The creators of The Sims game franchise are taking a major step forward towards representation, creativity, and customization as they create an update for The Sims 4 that allows players to add their own custom pronouns for their Sims.
The Sims is a stimulating video game series that allows you to create your own character just like how you’d want it in real life. Ever since its release in 2000, it has been known to be a much more progressive game series and has been praised for its diverse character representation as compared to other gaming franchises, since they have always allowed same-sex relationships and have actively worked to improve options around same-sex marriage, gender representation, and even cultural and racial diversity.
For years, the franchise has been using a binary gender system throughout its games. In the games’ Create-A-Sim feature, players could only designate their character as either male (he/him) or female (she/her), although users can customize their characters in other ways such as body type, physical appearance, and clothing choices. Still, the developers wanted to allow their diverse players to feel more seen in the video game.
Now, the video game takes a further step towards progression, the game developers, Maxis, together with the help of GLAAD and the It Gets Better Project announced a new update that will allow players to determine their own pronouns as part of the Create-A-Sim feature.
A brand new update to The Sims 4 is here ✨, & with the help of the @ItGetsBetter Project & @GLAAD, players can now add custom pronouns to their Sims in Create A Sim 🎉 pic.twitter.com/D5N1gvfNNc
— The Sims (@TheSims) May 24, 2022
With the new update for The Sims 4, players can now select she/her, he/him, they/them, or create a custom set of pronouns depending on their own preferences or what they are comfortable with. The custom option has included other fields to input pronouns for the subjective, objective, possessive dependent, possessive independent, reflexive forms, and even other sample sentences in case players aren’t familiar with the grammar terminology.
Although the new update of customizable pronouns may not be surprising to The Sims 4 community, since the game developers themselves are aware of the feedback from the players about the binary gender limitation, and Maxis has been looking into adding the new feature for months now. But why does this new feature play a significant role in the community? According to Stephanie DeBiase, gaming and future tech coordinator of the It Gets Better Project, The Sims 4 has always been a safe fictional space for the members of the LGBTQIA+ community to express themselves, and explore queer lives and relationships. By adding this feature of custom pronouns, Maxis is lifting the limitation in terms of this fictional fantasy, and allowing its community players to have more creative freedom.
“Creating a sim and setting their pronouns and then having that seamlessly be used in the gameplay is liberating, especially for trans and nonbinary players who are often met with resistance and discrimination in their everyday lives,” DeBiase said. “This kind of virtual affirmation, especially from a large, mainstream video game like The Sims, can go a long way in reminding LGBTQIA+ players that they are seen, valued, and understood.”
The It Gets Better education coordinator Rae Sweet added that many of us tend to see gender as a galaxy, as opposed to a spectrum or a binary, “And with something as complex as a galaxy, it can be hard to find [the] language (and pronouns) that feel right.”
While the feature is currently only available in the English version of The Sims 4 and is still a work-in-progress, the developers aim to improve its other important elements such as verb agreement and other adjustments. For now, game developers Maxis and associate producer John Faciane, and executive producer Phill Ring, want to become more transparent as a community and encourage players to give more feedback via their social media and other Sims communities to explore more ways in becoming more inclusive as they launch the new update.
The studio developers also intend to update and expand custom pronouns to more sets of languages over time, as they are aware of how language is always changing and evolving. According to Phil Ring, “There are certain languages that have one set of pronouns as gender-neutral ones, but then actually that changes, that evolves as language does, and we’ll be looking to update. This is a thing that we’re going to be continually looking at and seeing the best ways to evolve as we move forward.”
More than the representation the custom pronouns update brings, Ring also hopes that players who already felt represented by, she/her and he/him pronouns will still get something from this such as having the opportunity to meet other people whose pronouns are outside of the binary system. Ring hopes that this will give players exposure to more diverse identities, and allow them to know stories and learn how a little step like this matters.
Associate producer, Faciane also openly share how this kind of matter heavily resonates with him as just like others, it took him time to fully embrace himself, and how important it is to see more of yourself in media and games, “I didn’t come out until a bit later in life and one of the things that helped me feel comfortable with that, even though I had a loving, supportive, open family, was…seeing more representation in media and games.”
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