Hello lovely people,
As you know, I’ve been a fan of “The Sims” game series for a long time. I first played
it in 2001 in Sweden on a family friend’s computer. In Swedish, so... I didn’t really
understand what it was trying to tell me, but I knew it was true love.
Once at home I made an entire powerpoint presentation in order to convince her that my life wouldn’t
be complete without The Sims, leaning heavily on the ‘it will help with my interpersonal
skills’ and ‘I need it for my budding interest in architecture’ (because we were
only allowed educational games). Let’s be honest though, Sims 1 was more architectural
monstrosities than education!
What is this?
We’re now on Sims 4 and I’ve been playing all this time but, for some of us, there has
always been something missing from The Sims
[scratch record sfx]
- And I’m not just talking about a farming expansion pack…
Please god make this video age badly so people leave comments saying we have a farming pack
No, I’m talking about disability. The Sims is a game about life- granted, as life with
vampires and mermaids, but it’s still a LIFE SIMULATION. Apparently one without disabled
people though, who make up almost 20% of the population! Which, I think we can all agree,
is a much larger percentage than the 0.2% of people who are secretly vampires.
- don’t quote me on that.
Probably higher.
The Sims bounces between fantasy and reality and you know who makes up a big part of reality?
Disabled people!
There are those who say that disabilities SHOULD be included in The Sims
and those who say they shouldn’t and in this video we’re going to be looking at
both sides of the argument.
If you’re interested in adding disability representation to your game RIGHT NOW and
don’t have the patience to wait for EA to get their act together then you need to check
out the ‘Best Disability Mods’ video on The English Simmer’s channel, made in collaboration
with this video! Over to you Mollie…
Mollie: Hi there, I’m The English Simmer here on YouTube and I make videos all about
the Sims 4, from Let’s play to Create a Sims.
I also have a heavy LGBTQ+ focus that pushes diversity in the game. I'm following up this
video with a video that discusses mods for the sims 4 so you guys can actually have Sims
with disabilities in your game.
So the link will be down in the description.
But firstly, on to Jessica’s video!
So whilst Mollie covers how to add some forms of representation into your game right now,
let’s talk about whether they should or shouldn’t already be there.
Disclaimer though: these are my opinions! There are many sides to this discussion, as
there are with most discussions. If you disagree with me that’s totally fine, please feel
free to explain your thoughts kindly in the comments, I’m sure they’re very interesting
and lots of you will think of things that I haven’t even considered.
Back in 2018 @SimGuruGrant (Senior Producer with Maxis.) wrote a series of tweets on how
disability representation in the Sims is, “still something we'd like to do at some
point.” And as great as it is that it’s on their radar… it’s now 2020 and the
Sims 4 was released almost 6 years ago.
People with niche hair colours have representation, why don’t disabled Simmers?
- Having said that, the number of people who play the Sims and have pink hair is apparently
really, really high so apparently not that niche!
Which is not to say that it’s as complex to change a few hair shades as it is to represent
‘disability’ since, contrary to belief, disability is not a monolith. There are a
lot of different types of disability or illness and those are all going to need to be coded
into the game differently: whilst a prosthetic leg may work much like a skin that just sits
on top of the leg and doesn’t necessarily change gameplay at all, a paralysed Sim would
need to interact with almost every action differently and if they use a wheelchair that
chair will need to be able to go everywhere, pull up underneath all tables, pianos and
sinks and there would need to be a transferring action that got them into bed. And what about
all of the public buildings with steps?
Boy are there a lot of steps in The Sims! Why are they so obsessed with steps? These
are excessive steps! No one needs this many steps! None of these buildings would be passed
by health and safety!
Equally, if there was a character trait introduced that represented autism-
- Not to say that being autistic is a character trait, I’m just doing what my Nana called
‘spitballing’.
That trait would need to affect every action they take in the game in some way, right?
And we can certainly have a discussion about how character traits in The Sims 4 are basically
pointless and don’t really affect the character of your Sim enough but if we’re going to
the trouble of including this new trait we would actually want it to do something!
My point is that, yes, it would take a lot of planning and man hours and money to include
disabilities in The Sims in the right way but THEY MADE FREAKING MERMAIDS so I don’t
have time for that argument.
It would also obviously be very important to both the game and the brand that disabilities
were portrayed realistically and tastefully and in a way that represented enough people
to the point where they wouldn’t be yelled at for not representing every single type
of disability… because that’s just not possible.
And then we come to the argument that not everyone who has something that may be classed
as a ‘disability’ considers themself to be ‘disabled’. A large number of Deaf
people don’t consider themselves disabled or ‘impaired’ and they certainly would
not feel that their culture was represented by a hearing aid or cochlear implant mod.
I’ve already mentioned autism and not all autistic people see themselves as ‘disabled’,
a word that can be seen to have very negative connotations, but rather as just being able
to think and see the world differently. I personally use the word ‘disabled’ because
it IS something that’s a part of me, it IS a word that will be used about me and it
IS my choice to therefore make it a positive. It’s a descriptor and it describes me.
But having said that, would I buy an add-on pack to The Sims called ‘Disabilities And Stuff!’...?
- NO . Really, really not.
Because it would feel like we’re a second thought, an option in life rather than part
of the real world and GOD it would probably come with some awful beige medical stuff!
Or maybe it would even feel like we’re a spectacle. Which is probably how Vampires
felt about being a Game Pack.
[a moment of silence for the vampires]
Vampires have feelings too.
It wouldn’t be authentic or… interesting. Granted, it’s not the LEAST interesting
Stuff pack they’ve put out. Like for some reason people keep telling me to buy ‘laundry
day’ and I’m like… wha? But I don’t like doing laundry in real life, why would
I enjoy it in a video game?
And thus we come to another point: not every disabled Simmer WANTS to see themselves represented
in game. Some disabled people argue that they play the Sims 4 as an escape from their real
life, and they wouldn’t want to have disabilities in the Sims. But that can be resolved by making
disabilities optional.
There is also the worry that regardless how sensitive the developers are with disabilities,
some may still see its inclusion within the game as a joke. We used to drown our Sims
by taking away their ladders… what if some people box in their wheelchair using Sim with
stairs until they starve?
It’s a tricky subject for EA to deal with and definitely hard to put into practice.
As I said, there are a lot of different types of disability and even people with the same
disability will vary greatly in their severity and presentation. Not every case of cerebral
palsy presents in the same way. Not all blind people have eyes that are visibly unable to
see to an outsider. Not all wheelchair users use their wheelchair full-time.
Although there is actually a mod that turns a bike into a wheelchair so your Sim will
only use it occasionally.
I myself am an ambulatory wheelchair user- which means I only need it at certain times.
I would certainly need it if I made a realistic Sim version of myself because WOW do Sims
walk far! Especially across University campuses. Sometimes at an achingly slow pace because
they refuse to run for some reason and the campuses are so big that sometimes they’ve
taken just as long to walk there as the length of the class and now it’s over and I swear
they do it more when they know they’re failing the class, just to annoy me!
The point is: it would be difficult to accurately represent every disability within the game
and some people are going to feel left out. There are also some conditions that probably
should not be gamified and included. Mental health conditions, for example, since that’s
an extremely sensitive topic.
Didn’t stop them from having the ‘Erratic’ trait that uses a picture of a straightjacket
and used to be called ‘Insane’ before they realised that was… um… not super
PC.
Properly executing this would be hard but it would be a first of the series and it’s
time to do it.
Representation IS important and The Sims has always been forward thinking in other regards:
making a point of including more than just heterosexuality from the very start, more
than 20 years ago. Make sure you check out Plumbella’s ‘Entire History of Sexuality
in the Sims’ if you haven’t already! More recently they’ve included a gender update
that allows you to customise your Sim’s gender; so whilst they may have a female body
they have a preference for masculine clothes or their body reads as male but they can get
pregnant.
Having this diversity within a game made for young people and children is both validating
and educational. Media representation influences public opinion and helps shape societal norms
in people’s minds. If you grow up seeing ‘love is love regardless of gender’ within
your favourite computer game, especially if you don’t have that modelled around you,
then you’re going to be a lot more open to accepting either your own non-hetero feelings
or someone else’s should you come across them in the real word.
This is especially applicable to disability. As I said earlier, 20% of the UK population
has a disability. Yet we’re only 2.7% of characters in films and 6.5% of characters
and presenters on TV. And when we are represented it’s often with the negative villain or
invalid stereotype. So wouldn’t it be great to see disabled people in The Sims becoming
astronauts or politicians or overworked and underpaid freelancers. Or, sure, diamond thieves.
Also a good option.
A lack of representation does nothing but reinforce negative attitudes and ignorance
about disabled lives.
Someone told me once that “disabled people don’t have to pay tax” and I was like…
“that sounds great, please tell the government for me!”
- Because, yes, disabled people are people too.
And even the tax man knows it.
Okay, now I’m just being facetious.
Check out the English Simmer’s “More LGBTQ+ Representation in The Sims 4” for what the
Sims could improve on when it comes to diversity and representation, but I think we can all
agree that they’re doing well. There are also a variety of skin tones and features
available to better help you make Sims that represent yourself and the world around you.
And if you don’t want to make the real world, if you’d rather play with aliens and mermaids,
then that’s your choice as well!
Introducing some disabilities and any assistance objects through a patch with an option to
turn them off, much like you can turn off aging or just not use the custom gender settings,
would be a great option in my mind.
You can play your game however you want to play it, that’s one of the great things
about The Sims- we all have different styles and different parts of the game we enjoy.
I really hate collecting things, I find it so annoying that elements and postcards and
those creepy troll dolls pile up in my Sim’s inventory but to some people that’s the
best bit of the game. I absolutely love family gameplay and creating a dynasty that lasts
for many, many generations but other people don’t like that. I also really love how
different aspects of the game are: maybe I want to play a quick hospital-style game or
spend lots of time decorating a house or a makeover game, well it’s all there, inside
this one game.
BUT the fact that disabilities aren’t an option, that they aren’t included within
the game AT ALL is a problem.
It’s a normal, human reaction to be uncomfortable with things and people who are unfamiliar
to us and thus it’s understandable to not actively CHOOSE that aspect. But that doesn’t
mean that you shouldn’t be given it as an option and that through repeated exposure
you shouldn’t be made to become more familiar.
Say, for example, you’re a 10-year-old Simmer who lives in the whitest of white towns, a
town so white it’s called ‘Whitesville’- maybe you’ve never even seen a non-white
person in the flesh before. When you fire up The Sims you make a white family. Nothing
wrong with that. Maybe you ALWAYS make a white family. Sure. That’s what you’re used to.
But when you’re choosing their skin colour you’re also seeing that there are a whole
host of other options… and when your Sim walks around town you see many Sims who aren’t
white. And the game has created neighbours for you who also aren’t white. And thus,
over time, you learn that the world isn’t just like ‘Whitesville’, it’s actually
hugely varied.
The Sims as a game encourages you to create the ‘perfect’ Sim- to level up your skills,
be popular and get promoted at work. What is it saying if people with disabilities are
excluded? That we can’t ever be ‘perfect’? That we’re innately unable to become so?
That we’re undesirable? Is that really the message that EA wants to be sending...?
- Ooh, I made it awkward now.
You can’t choose to be disabled in real life but I worry that by not allowing it be
a choice within the Sims universe that the message is being sent to young, disabled players
that they should not accept their own disability because it is innately unwanted.
This video isn’t just me complaining though, I actually have some ideas on how it could
be implemented so, you know, there’s a helpful bit too...
Perhaps we could start with CAS? Would that be easier? Cas by the way is Create A Sim.
I don’t know how to make video games… Let’s say that’s easier for argument sake:
With the full inclusion of prosthetics, hearing aids, canes, crutches or scars. They don't
have to start FULL OUT, maybe just a little patch to the game. There are robots, so prosthetics
must be possible, there are earrings so hearing aids are certainly possible (and already exists
thanks to mods). You don’t have to use either of those if you don’t want to.
Remember that canes were a thing on Sims 3 but it was only possible for Elders? Well
why can’t that be an animation that’s possible for every life stage? Or certainly
ones from teen and up- I understand it’s hard with tiny people! Could a stick for blind
Sims be worked into that as well?
Wheelchair mods exist for bikes so just pop them in the game and change some of the text.
- She says so blithely because she has no idea how to code.
Now, on to invisible disabilities... which I realise are more difficult to make gameplay
for and more delicate to handle. A work around could be with the use of traits! Maybe ‘low
energy’ or ‘fatigued’- that’s me. That Sim would simply need more sleep. A “Socially
anxious” sim, doesn’t do well in crowds of new people but builds relationships faster
by chatting online than other sims.
There are pros and cons for the inclusion of mental disabilities- by which I mean ‘mental
health’ rather than ‘learning disability’. Definitely a sensitive subject that should
be handled with a lot more forethought than The Sims has used in the past. In The Sims
2 when a Sims doesn’t get their wants filled or too many of their fears are filled a therapist
pops up and other Sims will do a sign for ‘crazy’.
Which… uh… yeah…
As I mentioned before, The Sims 3 had the ‘Insane’ trait which made the Sim erratic
and silly, dressing inappropriately and being generally wacky.
Those were played for laughs and, whilst I definitely wouldn’t want to see anything
too serious like an eating disorder or suicidal tendencies represented, I do think that there
is a value in having in-game disabilities be just factual and something that happens
to be there rather than something we need to make a big song-and-dance about.
There are already mods for depression and autism spectrum disorder, which are sensitively
made and focus on symptoms. Perhaps the Sims team could look at what is already out there
and the feedback that has already been given.
- Although if they did that I’m pretty sure we’d have farming by now. Just saying.
‘Disability and chronic illness’ is such a huge spectrum it would be impossible for
the Sims team to include everything. But playing as if we don’t exist just isn’t good enough
in 2020. If they ever release this update, they should of course talk to the disabled
community and get their input…
[cough] You know where to find me. I will take payment in the form of a farming pack.
Whenever the patch or the pack or even the inclusion in Sims 5 comes, I’ll receive
it with an open mind and realise that... it’s not going to be perfect from the start and
I’m probably not going to see myself represented 100%. But that’s fine! Just throw me a bone!
Carefully. So I don’t dislocate anything.
Because my body is ridiculous like that.
I understand that there are some drawbacks to including disabilities and that not everyone
will handle their disabled Sims… nicely. But I think the benefits of representation
far outweighs the negatvies.
What would you like to see represented in the Sims and how would you like to see it
handled? I obviously don’t and can’t speak for experiences that aren’t mine so please
do share your own.
Let me know as well if you enjoyed the video and whether you would like to see more in
this vein going forwards.
Click on her video in my End Screen to watch The English Simmer run through her list of
disability related mods that you can start playing with right now!.
Subscribe if you haven’t already and I’ll see you in my next video!