The Sims series has always been fairly open-minded, like allowing same-sex relationships and parenting right from the get-go, but there have still been limits. Until now, a lot of the options in The Sims‘ character creation suite were specifically restricted to either male or female Sims. This obviously presents issues for people who want to create trans characters, but is also frustrating for people who just want to give their female Sim a nice only-for-dudes flannel to lounge around in, or their male Sim a little more sass in his step. Fans have asked EA to reconsider this for years and created their own mods that erase the gender restrictions, but the company has always maintained the barriers.
Well, as of this Thursday that changes, as EA will release a free update for The Sims 4 that allows Sims to use any clothes, physique, walk style or voice regardless of gender. In all, about 700 pieces of previously gender-restricted content will now be freed up.
There’s sure to be the usual gnashing of teeth over this, but the move just makes sense for The Sims franchise. The Sims is all about creating your own no-limits alternate universe, and saying “A woman can’t wear this particular style of jeans!” just doesn’t fit with that. And again, The Sims has a history of being ahead of the curve with stuff like this — I suspect actual Sims fans will be vastly in favor of this update.
(Via NBC News)