The GameOn Magazine - Free Special Editions The Sims 4 Special Edition | Page 35

whereas in the Sims 4 you can adjust

shapes. Therefore there is a vast

recent exam I was given the question

any part of the body, for example

amount of different ethnicities

of “how are ethnicities represented

the leg and arm width, how broad

showcased in the game. Not only

in the media?”. I sat there, reeling off

the shoulders are and the width

can you have your character as

how there were examples of black

of the waist and hips. This makes

any ethnicity and any look, they

people, especially in films and TV,

the characters more “natural”

can be of any sexual orientation.

but in video games, I was stumped.

and is a better representation

You can make them heterosexual,

Off the top of my head I could think

of the fact that everyone’s body

homosexual, bisexual, or you can

of The Walking Dead series by

is different. It highlights the

not get involved in any relationship

TellTale Games, GTA, and Half Life

uniqueness of humans and that we

at all and it doesn’t affect you.

(Alyx’s father, Eli). But I then realised

are all individual. In a similar sense,

that all these people were black, but

with each relaunch of the Sims,

diversity and maybe, just maybe,

I could not think of one game with

they have gradually expanded on

other videogames and the media

any Asian in it. Aside from Glenn

their

I take a media course, and in a

preset face

The Sims is a specimen of

in general may take note.■

making a cameo role in the Walking
Dead, and Sleeping Dogs, I couldn’t
think of anyone. I think this is sad,
especially with the vast amount
of ethnicities in the world and so
many different crosses of culture,
it’s a shame not to capture how
vast and different every person is.
This is where the Sims comes
in - finally. There is no story, no
preset expectation. Originally, the
Sims was quite limited on how
you could change the characters,
but all the slight changes in the
character creations have resulted in
something absolutely magnificent
in Sims 4. Back to my original
point of body representation, in
original versions of the Sims, in the
character creation, you can simply
make your character “fat” or “thin”,
The Sims 4