The Sims 4 will change the sexual orientation of the characters

The twelfth expansion to The Sims 4 will further delve into the sexual orientation of the characters. And this is just the beginning of introducing the LGBTQIA+ community into the game.

EA will release the twelfth expansion for The Sims 4 on July 28th. From now on, all players, including those who have not purchased the High School Years DLC, will be able to change the sexual orientation of their characters, as part of a massive program to increase the representation of the LGBTQIA + community in the game.

The twelfth addition to The Sims 4 will allow you to learn more about the sexual orientation of the characters

“Between this update and the recent pronoun update, we’re taking several steps to make the game more respectful and bring out the hues and colors of our everyday lives,”said The Sims 4 lead designer, SimGuruJessica, in the official announcement. Maxis, the game’s developer, worked with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the It Gets Better Project to “ensure we get the widest possible views on how we approach this feature so that it respects and promotes this community.””.

For each Sim, there are several settings that can be configured in the Gender Selection menu on the Create a Sim screen. You can determine if your Sim is attracted to men or women (or both), whether your Sim’s orientation can change during the game, and what gender they can “woo”(have sex in the game). Players can also change these settings at any time during the game.

You can have an asexual Sim who is interested in romantic relationships with other Sims, and an Aromantic Sim who is happy to woo other Sims but won’t get involved with them. Casual Sex is a new feature in The Sims 4 as Woohoo has always relied on the love mechanic. Young adults and older Sims will be able to ask close friends to be sexual partners. On the other hand, a declined invitation can lead to some pretty weird interactions.

And this is just the beginning of introducing the LGBTQIA+ community into the game.

“These topics are complex and full of nuance,” writes SimGuruJessica. “We believe this is only version 1.0 and are excited to see what tools we can add to enable players to tell even more complete stories.”

While players can change their Sims’ pronouns, romance and sexual options currently remain binary due to how the game was created. “Mechanically non-binary Sims don’t exist yet [in The Sims 4],” SimGuruJessica said. “While we have made great strides in representing non-binary sims with the pronoun update, we understand that pronouns are not the same as gender identity. We understand that we still have work to do on this issue.” Support for this non-binary will still take time, but Maxis is working on it.

Same-sex partnerships have been around since the very first game – an E3 demo of the game in 1999 showed two women kissing. However, these new settings will give players more control over their stories. Maxis is working on improving these various representations in The Sims 4 in a number of ways. In 2020, for example, the team added over 100 skin tones.