male or female can have an extremely high pitched or low pitched voice, or somewhere in between.
Granted, the game isn’t perfect. For example, I was having two lesbian sims marry each other and instead of wearing their formal outfits that I chose for them, they both showed up wearing a generic wedding dress. Of course I had the option to change their outfits before the ceremony began, but it was a little irritation that they didn’t arrive wearing the clothes I had picked out. This seems more like an oversight by Maxis, the company that created “The Sims” series, and not a set of constraints on the clothing that the sims wear based upon gender.
To clarify, I have no issue with games that have limits on gender and sexual identity; I think it's refreshing and interesting when games have those mechanics, but there are plenty of amazing games that don't let the player have such an extensive level of customization as the Sims 4 does and that's perfectly fine.
As a gamer and a person who loves this game (I have around 164 hours of gameplay currently listed on Origin, the platform run by Electronic Arts that the game is held on for PC) it makes me extremely happy that Maxis is giving gamers more agency than they’ve experienced before in previous installments of “The Sims.” I hope that the game continues to be progressive, and reflect the diverse audience that enjoys their content.
