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SIMSCOPES

SIMSCOPES

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEXUALITY IN THE SIMS 1 & 2

The Sims franchise has seen major changes throughout the last two decades that have revolutionised the representation of the LGBTQIA+ Community in The Sims. Fortunately, as a Sims Community, we were fortunate enough to influence some of these major game changes that now allow us a lot more creative freedom and inclusivity. We are now able to customise gender settings; a Sim’s physical frame, clothing preference and more. We are also able to select whether this Sim will be able to become pregnant, impregnate others or remain infertile. In the franchise’s first game, The Sims, we were unable to officially “marry” same-sex couples let alone let alone have the freedoms to create whoever we want. However, the issue with pitting all four PC games against each other is that historical context behind the development of each game is vastly different and must be taken into perspective. So, this month I have started back at the beginning of the franchise, focusing on the historical background of LGBTQIA+ rights in North America, and the United Kingdom, and how this influenced the representation of the LGBTQIA+ community in The Sims 1 and 2. Firstly, The Sims was developed in North America in the 1990s and released in 2000. Four years prior to its release, on September 21st 1996, President Clinton signed the Defence of Marriage Act. This banned the federal recognition of same-sex marriage, defining marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife." Reflected in The Sims, only male and female Sims could get married. However, same-sex couples can move in together. They were recognised as roommates, but same-sex relationships and platonic friends could not be distinguished. Also, as marriage is only classed as a social interaction and not a recognised status, the game will not differentiate between gay and straight couples once the “Move-In” or “Get Married” interaction is selected.

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Households with two or more adults Sims of either gender may randomly receive a phone call asking if they would like to adopt a baby. Therefore, in The Sims, same-sex couples could adopt a baby. Despite the forbidden act of same-sex marriage, in 1997, New Jersey became the first state to allow same-sex couples to adopt jointly, whereas the Adoption and Children Act 2002, granted a single person or a same-sex couple the right the adopt a child in the United Kingdom (not including Scotland). IVF treatment was available for lesbian couples too.

If Hot Date is installed, Simmers can take Sims of either sex on a date. However, the Simmer will see that the autonomous dates taking place Downtown will be between a male and female sim only. But due to the lack of recognition of marital status in game, the dates taking place will often include already “married” couples, sometimes with their partners also on dates in the same room. This further suggests these dates may be platonic, and not necessarily romantic as no jealousy was caused. However, it is odd that the game would exclude same-sex pairings if these randomly generated dates were not serious. There was no story-progression in The Sims either, so these dates would not have had a massive impact on gameplay anyway.

Overall, in The Sims, all Sims are arguably Bisexual, as they have no gender preference. Whilst not autonomously, Sims of either sex can engage in romantic social interactions and can be played as Bisexual, Gay or Straight at the player’s discretion. While we see the reflection of Clinton’s law in game, the developers simultaneously allow some freedom for LGBT Simmers of that time.

Released in 2004, The Sims 2 is more flexible in terms of representation by providing a sliding scale of sexual orientation in game. Historically, 2004 started to see the legalisation of Same-sex marriage in countries such as the United Kingdom through the Civil Partnership Act 2004, giving same-sex couples the same rights and responsibilities as married straight couples. Also, in 2004, Massachusetts became the first US state to legalize same-sex marriage. Such freedoms were reflected in The Sims 2, as Sims could marry whoever they wanted; married Gay and Bisexual Sims would be recognised as a Joined Union. Engagement parties and Marriage parties remain the same for Gay and Bisexual Sims.

Preset Sims begin in game with predetermined values of sexuality. Most sims are “passive bisexuals”, in the sense that while they do not flirt with members of the same-sex autonomously, they will not react negatively if a Simmer directs their Sim to flirt with them either.

Using tools such as SimPE or InSimenator or using the cheat,

From Left: Johnny Smith & Ripp Grunt, Nervous Subject & Pascal Curious, Kent Capp & Titania Summerdream

boolprop testingcheatsenabledtrue, Simmer’s can access the Sim’s personal files to find the degree of attractiveness a Sim feels towards both sexes. There are also mods that allow a Simmer to set a Sim’s sexual preference. It has been revealed through this tool and through behaviour of certain premade Sims, that some are suggested to be gay, lesbian or bisexual.

As shown in Strangetown, Simmers have identified Ripp Grunt being bisexual. At the beginning of the game, he has a high relationship with Johnny Smith, and is also friends with Ophelia Nigmos, who is currently romantically involved with Johnny. According to his bio, “Ripp totally doesn't care what you think of him. He is going to do whatever he wants to do,” and combined with his Romance aspiration, could suggest that he may become romantically involved with both Sims thus doing, “whatever he wants to do”. Nervous Subject is suggested to be Gay as he is repulsed by women flirting with him but is neutral towards men. As he is good friends with both the Curious brothers, he will always turn up on their lot when Pascal Curious is giving birth. Whether this was a predetermined action implemented by the developers or not, most Simmers have paired Nervous Subject up with Pascal Curious either way.

In Veronaville, Kent Capp shows a preference to males despite being romantically involved with Bianca Monty and being Titania Summerdream's crush. Another example is Jason Cleveland. Despite being married to Marissa Cleveland at the beginning of the game, he is arguably bisexual. Similarly, to Kent Capp, he prefers male Sims but both Sims’ predetermined storylines are paired with women.

In The Sims 2 University, the bio of the Friends household in Académie Le Tour, reads, “Mitch and Max met the first day of school and struck up a friendship. What will they discover now that they've moved out of the dorms and are on their own?” ambiguously suggesting that the two Sims may be more than just friends. However, it is up to the player’s discretion whether to develop this further.

La Fiesta Tech‘s Freshman student, Frances J. Worthington III, “prefers to

From Left: Frances J. Worthington III, Circe Beaker, Titania Summerdream

keep to himself and is hoping to join the secret society he keeps hearing about.” This suggests that the “secret society” is either the LFT Society or could allude to his sexuality. Most of the fandom play Frances as a Gay Sim.

Further research into premade sims has revealed that the only preset Bisexual Sims are female. Circe Beaker in Strangetown and Titania Summerdream in Veronaville, have equal preferences to both male and female Sims. In addition, Ariel Capp from Veronaville is predetermined to be Bisexual when she ages to teen. Subsequently, there are no Gay premade female Sims in game.

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed writing and researching for this as I am always discovering things in the older games that I would other have overlooked as a child. Not through ignorance but through a lack of a proper education on such topics that can be linked to in-game.

The progression of creative freedoms must be praised, and it is interesting to see how developers have incorporated some inclusivity with real-life restrictions in place. Furthermore, I cannot stress how important it is to consider the historical context when looking at these games with a finetooth comb.

I would love to create an entire blog post on how the representation of the LGBTQIA+ community has progressed through The Sims 3 and 4, and the representation of the community through the console games. If this is something Simmers would like, please let me know.

As always, stay awesome, and Happy Pride!

Melissa x

Sources:

https://www.bl.uk/lgbtq-histories/lgbtqtimeline# https://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/19/ u s / l g b t - r i g h t s - m i l e s t o n e s - f a s t facts/index.html https://www.equaldex.com/timeline h t t p s : / / w w w . l e g i s l a t i o n . g ov . u k / ukpga/2004/33/contents https://www.stonewall.org.uk/keydates-lesbian-gay-bi-and-transequality https://www.history.com/topics/ gay-rights/history-of-gay-rights

SARCASTIC BRIT

Join Sarcastic Brit each month where he Adventures into Sims 2 on PSP and asks you to come along for the journey

Hello Simmers and welcome back to another step on our road through nostalgia with The Sims2 on the playstation portable, you may remember where we left off last time but if not let me remind you. We’d just arrived in Strangetown after purchasing a mansion from Bella Goth, and hitching a ride with the town's Deputy by way of bribery through donuts found in nowhere else but the trash of Mambo Loa’s Curio Shoppe. Arriving in the quaint little culdesac of Strangetown, we are given a brief rundown of our new neighbours; Isaac Rossum the inventor, Hazel Dente a woman getting married again, the Beakers who are a couple of scientist types, and finally there is Doctor Newlow. Along with the neighbours who live nearby there is also a maid who was sold along to us with the mansion, Bella Goths questionable ethics are clearly on show as we apparently don’t need to pay her, or feed her, is this technically human trafficking? The Deputy ends the conversation off with an offer of work, which upon further investigation leads to a strange situation in Strangetown, and only the first of many I assure you. The entire neighbourhood was built upon a graveyard, and this has caused the inhabitants of the graves to become so restless that at night they lunge forth from their eternal resting place and climb out of the dirt. Were it not for Duncan the deputy putting them back into their graves surely

Hazel Dente the whole neighbourhood would be overrun. The mechanics behind this job work similar to the social minigames, and other aspects similar to the jobs found in The Urbz. A number of graves are on the screen and each correspond to a button on the handheld console, when a zombie begins to climb out from the grave you press the button and WACK! You’ve just sent the undead packing, press the wrong button and you will just stun yourself by getting your shovel stuck in the mud. Before we got to hacking away with our shovel however, it was time to get the ball rolling with the story of The Sims 2, and to do such a thing we needed to head over towards the home of Doctor Newlow, the mysterious voice on the other side of the phone. While he never introduces himself over the line, the text box gives us his name so we can easily identify him, it’s not cheating I swear.

Doctor Dominic Newlow whose name is awfully similar to a c e r t a i n c o s t u m e d character that will be important later, firstly c o n g r a t u l a t e s us on finding our way to him without any help before attempting to lure us into working for him as an assistant, eluding to us that he may be eager to tell us where our car is and Oscar the mechanic, if we help him. Without any real option we’re told what we will be aiding Doctor Dom with.

He is a self-proclaimed philosopher of sorts, and deals in trading secrets. Those familiar with the secret mechanics detailed in prior issues of this retro review will likely know where this is going. The inquisitive doctor goes further in telling us that he only wishes for secrets of life, the universe, and everything. Thankfully such secrets are easy to come by in Strangetown and several secret objects can be found with ease lingering around both the gas station map, and the Strangetown cul-de-sac, meaning that by this point anyone should have the minimum required that he’s asking for, five for a special bonus. To give you an idea on the supreme artistic writing and humour present through the secrets, I’ll share the five we’re selling to you here. “The original ‘Bogeyman’ had a condition that made him secrete snot from his sweat glands”. “The living dead prefer to use the more inclusive term ‘respiratorily challenged’” “If the woman you love is always nearby, but never seems to notice you. Stop stalking her.” “Water torture is generally ineffective, since water doesn’t really have anything to hide.” “Most experts agree that sticking pins in a doll’s rear is more effective than in the eye.” With these five patrician secrets sold to Dr. Newlow for a price of two-hundred and fifty simoleons each, our quest is completed and we can then speak to the doctor to inquire about that bonus he promised us. The doctor begs us to wait for a moment while he gets something out, but when he does it isn’t to reward us at all, what he removes is a strange handheld device that zaps him away in a beam of light, vanishing from before our very eyes into nothingness. What does this mean? Well, thankfully due to the walls of the home becoming transparent to prevent the obstruction from view, we can quite easily see that there is a false door and a safe room behind one of the doctors bookshelves, and inside of such a place is a familiar looking man in some kind of superhero costume, can it possible be the same doctor? One mechanics skill check later, and we’re able to open up that secret passage and enter into the safe house of Dr. Newlow, or who we will now be referring to as; Doctor Dominion! Dressed in all red spandex and adorned with plumbobs scattered around his chest decoratively, with a single large one as a centerpiece. Within only a few moments of speaking to the great Doctor Dominion, we are captivated by his charm and charisma, but most importantly his mind control device that is now hovering above our Sims head, it looks oddly and eerily familiar to something we’ve seen before, that’s because it’s a plumbob. Up to this point of the game we had been chased by one in the opening cinematic introduction to the game, but now for the first time we have one fixed over our head. With the plumbob floating above our head we can do nothing but follow the orders and commands of our new controller and leader, Doctor Dominion, our new master who we will assist in his nefarious deeds. The first commands we are given are of course to leave the dwelling of Doctor Dominion and await further instruction, our new glorious leader will contact us no doubt as we go about exploring the rest of the neighbourhood here in Strangetown, especially given the nature of the doctors self-announced philosophical interest, together I foresee us discovering plenty of secrets in the name of science and Doctor Dominion. Join me next time fellow Simmers to continue along our journey back in time to the days of The Sims 2, and come back to continue discovering the deep secrets that are held within Strangetown.

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