While called out by mainstream media and film, the stark reality of racism and sexual harassment, is not represented ethically in some of our most popular, and widely-used video games. This kind of ‘believability’ is incredibly damaging when combined with the stereotypes inherent in Sims 4. The Sims 4’s ‘Get Together’ expansion pack allows users to engage in certain activities and push for certain stereotypes, a virtual echo chamber and narrative that we can hardly ignore outside this artificial world.ĮA games, a US $1.04 billion dollar gaming company and the developer of Sims, told Forbes this year that in Sims 4, “ We’re not really looking for realism, we’re looking more for believability.” Diverse characters are whitewashed in urban living situations, and the random interactions Sims police have with young Black characters resemble America in all too familiar ways – false incarceration that disproportionately targets young people of colour (POC). Reddit users are amongst the gamers calling out the disturbingly realistic forms of racism in Sims 4.
But now that I see my ideals are more aligned with western values, the fact that I see skinny bodies as “perfect”, and lighter skin as beautiful, is not only a reflection of the society I grew up in, but also a damaging emotion that is propagated by the participative media I surround myself with such as Sims. Growing up on real-life simulation games like the Sims, I never realised that I, a South Asian woman, was not represented accurately on a screen without a bindi. To add to this, I couldn’t even adjust the body size to match mine. The Sims ’ skin swatches did not come close to matching mine, and in the process of finding a premade Sim by looking up ‘Indian female’, results showed lacklustre, stereotypical depictions of what is deemed Indian or whitewashed avatars in traditional Indian wear. When it came to making my avatar, we struggled. We go from choosing their body type: slim their hair colour: light brown their eyes: black and their outfit: jeans and a t-shirt.
One friend, a caucasian female, does so with ease. I’m sitting by a laptop as friends fiddle with the characteristics available on the screen to create a Sims 4 avatar.
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