Until recently, 'The Sims' characters (also known as simply ‘sims’) were essentially pansexual, with the game not restricting players’ romantic or sexual possibilities in any way: a character could have ‘WooHoo’ (the game's euphemism for sex) with anyone.
Now, game producers Electronic Arts announced a new feature, allowing players to establish their sims' sexual preference. The new feature cannot be turned off, with the company noting that "LGBTQIA+ identities are a fact of life and not a toggle to be switched on and off".
The update will offer players three options: they can choose between two genders that their characters will be attracted to, or pick both. A sim can also "be interested in WooHoo" with any of the two genders or both, or be "exploring romantically".
By manipulating the settings, one can opt for their sim to represent practically any sexual identity, from straight to asexual.
Screenshot from 'The Sims' that shows a new feature that allows to set a character's sexual identity
© Photo : Electronic Arts
However, many have viewed the new feature as an "exercise in totalitarianism", with the move from the game – that usually allows any type of relationships between any characters without necessarily labeling them – surprising some.
Despite the new feature not being able to be turned off, it would seem that one can still have a pansexual sim by default if one doesn't feel like establishing a certain sexuality for their character. Before the introduction of the new feature, any characters, despite their gender, could get intimate if they reached a sufficient level of romantic relationship. Now, if one sim is established as only interested in single-sex relationship, it would reject a move by a sim of an opposite gender, and vice versa.
According to the official website, one will also be free to change the sexual orientation settings in the game process.