I feel like The Sims 4 is no longer "play your own way", but "think the way you're intended to think". I'm very happy about all of those that are enjoying the update, however I couldn't exactly get into the game after today, after I got to understand that one side of simmers will always get censored.
1. The game will never have cultural traditions, or religion. Mere mention of these things will shut your thread down (as well as this one eventually, probably. Will try to take pictures of the thread beforehand though).
2. You're bad, evil, or backwards if you are uncomfortable with the new gender settings. That is what the forum will label you. Poland didn't even do a write up about the new update and everyone is bashing the country, instead of carefully considering the views and needs of other countries.
3. Just asking "can updates be optional?" got my thread deleted. Seriously. I suppose updates will never be optional, no matter how major the change is.
4. Tried contacting customer support, they said that it's a developer issue and if an update upsets me I should come and post here, however posting here gets the threads deleted.
Overall I feel like the more conservative simmers are not welcome on the forums or in game. Even if you're rather open minded and just not too comfortable with, for example, two men being able to have a baby, you have no way to take those options out of your game.
@barraakeno well I am not sure where our original argument has gone then because I agree with you, I too am anti-censorship and believe in healthy debate but I also think idea's can be harmful. In Australia we have laws against speaking racial hatred for example and you can be arrested and charged for it. I think that's a good thing. It has to go both ways. Person A is entitled to thier opinion but Person B is equally entitled to think Person A's opinion is wrong and is equally entitled to say so. I don't think disagreeing with someone is the same as censorship and I don't think there is anything wrong with censoring hate speech against a person or group of people. It is censoring speech against OPINIONS that is the problem and that is what i have been trying to express to you.
But it doesn't change your game, at all. You can still have your old cas so what is the problem? It's not like EA has switched men and women clothing forcing you into anything. They just gave everyone more options if they want to use them
I'm happy they didn't but it's to the point we can't even ask for some sort of gameplay about religion like The Sims Medieval had because even bringing up that sort of gameplay is against rules. I don't get that.
Because religion isn't the same as clothing and being transgender...
I may differ in opinion with you about that. Life simulator going to include all then let's do it and include all.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
@barraakeno well I am not sure where our original argument has gone then because I agree with you, I too am anti-censorship and believe in healthy debate but I also think idea's can be harmful. In Australia we have laws against speaking racial hatred for example and you can be arrested and charged for it. I think that's a good thing. It has to go both ways. Person A is entitled to thier opinion but Person B is equally entitled to think Person A's opinion is wrong and is equally entitled to say so. I don't think disagreeing with someone is the same as censorship and I don't think there is anything wrong with censoring hate speech against a person or group of people. It is censoring speech against OPINIONS that is the problem and that is what i have been trying to express to you.
I think this is an attempt by Maxis to expand their audience. There are a lot of people who play video games who just aren't represented at all, or when they are represented, it's done very badly. EA actually has made some interesting strides when it comes to this, but I'm sure it's because they realize that there's a market to be had. Just look at the success of Bioware games and how their games add more content geared towards women and non-straight people and how kind it's been to their sales. Bethesda is also good about this, though with much lighter content.
If you start being more inclusive of gamers who really aren't catered to by anyone else, I'm sure there's the hope that they'll purchase your product. Honestly, for me, as critical as I am of the game (and yes, I'm very critical for many reasons), I think just having more options will make for a more interesting game and if it brings in more people, then it was successful.
I feel like The Sims 4 is no longer "play your own way", but "think the way you're intended to think". I'm very happy about all of those that are enjoying the update, however I couldn't exactly get into the game after today, after I got to understand that one side of simmers will always get censored.
1. The game will never have cultural traditions, or religion. Mere mention of these things will shut your thread down (as well as this one eventually, probably. Will try to take pictures of the thread beforehand though).
2. You're bad, evil, or backwards if you are uncomfortable with the new gender settings. That is what the forum will label you. Poland didn't even do a write up about the new update and everyone is bashing the country, instead of carefully considering the views and needs of other countries.
3. Just asking "can updates be optional?" got my thread deleted. Seriously. I suppose updates will never be optional, no matter how major the change is.
4. Tried contacting customer support, they said that it's a developer issue and if an update upsets me I should come and post here, however posting here gets the threads deleted.
Overall I feel like the more conservative simmers are not welcome on the forums or in game. Even if you're rather open minded and just not too comfortable with, for example, two men being able to have a baby, you have no way to take those options out of your game.
After reading the first thread I saw on this patch, today, where people said you could toggle off some things, I went back into my game and looked at the gameplay settings and didn't find anywhere where I could toggle off anything other than what was there prior to the patch. Then I decided to get into CAS and have a look at things. I did take time to read the patch notes, too, before I played my game. In creating a new Sim, underneath the traditional symbols for male and female, there is a set of ellipses dots (…). If you click on that, you'll see options. You can set a Sim to get pregnant: Yes; No and I vaguely recall a third option which I think was Never, but don't quote me on that. You can also set that Sim (mine was a female that came up automatically) to feminine; masculine and a few other choices. From the notes I recall that this will only affect the Sims you create, not the townies. Since EA opted to do it this way, that allows the rest of us, who aren't in support of this twist, to continue to play our game as if this option didn't exist. I'm perfectly okay with that. Really.
I'm a very conservative, religious individual, so I get where you're coming from. I'm also very much into biology (inasmuch as I got an A in it back in school) and there is no way in Zzyzx two males will ever create a life between them, unless one is cloned. But, some enjoy their dystopia. This will make them happy and enjoy the game. In my not-so-humble opinion, so long as it won't splash into my personal game play style, why not let the others have their way on this?
Because religion isn't the same as clothing and being transgender...
What do you mean? They allow for a lot of lifestyles to be implemented in the game. It would be cool to have it in the game if done tastefully and right. Others should have the option to make their lifestyle represented as well. And religion was in TSM.
Religion worked in TSM because of the setting. Having a Christian-like religion makes sense, and no one would bat an eye at it being in a medieval setting. But the problem is, the main Sims series is set in a modern world, and there are many different religions in the world today, so they can't just do one, they would have to create multiples for every type, and what about all the subsets, the different beliefs, the sheer diversity of religion today. It would be a disaster, as one person might wonder why their religion isn't drawn from and added into the game, or some people might say doing certain things in a certain religion goes against what their beliefs are. It's way too complex an issue in order to pull it off where Ea/Maxis won't get major hate from a group and lose customers, thus, it's better to just leave it out so that they won't get major complaints from religious groups.
Just some random Simmer you probably don't even follow on the gallery! Gallery name's the same as my username! Did I just rhyme there?
@barraakeno well I am not sure where our original argument has gone then because I agree with you, I too am anti-censorship and believe in healthy debate but I also think idea's can be harmful. In Australia we have laws against speaking racial hatred for example and you can be arrested and charged for it. I think that's a good thing. It has to go both ways. Person A is entitled to thier opinion but Person B is equally entitled to think Person A's opinion is wrong and is equally entitled to say so. I don't think disagreeing with someone is the same as censorship and I don't think there is anything wrong with censoring hate speach against a person or group of people. It is censoring speech against OPINIONS that is the problem and that is what i have been trying to express to you.
Ok, I got it now I still sustain what I've said before. and I agree with you.
(I also believe that hate speech is wrong. But censoring it will not end it. Just will hide it. but it is subject for another time.)
Brazilian guy here, so my English is not that good.
But it doesn't change your game, at all. You can still have your old cas so what is the problem? It's not like EA has switched men and women clothing forcing you into anything. They just gave everyone more options if they want to use them
I'm happy they didn't but it's to the point we can't even ask for some sort of gameplay about religion like The Sims Medieval had because even bringing up that sort of gameplay is against rules. I don't get that.
Because religion isn't the same as clothing and being transgender...
I may differ in opinion with you about that. Life simulator going to include all then let's do it and include all.
Sure you want to include all? Because then shouldn't it include cults and everything else too?
In general, proud of EA idk what is wrong with these forums for making an issue out of an OPTIONAL cas feature.
Because religion isn't the same as clothing and being transgender...
What do you mean? They allow for a lot of lifestyles to be implemented in the game. It would be cool to have it in the game if done tastefully and right. Others should have the option to make their lifestyle represented as well. And religion was in TSM.
Religion worked in TSM because of the setting. Having a Christian-like religion makes sense, and no one would bat an eye at it being in a medieval setting. But the problem is, the main Sims series is set in a modern world, and there are many different religions in the world today, so they can't just do one, they would have to create multiples for every type, and what about all the subsets, the different beliefs, the sheer diversity of religion today. It would be a disaster, as one person might wonder why their religion isn't drawn from and added into the game, or some people might say doing certain things in a certain religion goes against what their beliefs are. It's way too complex an issue in order to pull it off where Ea/Maxis won't get major hate from a group and lose customers, thus, it's better to just leave it out so that they won't get major complaints from religious groups.
Bu.... But...
EA is getting major hate from a group and losing customers at the moment. AND they're getting hate from religious groups!
Ok I listened to the video. Yes it is a big problem with the Sims 4 is it being a game that alienates groups of Simmers. I'm sorry you feel hurt by some of the comments and that people derailed your topics with nasty offensive comments. Thankfully there is a protection on forums about not giving personal information out. On social media, best not to reveal personal info especially in gaming communities. There are creepy stalkers on the internet. I've seen the exact same thing happen with toddler threads too with threads getting derailed with hate speech, so not like there aren't Simmers out there that can relate. Best to do is to ask for comments that break forum rules get removed. Sadly mods can only do so much and if debating and rule breaks continues topics usually get closed. Like with laws, forum rules are something that every Simmer has to follow.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
@barraakeno well I am not sure where our original argument has gone then because I agree with you, I too am anti-censorship and believe in healthy debate but I also think idea's can be harmful. In Australia we have laws against speaking racial hatred for example and you can be arrested and charged for it. I think that's a good thing. It has to go both ways. Person A is entitled to thier opinion but Person B is equally entitled to think Person A's opinion is wrong and is equally entitled to say so. I don't think disagreeing with someone is the same as censorship and I don't think there is anything wrong with censoring hate speech against a person or group of people. It is censoring speech against OPINIONS that is the problem and that is what i have been trying to express to you.
But that's censorship.
@Swiftlover13 I think you missed this so I bolded it for you I don't think there is anything wrong with censoring hate speech against a person or group of people.
I feel like The Sims 4 is no longer "play your own way", but "think the way you're intended to think". I'm very happy about all of those that are enjoying the update, however I couldn't exactly get into the game after today, after I got to understand that one side of simmers will always get censored.
1. The game will never have cultural traditions, or religion. Mere mention of these things will shut your thread down (as well as this one eventually, probably. Will try to take pictures of the thread beforehand though).
2. You're bad, evil, or backwards if you are uncomfortable with the new gender settings. That is what the forum will label you. Poland didn't even do a write up about the new update and everyone is bashing the country, instead of carefully considering the views and needs of other countries.
3. Just asking "can updates be optional?" got my thread deleted. Seriously. I suppose updates will never be optional, no matter how major the change is.
4. Tried contacting customer support, they said that it's a developer issue and if an update upsets me I should come and post here, however posting here gets the threads deleted.
Overall I feel like the more conservative simmers are not welcome on the forums or in game. Even if you're rather open minded and just not too comfortable with, for example, two men being able to have a baby, you have no way to take those options out of your game.
After reading the first thread I saw on this patch, today, where people said you could toggle off some things, I went back into my game and looked at the gameplay settings and didn't find anywhere where I could toggle off anything other than what was there prior to the patch. Then I decided to get into CAS and have a look at things. I did take time to read the patch notes, too, before I played my game. In creating a new Sim, underneath the traditional symbols for male and female, there is a set of ellipses dots (…). If you click on that, you'll see options. You can set a Sim to get pregnant: Yes; No and I vaguely recall a third option which I think was Never, but don't quote me on that. You can also set that Sim (mine was a female that came up automatically) to feminine; masculine and a few other choices. From the notes I recall that this will only affect the Sims you create, not the townies. Since EA opted to do it this way, that allows the rest of us, who aren't in support of this twist, to continue to play our game as if this option didn't exist. I'm perfectly okay with that. Really.
I'm a very conservative, religious individual, so I get where you're coming from. I'm also very much into biology (inasmuch as I got an A in it back in school) and there is no way in Zzyzx two males will ever create a life between them, unless one is cloned. But, some enjoy their dystopia. This will make them happy and enjoy the game. In my not-so-humble opinion, so long as it won't splash into my personal game play style, why not let the others have their way on this?
That's allowed now? XD
In biology terms two males can't have kids together. However, if a female believes she is born in the wrong body and wants to become a man, then technically she is a he and since biology is biology, he can have children. Its all so complicated at times.
@barraakeno well I am not sure where our original argument has gone then because I agree with you, I too am anti-censorship and believe in healthy debate but I also think idea's can be harmful. In Australia we have laws against speaking racial hatred for example and you can be arrested and charged for it. I think that's a good thing. It has to go both ways. Person A is entitled to thier opinion but Person B is equally entitled to think Person A's opinion is wrong and is equally entitled to say so. I don't think disagreeing with someone is the same as censorship and I don't think there is anything wrong with censoring hate speech against a person or group of people. It is censoring speech against OPINIONS that is the problem and that is what i have been trying to express to you.
But that's censorship.
@Swiftlover13 I think you missed this so I bolded it for you
The people that say this are the same people who defended free speech during that (you all know what I'm referring to, I don't want to get banned) THING.
Free Speech is a wonderful thing, and when we start taking that away, we lose all of our values.
What needs to be acknowledged is, firstly, an opinion is neither right or wrong. Opinion is not the same as fact. Too many people get the two confused and think their opinion is fact, which needs to stop everywhere, not just on the internet.
Secondly, you opinion is how you feel in the privacy of your own mind, where you are entitled to feel however you like about whatever you like, but when it is an opinion that could be inflammatory, or could be counted as being discriminatory against a particular group of people, while you are within your right to hold that opinion yourself, you are not entitled to spread it around, as it could be seen as inciting hatred, nor are you entitled to expect others to share it, nor are you entitled to coerce ANYONE into sharing your opinion- even your own children.
Example: my father holds a very prejudiced opinion against a particular group of people (I'm not going to specify)
I do not share this opinion. We both know how the other person feels.
Growing up, I was aware of his opinion, and I have always (since the time I was learning to walk) disagreed with him. He has never done anything to oblidge me to feel the same way as he does; despite how strongly he feels about this particular thing, he has always believed I should be free to decide for myself how I feel about the subject.
We don't have much of a friendship for completely separate reasons, but that aspect of his parenting is an example of a parent doing it RIGHT.
(I also believe that hate speech is wrong. But censoring it will not end it. Just will hide it. but it is subject for another time.)
Yes it will not end it but hopefully it can help stop it from spreading. If we create a culture where tolerance of hate is not accepted then eventually over time it will erode, as it has started to and is continuing to do so for other long marginalised groups.
The people that say this are the same people who defended free speech during that (you all know what I'm referring to, I don't want to get banned) THING.
Free Speech is a wonderful thing, and when we start taking that away, we lose all of our values.
But it doesn't change your game, at all. You can still have your old cas so what is the problem? It's not like EA has switched men and women clothing forcing you into anything. They just gave everyone more options if they want to use them
I'm happy they didn't but it's to the point we can't even ask for some sort of gameplay about religion like The Sims Medieval had because even bringing up that sort of gameplay is against rules. I don't get that.
Because religion isn't the same as clothing and being transgender...
I may differ in opinion with you about that. Life simulator going to include all then let's do it and include all.
Sure you want to include all? Because then shouldn't it include cults and everything else too?
YES BON!! Let's include mass famine and tsunamis for a change.
The people that say this are the same people who defended free speech during that (you all know what I'm referring to, I don't want to get banned) THING.
Free Speech is a wonderful thing, and when we start taking that away, we lose all of our values.
Comments
I just want to say that I love your post and your video that expresses how you feel about it.
This is nice and stuff but nobody is forgetting about toddlers!
I don't understand how people STILL haven't realised this.
I may differ in opinion with you about that. Life simulator going to include all then let's do it and include all.
But that's censorship.
If you start being more inclusive of gamers who really aren't catered to by anyone else, I'm sure there's the hope that they'll purchase your product. Honestly, for me, as critical as I am of the game (and yes, I'm very critical for many reasons), I think just having more options will make for a more interesting game and if it brings in more people, then it was successful.
After reading the first thread I saw on this patch, today, where people said you could toggle off some things, I went back into my game and looked at the gameplay settings and didn't find anywhere where I could toggle off anything other than what was there prior to the patch. Then I decided to get into CAS and have a look at things. I did take time to read the patch notes, too, before I played my game. In creating a new Sim, underneath the traditional symbols for male and female, there is a set of ellipses dots (…). If you click on that, you'll see options. You can set a Sim to get pregnant: Yes; No and I vaguely recall a third option which I think was Never, but don't quote me on that. You can also set that Sim (mine was a female that came up automatically) to feminine; masculine and a few other choices. From the notes I recall that this will only affect the Sims you create, not the townies. Since EA opted to do it this way, that allows the rest of us, who aren't in support of this twist, to continue to play our game as if this option didn't exist. I'm perfectly okay with that. Really.
I'm a very conservative, religious individual, so I get where you're coming from. I'm also very much into biology (inasmuch as I got an A in it back in school) and there is no way in Zzyzx two males will ever create a life between them, unless one is cloned. But, some enjoy their dystopia. This will make them happy and enjoy the game. In my not-so-humble opinion, so long as it won't splash into my personal game play style, why not let the others have their way on this?
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
Religion worked in TSM because of the setting. Having a Christian-like religion makes sense, and no one would bat an eye at it being in a medieval setting. But the problem is, the main Sims series is set in a modern world, and there are many different religions in the world today, so they can't just do one, they would have to create multiples for every type, and what about all the subsets, the different beliefs, the sheer diversity of religion today. It would be a disaster, as one person might wonder why their religion isn't drawn from and added into the game, or some people might say doing certain things in a certain religion goes against what their beliefs are. It's way too complex an issue in order to pull it off where Ea/Maxis won't get major hate from a group and lose customers, thus, it's better to just leave it out so that they won't get major complaints from religious groups.
Ok, I got it now
(I also believe that hate speech is wrong. But censoring it will not end it. Just will hide it. but it is subject for another time.)
Spinning toilets confurm3d!!!!11!!1!1!!!!11!
same could have been said about today's update.
Sure you want to include all? Because then shouldn't it include cults and everything else too?
In general, proud of EA idk what is wrong with these forums for making an issue out of an OPTIONAL cas feature.
complete forum tutorial
Thank you @MDianaSanders for halloween-fying Golluma
Bu.... But...
EA is getting major hate from a group and losing customers at the moment. AND they're getting hate from religious groups!
@Swiftlover13 I think you missed this so I bolded it for you I don't think there is anything wrong with censoring hate speech against a person or group of people.
In biology terms two males can't have kids together. However, if a female believes she is born in the wrong body and wants to become a man, then technically she is a he and since biology is biology, he can have children. Its all so complicated at times.
Ideas on how to improve babies.
The people that say this are the same people who defended free speech during that (you all know what I'm referring to, I don't want to get banned) THING.
Free Speech is a wonderful thing, and when we start taking that away, we lose all of our values.
Secondly, you opinion is how you feel in the privacy of your own mind, where you are entitled to feel however you like about whatever you like, but when it is an opinion that could be inflammatory, or could be counted as being discriminatory against a particular group of people, while you are within your right to hold that opinion yourself, you are not entitled to spread it around, as it could be seen as inciting hatred, nor are you entitled to expect others to share it, nor are you entitled to coerce ANYONE into sharing your opinion- even your own children.
Example: my father holds a very prejudiced opinion against a particular group of people (I'm not going to specify)
I do not share this opinion. We both know how the other person feels.
Growing up, I was aware of his opinion, and I have always (since the time I was learning to walk) disagreed with him. He has never done anything to oblidge me to feel the same way as he does; despite how strongly he feels about this particular thing, he has always believed I should be free to decide for myself how I feel about the subject.
We don't have much of a friendship for completely separate reasons, but that aspect of his parenting is an example of a parent doing it RIGHT.
Yes it will not end it but hopefully it can help stop it from spreading. If we create a culture where tolerance of hate is not accepted then eventually over time it will erode, as it has started to and is continuing to do so for other long marginalised groups.
Sad when I have to remind people of basic history.
Sad when you realise that only Americans do American History.