The Sims Team shared progress on the work they’ve done for the upcoming Customizable Pronouns feature coming to The Sims 4 during their Inside Maxis Livestream.
The team collaborated with GLAAD, It Gets Better and EA’s Localization Team experts to learn why Customizable Pronouns are important, as well as what challenges they have to overcome in order to turn this feature into realization!
Since the team shared some valuable insight on the importance, challenges and progress of creating this feature I thought it would be valuable to transcribe the whole interview with the team and share it here!
SimGuruDuck – The Sims Producer (he/him): Back in May of last year you’ll know that we announced our pursuit of customizable pronouns in The Sims 4. We promised to do a fireside chat with you all and give you a status update on where we are on the production process.
Today we’ll share some insights into our process of adding customizable pronouns to The Sims 4. We know that this feature is near and dear to many of you as it is to us as well. In our world today we believe that gender neutrality plays a critical part in working towards a fully inclusive society. The Sims continues to evolve and we as a team continue to learn and work on making our game more inclusive step-by-step, day by day. We need to acknowledge that we messaged you with terminology on non-binary pronouns. We do want to acknowledge that gender neutral pronouns are not just for non-binary people and we’re going to continue to share the work to you on customizable pronouns moving forward.
As you know, this is a work in progress. We’re sharing with you stuff that’s happening as it comes and as we take this journey together we’re really excited to take you behind the scenes today and show you where we’re at in production.
The importance of pronouns for gender neutral inclusion
SimGuruDuck (he/him): In our conversations with you and your team as well as our partners including GLAAD, in addition to It Gets Better, we discussed what it means for The Sims to be gender neutral. Pronouns are an important element of gender neutral inclusivity but certainly not the finish line.
Rae Sweet – It Gets Better (they/them): Exactly. Taking a step back and looking at the society as a whole we can’t just stop at incorporating pronoun usage in our day-to-day. It has to go much deeper than that. There’s an internal process. There’s a difference in memorizing pronouns and unlearing the gender binary, gender roles and expectations, and really understanding the complexity of every human’s identity, expressions and experience. Alongside that internal work in fully understanding and accepting the gender spectrum, we need to continue to implement policies and structures and protections and systems that support this internal understanding. Our society needs to be built in a way that can adapt to this ever evolving realm of identities and the experiences that come along with that. The Sims can work in a really beautiful way toward reflecting that evolution. It’s a virtual world where you get to be who you want to be and I think that’s such a unique position to be in to be a guiding light in how we can build that kind of world in real life.
SimGuruDuck (he/him): …with that being said, we know that this feature will not make The Sims 4 100% gender neutral. We still have the selection for male and female in CAS, even with this feature. As we’ve learned in our investigations with you and working on this game over the years there are many complex systems involved in creating a Sim. Even looking at gender neutral language only, we’re aware that the ultimate freedom would be the ability to combine any binary or non binary pronouns in either gendered or gender-neutral language.
To give an example, let’s say that some might use he/him pronouns, but that person wants to use gender neutral lenguage and refer to themselves as spouse or sibiling versus husband or brother.
Going back to pronouns they are still an important piece when it comes to inclusivity with The Sims.
Rae Sweet (they/them): Absolutely. I think that’s a very important point. Although there’s so much work that we’ll always be continuing to do, pronouns are super important. Our language shapes the world around us and how we interact with the world. Recognizing and incorporating and practicing what I like to call conceous pronoun usage is really a crucial step towards shaping it all. Not only does it include but celebrates transgender and gender-expansive people. At It Gets Better we work with a wonderful of youth voices which is a group of LGBTQ+ ages 13-18 and some of them play The Sims! I just know that they’re gonna be so excited to see a feature like this where they can be reflected in the game and they can be their true authentic versions of themselves in-game. That’s how I personally was able to figure out my gender identity – in an environment that gave me the option to try on new pronouns. The day that I tried on they/them pronouns for the first time was the day I was first ever able to recognize myself in the mirror. Which as you can imagine is life changing. I just know that giving people a space to play in The Sims and play with pronouns and be who they want to be just gives them so much room to explore and find themselves and be their true authentic selves. Especially in a society where they might not be able to in real life.
Rachel Gilbert – The Sims Game Designer (they/them): Pronouns are a really important step for me. At least for just my experience.
I’ve played The Sims for years before I came out. I’ve used The Sims to play around with my gender identity because I wasn’t sure, as I didn’t know for a really long time. Always trying to figure that out and see what would feel different. The core thing I have is when I have a really tough day I unwind and let myself feel better and feel safe and secure. When I go to the save that is me in Henford-in-Bagley and going to see my foxes and chickens I’m just like “I’m safe here, I’m good”. No one is going to discriminate against me, no one is going to be weird, everything is going to be cool and it’s all gonna be fine.
I just think adding pronouns to the game are gonna make that game feel even more welcoming and kind and it’s really validating to see your pronouns. I really can’t underscore that enough. It’s reassuring and it’s like a little checkbox – we’re all good here, we know who we are. I’m really excited about that and even more excited to make characters since I’m a character making person with lots of unique pronouns to represent the world that I want to see and surround myself in. I’m really excited about it!
Linguistic considerations of bringing Customizable Pronouns to The Sims 4
SimGuruDuck (he/him): Another important aspect is we need to consider how pronouns work in 18 different languages that The Sims 4 is being translated into. There’s no one solution for all but we need to be mindful of gramatical issues that each of those languages have.
Let’s take the example of the adjective “perfect”. In English you may refer to a non-binary person and say “they are perfect”. However this might not work for other languages that have adapted to the gender of the person. An example of this is in Spanish that there is no gender neutral for the world “perfect”. It’s either “perfecta” or “perfecto” with female and male respectively. “They are perfect” as a gender neutral option also does not translate for languages where the plural pronoun is gender. For example, in Polish, the pronoun for a male or a mix-gendered group of people is “idealni” and for the pronoun for the female group of people is “idealne”.
Veronica Morales (she/her) – Lead EA Localization: There’s no common solution for all the territories. This is the first conclusion that we came to when we started doing some research on how the different langauges work.
It has to be treated and broken down to the specifics of the language because culture regulations and the language itself have a great impact on how this topic is handled in the different regions. Linguistically speaking all different sides of the spectrum are represented in the languages The Sims are localized into. Some languages have an officially accepted and ready to use non-binary pronouns. For instance Swedish – they have “hen” which would work. For other terittories however the problems are not being included in the dictionaries which proves that languages are evolving and accepting of this new language which is changing over time. In case for French with the pronoun “yel” which was recently accepted in their dictionary.
Some countries such as Germany, Spain and Brazil – communities have started using non-binary grammar in the syntax systems. These are not officially accepted but they are being used by a part of the society and they feel comfortable with this grammar and system and syntax systems.
On other side of the spectrum we have terittories with strict regulations and laws which the use of non binary pronouns can be quite challenging. It’s important to point out the reachness of the languages and for those teritorries which face some challenges there are some ways to resolve these. For instance we can use the passive voice in order to avoid referrencing the subject. Instead of saying “they sent me a letter yesterday” you can say “the letter was sent yesterday”.
Another workaround would be to substitude the gender pronoun with the action name of the character or avoid using the pronoun in languages with information and where binaries are present in their form.
These are just some workarounds to name a few.
Overall it’s most important that the linguistic approach that we go for has to sound natural in the context and it has to feel real to the players and at the same time respectful. This is what we are working towards and we have spent some time informing ourselves and also creating some inclusive language guides for everyone involved in the linguistic process. The aim of this guide is to set some basis and some recommendations on how these linguistic challenges can be sorted or can be changed or updated.
SimGuruDuck (he/him): For this first iteration of this feature we will focus on English first. But, rest assured other language support will be added as we continue to update and improve the feature over time.
Work in Progress Preview at Customizable Pronouns
SimGuruFelix – The Sims Experience Designer (he/him): As you all know this is a pretty recognizable screen – this is in CAS. One thing that you probably noticed in the top left is that something is different. As you remember before, currently in the game it says “Hello, My Name Is”. What I’ve changed and added here is “Hello, My Name and Pronouns Are…”. This is because I feel in real life this is how we generally introduce ourselves – to say our name and then our pronouns. It felt like it was really important to show this in The Sims as well.
Going through the clickthroughs – this is obviously work in progress. You can still put and randomize your names, but there’s now a new dropdown section which says “Pronouns”. As you can see there are 4 different options. Let’s say Jessie Apple identifies as she/her/hers – as you can see it steps back and pronouns appear right next to her name. This generally would appear in Live Mode where there’s tooltips or any notifications that would refer to Jessie who uses these pronouns.
Going back to the menu and let’s figure out what this “Custom” section is. Clicking on this option you can see that there’s a new UI that pops up – this is all going to be Work in Progress text. This is generally where you can add Custom Pronouns for your Sim. There are examples of these subject pronouns, object pronouns and possesive pronouns.
Let’s say I want to change “they” to “zi” – “them” to “zer” and “their” to “zirs”. As you can see as I’m changing it here it changes the examples grammatically correct as well. After confirming it you can see it appears next to Jessie’s name.
This is generally an idea we have – obviously a work in progress – but the concept is there.
I know we have a profanity filter. For example in The Gallery where we are planning on having protection on custom pronouns as we do want to be much more inclusive than exclusive.
SimGuruDuck (he/him): We take the profanity filter really seriously and we want to make sure that we’re doing this in the most respectful way possible.
When is this feature going to be available?
As you saw this is still a work in progress and our research and design will continue until we feel the feature is in the good place to be launched into the game. That being said we still have a path ahead of us and we want to make sure to check on you along the way and keep you updated. Once the first version of this feature is out please know that we are continuously working on improving the game and each update brings us one step closer to a greater, inclusive experience in The Sims 4.
Thank you for the transcription, I personally do prefer to read about these things rather than watching a live. However, I just wanted to point out that the Swedish pronoun is “hen”, not “hem” 🙂
Ahh, I knew that I probably transcribed that one wrong. All fixed now, thanks 😀
The word “hen” is a it problematic, though its gender-neutral it mostly refers to a nobody (someone whos identity /personality is not known). It is extremely useful in writing for instance, like when you talk about someone in general or just anybody. But who really wants to be called a “hen” I wonder. I mean, this is just taken too far.
People say this about it/it’s in English, but then I know a bunch of people who chose to use it/it’s as their pronouns. It’s important to give people the choice to make their own decisions about their own personal pronouns, that’s not taking it too far.
No,it’s important to correct anyone who egotistically claims a “right” to insist on being referred to by personal pronouns other than he/him/is if with Y chromosomes,or other than she/her/hers if without Y chromosomes.
Oh do you carry chromosomal testing equipment with you everywhere? That must be incredibly exhausting, and you’d think you’d have learned something from the wide variety of results that differ from the assumed default of XX/Xy. Which research group do you work for?
Interesting stuff!
I dislike this.
cool, but maybe that focus and dedication should be put also into improving gameplay more frequently than just spending time on changing all the strings… I don’t think it’s the main thing that is missing from sims 4 – sims 5 can have that from the start and I don’t have a problem with that, but when I see what kind of game sims 4 is it just annoys me that they’d rather spend time on releasing kits and changing strings than just improve the GAMEplay… sad to see what happened to my childhood game.
The Sims has always tried to bring in inclusivity. You say you don’t have a problem with it, but then show you have an issue with it. The team working on this part of the inclusivity might also fix some bugs relating to the gameplay that affects the strings connected to it.
See? This is the exact problem that this community has. You are thinking black or white and whenever someone disagrees with you, you try to attack them with saying “you’re homophobic, you’re not tolerant enough”… I don’t look under people bedsheets, they can sleep with whoever they want, if they want to be called they/them that is also fine by me, it’s someone’s choice and I understand it and respect it. But brining pronouns to The Sims 4 and dedicating the time just to the strings where the game clearly lacks more important things (GAMEPLAY!!) is killing me. Do you really think that pronouns are more important than babies, cars, hotels, and others? I never had any problems with brining in more inclusivity, I have problem with wasting time on things that are not important nor useful when a lot of things are still missing. If you care about the text so much and how someone is referred at in a game where the gameplay is clearly lacking then good luck. Go find and read a book, you’ll be amazed at how much text and adventure you will find there. And if you want to play a game focus on GAMEPLAY.
1. that is because it is black & white in this case, since the pronoun update will help more people figure themselves out and potentionally not commit unalive.
2. Babies will add absolutely nothing to gameplay if they are freed. Its more likely sims will drop them off in random spots like in sims 3.
3. Its clear you’re a cishet yt person who has had the privilege of seeing themselves everywhere in media and not needing to worry of negative connections of your life.
4. If you want gameplay that badly, learn to code and find a job at EA-Maxis to work on the team that adds gameplay.
Nothing is black and white and if you think like this you are the one with too many privileges.
Assuming my race and privileges is judgmental and hypocritical. Babies will be the gameplay as well as other things that I mentioned – unlike pronouns.
I’m finishing this discussion because unlike The Sims team, I prefer to spend time doing more important things. If you really want to be a supporter/ally, you can always help by supporting charities, vote or even become a member of the government and change how the things work in real life.
Best regards, crossing fingers to never meet you again.
1. I’m literally trans masc, which you would know if you actually bothered to look at my bio.
2. I’m taking an educated guess by the attitude you have to people that want to feel seen. Video games is in some ways an art form and people want to feel seen to be validated. Queer folk & BIPOC played sims to feel seen when they didn’t see themselves on tv & film
3. Babies will add very little gameplay and ya’ll will complain if its not exactly like sims 2. I’d rather we get an overhaul to toddlers.
4. Maybe don’t cisplain things you know nothing about
Best regards, maybe you can learn to be a better Ally/supporter in the future
Babies have limited game play. Sim players have different styles and some don’t play families so a baby update to them will be the pronoun update is to you. There would be no added game play to them no matter how you spin it especially since plenty of people in this community will be mad about the update because they’ve built up this “better babies” update in their minds. What is a big problem in this community is people who get angry and offended when the team makes progress in being more inclusive. Your stance is no different than when certain people complained about the Muslim patch, the skullcandy patch, skin tone patch etc. Some people can’t be actually happy or indifferent (as in well it isn’t for me but it’s good for those who wanted it without the snarky or dismissive undertone) for things that don’t directly impact them. If we’re going by how you say people should be doing things in the real world then we don’t need babies, cars etc. People can spend more time working at charities for at risk youths, if you’re older you can be a foster parent to a baby or child, encourage people you know who have old cars to donate to charities etc. Or if you’re a parent then go play with your kids instead of sim family.
Right? They’re basically mad that other people have different priorities.
I agree. GAMEPLAY IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE SIMS 4.
The team can multitask which they have with packs and base game updates which means they can work on strings while working on other things. They’re able to release packs while making changes and updates to the base game as they’ve done multiple times before. The over saturation of kits is likely the result of covid and original sets of lock downs as it’s easier to produce while they’re away from the office and not able to physically be around each other.
They have waited twenty-two years to get going on this. Maybe that’s long enough to have invested in other gameplay.
I don’t get why the responses of this article are more polarizing than any others, if it doesn’t concern you then why do you care?..
Ignorance and arogance of Terfs and conservatives in general. Edit: Gotta love how the terfs are showing themselves in the comments and disliking anything positive to this
The “Terfs” are the good guys.
And I’m a pro-abortion-rights,pro-gun-control,pro-national-health-insurance,anti-death-penalty,non-religious lifelong Democrat telling you this.
Do sims even use pronouns?
Yes. Do you even play the game?
Weekly for 20 years, so yes. But they do speak simlish.
I haven’t seen anything about first person pronouns (unless it’s part of the subject pronouns category) like being able to use the royal “We” instead of “I” or “moi” instead of “me” or even custom ones like Jar Jar Binks’ “Missa” for the Star Wars pack or being able to replace first person pronouns with third person pronouns or the Sims’ name like The Rock used to do back in his wrestling days “The Rock says” instead of “I say”.
I thought a big part of The Sims franchise was about being able to represent yourself? I fully support adding content that helps to do this and don’t understand the backlash. This doesn’t hurt anyone, and helps others to feel included and accepted. If you are inflamed by something like this being added to the game, then perhaps you need to take a good look at yourself and ask why it makes you so angry.
Sadly this game does attract intolerant and (in some cases) very backward ignorant thin skinned players because of its global reach. This is a game that is about being inclusive yet some people who benefit from the game being less inclusive are usually the ones who are offended by these sort of updates. It’s one of the most disgusting things I’ve noticed about this community (and there are several big issues in this and just the gaming community in general). For example, I came across one fairly known modder who threw a tantrum over skin tones because their pale sims were fine in their book. Skin color needed an update for everyone.
Sadly this game does attract intolerant and (in some cases) very backward ignorant thin skinned players because of its global reach. This is a game that is about being inclusive yet some people who benefit from the game being less inclusive are usually the ones who are offended by these sort of updates. It’s one of the most disgusting things I’ve noticed about this community (and there are several big issues in this and just the gaming community in general). For example, I came across one fairly known modder who threw a tantrum over skin tones because their pale sims were fine in their book. Skin color needed an update for everyone.
It just seems really weird to me when they do the whole “you’re killing my childhood!” flex, like bud, what drew me to The Sims in the first place, as a closeted queer kid was the ability to have perfectly happy queer sims, and to be able to see someone like me represented in game as “not a terrible thing”, that is the core of the franchise for me, so of course they should go on making it more accessible and representative to more people.
Sucks because I’ve been playing the sims for a couple years now. Looks like I’m done with playing for now on.
Love the inclusivity with all the effort and thought being put behind it but am I the only one whos going crazy for the possibilities that sprung to my mind on all the unique and creative pronouns I could give to identify occults, especially Aliens and PlantSims since I doubt they’d identify using general she/him/they/xhim/xher human pronouns seeing as they are able to reproduce uniquely.
[stacker pentecost voice] YOU. Keep talking.
It’s interesting because humans are a two-sexed species. There’s no reason why we would need any more than two sets of singular pronouns.
You need an option to turn this OFF for users who are offended by any use of pronouns not genetically dictated and intend a pure dimorphic sim population in their games.
Not important, not required, not wanted, not needed… other than for a small minority who make up approx 1% of the target audience.
As for progressive… if buying into this divisive narrative that this 1% keep screaming at the 99% of all of humanity… is considered progressive… Then apartheid must seem like a minor issue