On the heels on the pronouns update, EA announced a big (free) change coming to Sims 4 character customization and story telling.
The company said it consulted with nonprofit organizations It Gets Better and GLAAD to implement a new range of “detailed and affirming option for players to experiment with various forms of sexual orientation for their Sims.”
The update will allow players to make some new changes on the character customization screen: who their Sim is attracted to, whether their Sim is exploring romantically, and who their Sim is interested in having sex (referred to canonically as WooHoo) with.
“If a Sim whose gender doesn’t match your Sim’s attraction settings attempts a romantic interaction with your Sim, they will be rejected,” Design Leader SimGuruJessica wrote in a dev blog. “You can check any combination of attraction boxes (including all or none) to reflect your sim’s romantic orientation. Further down the line, we’ll be able to expand this to include additional gender identities that we don’t have at this time.”
SimGuruJessica notes that “there will be concerns here around the initial options being gender binary” because “mechanically, non binary Sims don’t yet exist in TS4.”
In the FAQ, it is noted the limitation on the gender binary is due to technical limitations.
“You still have to make a binary gender selection for your Sim at creation, regardless of pronoun settings,” SimGuruJessica wrote. “We hope that we’ve shown our commitment to improving representation of gender identities with features such as Gender Customization, which allows you to modify physical frame, clothing preferences, pregnancy and toilet use options. We look at the pronouns update as another important step toward better representation of non binary genders, but we also acknowledge that pronouns are not the same thing as gender identities.
TS4 is 8 years old at this point, and reliant on systems that were originally architected with a gender binary in mind. In the intervening years, we’ve taken important steps such as Gender Customization, Pronouns and now Sexual Orientation. It’s a journey still in progress, with many more steps to go. Proper mechanical systems to fully support non binary Sims is another step in that journey.”
Sims will also have an option for whether or not your Sim’s sexual orientation can shift through gameplay.
“There are two major stories we wanted to capture with this setting,” SimGuruJessica said. “The first is the story of a person who has figured out who they are and has a firm and immutable sense of who they’re attracted to. This is reflected by a Sim who is not exploring romantically. Sims set to ‘No’ for exploring, will not shift orientation through gameplay and firmly reject advances from genders they aren’t interested in.
The second story is about a person who’s still figuring things out. Sims with exploring set to ‘Yes’, will still have an initial Sexual Orientation setting per the previous step, but it can change through gameplay. As your Sim experiences romantic interactions, they may find themselves in a very different place than where they started.”
And with SimGuruJessica touched on the new WooHoo preference setting: “This setting determines who your Sim can WooHoo with. If you’re trying to tell the story of an Asexual Sim, you could leave all options unchecked. On the flipside, you could tell the story of an Aromantic Sim by selecting WooHoo interests, but leaving all romantic attraction boxes unchecked. … You can also tell even more specific stories, such as a Sim who might be attracted to multiple genders but only interested in physical intimacy with one.”
No only that, but developer have created options for Sims who may not fit in any of the above categories: “To better reflect Aromantic Sims and a greater variety of lifestyles, we’ve added the ability for young adult Sims and older, to ask close friends to be WooHoo Partners. If they accept, you can now perform WooHoo without the romance prerequisites. Stress on the “If they accept” part, as with many socials of this nature, it can fail and lead to an awkward conversation afterward.”
Players will also be able to manually change Sims sexual orientations through he “Change Sim” interaction on a mirror or dresser to access CAS and change any of the settings manually, according to the dev blog.
“I want to again acknowledge that these topics are complex and full of nuance. We consider this a version 1.0, and are absolutely looking forward to seeing what further tools we might add to allow players to tell a broader range of stories.”
The last question in the FAQ asks whether the feature can be turned off. This is how they answered: “No. While we try to give players the option to toggle certain gameplay features, LGBTQIA+ identities are a fact of life and not a toggle to be switched on and off.”
The Sexual Orientation Update will drop alongside the recently announced High School Years Update on July 28, 2022.
Here is a brief synopsis of the newly announced High School Years expansion:
Copperdale High is the center of your teen Sims’ world. Inside these halls, Sims participate in everything that makes high school such a formative time in life, from building lifelong friendships, to selecting our favorite extracurricular activities and graduating into adulthood.
During school hours, Sims attend class, hang out with friends, have lunch in the cafeteria, take weekly exams, and hopefully avoid being scolded by the principal who patrols the halls! After school, students can participate in activities like football, cheerleading, chess, and computer clubs, go to events like the science fair, or head home to their poster-filled bedroom to complete their homework.
In terms of extracurriculars, teen Sims can join an after-school club or team like football or cheer, practice these skill related activities, participate in competitions, and experience the highs and lows of winning and losing alongside your teammates.
You’ll even have the opportunity to navigate through the challenges and joys of young love, whether it’s the blissfulness of the crush stage, or the woes of a teenage breakup. A word of advice: Plumbite Pier is the perfect date spot! There is an amusement park with a haunted house, tunnel of love, a ferris wheel, and a photobooth for memories!
