The Sims is in an odd place right now. In September, it was announced that the game’s publisher EA had been sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, equity firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. This unsurprisingly was met with concern from Simmers, particularly in relation to the series’ generally pro-diversity stance, and whether or not it will retain that in the future. And in a recent interview with art director of the original Sims and a lead designer on The Sims 2, Charles London, the developer shared why he felt it was “incredibly important” the games include same sex partnerships.
Speaking to FRVR, London explained that “It’s everything, and I think it’s existential for the business, right? It is certainly for society. I think it’s incredibly important for there to be a mainstream, beloved brand that says, ‘love is love and people are people, and all the things that I certainly personally believe in, but also I believe it is existential to that business because it is what allows it to be universally appealing, right? Young, old, male, female, gay, straight, other, right? American, Iranian, whatever.”
Now, I’m not quite in agreement with the importance of a “beloved brand” in taking a pro-LGBTQ stance, we could veer into pinkwashing territory there. To London’s credit however he does say this of The Sims, which resonates a touch more: “It’s much more than a game, it’s a medium of self-expression.”
Again, we shouldn’t be looking to highly profitable products like The Sims (because it and its many, many, many expansions and the like are products) as a source of true representation, but it can’t be denied that it is used by many queer people to enact a form of play that represents how they view and feel about the world.
Staying true to the world is something London touched on too, noting how at the time Maxis chose to include same sex relationships in The Sims simply because gay people exist in this world. “These were modern people making the game in the Bay Area and we had done everything we could until then to be as true to humanity as possible and what, all of a sudden we were going to tell a lie?” London explained. “It just felt like a lie, right, to do anything but, it would’ve been a lie.”
Where The Sims goes next is obviously still quite unknown, though for what it’s worth the current team behind it did recently put out a statement saying their “values and commitment remain the same.” Here’s hoping that stays true.
