I haven't made the switch to 4 yet...
There are dozens of us!
On topic, I'm conflicted about the interview, because I agree with this entirely:
Really important as a gay kid growing up in a pretty homopobic country
Having representations of yourself and being able to actively experiment without fear of failure or scorn are incredibly, incredibly important to learning and personal growth.
But, I also have to agree with:
Disagree completely, to date there is a complete exclusion of disabled sim. So if a disabled person wanted to created themselves into the sim, they can not.
It seems to me that the conversation around inclusivity tends to either ignore disabled folks or write the issue off as too hard or too sensitive.
Lastly, seeing as you completely ignored the article in OP, you should be interested in learning that Maxis has confirmed "they are actively looking into adding disabled Sims into the game, but they seem cautious and want to do it properly, which I believe is a good thing." Unless you already knew about this?
This would be great but I don't see any mention of this in the article linked or hear it in the podcast within the article so I'm a bit confused as to what you are referencing?
Disabled Sims are a difficult issue to tackle. Just imagine the bad press it will garner when players (or journos) do to disabled Sims what they already did for 20 years to every other Sim in existence. Like, setting them on fire, selling the ladder-out of the pool, entomb a Sim to make him starve, etc.
You don't see at a glance if the Sim that was set on fire was straight or LGBTQ+, but when the picture displays a Sim in a wheelchair getting set on fire...
No disrespect meant to you personally at all as clearly your concern comes from the right place however I think it is ultimately misplaced and this general view ends up giving the Sims team a plausible excuse to just not.
Besides, surely the things that you describe are essentially just simulated cruelty? In that case the issue is more "why is it fine to
want to do that to
anything, even pixels in a video game" rather than "where is the line between who we can and can't starve or set fire to for our own amusement". And indeed on the other hand and without applying intent from the player, "why is it funny when my sim accidentally sets fire to themselves cooking macaroni and why wouldn't it be funny if my disabled sim does exactly the same thing?".
I personally don't think we should avoid adding important things that encourage diversity for one group of people to simply pander to the possibility of hate in another. Instead in this context we should simply shut hate down quickly and sternly as and when we find it.
Fail states would have to be altered or removed for sure. It could be something like, "Because you traverse through the world more aware of obstacles, your actions are more intentions, thus ensuring 100% success for certain actions."
I'm not sure why. Surely a much more interesting internal thought process or perhaps external conversation happens when able bodied people are presented with the realities, challenges and outright absurdities that all too often present themselves when you are living with a disability?
The most telling thing for me was that the only real acknowledgement of disability in an interview celebrating diversity was the thought from the Sims producer about how people who had been in an accident and were unfortunately temporarily disabled used the Sims as escapism when they were unable to do the things they usually do.
Now that is a perfectly fine statement in and of itself, hell, I understand it myself as my better half and I long for the days that VR becomes more accessible so we might be able to finally visit or in some cases re-visit places we will never be able to get to now. What sticks in my craw a little about it though is that the conversation they are having before and after this specific comment is about people exploring other versions of themselves yet at no point did anyone take the next step here and wonder out loud if it would be interesting for an able-bodied person to experience life from what would be to them the very different perspective of being differently able.
Ah well, it is what it is I guess. As Stephen Frost said and Rod Fergusson recently referenced, "unless you consciously include, you will unconsciously exclude".
Ultimately, I think I will absolutely celebrate the achievements of the good folks behind the Sims when it comes to pushing boundaries. Frankly, it's quite astonishing how far they have come and how much they have simply done, without any real fanfare, to increase the diversity and inclusiveness of video games. I just won't forget to not let them rest on their laurels quite yet, there's still plenty more people to be and places to see.
Anyway, have a great day/evening/night everyone and apologies for the verbosity, long day!
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