The Sims 4 developers Maxis are removing the gender restrictions previously present in their social simulation game, allowing players to create gender-fluid characters who can dress and look how they want, without binary labels.
All games benefit from more choice. It’s freedom that makes the titles in our list of sandbox games so good, for example.
The Sims 4’s ‘create-a-sim’ mode now offers more hairstyle and clothing options for whatever gender players choose.”For the first time, you’ll be able to customise your sims without the gender boundaries previously set in place,” said Maxis, via The Verge.
According to Maxis, this update has been a year in the making and it involved tweaking over 700 pieces of content (including all the DLC)previously restricted by gender, as well as removing gender symbols from the gallery.
Players can now select which gender they wish, they’re able to switch it at any time, and they can even choose whether their Sims are able to reproduce or not.
“Our players are constantly engaged in a conversation with us about The Sims, and they’re always requesting more of everything,” said producer Lyndsay Pearson. “We always have an incredibly long list of things we want to add to the game, and so much of that list comes directly from player feedback.
“In this case, players have been asking why certain hairstyles, clothing, and other options were limited to one gender or the other… We also saw it as an awesome chance to continue to nurture what’s always been an inclusive environment for all our players.”
Maxis even went as far as consulting with GLAAD to ensure the changes were respectful.
In a virtual world where people often build streets and families full of people they know in real life, this makes the game a lot more inclusive and hopefully more developers follow suit.