The fight for greater gender inclusivity wages on in popular culture, with sports teams, television shows, fashion brands, children’s toys, and more taking steps to embrace and champion non-binary voices. Now, fans of the popular life-simulation game The Sims are petitioning the game’s maker, Electronic Arts, to offer non-binary and transgender-inclusive language and customizable options.
The Sims 4, the latest major title in the two-decade-old franchise, allows players to create non-binary and trans characters. However, text featured in the game often resorts to he/she pronouns, based on a Sim’s “body type,” when referring to characters. Frustrated by this simplistic binary prism in a game featuring genies, vampires, and mummies, a Sims fan who goes by Mimi Misfortune launched an online petition last month imploring EA to recognize that the company still has more work to do for players seeking a non-binary experience.
Misfortune acknowledges that The Sims has boosted representation for the LGBTQ+ community in recent years by allowing same-sex marriages and customizable trans sims, but “the gendered language still lingers,” they wrote. Misfortune also wrote that if the game’s developers can allow players to choose gender-neutral language for their characters, it could prevent mishaps like seeing their characters be misgendered.
Speaking to Newsweek this week, Misfortune noted the need for improvements also comes down to the graphics. A trans male Sim can be created, but a transmasculine Sim? “You pick a male base for the Sim, but maybe decide they want to wear feminine-based clothing,” Misfortune said. “The shirts will still give the outline of a chest even if they don’t have one.”
The petition has a goal of 15,000 signatures. As of Friday afternoon, close to 13,000 people have signed.
The Sims has been called a “safe haven” for LGBTQ+ gamers over the years, allowing for risk-free experimentation and role-playing. But what the games have and have not allowed over the years act as a reflection of LGBTQ+ politics, whether intentional or not. In the original Sims, released in 2000, same-sex relationships were allowed, but the couples could not get married. The Sims 2, released in 2004, offered a designation of a “joined union” for gay and lesbian couples and “marriage” for straight ones. The 2009 release of The Sims 3 saw marriage become available for all. And in 2016, a game update from EA allowed players to at last “create Sims with any type of physique, walk style, and tone of voice you choose — regardless of their gender.”
Misfortune has been tweeting their complaints at EA every day for 51 days now. They have not yet received a response.
Trans representation in mainstream video games is on the rise, albeit slowly. Tell Me Why, a narrative adventure game released last year, featured a trans man at its center. The game won a GLAAD Award this month. And a new Harry Potter game, created separately from the controversial author behind the books, will allow customizable trans characters. Let’s hope The Sims follows suit.
EA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from them.
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