Do we want a sims world that fairly represents us in all diversity, including race, sexual preference, cultural norms? ..... a world that protects us from predatory issues such a domestic and sexual abuse, as well as teaches against it?.......
Or.... do we want ..... just a game.
Because in my opinion, we can't have both.
To argue tooth and nail that skin tones should be updated to better represent African American people.... fair enough. I'm on board with that. But don't later start nic-picking which social issues the sims gets to be used as a platform for..... complaining when the topic becomes about sexual consent/abuse. Either we are using the sims game as a platform for our very own daily issues, or we're not.
I would prefer to have the sims be "just a game" full of options I can freely use or not use without having to worry about who might be offended by my game despite them never going to have to see, or experience any of it.
But unfortunately, there are simmers in our community that feel differently. That too is fair enough. But we can't have our cake and eat it too. We can't treat the sims like a platform for racial inequality one minute, then argue that next minute that the argument of sexual abuse doesn't belong in the sims because .... its just a game.
Make up your mind people.
I agree with you. The contradictions that happen within the Sims community regarding calling the game realistic, but the actions towards the game are anything but realistic. Then the rich life might be a fantasy for some Simmers but not to all. I just want the Sims and SimCity series to be a sandbox style again, but EA's push for online only for all their games and then censoring the Sims 4 as much as it is, Sims 5 won't last long as a MMO game and they would have a better chance bringing a kid friendly game like the MySims series back instead. The longest lasting MMO games are sadly M rated anyways and it is a tough market to get into, so Sims will have to change its identity completely and not call it the Sims 5 taking the MMO route. I feel like the Sims 4 is the identity crisis game or in a sense going through a mid-life crisis.
Oh yes. I think the sims is going to find itself struggling when it tries to enter the MMO playing field. We oldies are not going to transition to multiplayer and the casual phone gamers aren't going to want to sit at their computers...if they even own computers. The only way it has the potential to be viable is if they have a phone component to it. I'm pretty sure they're trying to bring in their mobile market to the main game. It's a hard sell when your mobile component has better features that the current PC version. I hope they do better for the next version.
I think a lot of us will jump ship to Paralives if the sims is multiplayer and Paralives is a single player.
Do we want a sims world that fairly represents us in all diversity, including race, sexual preference, cultural norms? ..... a world that protects us from predatory issues such a domestic and sexual abuse, as well as teaches against it?.......
Or.... do we want ..... just a game.
Because in my opinion, we can't have both.
To argue tooth and nail that skin tones should be updated to better represent African American people.... fair enough. I'm on board with that. But don't later start nic-picking which social issues the sims gets to be used as a platform for..... complaining when the topic becomes about sexual consent/abuse. Either we are using the sims game as a platform for our very own daily issues, or we're not.
I would prefer to have the sims be "just a game" full of options I can freely use or not use without having to worry about who might be offended by my game despite them never going to have to see, or experience any of it.
But unfortunately, there are simmers in our community that feel differently. That too is fair enough. But we can't have our cake and eat it too. We can't treat the sims like a platform for racial inequality one minute, then argue that next minute that the argument of sexual abuse doesn't belong in the sims because .... its just a game.
Make up your mind people.
I agree with you. The contradictions that happen within the Sims community regarding calling the game realistic, but the actions towards the game are anything but realistic. Then the rich life might be a fantasy for some Simmers but not to all. I just want the Sims and SimCity series to be a sandbox style again, but EA's push for online only for all their games and then censoring the Sims 4 as much as it is, Sims 5 won't last long as a MMO game and they would have a better chance bringing a kid friendly game like the MySims series back instead. The longest lasting MMO games are sadly M rated anyways and it is a tough market to get into, so Sims will have to change its identity completely and not call it the Sims 5 taking the MMO route. I feel like the Sims 4 is the identity crisis game or in a sense going through a mid-life crisis.
Oh yes. I think the sims is going to find itself struggling when it tries to enter the MMO playing field. We oldies are not going to transition to multiplayer and the casual phone gamers aren't going to want to sit at their computers...if they even own computers. The only way it has the potential to be viable is if they have a phone component to it. I'm pretty sure they're trying to bring in their mobile market to the main game. It's a hard sell when your mobile component has better features that the current PC version. I hope they do better for the next version.
I think a lot of us will jump ship to Paralives if the sims is multiplayer and Paralives is a single player.
Yep I know I will. Sims Mobile and Sims Freeplay are the current MMO games.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
I was thinking about this recently, why is everything offensive those days ?, why has everything to be tip toed around ?, shall we just wrap the next generation is bubble wrap because everything could be seen as offensive because someone is a overthinker, why is some people reading too much into a game rather than enjoying it, I even saw a comment of someone thinking the erratic trait is offensive because the icon is a straitjacket
I was literally just coming here to post the exact same thing. And like you, @CelSims I too struggle with mental health issues. My anxiety is so bad, I can't drive, work, cook or otherwise do anything to take care of myself on my own and I've been going to therapy since 2017, but have only made minimal progress. And in addition to anxiety, I have depression as well, which thankfully isn't AS severe, but it still affects me in my day to day life.
And I also personally don't see anything offensive about about the icon for erratic. It's just an icon.
I'm glad yous both agree with me about this, I have social anxiety and I lost one of my friends to mental health issues, what some people don't understand is if people keep reading too much into a game although their hearts are in the right place, they could end up ruining it @MeowchaFrappe@CelSims
Oh no, I totally agree with you. I don't think people have bad intentions when bringing this stuff up. But you're right, if people keep reading too much into everything, it very well could end up ruining it. I'm a person who tends to overthink too, so I can understand why it happens, but as discussed here time and time again: almost anything could be offensive if you think hard enough on it. So where do you draw the line?
I don't know, it's difficult. I feel that we should respect that people feel very differently regarding different subjects, but we should also not let people who feel too strongly about something dictate what should be allowed or not.
So when this comes to what should be included in the game I think we should give people options, right now it feels like the sims4 is struggling to be both a sandbox(dollhouse) and a life simulation game with consequences.
Oh yeah, we should defintely respect them for sure. I agree with that entirely, but I do think some people blow certain things out of proportion (and this is coming from a pro at overthinking. ) options would defintely be a nice thing, even if it's just a different "mode" of some sort, but I don't know if it's something that would be added or not. So like, what route do you go with? People who actually want a life simulation game (which is what Sims4 is supposed to be) or the dollhouse building crowd?
And thus is why it's difficult to please everyone in the video game industry, and the devs at Maxis know this. Because no matter what they release for the game. There's always going to be someone who's not happy with it.
Maybe it's time for two versions of the Sims - an Adult version and an all ages version. I was on youtube yesterday and there was review an more adult mod and the younger viewers were commenting on the video, I'd better not let my folks see this etc. So kids are going to get mods for a more adult game. I hope that doesn't make EA stop allowing modding. IMHO two versions - one that can't be modded and pretty much dollhouse play and then the sandbox more adult version.
Nice idea, but seriously doubt that EA will go for it. They have already done made it clear that they do not intend to raise the rating for The Sims any higher than it already is.
I was thinking about this recently, why is everything offensive those days ?, why has everything to be tip toed around ?, shall we just wrap the next generation is bubble wrap because everything could be seen as offensive because someone is a overthinker, why is some people reading too much into a game rather than enjoying it, I even saw a comment of someone thinking the erratic trait is offensive because the icon is a straitjacket
I was literally just coming here to post the exact same thing. And like you, @CelSims I too struggle with mental health issues. My anxiety is so bad, I can't drive, work, cook or otherwise do anything to take care of myself on my own and I've been going to therapy since 2017, but have only made minimal progress. And in addition to anxiety, I have depression as well, which thankfully isn't AS severe, but it still affects me in my day to day life.
And I also personally don't see anything offensive about about the icon for erratic. It's just an icon.
I'm glad yous both agree with me about this, I have social anxiety and I lost one of my friends to mental health issues, what some people don't understand is if people keep reading too much into a game although their hearts are in the right place, they could end up ruining it @MeowchaFrappe@CelSims
Oh no, I totally agree with you. I don't think people have bad intentions when bringing this stuff up. But you're right, if people keep reading too much into everything, it very well could end up ruining it. I'm a person who tends to overthink too, so I can understand why it happens, but as discussed here time and time again: almost anything could be offensive if you think hard enough on it. So where do you draw the line?
I don't know, it's difficult. I feel that we should respect that people feel very differently regarding different subjects, but we should also not let people who feel too strongly about something dictate what should be allowed or not.
So when this comes to what should be included in the game I think we should give people options, right now it feels like the sims4 is struggling to be both a sandbox(dollhouse) and a life simulation game with consequences.
Oh yeah, we should defintely respect them for sure. I agree with that entirely, but I do think some people blow certain things out of proportion (and this is coming from a pro at overthinking. ) options would defintely be a nice thing, even if it's just a different "mode" of some sort, but I don't know if it's something that would be added or not. So like, what route do you go with? People who actually want a life simulation game (which is what Sims4 is supposed to be) or the dollhouse building crowd?
And thus is why it's difficult to please everyone in the video game industry, and the devs at Maxis know this. Because no matter what they release for the game. There's always going to be someone who's not happy with it.
Maybe it's time for two versions of the Sims - an Adult version and an all ages version. I was on youtube yesterday and there was review an more adult mod and the younger viewers were commenting on the video, I'd better not let my folks see this etc. So kids are going to get mods for a more adult game. I hope that doesn't make EA stop allowing modding. IMHO two versions - one that can't be modded and pretty much dollhouse play and then the sandbox more adult version.
Nice idea, but seriously doubt that EA will go for it. They have already done made it clear that they do not intend to raise the rating for The Sims any higher than it already is.
The Sims Online wasn't teen rated however, so not going to be hard to keep it M rated for that remake for the Sims 5. Sims 4 may be the last of the teen rated era.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
I was thinking about this recently, why is everything offensive those days ?, why has everything to be tip toed around ?, shall we just wrap the next generation is bubble wrap because everything could be seen as offensive because someone is a overthinker, why is some people reading too much into a game rather than enjoying it, I even saw a comment of someone thinking the erratic trait is offensive because the icon is a straitjacket
I was literally just coming here to post the exact same thing. And like you, @CelSims I too struggle with mental health issues. My anxiety is so bad, I can't drive, work, cook or otherwise do anything to take care of myself on my own and I've been going to therapy since 2017, but have only made minimal progress. And in addition to anxiety, I have depression as well, which thankfully isn't AS severe, but it still affects me in my day to day life.
And I also personally don't see anything offensive about about the icon for erratic. It's just an icon.
I'm glad yous both agree with me about this, I have social anxiety and I lost one of my friends to mental health issues, what some people don't understand is if people keep reading too much into a game although their hearts are in the right place, they could end up ruining it @MeowchaFrappe@CelSims
Oh no, I totally agree with you. I don't think people have bad intentions when bringing this stuff up. But you're right, if people keep reading too much into everything, it very well could end up ruining it. I'm a person who tends to overthink too, so I can understand why it happens, but as discussed here time and time again: almost anything could be offensive if you think hard enough on it. So where do you draw the line?
I don't know, it's difficult. I feel that we should respect that people feel very differently regarding different subjects, but we should also not let people who feel too strongly about something dictate what should be allowed or not.
So when this comes to what should be included in the game I think we should give people options, right now it feels like the sims4 is struggling to be both a sandbox(dollhouse) and a life simulation game with consequences.
Oh yeah, we should defintely respect them for sure. I agree with that entirely, but I do think some people blow certain things out of proportion (and this is coming from a pro at overthinking. ) options would defintely be a nice thing, even if it's just a different "mode" of some sort, but I don't know if it's something that would be added or not. So like, what route do you go with? People who actually want a life simulation game (which is what Sims4 is supposed to be) or the dollhouse building crowd?
And thus is why it's difficult to please everyone in the video game industry, and the devs at Maxis know this. Because no matter what they release for the game. There's always going to be someone who's not happy with it.
Maybe it's time for two versions of the Sims - an Adult version and an all ages version. I was on youtube yesterday and there was review an more adult mod and the younger viewers were commenting on the video, I'd better not let my folks see this etc. So kids are going to get mods for a more adult game. I hope that doesn't make EA stop allowing modding. IMHO two versions - one that can't be modded and pretty much dollhouse play and then the sandbox more adult version.
Nice idea, but seriously doubt that EA will go for it. They have already done made it clear that they do not intend to raise the rating for The Sims any higher than it already is.
The Sims Online wasn't teen rated however, so not going to be hard to keep it M rated for that remake for the Sims 5. Sims 4 may be the last of the teen rated era.
Like you, I don't see what the fuss is all about either. It's not like the Fed's are going to suddenly raise the rating of video games higher than an M class rating tomorrow. But EA holds all the rights to this game as far as I know, and they can do what ever they want with it. And no body can say otherwise. So if they want an M rated online version of the game, so be it. That is online, not this version that we play offline on our PC's and consoles. And that's the version that they had done made it clear that they have no intention to raising it's rating any higher.
In the end, the consent is in the hands of the player. That is where it belongs. No one should be policing other peoples' stories or game or dictating how a feature should be interpreted, especially if said feature is flexible enough to have many possibilities. If you want to play your game as a Utopian paradise where your Sims only make good choices and everything is always okay and safe and happy, be my guest. You can. But you don't get to tell me how to play mine.
Exactly.
I'm just waiting for someone to make the complaint that vampires feeding on other sims is non consensual and should be removed.
In the end, the consent is in the hands of the player. That is where it belongs. No one should be policing other peoples' stories or game or dictating how a feature should be interpreted, especially if said feature is flexible enough to have many possibilities. If you want to play your game as a Utopian paradise where your Sims only make good choices and everything is always okay and safe and happy, be my guest. You can. But you don't get to tell me how to play mine.
Exactly.
I'm just waiting for someone to make the complaint that vampires feeding on other sims is non consensual and should be removed.
Please, EA, don't do this to us!
Which is why going back to an earlier post that I have on here. No body has the right to tell another person how to play a game that they own a copy of. Once that copy is sold, that's it. And the end agreement that we all must agree to before installing is the company's assurance that whom ever buys the copies will not copy and market the game as their own.
This whole argument is silly to me because this is a game where we the people control our sims. There is no consent and sims are not real people where they can give consent and I should be able to play the game any way I want. The game has become too political and everything triggers someone and offends them. The sims is a "safe" space (whatever that means). Each person can decide for themselves how they want to play the game but now other players are deciding for me how I will play the game. They have taken away the drama, danger, and sucked the fun out of playing the game. The Sims 4 may have the most players but the gameplay is lacking and anytime they add something cool someone on Twitter demands that it be taken out or it's patched in to only happen 1% of the time.
Check out my gallery for house builds! Username: aejp24
I'm just waiting for someone to make the complaint that vampires feeding on other sims is non consensual and should be removed.
Please, EA, don't do this to us!
I found a site with a sale on Sims 3 and bought a bunch of expacs. At least I know that won't get nerfed
After just getting into TS4 again, I'm seriously considering going back to one of the older games. Not only are the bugs driving me back, but nerfing features and the patch schedule is just not something I'm willing to deal with anymore.
Fine, I'll be that guy..(seems like I have to be). All these negative threads(which do not exist in Sims2/3 forums...) is beginning to make me feel like I'm the only one that likes the game and doesn't actively look for reasons to dislike it.
@SamDenny Dude, you aren't the only one who likes TS4, it's enjoyable but certainly not good. People are being harsh because they want the best for the game and the future of the franchise, but they are constantly being let down time and time again by mismanagement (nerfs, removal of features) of the game and needless drama over nothing (mostly teenagers and oversensitive fools on Twitter trying to bring irl issues into the game that never existed before because no one sat back and over-thought things like "how can a bunch of pixels give consent? Even though technically they can't").
Give our Vampires back their fangs!!! Reverse the Nerf!!! Occult simmers should not be shoved aside for the "realism players"! It's time Occult lovers/players started to demand equal treatment. #JusticeForOccults
Maybe it's time for two versions of the Sims - an Adult version and an all ages version. I was on youtube yesterday and there was review an more adult mod and the younger viewers were commenting on the video, I'd better not let my folks see this etc. So kids are going to get mods for a more adult game. I hope that doesn't make EA stop allowing modding. IMHO two versions - one that can't be modded and pretty much dollhouse play and then the sandbox more adult version.
This is about where I'm at right now. The Teen rating is kind of a joke at this point because the game is more PG rated than PG-13. Honestly, I think an adult sandbox version would sell really well. Just look at how popular games like The Witcher, Red Dead Redemption, and Grand Theft Auto are.
This is what makes the most sense to me, to develop the game with all its possibilities and then have an edited All Ages version where things are nerfed and toned down automatically. But I really would want a set of control in settings so I can choose what to include in my game - there are so many things that would benefit from toggles and settings - especially if you could set them per save. That would be amazing.
Wasn't that what My Sims was for.
I never played it, but considered it a game for kids and they would eventually mature up to The Sims.
IMO, its easy to toss all the blame on EA/Maxis, or twitter simmers, accusing them of adopting political correctness or being too PC, but, overall, I think they are just small players in the new developing world we all live in.
Political correctness is hitting not only video games like the sims, but also..... as currently in the news..... social media sites - as they fight the argument of free speech vs their Right to police it.
TV is also being hit. Look at the new charmed reboot for example. The original charmed was comprised of 3 (+1) white straight girls, vs the new charmed reboot of 3 girls who are comprised of 2 (suggested) Latinos, 1 African American, and 1 lesbian.
I love all the diversity, not only in games, but also on TV. But i'm not ready yet to applaud these platforms for their diversity because it often comes across as them just trying to include as many groups as possible into their format so they won't be the victim of a lawsuit.
Just in the last year alone, between Canada and the U.S., the reality show Big Brother had a transgender, a bi-sexual woman, a married gay man, an Aboriginal, and multiple African Americans. They probably have their producers scoping the globe for a gay African American man with a Latino parent and an Aboriginal bi-sexual transgender who is conforming to Muslim studies.
Again, I love all the diversity, but at some point it just appears obvious that they are just trying to escape being labeled as racist in some way. It's so easy to be accused of being racist these days, or abusive to someone's rights, that the world has become fearful of being the recipient of the next lawsuit.
So when we get someone on twitter who has the compacity to show up with followers shout that the sims game is allowing a platform for sexual activity that is deemed offensive in some way..... the sims team's reply is pretty much tailor-made to fit the new world we live in.
I'm one of those people voting to have the sims be just a game - full of options for each of us to choose, or not choose - without having to worry about someone else's opinions. After all, the sims is a single player game. Who's going to see, or know what I do, or how I treat, my sims. Why can't the game just be left alone. Just let me play it.
But for EA/Maxis, they have to worry about political correctness because for them, its not just about gameplay, its also about "perception". In today's world, they can't afford to be seen, or labeled, as a creator or promoter of a gaming platform that promotes abuse of people's Rights, and/or social well being.
Unfortunately, (IMO) this is where were at. Any guesses where we all go from here?
Unfortunately, (IMO) this is where were at. Any guesses where we all go from here?
A lot of guesses were already made by neuro-psychology studies of social media impact. We are going the route to simplified content and disability to proceed complex information to the point when even schizophrenia delusions are getting extremely simplified in comparison to that people had a century ago. Humanity collective brain will growing weak and we'll have to rely on AI even more.
In his book Yuval Noah Harari is stating that in the future new "species" will be more different from humanity as we know it now than we are from our ancestors (sorry I can't quote word to word as I'm reading in other language). So I'll quote from a review: "possible futures where technology plays a fundamental role to achieve abundance, immortality and a power equal to the one mythological gods had. Religion (as in Sapiens) has a leading role and the main creed is Dataism and that organisms are algorithms. " But I think he's optimistic in here. Many studies and what I see around suggest that it won't be Utopia but Dystopia instead. And recently I'm more frequently thinking of Dune series where Butlerian Jihad had to happen with the complete destruction of all intelligent machines.
In regards to Sims I see that in era of artificial neural networks that can be trained and do amazing things instead of digging deeper in the idea of life simulation with new tools the game is going the root of selling "skins" (be it objects or clothes) basically and very redundant simulation even compared to it's predecessors. Publishers are not interested in developing a Concept anymore they are interested in having a stable live-service product. To be fair in the line of simplification majority of consumer's would prefer this as well. So I think let them be. At that rate sims franchise won't last too long and though I've grown with this game and love it probably it's ok and even for the better...
I'm just waiting for someone to make the complaint that vampires feeding on other sims is non consensual and should be removed.
Please, EA, don't do this to us!
I found a site with a sale on Sims 3 and bought a bunch of expacs. At least I know that won't get nerfed
After just getting into TS4 again, I'm seriously considering going back to one of the older games. Not only are the bugs driving me back, but nerfing features and the patch schedule is just not something I'm willing to deal with anymore.
I use 2 mods in sims 3, overwatch and errortrap. And that's it. I have no lag, no disruptive bugs, no cancelled order queues. A smooth, uncensored and super fun game.
Presumably for some people, consent to woohoo while dazed is ok, while consent to try for baby while dazed is not ok, because it produces a child which might annoy them? That’s awfully selfish.
@babajayne Yes. That's what I mean too. I think a lot of people don't understand the consent is just about if the dazed sim agrees on having a child or not. The dazed sim will agree to woohoo anyway, it's about whether or not protection is used.
There is no real rap* scenario but I think a lot of people on Twitter see the words "consent is importnant" and think the Sims team programmed the game to make you able to take sexual advantage of drunk sims.
At least that's why I think this thing blew up so much. I think a lot of people don't actually understand the thing you are saying.
I think EA should get rid of game-changers and get some testers with specific things to check out to the limit so that things like this are found quickly and reported. A game-changer who first reports this to the public rather than the producers is useless in my opinion.
Pandemic is a good time to sign up to become a playtester. It is actually really nice to be able to help the game behind the scenes and do it from the comfort from your own home: https://www.ea.com/playtesting
Thanks for that article. I'd even forgotten who was supposed to be the Community Manager or even if we had one anymore. If they want a good tested game EA/Maxis should pay testers to do it and not depend on giving freebies out to some favoured Simmers from time to time, giving them only a short time to try new stuff out.
These days all the game-changers I check out are those showing the stuff in the new packs, usually with the sound off!
Even with Contreversy and unfortunate mismanagement, There is no denying that SimGuruKate was the best Community Manager The Sims 4 ever had. Now the latest CM only talks to us when there is news. Compared to SimGuruKate, where she shares mods, her gameplay, answer fan questions and etc.
IMO, its easy to toss all the blame on EA/Maxis, or twitter simmers, accusing them of adopting political correctness or being too PC, but, overall, I think they are just small players in the new developing world we all live in.
Political correctness is hitting not only video games like the sims, but also..... as currently in the news..... social media sites - as they fight the argument of free speech vs their Right to police it.
TV is also being hit. Look at the new charmed reboot for example. The original charmed was comprised of 3 (+1) white straight girls, vs the new charmed reboot of 3 girls who are comprised of 2 (suggested) Latinos, 1 African American, and 1 lesbian.
I love all the diversity, not only in games, but also on TV. But i'm not ready yet to applaud these platforms for their diversity because it often comes across as them just trying to include as many groups as possible into their format so they won't be the victim of a lawsuit.
Just in the last year alone, between Canada and the U.S., the reality show Big Brother had a transgender, a bi-sexual woman, a married gay man, an Aboriginal, and multiple African Americans. They probably have their producers scoping the globe for a gay African American man with a Latino parent and an Aboriginal bi-sexual transgender who is conforming to Muslim studies.
Again, I love all the diversity, but at some point it just appears obvious that they are just trying to escape being labeled as racist in some way. It's so easy to be accused of being racist these days, or abusive to someone's rights, that the world has become fearful of being the recipient of the next lawsuit.
So when we get someone on twitter who has the compacity to show up with followers shout that the sims game is allowing a platform for sexual activity that is deemed offensive in some way..... the sims team's reply is pretty much tailor-made to fit the new world we live in.
I'm one of those people voting to have the sims be just a game - full of options for each of us to choose, or not choose - without having to worry about someone else's opinions. After all, the sims is a single player game. Who's going to see, or know what I do, or how I treat, my sims. Why can't the game just be left alone. Just let me play it.
But for EA/Maxis, they have to worry about political correctness because for them, its not just about gameplay, its also about "perception". In today's world, they can't afford to be seen, or labeled, as a creator or promoter of a gaming platform that promotes abuse of people's Rights, and/or social well being.
Unfortunately, (IMO) this is where were at. Any guesses where we all go from here?
We will have to support the people who don't let Political Correctness get in the way of their creative vision I guess. Developers like Sucker Punch, Rockstar Games, CD Project Red etc. The success of people like them will make it easier for Maxis to stick to their creative vision and spend less time nerfing features because small GameChangers tell them to.
Support the people you believe in and don't give people that are just looking for drama or political correctness any spotlight.
Our news, soap operas, and reality tv shows are often the least PC too which is funny when only the Sims 4 gets censoring. I mean if Sims 4 really was a realistic game like many claim it would be then it would be at minimum teen rated and not E for everyone rated that other forms of media are not E rated either.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
Our news, soap operas, and reality tv shows are often the least PC too which is funny when only the Sims 4 gets censoring. I mean if Sims 4 really was a realistic game like many claim it would be then it would be at minimum teen rated and not E for everyone rated that other forms of media are not E rated either.
Considering the crude humor sexual theme and mild violence, you bet that the minimum rating for this game would be a T rating. In fact I heard that Russian federal government has raised the rating for The Sims to an M rating because of the contents that I had mentioned above in this post.
Our news, soap operas, and reality tv shows are often the least PC too which is funny when only the Sims 4 gets censoring. I mean if Sims 4 really was a realistic game like many claim it would be then it would be at minimum teen rated and not E for everyone rated that other forms of media are not E rated either.
Considering the crude humor sexual theme and mild violence, you bet that the minimum rating for this game would be a T rating. In fact I heard that Russian federal government has raised the rating for The Sims to an M rating because of the contents that I had mentioned above in this post.
Yeah that is what I'm wondering is if that rating system is used for making games now rather than American ESRB rating system and why the Sims 4 has been censored the way it has. George Orwell and Ray Bradbury predicted this over censorship of media to the extent it takes all emotions out of society that all you are left with is hate and violence. But yes I am glad to not be living there because with their strict rating system and the violence happening there, I would not be able to play the Sims games. I find over censorship actually causes more issues than helps it. Humans were designed with free will and humans making restrictive rules over other humans is why this world is as messed up as it is. Why I am glad humans didn't design humans because designing Sims in the Sims 4 is a dystopian mess.
Our news, soap operas, and reality tv shows are often the least PC too which is funny when only the Sims 4 gets censoring. I mean if Sims 4 really was a realistic game like many claim it would be then it would be at minimum teen rated and not E for everyone rated that other forms of media are not E rated either.
Considering the crude humor sexual theme and mild violence, you bet that the minimum rating for this game would be a T rating. In fact I heard that Russian federal government has raised the rating for The Sims to an M rating because of the contents that I had mentioned above in this post.
Yeah that is what I'm wondering is if that rating system is used for making games now rather than American ESRB rating system and why the Sims 4 has been censored the way it has. George Orwell and Ray Bradbury predicted this over censorship of media to the extent it takes all emotions out of society that all you are left with is hate and violence. But yes I am glad to not be living there because with their strict rating system and the violence happening there, I would not be able to play the Sims games. I find over censorship actually causes more issues than helps it. Humans were designed with free will and humans making restrictive rules over other humans is why this world is as messed up as it is. Why I am glad humans didn't design humans because designing Sims in the Sims 4 is a dystopian mess.
No you wouldn't! The last I heard from Russia was that the Federal Government there was considering banning the sale of The Sims there altogether because of the game's crude humor sexual theme and mild violence.
Our news, soap operas, and reality tv shows are often the least PC too which is funny when only the Sims 4 gets censoring. I mean if Sims 4 really was a realistic game like many claim it would be then it would be at minimum teen rated and not E for everyone rated that other forms of media are not E rated either.
Considering the crude humor sexual theme and mild violence, you bet that the minimum rating for this game would be a T rating. In fact I heard that Russian federal government has raised the rating for The Sims to an M rating because of the contents that I had mentioned above in this post.
Yeah that is what I'm wondering is if that rating system is used for making games now rather than American ESRB rating system and why the Sims 4 has been censored the way it has. George Orwell and Ray Bradbury predicted this over censorship of media to the extent it takes all emotions out of society that all you are left with is hate and violence. But yes I am glad to not be living there because with their strict rating system and the violence happening there, I would not be able to play the Sims games. I find over censorship actually causes more issues than helps it. Humans were designed with free will and humans making restrictive rules over other humans is why this world is as messed up as it is. Why I am glad humans didn't design humans because designing Sims in the Sims 4 is a dystopian mess.
No you wouldn't! The last I heard from Russia was that the Federal Government there was considering banning the sale of The Sims there altogether because of the game's crude humor sexual theme and mild violence.
They didn't like the LGBTQIA+ elements in the game, why they wanted to ban it.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
As I know in Russia, TS4 is A/PEGI 18 rated because of LGBT+. That rating is only a suggestion. In my opinion TS4 should be M/PEGI 16 rated and have more jucy elements. I'm sure that the most of community are 16+. The rest of community probably will ignore that rating. But in other hand, EA is too restrictive in T/Pegi 12 rating where they can do more.
I've just found this:
In the US, The Sims 4 was rated Teen (13+). The respective content characteristics are below:
“Content is generally suitable for ages 13 and up. May contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling and/or infrequent use of strong language.” Out of all the above, The Sims 4 features only “explicit sexual content of moderate impact.”
In Australia, the game was rated М (Mature) (“the game might contain violence and nudity of moderate impact”). That means The Sims 4 is recommended to children over 15 but is not prohibited for purchase by children under 15. The right to decide whether the content is appropriate for a child belongs to parents.
In Europe, PEGI rated The Sims 4 as 12+. This category tolerates non-graphic violence and nudity, and bad language in this category must be mild and fall short of sexual expletives
Germany decided to bypass PEGI and rated the game as 6+. In Germany, age-based ratings mostly consider violence. In fact, there is no explicit and graphic violence in The Sims 4, besides an opportunity to kill-off the character. At the same time, the death won’t be depicted realistically and the game does not display blood.
Comments
Oh yes. I think the sims is going to find itself struggling when it tries to enter the MMO playing field. We oldies are not going to transition to multiplayer and the casual phone gamers aren't going to want to sit at their computers...if they even own computers. The only way it has the potential to be viable is if they have a phone component to it. I'm pretty sure they're trying to bring in their mobile market to the main game. It's a hard sell when your mobile component has better features that the current PC version. I hope they do better for the next version.
I think a lot of us will jump ship to Paralives if the sims is multiplayer and Paralives is a single player.
I'm just waiting for someone to make the complaint that vampires feeding on other sims is non consensual and should be removed.
Please, EA, don't do this to us!
I found a site with a sale on Sims 3 and bought a bunch of expacs. At least I know that won't get nerfed
After just getting into TS4 again, I'm seriously considering going back to one of the older games. Not only are the bugs driving me back, but nerfing features and the patch schedule is just not something I'm willing to deal with anymore.
I love it.
Wasn't that what My Sims was for.
I never played it, but considered it a game for kids and they would eventually mature up to The Sims.
Political correctness is hitting not only video games like the sims, but also..... as currently in the news..... social media sites - as they fight the argument of free speech vs their Right to police it.
TV is also being hit. Look at the new charmed reboot for example. The original charmed was comprised of 3 (+1) white straight girls, vs the new charmed reboot of 3 girls who are comprised of 2 (suggested) Latinos, 1 African American, and 1 lesbian.
I love all the diversity, not only in games, but also on TV. But i'm not ready yet to applaud these platforms for their diversity because it often comes across as them just trying to include as many groups as possible into their format so they won't be the victim of a lawsuit.
Just in the last year alone, between Canada and the U.S., the reality show Big Brother had a transgender, a bi-sexual woman, a married gay man, an Aboriginal, and multiple African Americans. They probably have their producers scoping the globe for a gay African American man with a Latino parent and an Aboriginal bi-sexual transgender who is conforming to Muslim studies.
Again, I love all the diversity, but at some point it just appears obvious that they are just trying to escape being labeled as racist in some way. It's so easy to be accused of being racist these days, or abusive to someone's rights, that the world has become fearful of being the recipient of the next lawsuit.
So when we get someone on twitter who has the compacity to show up with followers shout that the sims game is allowing a platform for sexual activity that is deemed offensive in some way..... the sims team's reply is pretty much tailor-made to fit the new world we live in.
I'm one of those people voting to have the sims be just a game - full of options for each of us to choose, or not choose - without having to worry about someone else's opinions. After all, the sims is a single player game. Who's going to see, or know what I do, or how I treat, my sims. Why can't the game just be left alone. Just let me play it.
But for EA/Maxis, they have to worry about political correctness because for them, its not just about gameplay, its also about "perception". In today's world, they can't afford to be seen, or labeled, as a creator or promoter of a gaming platform that promotes abuse of people's Rights, and/or social well being.
Unfortunately, (IMO) this is where were at. Any guesses where we all go from here?
A lot of guesses were already made by neuro-psychology studies of social media impact. We are going the route to simplified content and disability to proceed complex information to the point when even schizophrenia delusions are getting extremely simplified in comparison to that people had a century ago. Humanity collective brain will growing weak and we'll have to rely on AI even more.
In his book Yuval Noah Harari is stating that in the future new "species" will be more different from humanity as we know it now than we are from our ancestors (sorry I can't quote word to word as I'm reading in other language). So I'll quote from a review: "possible futures where technology plays a fundamental role to achieve abundance, immortality and a power equal to the one mythological gods had. Religion (as in Sapiens) has a leading role and the main creed is Dataism and that organisms are algorithms. " But I think he's optimistic in here. Many studies and what I see around suggest that it won't be Utopia but Dystopia instead. And recently I'm more frequently thinking of Dune series where Butlerian Jihad had to happen with the complete destruction of all intelligent machines.
In regards to Sims I see that in era of artificial neural networks that can be trained and do amazing things instead of digging deeper in the idea of life simulation with new tools the game is going the root of selling "skins" (be it objects or clothes) basically and very redundant simulation even compared to it's predecessors. Publishers are not interested in developing a Concept anymore they are interested in having a stable live-service product. To be fair in the line of simplification majority of consumer's would prefer this as well. So I think let them be. At that rate sims franchise won't last too long and though I've grown with this game and love it probably it's ok and even for the better...
I use 2 mods in sims 3, overwatch and errortrap. And that's it. I have no lag, no disruptive bugs, no cancelled order queues. A smooth, uncensored and super fun game.
Even with Contreversy and unfortunate mismanagement, There is no denying that SimGuruKate was the best Community Manager The Sims 4 ever had. Now the latest CM only talks to us when there is news. Compared to SimGuruKate, where she shares mods, her gameplay, answer fan questions and etc.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/924539/features-that-needs-depth-and-ways-to-improve
We will have to support the people who don't let Political Correctness get in the way of their creative vision I guess. Developers like Sucker Punch, Rockstar Games, CD Project Red etc. The success of people like them will make it easier for Maxis to stick to their creative vision and spend less time nerfing features because small GameChangers tell them to.
Support the people you believe in and don't give people that are just looking for drama or political correctness any spotlight.
Like, retweet, whatever... let the team knows that applying logic is paramount for this kind of situation.
I really like that Tweet @Simmer_chiyen.
I've just found this:
In the US, The Sims 4 was rated Teen (13+). The respective content characteristics are below:
“Content is generally suitable for ages 13 and up. May contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling and/or infrequent use of strong language.” Out of all the above, The Sims 4 features only “explicit sexual content of moderate impact.”
In Australia, the game was rated М (Mature) (“the game might contain violence and nudity of moderate impact”). That means The Sims 4 is recommended to children over 15 but is not prohibited for purchase by children under 15. The right to decide whether the content is appropriate for a child belongs to parents.
In Europe, PEGI rated The Sims 4 as 12+. This category tolerates non-graphic violence and nudity, and bad language in this category must be mild and fall short of sexual expletives
Germany decided to bypass PEGI and rated the game as 6+. In Germany, age-based ratings mostly consider violence. In fact, there is no explicit and graphic violence in The Sims 4, besides an opportunity to kill-off the character. At the same time, the death won’t be depicted realistically and the game does not display blood.
Source: https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/gaming-age-ratings/11647/