A popular Sims 4 NPC family is at the center of a small fan debate after an unexpected makeover, raising questions about The Sims‘ complicated history of Eurocentric character design.
The NPC Goth family is haunted The Sims as long as the simulation game exists. Over the years, slowly accumulating knowledge, the Goths settled as old money, their air of mysticism was matched only by their public influence. Players loved the visibly mixed race family from their very first appearance, and became especially attached to mother Bella Goth – a G-rated Morticia Addams – for her red dress and oversized bazongas in The Sims 4†
The Sims 4if you want to get technical takes place in an alternate universe to other Sims games, has no loyalty to established character histories or timelines, and will not be affected by even a million Simoleons. But the May 25 update that gave the Goth family a remodel still came as a surprise, especially since no other NPC family saw updates and, well, Bella’s cup doesn’t overflow like that anymore. Some players are dissatisfied with the changes, which also changed the faces of the Goth family and changed their outfits significantly, but I don’t know. Personally, I like the makeover.
Like, it’s good. Bella lost her impressive boobage, a developer decision that some players dismiss as “de-yassification”, but I’ll be fine. The whole family is now tanned and graced with luscious curls of dark hair, which is nice. They look a bit like my cousins. My cousins are fine people, but none of them have a fantastically thin mustache like Father Mortimer Goth, so that’s another great thing the upgraded Goth family has for them. It can’t be easy to grow a mustache as fine and wispy as a willow tree growing on your face.
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Any alleged de-yassification will cause a stir in the Sims community, however, and some players are calling the change “ugly,” while others reply that thinking the redesign is “ugly” means you reject non-white features. This latter opinion comes from an old frustration with The Sims 4, which people think intentionally made its racially ambiguous or darker-skinned NPCs look more white† This idea is objectively true when you compare the skin tones of the past Sims characters with their newer versionsand in 2020, The Sims Franchise Creative Vice President Lyndsay Pearson acknowledged community frustration in a Twitter video†
“We realize there is no single solution to representation,” she said, “and we dedicate people to ongoing commitments to keep improving over the long term.”
The new dark-skinned Goths seem like one of those improvements, but if we’re all honest with ourselves, their characteristics are generally the same. Bella’s jaw isn’t quite as gripped and of course there’s the issue of the bazongas, but other than that they all still have small button noses, straight hair and light eyes, which makes their redesign not as much of a representation gain as some players position it to be.
The May 25 update also included two new story missions or scenarios, a song by hyper-pop star Alice Longyu Gao – if no one else is there, at least The Sims proved it cares about gay teens on Instagram (me four years ago) – and some new furniture, like a mood lamp that’s perfect for gay teens on Instagram.
But the new look of the Goths suggests The Sims still not sure what a positive accurate rendering looks like, and i think the community is all too quick to please. In the meantime, maybe we can meet in the middle and make everyone biracial and bisexual.
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