Responding to yesterday’s report, in which it was said that The Sims 4 would introduce the ability for Sims to feel negative reactions towards their body weight, producer Grant Rodiek has tweeted to clarify that Sims won’t, in fact, have any sort of emotional reaction, positive or negative to their appearance.
Speaking to PCGamesN at Gamescom, Rodiek had said:”We have the ability for [Sims] to be unhappy about their weight. It’s tricky with the emotional state being based on people’s weight. We want to make sure we’re not making a statement or telling people what’s right or wrong, but you can tell a story with those tools.”
The news concerned those who believed the feature may reinforce some very real negative feeling around real world body issues. This, Rodiek now clarifies, is absolutely not the case.
Over a number of tweets, the producer clarified that although it’s possible for Maxis to implement such reactions to body weight, they’ve made a conscious decision not to do so.
Rodiek writes: “Hi Simmers – I was apparently quoted as saying Sims will have an emotional reaction to their bodies. This is not the case. We do not feel it is appropriate to make a judgement based on your Sims bodies. You get to tell the story as you want and love who you are. I’m sorry for the confusion. This really makes me sad to read. I believe this is where the confusion was — it is POSSIBLE for us to do it. But we WON’T do it. It is NOT appropriate nor is it fun.
“Honestly, it never even occurred to us to make emotions based on body image. That question was the first time it came to mind. No malice or ill will was meant by any of this. Just a mix up, that’s all.”
Thanks, SimsVIP.