Forgive me for my poor English, but I couldn't stay away after reading the comments here.
As already said, nothing prevents EA from distributing and selling content on the territory of my country (Russia). The story with fifa happened solely because of not the best marketing. Such games as The Last of Us 2, Life is Strange and others are distributed with us. It's ok, we can buy it and play it.
However, I would like to focus on the German friend's comment. He accuses us of not defending our rights, that we can only rush at EA and yelp like dogs, if I understand correctly.
This is the opinion of a person who knows NOTHING about the situation in Russia.
In fact, our LGBT+ community is constantly fighting for their rights. Me too part of this, I saw everything with my own eyes and also participated in the struggle.
What have we done since 2014?
Firstly, we have achieved a simplification of the gender reassignment procedure in Russia. Second, politicians wanted to ban transgender people from marrying. We DEFENDED ourselves. We created a powerful campaign and this law was NOT adopted in the end. Precisely because we fought against him. Thirdly, we did not allow a complete ban on LGBT people. If someone does not know, once in Russia homosexuality was OUTSIDE the law. Generally. It was a criminal offence. But not now! Our homosexuals can meet and live together. Yes, we have risks because we have homophobes. Don't they exist in Germany? <> Excuse my tone, but I'm really offended that a foreigner talks about us like we are guinea pigs in an enclosure.
We are taking HUGE steps to fight injustice. The fact that we defended transgenders and partly gays is already a huge step for us. Do you want us to change the policy in the country in one day, do you want blood?.. Excuse me, no. We suffered during the restructuring. It was a revolution in the nineties. WE HAVE SUFFERED. But we are recovering. And we just don't want war anymore. Most Russians don't want. So we are changing laws slowly, but we are changing them.
We fight for our rights, our people can change gender, they can get medical care, they can meet, we have forums and activists, we have special LGBT+ lawyers. We are working on it. So maybe it's not for EA to decide can we play or not? Our fight is none of their business.
Sorry for the tone of this letter, I'm very furious about this.
[CM - Edited to remove off-topic German political discussion]
@Zeldaboy180 I’m sorry but it’s the Russian simmers who we need to listen to on this matter both the non and lgbt community as both are affected by this decision. I’m getting tired of seeing non Russian simmers commenting on this issue. I have Russian speaking family who have been affected by this decision.
It's not just a Russian issue though. If you censor the cover art, it affects ALL LGBT. So no, not just Russians.
If you can release the pack without changing the cover art then absolutely do it, I'm seeing mixed answers from people so I don't know what to believe anymore.
But at my principal, changing the cover art to release it in Russia is not okay.
If it’s true that they were told to change the cover art, they could of still changed it to the Indian couple or Asian couple shown in the trailer to still show it as being inclusive. Heck, even make it a slap in the face & simply remove the cover art in general and leave it blank. There are many ways they could of gone about it. Censoring it doesn’t affect me as a LGBT. If anything, I’m more upset with how they literally don’t care about Russian simmers because these are the people who are affected the most. You care about lgbt ppl? Let them have access to this pack. But silencing Twitch & YouTube shows they don’t care and are going to ignore this in hopes it blows over.
I fail to see how censoring the promo material effects all lgbt people.I would hope for people to understand it was a way for all simmers to play including lgbt ones
ok, I never comment on these forums but this I feel quite strongly about so here goes...
I'm a 50 year old woman, I have been playing Sims since the release day of Sims 1 in 2000. I guess you could say I'm a veteran of this game and have bought every single expansion, stuff pack, almost all store items (sims 3) and every game pack and kit in Sims 4. I have spend a great deal of money on this game over the past 22 years as I love it so much. However, over the past year or so I've debated about whether I will ever go on to a Sims 5 if there is ever going to be one. The reason being that I strongly object to any form of politics or opinions being forced on me in my game.
Let me make something clear, in my many many saves files over various sims games I have multiple same sex families, some worlds with only male female marriages and some with more same sex marriages. Heck I even had one save file where everything was rainbow coloured and people fell in love with who they wanted and that was before Pride came along!
I am a strong believer in people falling in love with the person and not their sex.
HOWEVER, making a decision to exclude an entire country from buying this game is very clearly to me a political statement based on the views of the company in my view and games should NOT be political. As a veteran gamer over the years I've seen many games make changes to front covers so they can still sell the game in countries that might have different views on things. Why can they not do that in this case? Its simply because they WANT to be seen to be making a point on the issue.
Change the front cover, let Russian people buy the game and then let THEM decide what they do within their own save file.
Please stop making statements with this game, let your customers decide how they want to play and PLEASE stop being political, most of us play these games for fun and to make our sometimes dreary lives a bit more colourful and fun. If I wanted to be involved in politics and debate I would watch the news!
OK, I feel better now, happy simming everyone! xxx
Human rights are not political. My love is not political. Just because others view it as propaganda does not make it political.
Gay rights are political though. No matter how we feel as LGBT it will always be political. We fight for our rights everyday all around the world & hopefully one day we won’t have to fight anymore. But what the sims team did was a political stunt.
ok, I never comment on these forums but this I feel quite strongly about so here goes...
I'm a 50 year old woman, I have been playing Sims since the release day of Sims 1 in 2000. I guess you could say I'm a veteran of this game and have bought every single expansion, stuff pack, almost all store items (sims 3) and every game pack and kit in Sims 4. I have spend a great deal of money on this game over the past 22 years as I love it so much. However, over the past year or so I've debated about whether I will ever go on to a Sims 5 if there is ever going to be one. The reason being that I strongly object to any form of politics or opinions being forced on me in my game.
Let me make something clear, in my many many saves files over various sims games I have multiple same sex families, some worlds with only male female marriages and some with more same sex marriages. Heck I even had one save file where everything was rainbow coloured and people fell in love with who they wanted and that was before Pride came along!
I am a strong believer in people falling in love with the person and not their sex.
HOWEVER, making a decision to exclude an entire country from buying this game is very clearly to me a political statement based on the views of the company in my view and games should NOT be political. As a veteran gamer over the years I've seen many games make changes to front covers so they can still sell the game in countries that might have different views on things. Why can they not do that in this case? Its simply because they WANT to be seen to be making a point on the issue.
Change the front cover, let Russian people buy the game and then let THEM decide what they do within their own save file.
Please stop making statements with this game, let your customers decide how they want to play and PLEASE stop being political, most of us play these games for fun and to make our sometimes dreary lives a bit more colourful and fun. If I wanted to be involved in politics and debate I would watch the news!
OK, I feel better now, happy simming everyone! xxx
Human rights are not political. My love is not political. Just because others view it as propaganda does not make it political.
But the move made from EA is political, no about human rights
The Sims 4 at Russia is +18 then no affected by the law anti LGBTQ+ propaganda
Then, the only explanation (as I believe EA is not dumb) is political biased
Instead of throwing all this fury and courage against EA, the Russian community could perhaps with the same energy address their own government to make things better for lgbt people?
You are more than welcome to come over here and see for yourself It takes a long time to build up protests here because every single one can guarantee a broken leg, rib, a fine worth months of savings, possibly a couple of years in jail and it only resolves to even more restrictions, but we still do it occasionally.
As for the media, we have done that as well. We had this very exact reaction a couple of years ago when our government made a terrible ad with two gay men adopting an orphan under the slogan "Is this the Russia you'd choose". It resolved in an amazing hashtag "Yes I'd choose" and thousands of fan arts portraying the LGBT family in a good light. Eventually the ad got taken down and I suppose that doesn't seem like much to you, but for us it was an actual victory.
I don't really want to argue with anyone. I understand why many people still believe this is our fault and I don't have the energy to enter any debates. I did my best to explain why EA's message was harmful, why the initial reaction of many players was hurtful and why many assumptions of Western simmers are based on lack of knowledge. Many other Russian simmers explained it over Twitter better than I ever could. I suppose the only thing I can add to that is that we're tired of being considered the bad guys all the time and we're tired of how easily everyone blames us when someone nods in our direction. We're ordinary people living in a constant atmosphere of hate and we're struggling through it as best as we can. What EA did isn't helping. It's hurting.
I'd also like to thank everyone who wrote messages of support, it truly means a lot to our community, my friends and me. Thank you so so much for hearing us
> @Justin said: > Gay rights are political though. No matter how we feel as LGBT it will always be political. We fight for our rights everyday all around the world & hopefully one day we won’t have to fight anymore. But what the sims team did was a political stunt.
I absolutely agree with you. EA made it look like Russians don't fight for their rights, but that's a total lie. I listed our achievements above - and believe me, in such a conservative country it was 🐸🐸🐸🐸 difficult. But we did. We are no worse than other people from other countries, and no one can tell us how to fight in our own country. This is our home. It's really sad that EA people can't tell the difference between government and country. It looks very childish, very bad and stupid.
Thanks to everyone on this forum for your support. It is very important for us Russians (both hetero and LGBT+) to know that we are not alone.
Instead of throwing all this fury and courage against EA, the Russian community could perhaps with the same energy address their own government to make things better for lgbt people?
You are more than welcome to come over here and see for yourself It takes a long time to build up protests here because every single one can guarantee a broken leg, rib, a fine worth months of savings, possibly a couple of years in jail and it only resolves to even more restrictions, but we still do it occasionally.
As for the media, we have done that as well. We had this very exact reaction a couple of years ago when our government made a terrible ad with two gay men adopting an orphan under the slogan "Is this the Russia you'd choose". It resolved in an amazing hashtag "Yes I'd choose" and thousands of fan arts portraying the LGBT family in a good light. Eventually the ad got taken down and I suppose that doesn't seem like much to you, but for us it was an actual victory.
I don't really want to argue with anyone. I understand why many people still believe this is our fault and I don't have the energy to enter any debates. I did my best to explain why EA's message was harmful, why the initial reaction of many players was hurtful and why many assumptions of Western simmers are based on lack of knowledge. Many other Russian simmers explained it over Twitter better than I ever could. I suppose the only thing I can add to that is that we're tired of being considered the bad guys all the time and we're tired of how easily everyone blames us when someone nods in our direction. We're ordinary people living in a constant atmosphere of hate and we're struggling through it as best as we can. What EA did isn't helping. It's hurting.
I'd also like to thank everyone who wrote messages of support, it truly means a lot to our community, my friends and me. Thank you so so much for hearing us
None of this is your fault. No one born as LGBT asks to be discriminated, mistreated, or abused. Continue fighting for your rights however you can while still being safe from harm.
I’m sorry majority of western people are naive in the matter but thank you for sharing your struggles with the rest of the world & giving us a better understanding of your situation. I hope one day things will be better in your country ❤️
> @Scrapdash said: > @Ben_Vorobiev @Koteyka Brilliant posts, very well said.
Thank you very muck! Blessings to all who support us during this very difficult time. We want to live in peace with other nations, and not be renegades. <3
From what I can tell, EA has operations in Russia. Did that office request them to change the cover art/marketing? Could it be that they rely on their cooperation to release it there? What a terrible shame for Russian simmers. I don’t know, it could be the pregnancy hormones, but I wept when I read their responses.
@Ben_Vorobiev You're very welcome, this whole issue has very much upset me and I'm not Russian, but I know injustice when I see it and can well imagine how hurtful this statement from EA is to the players in your country. It's just outrageous that in trying desperately to be inclusive, EA have excluded a huge part of the player base. Ridiculous.
> @babajayne said: > From what I can tell, EA has operations in Russia. Did that office request them to change the cover art/marketing? Could it be that they rely on their cooperation to release it there? What a terrible shame for Russian simmers. I don’t know, it could be the pregnancy hormones, but I wept when I read their responses.
EА closed its Russian office in 2020, so we basically have nowhere to turn. I am a media worker and from what information I have, no one in the Russian government has spoken about this. Now our government is more concerned about big politics than games. We faced the fact that Russian athletes were accused of doping, the whole world calls us aggressors , that's all looks very political. Looks like game developers want to join the general party, raise their rating. What warms me - Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus, which also fell under the ban of the game, have joined us in this fight.
> @babajayne said:
> I don’t know, it could be the pregnancy hormones, but I wept when I read their responses.
And blessings to your baby! Congratulations!
Thank you. ☺️ (We won’t pick a name till we meet him, but Benjamin is one of the contenders, coincidentally)
I saw the earussia account wasn’t totally current but not too old on Instagram so I didn’t realize they had closed that office, but that is interesting to know.
What I find confusing about this is why single out Russia specifically?
Other countries have stricter laws, but they are still getting it.
I see the move as political on EAs part, they act like they support the LGBTQ community by not changing the cover of the same sex couple, but they really don't support the community. They took the game away from the LGBTQ community by being kind of petty about the issue. They could literally just ship the game with the cover, but just cover it to fit with the laws in Russia. They would still be able to have the cover they want, and children wouldn't be exposed to it. The cover I mean is those type of blacked out covers that most 18+ magazines have.
EA is being too political, and playing to certain crowds. They pretend that they care, but they really don't. If they did,they would give the game to the people.
This article makes a very important point. The community manager for a Russian facebook sims group, his first reaction was horror that now the gay community would be blamed for this and face even more homophobic backlash. Remember this excludes everyone in several countries from getting this pack. It's not hard to see how this could make life even more difficult.
That article weirdly talks about the team being "fake allies" when the developers themselves are a part of the lgbtq community
Just because some of them are part of the LGBTQ doesn’t mean they don’t have their own political agendas/views. Even so, they are doing more harm then good for Russian simmers & those cis country’s.
> @babajayne said: > Thank you. ☺️ (We won’t pick a name till we meet him, but Benjamin is one of the contenders, coincidentally) > > I saw the earussia account wasn’t totally current but not too old on Instagram so I didn’t realize they had closed that office, but that is interesting to know.
Wow, that's great! My passport name is Benjamin, I chose it when I corrected my gender. Thank you very much, you warmed me like a warm blanket.
EA has pages and managers in Russia, but they have closed the office, so we can only complain via twitter. Now our main goal is to reach and speak with players from other countries. We want to be understood correctly. We want everyone to know that the words about "different laws" are lies. We want everyone to know that we are fighting and we are following your example in this. We are part of the big world. It hurts so much that we are constantly reminded that we are class with a bad name. Everyone constantly reminds us that we stand apart from the rest of the world. At the same time, here we listen to your music, watch your films and no one forbids us to do this (let them just try!). But I'm glad that not everyone thinks so. I didn't sleep for two days because of this, but now, after reading this forum, I can finally rest.
@Zeldaboy180 I’m sorry but it’s the Russian simmers who we need to listen to on this matter both the non and lgbt community as both are affected by this decision. I’m getting tired of seeing non Russian simmers commenting on this issue. I have Russian speaking family who have been affected by this decision.
It's not just a Russian issue though. If you censor the cover art, it affects ALL LGBT. So no, not just Russians.
If you can release the pack without changing the cover art then absolutely do it, I'm seeing mixed answers from people so I don't know what to believe anymore.
But at my principal, changing the cover art to release it in Russia is not okay.
If it’s true that they were told to change the cover art, they could of still changed it to the Indian couple or Asian couple shown in the trailer to still show it as being inclusive. Heck, even make it a slap in the face & simply remove the cover art in general and leave it blank. There are many ways they could of gone about it. Censoring it doesn’t affect me as a LGBT. If anything, I’m more upset with how they literally don’t care about Russian simmers because these are the people who are affected the most. You care about lgbt ppl? Let them have access to this pack. But silencing Twitch & YouTube shows they don’t care and are going to ignore this in hopes it blows over.
So do you also not care about how Disney and Marvel censor gay superheroes?
Loki, one of the infamous genderfluid and pansexual characters in Marvel, only recently got nods to that despite being on screen since like 2010.
Loki is based off of the real norse mythology figure, who even spent time as a woman and had husbands.
Despite all of this, the only two references to him being genderfluid and pansexual, are two throwaway line's in the Loki tv series released last year where someone asks him "I bet you've had your share of Princes and Princess's haven't you?" to which he replies "Ah yes, a little bit of both."
What about Steven Universe/ Rebecca sugar cried because Cartoon Network wanted to censor Steven Universe and not let her do a plotline where Garnet get's married to herself. For context, Garnet is a gem, an alien rock who's body is made of light. They have no sexes, but they all identify as women and appear feminine. Garnet, is a fusion of two gems, Ruby and Sapphire. Their lights combine to make an entirely new being. Ruby and Sapphire loved each other so much that they never wanted to be apart, and Garnet is the culmination of their love.
Eventually, Ruby and Sapphire fall in love with the human tradition of marriage, and decide they wanted to do it. Cartoon network did not want to let Garnet's wedding happen because it would mean it would be banned in Russia and other countries. Rebecca fought for it and eventually they caved without censoring the show. As a result, the rest of Steven universe never aired in Russia or other such countries.
Censorship hurts. An entire generation of kids got to grow up and watch Steven Universe, and know that it's okay to be gay, because they got to watch Garnet's wedding, the first gay wedding in cartoon history.
> @Zeldaboy180 said: > they caved without censoring the show. As a result, the rest of Steven universe never aired in Russia or other such countries. > > Censorship hurts. An entire generation of kids got to grow up and watch Steven Universe, and know that it's okay to be gay, because they got to watch Garnet's wedding, the first gay wedding in cartoon history.
Why don't you mention that we have books about same-sex love coming out here, manuals for parents of transgender people, that we have a bunch of LGBT+ films on Netflix and other services? Why did you choose a couple of pieces to talk about censorship? And what about the achievements of anti-censorship - or does it not count?
Forgive me, but your words make it sound like ordinary people are guilty of censorship. Actually, we're not idiots. We don't listen to government propaganda. In Russia a minority of people are conservatives. The majority is a progressive community with liberal values. We don't fall for censorship. Many of us no longer use torrents, our social networks have those films that you have listed, and we watch them. Yes, including those works that you have indicated, we have Steven universe in free internet. We also watched the uncensored Elton John biopic.
Imagine, our children grow up without slops in their heads, they understand what is right and what is not.
May I remind you how much tougher propaganda and censorship is in China? Why does no one remember this, why is Russian censorship the worst in the world? And what about the Arab countries?.. At least we have full-fledged equality between the sexes.
In the end, you are missing the fact that for a hundred years our country has lived under the yoke of censorship. And do you think the Russians have not learned to ignore it? It's funny.
And this is a services of our free, legal Internet. In Russia, there is no law prohibiting the viewing and storage of such films. We choose what to watch. So what's the problem?
I wrote a post above with examples of what "terrible censorship" actually looks like in Russia.
Let me clarify one thing. Russians are people with a very independent, even stubborn character. Many foreigners really do not understand us: how can there be censorship, prohibitions and free Internet at the same time in a country. How do we manage to hold parades when sometimes we can get jailed for a tweet. How is it possible that there are conservatives and liberal people in the country at the same time.
But dig deeper and you will see that every country has something similar. It’s just that we don’t tend to notice the bad, that’s how our brain works. We willingly see the bad in others, but in our own homes we do not like to notice it.
Every country has propaganda. For example, EA's statement is also a propaganda. They are trying to convince everyone that we forbade them. No, it was their decision.
It's not easy for us, yes. It is true that in parades we can be beaten and imprisoned.
That is why we are so stubborn and why we are so outraged. We have been fighting for our right to live for thirty years since the civil war. Even in such conditions. We have learned to frankly spit on censorship and prohibition. Often our officials are horrified by the fact that they cannot influence us in any way. Our children openly on the Internet send them to hell. We are not afraid of their censorship and their prohibitions, but for some reason it causes horror in others. There is no need to be afraid, friends. If someone here tries to ban something, you can’t even imagine what kind of trouble we will raise. We are very militant and do incredible things every day, seeking the freedom of the wrongfully convicted, seeking a free internet without censorship. We watch and read only what we want. All we ask specifically from EA is not to interfere with our fight. Now the Sims decision is an act of censorship, not by our government, but by EA. That's what's bad. It hinders us.
Our censorship is not so terrible as the sanctions that we have. A little understanding - and everything will be fine.
Comments
As already said, nothing prevents EA from distributing and selling content on the territory of my country (Russia). The story with fifa happened solely because of not the best marketing. Such games as The Last of Us 2, Life is Strange and others are distributed with us. It's ok, we can buy it and play it.
However, I would like to focus on the German friend's comment. He accuses us of not defending our rights, that we can only rush at EA and yelp like dogs, if I understand correctly.
This is the opinion of a person who knows NOTHING about the situation in Russia.
In fact, our LGBT+ community is constantly fighting for their rights. Me too part of this, I saw everything with my own eyes and also participated in the struggle.
What have we done since 2014?
Firstly, we have achieved a simplification of the gender reassignment procedure in Russia.
Second, politicians wanted to ban transgender people from marrying. We DEFENDED ourselves. We created a powerful campaign and this law was NOT adopted in the end. Precisely because we fought against him.
Thirdly, we did not allow a complete ban on LGBT people. If someone does not know, once in Russia homosexuality was OUTSIDE the law. Generally. It was a criminal offence. But not now! Our homosexuals can meet and live together. Yes, we have risks because we have homophobes. Don't they exist in Germany? <> Excuse my tone, but I'm really offended that a foreigner talks about us like we are guinea pigs in an enclosure.
We are taking HUGE steps to fight injustice. The fact that we defended transgenders and partly gays is already a huge step for us. Do you want us to change the policy in the country in one day, do you want blood?.. Excuse me, no. We suffered during the restructuring. It was a revolution in the nineties. WE HAVE SUFFERED. But we are recovering. And we just don't want war anymore. Most Russians don't want. So we are changing laws slowly, but we are changing them.
We fight for our rights, our people can change gender, they can get medical care, they can meet, we have forums and activists, we have special LGBT+ lawyers. We are working on it. So maybe it's not for EA to decide can we play or not? Our fight is none of their business.
Sorry for the tone of this letter, I'm very furious about this.
[CM - Edited to remove off-topic German political discussion]
If it’s true that they were told to change the cover art, they could of still changed it to the Indian couple or Asian couple shown in the trailer to still show it as being inclusive. Heck, even make it a slap in the face & simply remove the cover art in general and leave it blank. There are many ways they could of gone about it. Censoring it doesn’t affect me as a LGBT. If anything, I’m more upset with how they literally don’t care about Russian simmers because these are the people who are affected the most. You care about lgbt ppl? Let them have access to this pack. But silencing Twitch & YouTube shows they don’t care and are going to ignore this in hopes it blows over.
Gay rights are political though. No matter how we feel as LGBT it will always be political. We fight for our rights everyday all around the world & hopefully one day we won’t have to fight anymore. But what the sims team did was a political stunt.
But the move made from EA is political, no about human rights
The Sims 4 at Russia is +18 then no affected by the law anti LGBTQ+ propaganda
Then, the only explanation (as I believe EA is not dumb) is political biased
As for the media, we have done that as well. We had this very exact reaction a couple of years ago when our government made a terrible ad with two gay men adopting an orphan under the slogan "Is this the Russia you'd choose". It resolved in an amazing hashtag "Yes I'd choose" and thousands of fan arts portraying the LGBT family in a good light. Eventually the ad got taken down and I suppose that doesn't seem like much to you, but for us it was an actual victory.
I don't really want to argue with anyone. I understand why many people still believe this is our fault and I don't have the energy to enter any debates. I did my best to explain why EA's message was harmful, why the initial reaction of many players was hurtful and why many assumptions of Western simmers are based on lack of knowledge. Many other Russian simmers explained it over Twitter better than I ever could. I suppose the only thing I can add to that is that we're tired of being considered the bad guys all the time and we're tired of how easily everyone blames us when someone nods in our direction. We're ordinary people living in a constant atmosphere of hate and we're struggling through it as best as we can. What EA did isn't helping. It's hurting.
I'd also like to thank everyone who wrote messages of support, it truly means a lot to our community, my friends and me. Thank you so so much for hearing us
> Gay rights are political though. No matter how we feel as LGBT it will always be political. We fight for our rights everyday all around the world & hopefully one day we won’t have to fight anymore. But what the sims team did was a political stunt.
I absolutely agree with you. EA made it look like Russians don't fight for their rights, but that's a total lie. I listed our achievements above - and believe me, in such a conservative country it was 🐸🐸🐸🐸 difficult. But we did. We are no worse than other people from other countries, and no one can tell us how to fight in our own country. This is our home. It's really sad that EA people can't tell the difference between government and country. It looks very childish, very bad and stupid.
Thanks to everyone on this forum for your support. It is very important for us Russians (both hetero and LGBT+) to know that we are not alone.
None of this is your fault. No one born as LGBT asks to be discriminated, mistreated, or abused. Continue fighting for your rights however you can while still being safe from harm.
I’m sorry majority of western people are naive in the matter but thank you for sharing your struggles with the rest of the world & giving us a better understanding of your situation. I hope one day things will be better in your country ❤️
> @Ben_Vorobiev @Koteyka Brilliant posts, very well said.
Thank you very muck! Blessings to all who support us during this very difficult time. We want to live in peace with other nations, and not be renegades. <3
GameSpot reached out to The Sims 4 team for additional information regarding the decision, but the team declined to comment.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-sims-4s-attempt-at-allyship-has-excluded-many-lgbtq-players/1100-6500625/
> From what I can tell, EA has operations in Russia. Did that office request them to change the cover art/marketing? Could it be that they rely on their cooperation to release it there? What a terrible shame for Russian simmers. I don’t know, it could be the pregnancy hormones, but I wept when I read their responses.
EА closed its Russian office in 2020, so we basically have nowhere to turn. I am a media worker and from what information I have, no one in the Russian government has spoken about this. Now our government is more concerned about big politics than games. We faced the fact that Russian athletes were accused of doping, the whole world calls us aggressors , that's all looks very political. Looks like game developers want to join the general party, raise their rating. What warms me - Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus, which also fell under the ban of the game, have joined us in this fight.
> I don’t know, it could be the pregnancy hormones, but I wept when I read their responses.
And blessings to your baby! Congratulations!
I saw the earussia account wasn’t totally current but not too old on Instagram so I didn’t realize they had closed that office, but that is interesting to know.
Other countries have stricter laws, but they are still getting it.
I see the move as political on EAs part, they act like they support the LGBTQ community by not changing the cover of the same sex couple, but they really don't support the community. They took the game away from the LGBTQ community by being kind of petty about the issue. They could literally just ship the game with the cover, but just cover it to fit with the laws in Russia. They would still be able to have the cover they want, and children wouldn't be exposed to it. The cover I mean is those type of blacked out covers that most 18+ magazines have.
EA is being too political, and playing to certain crowds. They pretend that they care, but they really don't. If they did,they would give the game to the people.
This article makes a very important point. The community manager for a Russian facebook sims group, his first reaction was horror that now the gay community would be blamed for this and face even more homophobic backlash. Remember this excludes everyone in several countries from getting this pack. It's not hard to see how this could make life even more difficult.
That article weirdly talks about the team being "fake allies" when the developers themselves are a part of the lgbtq community
Just because some of them are part of the LGBTQ doesn’t mean they don’t have their own political agendas/views. Even so, they are doing more harm then good for Russian simmers & those cis country’s.
> Thank you. ☺️ (We won’t pick a name till we meet him, but Benjamin is one of the contenders, coincidentally)
>
> I saw the earussia account wasn’t totally current but not too old on Instagram so I didn’t realize they had closed that office, but that is interesting to know.
Wow, that's great! My passport name is Benjamin, I chose it when I corrected my gender. Thank you very much, you warmed me like a warm blanket.
EA has pages and managers in Russia, but they have closed the office, so we can only complain via twitter. Now our main goal is to reach and speak with players from other countries. We want to be understood correctly. We want everyone to know that the words about "different laws" are lies. We want everyone to know that we are fighting and we are following your example in this. We are part of the big world. It hurts so much that we are constantly reminded that we are class with a bad name. Everyone constantly reminds us that we stand apart from the rest of the world. At the same time, here we listen to your music, watch your films and no one forbids us to do this (let them just try!). But I'm glad that not everyone thinks so. I didn't sleep for two days because of this, but now, after reading this forum, I can finally rest.
So do you also not care about how Disney and Marvel censor gay superheroes?
Loki, one of the infamous genderfluid and pansexual characters in Marvel, only recently got nods to that despite being on screen since like 2010.
Loki is based off of the real norse mythology figure, who even spent time as a woman and had husbands.
Despite all of this, the only two references to him being genderfluid and pansexual, are two throwaway line's in the Loki tv series released last year where someone asks him "I bet you've had your share of Princes and Princess's haven't you?" to which he replies "Ah yes, a little bit of both."
What about Steven Universe/ Rebecca sugar cried because Cartoon Network wanted to censor Steven Universe and not let her do a plotline where Garnet get's married to herself. For context, Garnet is a gem, an alien rock who's body is made of light. They have no sexes, but they all identify as women and appear feminine. Garnet, is a fusion of two gems, Ruby and Sapphire. Their lights combine to make an entirely new being. Ruby and Sapphire loved each other so much that they never wanted to be apart, and Garnet is the culmination of their love.
Eventually, Ruby and Sapphire fall in love with the human tradition of marriage, and decide they wanted to do it. Cartoon network did not want to let Garnet's wedding happen because it would mean it would be banned in Russia and other countries. Rebecca fought for it and eventually they caved without censoring the show. As a result, the rest of Steven universe never aired in Russia or other such countries.
Censorship hurts. An entire generation of kids got to grow up and watch Steven Universe, and know that it's okay to be gay, because they got to watch Garnet's wedding, the first gay wedding in cartoon history.
> they caved without censoring the show. As a result, the rest of Steven universe never aired in Russia or other such countries.
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> Censorship hurts. An entire generation of kids got to grow up and watch Steven Universe, and know that it's okay to be gay, because they got to watch Garnet's wedding, the first gay wedding in cartoon history.
Why don't you mention that we have books about same-sex love coming out here, manuals for parents of transgender people, that we have a bunch of LGBT+ films on Netflix and other services? Why did you choose a couple of pieces to talk about censorship? And what about the achievements of anti-censorship - or does it not count?
Forgive me, but your words make it sound like ordinary people are guilty of censorship. Actually, we're not idiots. We don't listen to government propaganda. In Russia a minority of people are conservatives. The majority is a progressive community with liberal values. We don't fall for censorship. Many of us no longer use torrents, our social networks have those films that you have listed, and we watch them. Yes, including those works that you have indicated, we have Steven universe in free internet. We also watched the uncensored Elton John biopic.
Imagine, our children grow up without slops in their heads, they understand what is right and what is not.
May I remind you how much tougher propaganda and censorship is in China? Why does no one remember this, why is Russian censorship the worst in the world? And what about the Arab countries?.. At least we have full-fledged equality between the sexes.
In the end, you are missing the fact that for a hundred years our country has lived under the yoke of censorship. And do you think the Russians have not learned to ignore it? It's funny.
https://www.e-ir.info/wp-content/uploads/fly-images/84121/Image-by-InkBoB-807x455-c.jpg
And this is a services of our free, legal Internet. In Russia, there is no law prohibiting the viewing and storage of such films. We choose what to watch. So what's the problem?
https://i.imgur.com/m8s2jNI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Hq4dmLA.jpg
Let me clarify one thing. Russians are people with a very independent, even stubborn character. Many foreigners really do not understand us: how can there be censorship, prohibitions and free Internet at the same time in a country. How do we manage to hold parades when sometimes we can get jailed for a tweet. How is it possible that there are conservatives and liberal people in the country at the same time.
But dig deeper and you will see that every country has something similar. It’s just that we don’t tend to notice the bad, that’s how our brain works. We willingly see the bad in others, but in our own homes we do not like to notice it.
Every country has propaganda. For example, EA's statement is also a propaganda. They are trying to convince everyone that we forbade them. No, it was their decision.
It's not easy for us, yes. It is true that in parades we can be beaten and imprisoned.
That is why we are so stubborn and why we are so outraged. We have been fighting for our right to live for thirty years since the civil war. Even in such conditions. We have learned to frankly spit on censorship and prohibition. Often our officials are horrified by the fact that they cannot influence us in any way. Our children openly on the Internet send them to hell. We are not afraid of their censorship and their prohibitions, but for some reason it causes horror in others. There is no need to be afraid, friends. If someone here tries to ban something, you can’t even imagine what kind of trouble we will raise. We are very militant and do incredible things every day, seeking the freedom of the wrongfully convicted, seeking a free internet without censorship. We watch and read only what we want. All we ask specifically from EA is not to interfere with our fight. Now the Sims decision is an act of censorship, not by our government, but by EA. That's what's bad. It hinders us.
Our censorship is not so terrible as the sanctions that we have. A little understanding - and everything will be fine.