On March 23rd, 2021 The Sims 4 got a new update that included Bunk Beds and Trait Improvements. The Trait Improvements that were done in The Sims 4 remained somewhat a mystery – all we got from The Sims Team were a list of traits that got updated and that was basically it.
The community members were quick to figure out some of the changes that were made including new buffs and autonomous behavior of Sims in the game. The changes that were made were a pleasant surprise, but unfortunately we didn’t know the full list up until 2 days ago when the team published their official list of updated traits and their improvements.
The list includes a detailed breakdown of each and every trait that got updated – including the controversial changes they’ve made to the Hates the Children Trait.
In the original version of the Blog Post they’ve shared that “Asking a Hates Children Sim to Try for Baby has no chance of success unless the Sim is Dazed“.
This was quickly called out by many community members for promoting unconsensual behavior in the game, and rightfully so.
👏 consent 👏 is 👏 important 👏
Do better, @TheSims 👎 pic.twitter.com/mFzKSzfnmF
— molly 🐝 (@storylegacysims) April 30, 2021
The blog post was later updated to more details about what changes were made with the trait, removing the controversial part from the notes.
Hates Children
- Sims with the Hates Children trait are very unreceptive to being asked to ‘Try for Baby’.
- Hates Children Sims will get Tense, then Angry around child Sims, and also move away when they get to the Angry stage.
- Hates Children Sims will look annoyed when idling in the Tense or Angry buff stages.
- Hates Children Sims get a Happy ‘Quiet Environment Child-free Zone’ buff if away from children for a time.
However, it seems that the original paragraph they wrote for this trait is still present in the game. The Sims’ official profile wrote a reply saying:
We appreciate you all holding us accountable to our values – especially when we miss the mark! Consent isn’t something to play with, so we’ve updated our language & will correct the trait in an upcoming patch.
You are absolutely right! We appreciate you all holding us accountable to our values – especially when we miss the mark! Consent isn’t something to play with, so we’ve updated our language & will correct the trait in an upcoming patch.
— The Sims (@TheSims) May 1, 2021
The trait is expected to be fully corrected in the upcoming patch for The Sims 4.
So will a sim with the ‘hates children’ trait constantly reject the TFB interaction or there will be added a small chance of acceptance? (Sorry, didn’t get how the trait will be corrected exactly)
All those kids I’ve drowned in the pool for a creepy graveyard, didn’t give consent! Consent is the dumbest thing I’ve heard of on the Sims. The whole point of the game is to control everything. I’m playing a storyline where I can have fun with this trait before it’s ruined.
this is good imo. sure, it might seem trivial to some, but this could really influence people’s value. a young teen playing the game might not even understand consent and think its okay to apply it irl because some are just not educated about it. its different from killing sims as it is obvious to not do it outside of the game world. if players want them to have babies, they could just change traits or adopt, simple as that. “b-but i want full cont-” make your own game then.
i’d also like to add how traumatizing it would be to some (sexual assault victims) whose sims is based on their own person irl.
I like to mod my game to be realistic. So, yes, I agree that consent is important. But having the ability to disregard that is important to. Our choices are what make us who we are today. Instead of making consent an absolute MUST I’d rather see them add consequences to disregarding consent. It’ll take care of the whole ‘influencing the young mind’ that you mentioned earlier as well as informing and educating a younger audience that actions have consequences, some good, some bad.
But overall, it’s a game and if you can’t understand that point, then you shouldn’t be playing it at all.
On one hand, I agree the wording wasn’t the best. On the other hand however; this is a game. If people are worried that kids/teens will see this and assume it’s okay to do irl, it’s on their parents to teach them that it isn’t acceptable irl. This was common knowledge growing up for me. Like take this for example. A Sim in game has the hates kids trait so they won’t consent to WooHoo. But you really like the Sim and you decide to remove that trait from them so you can have kids. How is that any differnt than being dazed? Effectively it does the same thing, just displayed differently.
I mean I guess consent is important, but this is the Sims. Nobody is consenting to anything, we’re forcing them to have babies or starve to death or go to work until they die from exhaustion. What about when people cheat or use mods to force babies into the game without even dealing with “try for a baby”? The data and pixels sure aren’t consenting to THAT either.
Of course that said, I can see how the wording of that can come across “problematically” to some people. I don’t think any traits should be unable to have kids. What great storytelling for a Sim who hates kids to accidentally get pregnant (even if they aren’t dazed).
Now I’m off to continue killing every sim in my game to make a spooky graveyard.