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Inclusion of TiMs/Fs in Gaming
I've been supporting an alternative to The Sims for a while on Patreon. It's this game called Paralives; basically it's a life simulator where you can build a house, get a job, get a pet, have relationships, etc.
A survey was done a while back on LGBT representation. Today, the results of those surveys came back:
"When it comes to the Paramaker, a lot was suggested. Allowing players to separately choose gender and body frame / anatomy opens up a lot of possibilities. We also understand the importance of offering a third choice of gender, one that is non binary with the possibility of further specification. When choosing a body frame, players should have the option to add or remove any “traditional” feminine or masculine features such as breasts or Adam’s apple. Inclusive details like top surgery scars are also on our radar.
We understand that providing elements allowing you to recreate a coming out (maybe an interaction to “reveal a secret”) and a transition is important. The ability to set up events would then be ideal to recreate Pride or transition parties for example (also with assets like flags and face / body makeup). And let’s not forget about adoption for all couples and other options such as surrogacy."
I'm so livid. I've given this game so much money only for them to pander to the woke crowd. It was weird enough with The Sims when they included options for nonbinary Sims...but coming out as trans? Surrogacy? TOP SURGERY SCARS? I wonder if TiM Paras will now be able to have children?
Promoting surrogacy in-game? Yuck. Just click, pay and get a baby! Because a lack of thought or empathy for what mothers endure is exactly what society needs more of.
I brought it up in the comments. Instant hate because "some surrogates volunteer." Like yes, I get that. The majority don't, and if it was done out of the kindness of their hearts then wealthy women would be doing it too.
Meh, it seems silly to me to make specifically trans characters (to represent how you don't pass? lol) but not the end of the world. I will say though, most games don't have any kind of disability representation (like wheelchairs) and a lot of them think black people are just white/Asian people with darker skin tone (ie they don't have black facial features or hairstyles, just literally changing the skin shade). Both of those seem like way bigger issues imo that affect a way larger demographic.
I think Animal Crossing probably comes closest to being the best because any character can wear any item or hair and the characters are children so they don't have secondary sex characteristics. Sometimes I dress my character up as a boy just for a change of pace.
What really pisses me off is how transgurlz are so prevalent in video gaming communities that they literally outnumber actual biological females. And they're all the most revolting kind of trans too-- think anime avatar, striped thigh high socks, pink hair, uwu-ing creepazoids that clearly formed their entire opinion of what a "woman" is by watching hentai porn. It's to the point where if I read about "first female gamer wins X tournament" I check to see if it's a TiM and more often than not it is. You'd think people would notice something going on about male socialization...
This is why I'm hoping this site can have a circle for discussing video games; AFAIK there is literally no forum on the internet for actual women to discuss gaming. All the reddit ones are unsurprisingly infested by TiMs
I've gotten now like 6 comments on how there's nothing wrong with surrogacy. Nobody questions the long-term effects-or even short term. I know a woman who nearly died giving birth to the first child of a couple. The doctor told her not to get pregnant and the couple offered her more $$$. Guess what she did?
They are focusing on disability representation next.
Maybe message the admins? They can probably set up a sub. I'm not a big gamer so unfortunately I won't be of much help :(
lmao side note but they really opened a can of worms with including neurological/mental issues. People are asking if they can have anorexic representation.
I've created a post for this in o/Circles: https://ovarit.com/o/Circles/4326/gaming-circle
Please go upvote it and comment, I think there's been enough interest in gaming for that circle to be justified. I used to be a huge gamer, but I more or less noped out when GamerGate became a thing. I still play video games, but I'm a casual player and I don't do multiplayer competitive games anymore.
My favourite character customisation is in Stardew Valley, you pick either male or female but none of the clothes or hairstyles are sex specific.
As a butch lesbian it was so nice to finally play a game where I can have a masculine looking character but all the NPCs refer to me as a woman.
They're going to teach that self harm and body mutilation is normal. I'm gonna puke.
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I'm playing TS2 right now because of dat nostalgia, but it makes my laptop sound like an airplane is going off lol
top surgery scars? jesus fucking christ!
i understand why you're upset, but try not to get so worked up about it. i was livid too about lev, a trans boy character in the last of us 2 (there is so many things wrong with this game, but anyway), but i realized being angry at this wasn't worth it. you'll still be able to create your characters however you like. for what i can gather from your post, they have added more customization options to trans people. they haven't taken away options from non-trans people.
on the other hand, this is one more step to normalizing self harm and self hatred for the sake of validation. this is so sad...
Yeah I heard about The last of us fiasco.
But I've given this game over $30 at this point. And trans representation aside, adding in something like surrogacy is absolutely disgusting because it's normalizing the commodification and exploitation of women's bodies.
yeah, i see it's not only about the money invested. damn trans bs is destroying the little good and respectful female representation in games that so many female gamers have fought for. i guess there will be no gamer gate this time...
I sent them an outraged letter about it. But ffs, there's a reason why it's illegal in a lot of developed countries like Sweden, France, etc. Is the womb an unlock-able achievement? Or does a nameless para, without any personality, wants, or needs of her own, carry the baby?
With Lev's character, it was pretty easy to disregard the trans aspect and just think of the character as a gnc girl. Personally the character's journey would have been more impactful that way (another POV i thought about while playing the game was how Lev's journey highlighted the conservatism of trans, girl rejects traditional role thrust upon non-firstborn girls -> thinks she must be a boy then)
yes! all i saw was a little girl trying to escape her biological reality (getting married to an older man when she wanted to become a soldier) and suffering terrible consequences because of it. how can a kid in a post apocalyptic world focus on gender? shaving her head didn't change her sex! and her sister was a soldier, so why couldn't she be one as well? it seemed in the universe of the game one didn't have to be a man to become a soldier, so what was that all about? weird...
Of course. I took that survey and asked for somewhere to meet SSA characters because The Sims always made that difficult and this is what they decide to focus on.
They released the disability quiz today for patrons. They're looking at inclusion of deaf/HoH, wheelchair use, and autism. Tbh I think they're overpromising.
I guess stop funding them if you don’t agree? The surrogacy part is most offensive to me.
Yeah I stopped. I'm just shocked that they went this direction.
I’m sorry they did that. Can you message them and let them know why you will no longer donate ?
Yup, I did outlining the reasons about surrogacy (which is a less controversial topic than trans issues). I also pointed out how all types of surrogacy is illegal in Sweden, France, Germany, Bulgaria etc. so it's poor publicity for their game.
That sounds like a parody, ffs, how do they manage to type up this stuff without seeing it???
The Sims has always had a primarily female audience. With this latest iteration (4) it seems like they're aiming for a younger audience than The Sims 3, so mostly teen/college-aged women. Presumably Paralives has the same target audience. Aka...an extremely vulnerable group.
:(((((