'The Sims' Has Always Been a Pioneer of Diversity and Inclusion

Happy President's Day, Americans! While you've got the free time, why not listen to this interview with The Sims 4's executive producer and general manager, Lyndsay Pearson, while you use your day off to play The Sims. That's what everyone does right?

Over the past twenty years, The Sims has done its best to keep up with a rapidly changing world, and to be more inclusive in terms of what kind of people you can play as. From the first game's notorious same-sex kiss at E3 that lead to the game including same-sex romance in 2000 to The Sims 4's trans-masc icon Morgyn Embers, the franchise has always tried for a maximalist approach to play, including in customizing your character. Pearson and I talked all about that, and also about our favorite conspiracy theories regarding the disappeared Bella Goth.

If you are indeed reading this on President's Day, then there is a non-zero chance that I am currently playing The Sims 4. My latest effort to finish all ten generations of a Legacy Challenge is doomed to failure because I've just remembered how much I hate the Toddler life stage. While The Sims 4 caught a lot of flack for not including Toddlers at launch, now that they're in the game I almost always switch to a new family after my babies age up. All Toddlers know is throw tantrum and lie, and in a Legacy challenge you have to craft and care for an heir, which usually the firstborn child. In a 100 Baby Challenge, each new Toddler would be just another marker on my quest to one hundred, and I'm not required to care about things like whether or not they grow up ugly or gain a weird trait like "Hot Headed." Maybe next time I do a Sims challenge, I'll try that one instead.

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