Talk about the Sims 4 means talk about a social representation that increasingly finds more diversity and fewer barriers in terms of gender, ethnicity, and nationality. A feature that allows more possibilities when playing and where the experience is enriched without stigma. Without a doubt, I think that talking about and praising this social aspect of the game is very important. The Sims 4 have managed to be a clear example of a model of social and civil representation, where no one feels out of place and where we can all feel included. What is not seen does not exist, and the fact that this video game makes so many cultures, nationalities and gender issues visible is a social projector of great value.
In this way, I will try to explain how these projected qualities can be seen once you play. Everything starts at the beginning of the game, during the process of creating your own character. A character that has all the characteristics that you want, without any kind of discrimination. In my playthrough, I was able to select each of the preferences that best suited me and realized that this truly was one of the most inclusive and cross-gender and ethnicity spanning games I had ever seen. There is a place for everything you want to be and everything you are. All nationalities, all types of skin colors, hair colors, clothing styles, body types, personalities, abilities, hobbies, behaviours are represented, and now in addition all genres.
The game allows you to select a custom pronoun which allows players to enter any combination of pronouns for an individual Sim, including sets of pronouns that are less common or personal to them. And I think this freedom is especially valuable for members of the transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) communities.
Along with this, all gender barriers have been eliminated. We have many options at our disposal to better define the gender of our Sim, because once you choose whether it is male or female (depending on what you have between your legs) you can select whether its physique is male or female. If our Sim has a preference for male or female clothing and hairstyles, or both; if he can stay pregnant, get other Sims pregnant, or neither, and even if he pees standing up or sitting down. The voice is not now assigned to a sex, but we can choose the one we want -including its tone-, as well as the way of walking.
The genre has been completely destroyed and during my game I realized that it is a spectre that many games still carry. The fact that the Sims have moved to this new social level means a giant cultural step for our society. It is something that has really surprised me and that has undoubtedly made me think about its analysis.
–Basic info: Publisher: Electronic Arts | Developer: Maxis, The Sims Studio | Platforms: Play Station 2, X-Box and PC | Release date: September 2, 2014 | Genres: life simulation videogame, adventure | PEG: 12+
-Pictures source: https://www.ea.com/es-es/games/the-sims
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