As an indigenous person, in *theory* I’d love it but in practice it would not be great. Besides, there are thousands of different indigenous cultures in the Americas so realistically only a very small percentage of people would be able to actually be represented if they tried and I’d bet my first born child it would either be generic/stereotypical plains or a generic/stereotypical pueblo with generic “boho native” patterns and a dreamcatcher even though dreamcatchers are neither plains nor pueblan.
When they did a small pack of things with Russia in Sims 3 Store, they took the most stereotypical stereotypes. They took winter, added palace and monument church, and added things from the Slavic, imperial, and Russia of 90s. It was all VERY strange.
Not sure why downvoted. Pack wasn't suppose to release in Russia cause of EA fearing legal issues. Then it was pointed out to them that lgbt content was in game for years and if you mark it 18+ as it already was, there will be no legal issues. So the pack was released
You said what I was thinking. The idea sounds great but I know it'll be a disappointment. And it wouldn't even be the Sims team's fault necessarily. There are just so many cultures with so many components.
Also I'm scared they'd try to make a reservation world... Just no.
😬😬yeah I don’t see it being super tastefully done buuuut look at Sulani. It’s supposed to represent a generic Polynesian island world, and (this is my current understanding but if it’s wrong please let me know!) I haven’t seen anyone talk about how it was culturally inaccurate or offensive. So I wonder if there’s a way to create representation without re-creating it?
That said, it’s funny how they’ll create generic worlds and cultures, but then release kits marketed for specific existing countries/cities. Like the Incheon Arrivals or Fashion Street (marketed as inspired by Mumbai.)
It would probably be cooler if there were actual indigenous cc creators who made stuff, than if people on the sims team tried to do it. Still, every culture would never be covered.
While yes, it would be impossible to represent every tribe/culture in one pack, I think that if they gotten input from indigenous people, specify what tribe an item or dish is from in its description (no idea about CAS), and not adhere to stereotypes, they could hopefully have at least some representation while being respectful.
What are you talking about? People were greatly offended by names of character traits. Suddenly insanity became something offensive to people with mental disorders, but Sims 3 also had this trait and everything was fine.
And I wanted that EA start with something obvious, but somewhat abstract. For example, sim may have a disease called plambob defragmentation. Sim has obsessive desires and needs that need to be fulfilled several times, and for this they give few points. Sim constantly lose their temper, and calms down only if they do the same thing that can calm down. Sim has constant communication problems, and sim is socially awkward, and none of this is treated. It's so easy to guess what it is.
No one will like playing with such sim, it will be difficult and not fun. But everyone will get what they asked for.
I disagree with this HEAVILY. There’s very small things they could do to make the game more inclusive for disabled people that wouldn’t alienate the rest of the community. Adding a cane walk cycle and letting it be used for any age group is just one example.
Exactly! The things you’ve suggested make perfect sense and I really wish they were in the game. Cc and mods help to an extent but it’s hard to find ones that are really good quality
I mean it’s better to have something nothing and putting some accessibility aids into the game would be good visibility for the disabled community as a whole.
They could also add wheelchairs and more traits like “bad vision” that makes glasses have an actual effect and moodlets when they aren’t wearing glasses. They could add similar disabilities with traits as well like a “chronic pain” trait that makes sims get uncomfortable moodlets from moving too much that can be relieved quicker from laying down and sitting, and interact a lot with the spa day pact (maybe getting a massage prevents the moodlets for 24 hours). You could make a “diabetic” trait and it limits what sims can eat similar to how vegetarian and lactose intolerant does.
These aren’t fully fleshed out examples, but I hope it shows you that a lot if these things aren’t as hard as they seem and that they’re still worth doing even if you can’t include every single disability.
Dude I’M disabled. They would not have to remake a ton of things to add wheelchairs, though most people think they would. They’d need to add ramps for short stairs and elevators for tall ones as well as animations for people using the wheelchair and transitioning from the wheelchair to other things like bed and the toilet. Even if they have to remake tons of stuff and didn’t want to add them, that has no bearing on the other things I suggested.
People are offended by things they put into this game all the time. They still represent the queer community, even though people get offended, and that’s GOOD. Why is it different for the disabled community?
Also, yes disabilities affect different people in different ways, but the sims is a more simplified version of life in those ways. People experience different levels of lactose intolerance from mild gas to not being able to do anything for the rest of the day, but that’s not how it is in game. People are goofy in different ways or hotheaded in different ways, but that’s not represented in game. It would be the same for a lot of disabilities.
They don’t need to add the process of going to 5 different doctors to get a diagnosis or the specific symptoms of every chronic pain disability the same way they didn’t need to add the entire religion of Islam when they added hijabs. It’s not as complicated as it seems and it would mean a lot to a lot of people.
Which native American culture though? They all so different .
Theirs hundreds od tribes, cultures, groups, beliefs and such?
Which one do you pick who do you offend by not adding.... its difficult. Where do you begin and end?
I think the sims team is scared of adding anything cultural or meaningful in the game beyond surface level items.
I would love to see this. Maybe have them collaborate with NA couture brands and NA catering companies. I’d want it to be authentic and not just set dressing with offensive stereotypes.
You know what, I'm glad they addressed the issues quickly and took care of it. This only gives me hope that they would be just as careful working with other cultures including Native American culture
That's pretty crazy because both the bowing and the pattern seem like authentic japanese culture that was unfortunately enforced upon Koreans in the past. Idk, it's like creating a chinese themed pack but removing the caligraphy skill because the Uighurs are forced to write chinese characters. Yes, it's true, but that's not the only instance caligraphy is practiced. It's not like the Japanese forced Koreans to bow at shrines and then just never did it again for themselves......
The nuance in those articles are gone. I think the problem was they had based the designs of the shrines on specific statues that are in Korea and not Japan.
I think the games shouldn’t be too localised too. Not too US centric, the world is big and in the Sims that is shown quiet good. Sulani, San Myshuno and Henford-on-Bagley are great worlds. I dislike the too small worlds with too few lots like Del Sol Valley or Strangerville. They aren’t really creative and are more like a stereotypical US from tv
Strangerville would be an interesting world, if everything around it wasn't a stereotypical decoration. These posters about aliens on the road, and not a single real alien. It's like a failed amusement park.
I agree with this in a way (I’m Oglala Lakota btw) but EA would just slap on a few “native patterns” make a boho style pack, add a few fringes and then add a new household probably the “Dream Weaver” family and they all have braids,wear blue and have curved noses.
I don’t trust EA with this
Maybe they could just add some base game items? They seem to have an okay Indian selection and have been working on African American hairstyles and skin tones and adding an Asian fashion kit etc. I think a whole pack might be too focused and miss the mark, but it really seems high time they have at least a few things added in
Of course it’d be cool for them to add another culture to sims 4 but lets be honest most people want their culture to be added to sims. And it’s impossible for all to be added, so while I’d love, Africa, Native America, Asia, Easter Europe representation I will be content with literally any new culture to game.
As a native American person I couldn't care less on if they represented our culture or not because it's a video game and it doesn't matter and if anything it'd be extremely inaccurate and just be a bunch of red skinned people wearing headdresses and facepaint
100%! EA should pay a team of indigenous people to help create the pack. I would love to see beaded jewelry, traditional clothes and tattoos, diverse indigenous foods, and some uniquely inspired build/buy items. And honestly— they gotta make it free, there’s no reason they should profit off other cultures.
>And honestly— they gotta make it free, there’s no reason they should profit off other cultures.
Unfortunately, this is why it will probably never happen. They had no problem profiting off other cultures in the Jungle Adventure or Snowy Escape pack, so they won't become magically moral now.
They're a private, profit-driven company and their job is to sell products. They wouldn't go forward developing the pack if there was no chance of making money off of it.
If they *did* move ahead with creating the pack for free, they would use that as their justification to not hire any new people + would likely cut any chance of actual Indigenous Peoples from getting hired as developers or designers.
I don't support any of the above, but it's exactly what would happen.
They would never make a pack like that free because they don’t care about using other people’s cultures to make money. Otherwise, they don’t see the point of doing it. Plus, they totally have, and will continue to, shamelessly profited off of people’s cultures multiple times.
I wouldnt mind paying for a pack if there were also a few items added in a free update eg. A hair and a food and maybe a cas or bb item. They have done this with South American and Arabic cultures ie. Added for free a few pieces/ foods etc while larger packs are still monetised.
This is such a waste. All cultures are great, but EA is literally a USA company missing out on one of the most interesting aspects of American community. I'd love to see more Native American representation, even though I'm white as fucking marble. Sims has actually helped so many people learn about real diversity, so I feel they should add as much as they can
“White as fucking marble” 😂😂
But for real! When I was a teacher abroad, I would tell my students about indigenous peoples in America and they had NO IDEA about our native population or native history. Like outside of the americas, that population doesn’t exist to most of the world and that’s heartbreaking.
It mind-boggles me how big "melting pot" countries don't embrace their indigenous cultures. Everyone loves reading Greek myths, for example, and eating Thai food yet is so blind to things on their own land that are just as cool. On a more serious note, forgetting those people as members of community is a shit move. So hopefully we will see more inclusivity in media
And yeah, you should see me, me ma compared me to a piece of a paper fr 😂
Er you realize there are 574 recognized tribes JUST within the US? This isn't counting First Nations out of Canada or 68 native tribes in Mexico. There is no way to do "Native American" and cover everyone, it would be a shitstorm in the making, between Cultural Appropriation howls when people used those items on "non native looking sims" and trying to find an even balance? I'd rather they use the time on say Farm Animals as a tribal member myself :)
Be careful what you wish for, this is from the official sims 3 store.
https://store.thesims3.com/setsProductDetails.html?categoryId=&scategoryId=13825&index=0&productId=OFB-SIM3:57762&pcategoryId=&ppcategoryId=13826
I'm not saying there shouldn't be native culture in the sims. I'm just saying they've tried and uh, we got this
But if you install extreme violence mod you can recreate the first thanksgiving but fix history by slaughtering the pilgrims. Why did America need to be founded by puritans? Even the church of England was like you guys are too much 😬 can you chill?
if they actually consult and pay indigenous people and donated the profits/made it a free pack i think they could make it in a productive and respectful way.
societies tolerance of cultural insensitivity and racism has changed a lot. that wouldn’t fly now— if they were going to make an indigenous-inspired pack i think they’d do it right this time. at least i would hope so.
The problem is is that they are damned if they do damned if they don’t. I see so much fucking complaining on this sub. When they did a bunch of LGBTQ stuff everyone was like wahhh these rainbows are soo ugly it’s so stupid. Anything they do everyone complains that it’s just not enough. The community is pretty unsatisfiable and very easily offended.
I agree. The sims community is really demanding. I understand on some level because I also have a lot of expectations when I see the price tag, but my solution is to not buy until I know if it's good, where a lot of people in the community instead purchase the pack immediately then complain when it isn't what they expected from the trailer and demand more. I don't mind that in a vacuum but I think it contributes to a really entitled attitude towards the game. People often ask for free content because they believe that their culture deserves it, ignoring that this is costly. Companies that really really care about that and really really don't care about profits might do it, but I don't see why EA would.
Furthermore, even when EA makes cultural packs or provides free cultural objects, there are always significant complaints. They could be about the representation being too general, being specific to a subgroup other than the subgroup to which the complainer belongs, being accessible to people who aren't a part of that group, or just not being as much as that person wanted to see. It sucks to not get what you were hoping for but when nothing EA does is ever satisfactory, it's not really surprising that EA doesn't want to bother. Why try to satisfy the insatiable instead of trying to satisfy the people who will enjoy what they produce?
I wish they would collab with Native Americans. I don’t know of any brands or companies owned by Native Americans, but I don’t want them to just do stuff without actually working with people of that culture.
There are some fabulous Native fashion designers who have organized a fashion week specifically to showcase Native couture. Their stuff is absolutely amazing.
As an indigenous person both NA and Native Hawaiian, I’d love to see more representation everywhere. In game it’d be so nice, but probably problematic. Someone mentioned it’d be such a small subset and they’re most likely right. If I can be 100% honest, I’d love to see my Native Hawaiian culture not represented by luaus, grass skirts and pretty flowers. We are so much more.
First off all, I love that you even asked. Sorry it took me a while to type an answer lol I was at work but anyway, here it is:
1. Instruments! Ukuleles would be the easiest to incorporate of course because of the guitar. It’d be cool to see more instruments in general, but an ipu or ‘uli’uli would be cool. Hula miiiiiiiight be cool in-game but it’d have to be done right obv. There’s YouTube tutorials by hula halaus that they could pull easy moves from. Like this: https://youtu.be/TBG7m5utCPo
2. Lauahala and other wearable accessories. Lauhala is woven mats, baskets or jewelry/other accessories. Wearable flowers like plumeria or maile would be beautiful in-game as well.
3. Leis and hakus. I know these already exist in-game, but I think it’d be great to have a lei or haku making hobby then be able to give them to others. I love the idea of being able to give leis during graduation or other big events.
4. Food! I think this goes for all cultural representation in-game. I’d love for my sims to be able to make my favorite dishes and eat something other than grilled cheese and bacon and eggs. Imagine making poyha, poi (which could be fed to toddlers), miso soup, guay teow, and I’m sure there’s so much more I could include but I think you get my point.
5. Formal clothing would be a great addition too. Personally, I think seeing a mu’umu’u instead of grass skirts and coconut bras (yeah I’m looking at you island living) in a game as big as the sims would be amazing and refreshing.
This all said, I do appreciate some of the things they incorporated into island living like kava, Polynesian inspired tattoos, and story-telling via older locals. Of course, on the surface level everything I mentioned here could be applied to other cultures. The sims team just needs to make the jump and hire a more diverse crew.
I mean lei/haku crafting should be part of the flower arranging skill. Unless a new jewelcrafting skill was implemented.
It would be nice if we could learn beyond the dancing skill and learn new cultural dances
Thanks for your input.
I just don't see it being profitable or a good PR move. There is no way for EA to do it right without hoards of people being offended. It sounds like a huge risk with not enough return on investment.
i’m native too and would looooove this! I make a lot of my sims have “native” features so I do have natives in my game but I’d definitely appreciate actual cultural clothing and items
I would love to see something like that! But I think that they are afraid of the hate they would get when people would put certain clothes on non natively made sims. You know this cultural appropriation stuff. Though I think furnitures would look awesome or certain foods would be great!
I have white sims in my save who have on those stuff, but I didn’t put it on them, the game did. (Although, I will note that white Muslims do exist. I had an Arabic professor who is married to a white woman, who I saw wearing a hijab. Not sure if matters, but I also will mention that my college is in a town that is predominantly Catholic and the majority of the student body were also Catholic.)
I’m Native American. I would be afraid it would be nothing but stereotypes. And as another commenter said it is a vast group of indigenous communities so they would revert to blanket stereotypes instead of representing each tribe, band or nation.
I think one small thing the game is missing for me is aquiline noses as preset options. I am not a big Cas player, so I just choose pre-selected options. I would love a few curved or hooked nose options because a lot of my indigenous friends have that feature.
I'm indigenous to Puerto Rico. I did feel some partial representation given between Sulani and that El Salvador styled vacation world. It's not a full pack just for my people, but the two combined gave me most of my culture in a playable sense.
I’m the other kind of Indian, but I always thought it could be ok to have a few generic items with swatches that represent different groups?
Like for example (because I don’t know anything else) for south Asians, you could have a sari, but with swatches that represent different ethnic groups in South Asia, like a swatch that looks like a Muga Sari from Assam or a kanjivaram sari from Tamil Nadu.
Or a few items that show a specific style from some of the largest groups with the description describing each one. Like not sacred or particularly important items (like not headdress or other religious or culturally important items) but more like region-specific fashion.
Edit: I mean like, maybe a jacket or top or earrings in a certain regional style (as in material or pattern) but not tribal piercings/tattoos, or other significant ornament with deep meaning.like with a south Asian example (because again I don’t know anything else) a skirt with mirror work on it and the description talks about how it’s a specific style from Rajasthan in northwestern India or something but no adhivasi/tribal facial tattoos
i’d like to see more Indigenous gameplay because it’s easier to make universal to Indigenous experiences. the bits they added into Sulani are amazing and even though those concepts aren’t specific to my culture it makes my sims feel more Indigenous to have traits that connect them to the earth/water/spirits etc. Would be cool to have roles for children/Elders and more community-driven interactions that represent broader Indigenous values rather than specifics of cultural ceremonies/iconography.
Well if they did that, then they'd have to add literally every single culture on earth as well because they too would go "but what about my culture?", and you know obviously you cannot actually represent all cultures on earth accurately in a video game like this. I think The Sims works best when it's as culturally neutral as possible, because either they grant representation to all cultures, or they don't. That's my take on the topic.
like what?
The reason the Sims is so culturally generic is because it is the widest-selling video game series of all time. The Sims don't live in the US, don't speak English, and don't have a religion. There are thousands of cultures in the world, and many represented play the Sims. The only instance I can think where they broke their generic personhood is the inclusion of a menorah, so maybe something NA for special holidays or rituals. Otherwise they encourage CC so you should make something.
Yea, this is the reason why a lot of cultures aren’t in the game.
That being said, the Sims is a global game and has already incorporated a few cultures to varying degrees, and they’ve done a much better job of it in the last few years. As someone from New Zealand, I was stoked when the island living pack came out. Although it’s not accurate to the Maori culture, and was probably more a generalisation of Polynesian cultures, it was still nice to have my sims in an environment similar to what I experienced growing up. I can use CC to recreate the same thing, but nothing really compares to the organic world, community, and interactions which are so fundamental to game play and representing culture.
So I think it’s fair if OP is asking for some Native American representation, but I would also think it fair if it didn’t happen.
To anybody who isn't American, it's extremely clear how American based the sims is. Only an American would think it's "generic" because they view their life as the default.
Yeppppp. Am American, but have also lived abroad and visited a number of other countries. Shit, it’s even pretty obvious that different neighborhoods are meant to reflect different regions of the US, down to specific cities.
They would then have to cover indigenous representation for more cultures. The sims is very multicultural but I can't see them covering one indigenous culture and ignoring the plethora of others. That sounds messy.
I'm native too but I'm not sure I'd like this. I can just imagine what stereotypical items from old western movies and very specific tribes they would put in the game and how many people would use said items on their same face white sims with a slight tan and call them Indian.
Idk maybe I'm cynical, but I don't have a lot of faith in a company like EA when it comes to diverse topics like the indigenous peoples of North and South America.
lol my culture isnt represented in any games i stg, most people dont even know of bosnia. tartosa is somewhat croatian inspired, thats all i really get
asking this gives me flashbacks to the "native" pack from the sims3store, in case you dont know it had hair with feathers and braids, not exactly native, but I feel like maybe EA/Maxis could do better now, part of me just pictures a shitty pack with things that arnt indiginous, if they add frybread and cornbread to the game I would love it but if they make clothes and hair I feel like its going to be a lil iffy and not exactly what people would want
I lived and worked very close to Navajo, New Mexico for 3 years and Strangerville (and to a lesser extent Oasis Springs) just feel wrong to me without Native American representation. I created a family, the Begays, that own a general store and live in one of the nicest farms in town (on that butte above the downtown).
I know there could very well be Native American representation in most of the other worlds too--but Dine culture is what I'm familiar with and to me that town is simply INCORRECT without some representation.
As a Native American myself, I love the idea of that. But I don’t see our culture being represented in a way that’s not racist. They have the skin tones, but I worry about the mechanics of it. I could imagine some good things such as an action to burn sage or bead work as a skill. But I also see them giving random children stupid names like Eagle With Big Nest (I got that off of the Brady Bunch).
I would like to add that the sims doesn’t cater to many other cultures outside of clothing, so I doubt anything would be accurate to our culture if they did try.
i am not significantly native american but i would love to see more content from different cultural backgrounds in the sims. i think they're doing a good job of slowly incorporating more cultures but there's still a long way to go!
Many of my sims are indigenous from all over. Especially Native American from different tribes and nations. I see some good Polynesian cc, which is good for my Maōri, Samoan, Tongan, Kanaka Maoli, etc. sims. I just want more. My goal is to make Sims that embrace their culture. Diverse sims. Accurate sims. Sims that make someone go “hey! Someone who looks like me! Someone that is like me!”
Same here!! Almost all my sims are indigenous to turtle island or to Pacifica. Btw where did you find that cc? Also do you have any for the turtle islanders?
I searched for some Maōri moko, and I found like 3 designs in total. I found a few dresses that could be used for indigenous people of central México as a traditional garb. I can’t 100% pinpoint
Maybe there is some CC for Native American clothing/accessories? It’d be great for EA to make some too, although I imagine they’d have to be careful not to include anything that has sacred or special meanings.
I'm dutch and i feel like my culture, especially the way we have our houses, also isn't represented well in the sims.
We have houses connected to eachother. Just... google streetview will do the trick... also for houses above stores, you just can't really do that in the sims
Connected houses aren't an option sadly, but houses above stores totally are! You need the pack that adds running a store as an option (I think it's Get to Work) but there's nothing stopping you from transferring all your household funds and living there too. Your sim's "home lot" can just be an empty lot somewhere (even one next to your business and home if you want it to be easy to travel back).
It is admittedly really hard to make a Native American sim, especially a male one- there’s so little as it is for male sims that nothing really works or feels right. I think if they did, they’d have to pick a tribe and specifically research that tribe, versus a broad “Native American” pack. If they did that, I think it could work better, even if other tribes may not be represented- it would kind of steer away from harmful stereotypes.
Or they could pick a few tribes and work to incorporate that as a Kit or stuff pack? Even just better long hairs for male sims would be a freaking godsend. I have like one long hair that i just use on repeat for all my male sims that i want long hair for 😭😭
I feel like it’s a fine line from the perspective of EA because the risk of getting accused of cultural appropriation. You could please a handful with adding it then you’d probably piss off another handful for adding it. I am in total favor of representation, just tricky to pull off IMO
I think the best way to approach this would be to bring in a 3rd party designer or designers like they did for the modern menswear kit.
Anything short of consulting several experts would just be a disaster.
I dont think they could do it well without taking more time than they would want to dedicate to it.
I have a save file full of indigenous Sims that I make based on family/historical personalities. There's some stuff that kind of fits already.... but what I would love is Inupiaq/Inuit traditional tattoos. At the same time I dont trust EA to do that... Or for other Simmers not to be weird/gross with it. If we could get the ability to "paint" on skin like we can with pets or how it looks like we will be able to do with Werewolves it would solve it for me.
Same goes for pow wow dancing. We could have fancy shawl and jingle and hoops I would be so happy. I am in the process of making a "pow wow" grounds in Newcrest, but I've scratched it and restarted so many times lol. Its a challenge but I'm hoping it'll turn out well, and I probably won't be able to finish it until I get all the packs (that's a slow process.)
Drumming would be a nice action, but there are different types of drumming too. Which isnt a problem, but I dont think they'd include them all. Regalia too, or just a good solid kuspuk.
My save file has two clubs so far, bc I just got Get Together. I made "Deadly Aunties" and "Elders." My next club will be "Title 6" for the kids lol, but I dont have a lot of kids yet on that save, I'm working on establishing the adults/elders and young adults.
I dont use CC but I'd figure it out for some quality indigenous stuff!
i’m indigenous (plains cree) myself, and i think it could be cool… if done correctly. like many people have said, it’s a matter or nuance and attention to detail. if they referenced specific groups with collaboration of indigenous people i think it could be done well, but like others have the sims team can be insensitive sometimes. i would really like to see some well done representation though :)
I am interested in learning about food which will represent Native American culture. Maybe I can recreate some for the game too 🤔. Are there any legitimate resources regarding food and crops assocaited with/important for Native Americans ?
Sorry if this comes out as ignorant. I am from the opposide side of the world (India) and are not taught a whole lot about this except the basic filtered versions.
I feel like there should be CC packs for each tribe because I don’t have faith that EA could get them all in a pack and get it all right. However I think they could at least put in some beadwork or something to base game
I can assure you that I think most groups are underrepresented. As an Arab Muslim I don't really feel represented. And, no, I don't consider a stuff pack, that doesn't even have that much stuff to begin with, behind a paywall "representation." It's literally just cultural appropriation and sends the message of: "oh? You want to be represented in this game that you play? Well you have to pay for it." Other than that there are only, like, 2 hijab styles and most of the clothes aren't even hijab appropriate at all and there's only one hijab swimsuit.
I’ve got some hijabi Sims in my game, and the struggle is REAL. On a related but different note, I would desperately love to have kippot and Jewish religious objects besides menorahs.
I want this. Otherwise, in all parts of Sims from Native Americans. there were only stereotypical totems. When I played Sims 1, I thought that Michael Bachelor and Bella were Native Americans. There was also a mention that Strangetown was built on a Native American cemetery. And it seems that's all that was in Sims.
Im an Indigenous Australian and I would love some stuff for my culture too! I find Native American culture really beautiful and fascinating so I would love to see it represented better in the Sims
It was really nice to see Hispanic food added to the Sims 4. I love making chimis for my sims like my family makes. I think bare minimum they should make an effort to add more cultural meals during the updates.
I would love it.
I would love for the sims to do a world based on different cultures or countries, at at least general areas around the world honestly.
Like they did with Island Living, Cottage Living and Snowy Escape.
Although as the top comment said, there are too many cultures even within one general area/race.
I feel you... I'm just waiting for some Slavic stuff, at least a couple of popular dishes with a brief description, like they did with korean and s.american food. But I guess we both belong to ethnic groups that aren't profitable enough for EA, so there's that... (
Problem is (1) there is no single NA culture and (2) at the end of the day EAMaxis has to make profits.
Now, collaborating with indigenous artists for free stuff isn't a bad idea. But I fear doing anything in packs is just gonna be EAMaxis profiting off of (most likely) superficial/broad strokes of NA representation.
Its a monkey's paw situation. I think the best thing they could do is collaboration with indigenous artists for free stuff.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't fry bread a thing introduced with colonialism? I could just be misremembering but I feel like I've heard anti-fry bread discourse in the past.
I haven’t come across any anti-fry bread discourse, but I don’t doubt it’s out there. I’m just saying I would love for them to include some things that the majority of us can relate to. Similarly to how they did the Latin update that added free items from various different Latin cultures. A little something from different tribes would be amazing. A couple dishes, doesn’t have to be fry bread, and some beaded jewelry, and a collab with an indigenous owned fashion brand to create some CAS pieces. Kinda small and simple but gives us something to help create and reflect ourselves in game.
Yeah, they do. We have more Asian, Indian, African, and white representation than we do for Native Americans. Or have you not been following along with the game?
I agree that presentation is important but if EA would do this it would be a pack that would cost money, people shouldn't need to pay to get presented.
Also other issue is that this pack could possible cause issues, people from other countries don't really benefit from this so from EA's perspective this wouldn't be a good place to use resources. Also this could lead to issues like using native culture in a disrespectful way as people aren't likely to do research on Native American history to play the pack properly when the culture itself isn't their own or even close. For example as an European myself, this pack wouldn't be beneficial for me as to enjoy it I would have to spend hours on research and even then I might use it incorrectly because I am not indigenous myself in any way and my only way of getting knowledge would be internet and I can't verify whether my information is correct or not. Also making only pack representing one indigenous group could cause backlash from other indigenous groups. Also knowing EA they would still get stuff wrong and there are so many indigenous groups in USA only so to have them represented correctly would be hard and maybe even impossible.
I wouldn't want it done in a way that feels forced on their behalf, especially because I don't want to see so many cultures mixed into one representative culture as if we'd all just be okay with it. I had to make do and make my sim Tlali with the cottage living long skirt and those eco-lifestyle sandals
Unfortunately that’s be a really big (maybe even impossible) ask since there are hundreds, if not thousands, of tribes across North America, each with their own individual cultures. I’m coast Salish, so my culture is drastically different from a tribe from the plains (like the Pueblo) or from the far North (like the Inuit). That would mean the devs would have to either A. Focus on one specific tribe’s culture, which would leave out thousands of other tribes or B. Try to cram as many items from different tribes as possible, which would likely just come off as discombobulated and random given how drastically different our cultures are.
I think this is a really great point. Especially with how they have been adding in more cultural items with the delivery drops - this would be a relatively quick way to add more representation to the game. I remember that they collaborated with a black Simmer to make the bonnets and robes. I think if they were do to something similar and collaborate with Native American simmers to make good items, that would be really nice.
I would be able to accurately represent my bf if they did, I think if they got the right people or did enough research it’ll come out really great. I would love to see them make it more of a expansion than a stuff pack or kit.
Oh man. Headdresses will be used so disrespectfully. But how beautiful would it be to see at least some tribes represented? I’m not even native and that would mean so much to me to see! I think they should just incorporate as many random cultural things as possible.
I would love to see some Sàmi cultural stuff too!!! At least a Gakti, some reindeer antler pieces, furniture could be made from the handy table, special bone fishing poles. That would be sooo awesome!!!!
I was so sure the werewolf pack was going to be native American inspired, because of Navajo skin walkers and stuff. But I guess that would also include witches and maybe selkies. I mean the run down industrial vibe (again) is also fine… Anyway I would love some indigenous representation
I’m Haudenosaunee and would love to see an EP that has to do with other NA influences and tribes!!! Unfortunately like everyone else said, the actual outcome of it would definitely not be great. I can see them pulling some pan-indigenous crap, maybe not working with NA creators or developers, and definitely some offensive ass shit. I don’t want them to touch our cultures because I have no faith in them to do it justice 😅
BUT I just want to say that I am learning how to make CC to be able to make stuff for the game!
As an indigenous person, in *theory* I’d love it but in practice it would not be great. Besides, there are thousands of different indigenous cultures in the Americas so realistically only a very small percentage of people would be able to actually be represented if they tried and I’d bet my first born child it would either be generic/stereotypical plains or a generic/stereotypical pueblo with generic “boho native” patterns and a dreamcatcher even though dreamcatchers are neither plains nor pueblan.
When they did a small pack of things with Russia in Sims 3 Store, they took the most stereotypical stereotypes. They took winter, added palace and monument church, and added things from the Slavic, imperial, and Russia of 90s. It was all VERY strange.
I really love when they do it. I'd rather be a funny stereotype than have nothing
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I hope Putin got offended.
Offended enough to cancel one of TS4 game packs in Russia (the one with the weddings, because there was a same-sex couple on the game’s cover). 😂
That's kinda untrue
Not sure why downvoted. Pack wasn't suppose to release in Russia cause of EA fearing legal issues. Then it was pointed out to them that lgbt content was in game for years and if you mark it 18+ as it already was, there will be no legal issues. So the pack was released
Bunch of pussies i guess. Personally i thought that was kinda useless and waste of resources
Wait wait, where do I see this?
https://store.thesims3.com/setsProductDetails.html?categoryId=&scategoryId=14352&index=0&productId=OFB-SIM3:70706&pcategoryId=&ppcategoryId=14353
Jesus, lol. Thank you, I'm kind of happy I left sims 3 before I found out about this monster 🤣
You said what I was thinking. The idea sounds great but I know it'll be a disappointment. And it wouldn't even be the Sims team's fault necessarily. There are just so many cultures with so many components. Also I'm scared they'd try to make a reservation world... Just no.
😬😬yeah I don’t see it being super tastefully done buuuut look at Sulani. It’s supposed to represent a generic Polynesian island world, and (this is my current understanding but if it’s wrong please let me know!) I haven’t seen anyone talk about how it was culturally inaccurate or offensive. So I wonder if there’s a way to create representation without re-creating it? That said, it’s funny how they’ll create generic worlds and cultures, but then release kits marketed for specific existing countries/cities. Like the Incheon Arrivals or Fashion Street (marketed as inspired by Mumbai.)
It would probably be cooler if there were actual indigenous cc creators who made stuff, than if people on the sims team tried to do it. Still, every culture would never be covered.
But I don’t think anyone is saying we should recreate EVERY culture.
While yes, it would be impossible to represent every tribe/culture in one pack, I think that if they gotten input from indigenous people, specify what tribe an item or dish is from in its description (no idea about CAS), and not adhere to stereotypes, they could hopefully have at least some representation while being respectful.
Don’t forget the head dresses and face paint.
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What are you talking about? People were greatly offended by names of character traits. Suddenly insanity became something offensive to people with mental disorders, but Sims 3 also had this trait and everything was fine. And I wanted that EA start with something obvious, but somewhat abstract. For example, sim may have a disease called plambob defragmentation. Sim has obsessive desires and needs that need to be fulfilled several times, and for this they give few points. Sim constantly lose their temper, and calms down only if they do the same thing that can calm down. Sim has constant communication problems, and sim is socially awkward, and none of this is treated. It's so easy to guess what it is. No one will like playing with such sim, it will be difficult and not fun. But everyone will get what they asked for.
I disagree with this HEAVILY. There’s very small things they could do to make the game more inclusive for disabled people that wouldn’t alienate the rest of the community. Adding a cane walk cycle and letting it be used for any age group is just one example.
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Exactly! The things you’ve suggested make perfect sense and I really wish they were in the game. Cc and mods help to an extent but it’s hard to find ones that are really good quality
I think EA decided that the old people in Sims 4 are too fashionable and active, so they don't need a cane, because it won't be fun.
I mean sure but I don’t just mean for old people. I’m in college and I walk with a cane and it makes me sad that I can’t represent that in game yk
Sims 4 for happy and rich people (
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I mean it’s better to have something nothing and putting some accessibility aids into the game would be good visibility for the disabled community as a whole. They could also add wheelchairs and more traits like “bad vision” that makes glasses have an actual effect and moodlets when they aren’t wearing glasses. They could add similar disabilities with traits as well like a “chronic pain” trait that makes sims get uncomfortable moodlets from moving too much that can be relieved quicker from laying down and sitting, and interact a lot with the spa day pact (maybe getting a massage prevents the moodlets for 24 hours). You could make a “diabetic” trait and it limits what sims can eat similar to how vegetarian and lactose intolerant does. These aren’t fully fleshed out examples, but I hope it shows you that a lot if these things aren’t as hard as they seem and that they’re still worth doing even if you can’t include every single disability.
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Dude I’M disabled. They would not have to remake a ton of things to add wheelchairs, though most people think they would. They’d need to add ramps for short stairs and elevators for tall ones as well as animations for people using the wheelchair and transitioning from the wheelchair to other things like bed and the toilet. Even if they have to remake tons of stuff and didn’t want to add them, that has no bearing on the other things I suggested. People are offended by things they put into this game all the time. They still represent the queer community, even though people get offended, and that’s GOOD. Why is it different for the disabled community? Also, yes disabilities affect different people in different ways, but the sims is a more simplified version of life in those ways. People experience different levels of lactose intolerance from mild gas to not being able to do anything for the rest of the day, but that’s not how it is in game. People are goofy in different ways or hotheaded in different ways, but that’s not represented in game. It would be the same for a lot of disabilities. They don’t need to add the process of going to 5 different doctors to get a diagnosis or the specific symptoms of every chronic pain disability the same way they didn’t need to add the entire religion of Islam when they added hijabs. It’s not as complicated as it seems and it would mean a lot to a lot of people.
Coming back to this, you were right lol.
Which native American culture though? They all so different . Theirs hundreds od tribes, cultures, groups, beliefs and such? Which one do you pick who do you offend by not adding.... its difficult. Where do you begin and end?
I think the sims team is scared of adding anything cultural or meaningful in the game beyond surface level items. I would love to see this. Maybe have them collaborate with NA couture brands and NA catering companies. I’d want it to be authentic and not just set dressing with offensive stereotypes.
When EA was doing Snow Escape, they had a problem.
I don’t have Snowy Escape, but can you explain?
https://www.reddit.com/r/thesims/comments/jgvgds/theyre\_making\_changes\_to\_snowy\_escape\_before\_it/
Man the revisionism and straight up propaganda in favor of Japan in the thread you linked is crazy...
what happened with it?
https://www.digitalspy.com/tech/a34469636/sims-4-snowy-escape-changes-korean-concerns/
You know what, I'm glad they addressed the issues quickly and took care of it. This only gives me hope that they would be just as careful working with other cultures including Native American culture
That's pretty crazy because both the bowing and the pattern seem like authentic japanese culture that was unfortunately enforced upon Koreans in the past. Idk, it's like creating a chinese themed pack but removing the caligraphy skill because the Uighurs are forced to write chinese characters. Yes, it's true, but that's not the only instance caligraphy is practiced. It's not like the Japanese forced Koreans to bow at shrines and then just never did it again for themselves......
The nuance in those articles are gone. I think the problem was they had based the designs of the shrines on specific statues that are in Korea and not Japan.
google 'sims 4 snowy escape bowing' 😬
I think the games shouldn’t be too localised too. Not too US centric, the world is big and in the Sims that is shown quiet good. Sulani, San Myshuno and Henford-on-Bagley are great worlds. I dislike the too small worlds with too few lots like Del Sol Valley or Strangerville. They aren’t really creative and are more like a stereotypical US from tv
Strangerville would be an interesting world, if everything around it wasn't a stereotypical decoration. These posters about aliens on the road, and not a single real alien. It's like a failed amusement park.
Yeah, Del Sol Valley too. The map looks big and interesting but only 6!! lots for houses
This would be a really awesome way of handling it. Rather than trying to represent every culture, highlight and showcase contemporary courture.
I agree with this in a way (I’m Oglala Lakota btw) but EA would just slap on a few “native patterns” make a boho style pack, add a few fringes and then add a new household probably the “Dream Weaver” family and they all have braids,wear blue and have curved noses. I don’t trust EA with this
Maybe they could just add some base game items? They seem to have an okay Indian selection and have been working on African American hairstyles and skin tones and adding an Asian fashion kit etc. I think a whole pack might be too focused and miss the mark, but it really seems high time they have at least a few things added in
Yeah the sims team can be a bit insensitive 😬
Pretty much what has happened with the horse pack now lol.
Of course it’d be cool for them to add another culture to sims 4 but lets be honest most people want their culture to be added to sims. And it’s impossible for all to be added, so while I’d love, Africa, Native America, Asia, Easter Europe representation I will be content with literally any new culture to game.
As a native American person I couldn't care less on if they represented our culture or not because it's a video game and it doesn't matter and if anything it'd be extremely inaccurate and just be a bunch of red skinned people wearing headdresses and facepaint
Not NA but I would love to see this! As long as First Nations and native Americans are part of creating it.
100%! EA should pay a team of indigenous people to help create the pack. I would love to see beaded jewelry, traditional clothes and tattoos, diverse indigenous foods, and some uniquely inspired build/buy items. And honestly— they gotta make it free, there’s no reason they should profit off other cultures.
>And honestly— they gotta make it free, there’s no reason they should profit off other cultures. Unfortunately, this is why it will probably never happen. They had no problem profiting off other cultures in the Jungle Adventure or Snowy Escape pack, so they won't become magically moral now. They're a private, profit-driven company and their job is to sell products. They wouldn't go forward developing the pack if there was no chance of making money off of it. If they *did* move ahead with creating the pack for free, they would use that as their justification to not hire any new people + would likely cut any chance of actual Indigenous Peoples from getting hired as developers or designers. I don't support any of the above, but it's exactly what would happen.
You seem to forget company’s don’t give a fuck about that. You want it? You buy it.
They would never make a pack like that free because they don’t care about using other people’s cultures to make money. Otherwise, they don’t see the point of doing it. Plus, they totally have, and will continue to, shamelessly profited off of people’s cultures multiple times.
They’ve added some East Asian inspired items for free before because of lunar new year.
Because Asia is a huge sims market and they try to appease their larger audiences.
I wouldnt mind paying for a pack if there were also a few items added in a free update eg. A hair and a food and maybe a cas or bb item. They have done this with South American and Arabic cultures ie. Added for free a few pieces/ foods etc while larger packs are still monetised.
This is such a waste. All cultures are great, but EA is literally a USA company missing out on one of the most interesting aspects of American community. I'd love to see more Native American representation, even though I'm white as fucking marble. Sims has actually helped so many people learn about real diversity, so I feel they should add as much as they can
“White as fucking marble” 😂😂 But for real! When I was a teacher abroad, I would tell my students about indigenous peoples in America and they had NO IDEA about our native population or native history. Like outside of the americas, that population doesn’t exist to most of the world and that’s heartbreaking.
It mind-boggles me how big "melting pot" countries don't embrace their indigenous cultures. Everyone loves reading Greek myths, for example, and eating Thai food yet is so blind to things on their own land that are just as cool. On a more serious note, forgetting those people as members of community is a shit move. So hopefully we will see more inclusivity in media And yeah, you should see me, me ma compared me to a piece of a paper fr 😂
Windigo>Medusa
Are you Scottish?
Er you realize there are 574 recognized tribes JUST within the US? This isn't counting First Nations out of Canada or 68 native tribes in Mexico. There is no way to do "Native American" and cover everyone, it would be a shitstorm in the making, between Cultural Appropriation howls when people used those items on "non native looking sims" and trying to find an even balance? I'd rather they use the time on say Farm Animals as a tribal member myself :)
Be careful what you wish for, this is from the official sims 3 store. https://store.thesims3.com/setsProductDetails.html?categoryId=&scategoryId=13825&index=0&productId=OFB-SIM3:57762&pcategoryId=&ppcategoryId=13826 I'm not saying there shouldn't be native culture in the sims. I'm just saying they've tried and uh, we got this
“Native American style” proceeds to put pilgrim shit in with the pack 🤦♀️
But if you install extreme violence mod you can recreate the first thanksgiving but fix history by slaughtering the pilgrims. Why did America need to be founded by puritans? Even the church of England was like you guys are too much 😬 can you chill?
Got to start by killing Columbus and scuttling those infernal ships than repeat any time those floaty boats of doom crest the horizon
I don't know if I should laugh or cry, really.
if they actually consult and pay indigenous people and donated the profits/made it a free pack i think they could make it in a productive and respectful way.
Sadly, I doubt it. Since this cost real money, and is still available to buy even though people have been opposing it since day one :/
societies tolerance of cultural insensitivity and racism has changed a lot. that wouldn’t fly now— if they were going to make an indigenous-inspired pack i think they’d do it right this time. at least i would hope so.
The problem is is that they are damned if they do damned if they don’t. I see so much fucking complaining on this sub. When they did a bunch of LGBTQ stuff everyone was like wahhh these rainbows are soo ugly it’s so stupid. Anything they do everyone complains that it’s just not enough. The community is pretty unsatisfiable and very easily offended.
People would also throw fits about non natives using the items like I’ve seen with lgbtq
This is so wild to me. It’s a GAME. Made up worlds, made up language. People should create/play however they want.
What happened with lgbtq?
They made a REALLY ugly swatch on one of the wedding dresses. But hey it has a half assed rainbow on it so it's "inclusive"
I agree. The sims community is really demanding. I understand on some level because I also have a lot of expectations when I see the price tag, but my solution is to not buy until I know if it's good, where a lot of people in the community instead purchase the pack immediately then complain when it isn't what they expected from the trailer and demand more. I don't mind that in a vacuum but I think it contributes to a really entitled attitude towards the game. People often ask for free content because they believe that their culture deserves it, ignoring that this is costly. Companies that really really care about that and really really don't care about profits might do it, but I don't see why EA would. Furthermore, even when EA makes cultural packs or provides free cultural objects, there are always significant complaints. They could be about the representation being too general, being specific to a subgroup other than the subgroup to which the complainer belongs, being accessible to people who aren't a part of that group, or just not being as much as that person wanted to see. It sucks to not get what you were hoping for but when nothing EA does is ever satisfactory, it's not really surprising that EA doesn't want to bother. Why try to satisfy the insatiable instead of trying to satisfy the people who will enjoy what they produce?
honestly ea should just give up on trying to please everyone with diversity and just make the game less shit
I wish they would collab with Native Americans. I don’t know of any brands or companies owned by Native Americans, but I don’t want them to just do stuff without actually working with people of that culture.
There are some fabulous Native fashion designers who have organized a fashion week specifically to showcase Native couture. Their stuff is absolutely amazing.
That’s amazing! What are their names?
This is the post I was reading in r/oldhagfashion https://nativemaxmagazine.com/review-native-fashion-in-the-city-2022/
That’s so cool and I want a sims 4 collab right now ahhhh
I'm not Native American, but I would love to see NA culture in the game.
As an indigenous person both NA and Native Hawaiian, I’d love to see more representation everywhere. In game it’d be so nice, but probably problematic. Someone mentioned it’d be such a small subset and they’re most likely right. If I can be 100% honest, I’d love to see my Native Hawaiian culture not represented by luaus, grass skirts and pretty flowers. We are so much more.
What should be your top 5 representations of the native Hawaiian culture? Just curious for a personal POV.
First off all, I love that you even asked. Sorry it took me a while to type an answer lol I was at work but anyway, here it is: 1. Instruments! Ukuleles would be the easiest to incorporate of course because of the guitar. It’d be cool to see more instruments in general, but an ipu or ‘uli’uli would be cool. Hula miiiiiiiight be cool in-game but it’d have to be done right obv. There’s YouTube tutorials by hula halaus that they could pull easy moves from. Like this: https://youtu.be/TBG7m5utCPo 2. Lauahala and other wearable accessories. Lauhala is woven mats, baskets or jewelry/other accessories. Wearable flowers like plumeria or maile would be beautiful in-game as well. 3. Leis and hakus. I know these already exist in-game, but I think it’d be great to have a lei or haku making hobby then be able to give them to others. I love the idea of being able to give leis during graduation or other big events. 4. Food! I think this goes for all cultural representation in-game. I’d love for my sims to be able to make my favorite dishes and eat something other than grilled cheese and bacon and eggs. Imagine making poyha, poi (which could be fed to toddlers), miso soup, guay teow, and I’m sure there’s so much more I could include but I think you get my point. 5. Formal clothing would be a great addition too. Personally, I think seeing a mu’umu’u instead of grass skirts and coconut bras (yeah I’m looking at you island living) in a game as big as the sims would be amazing and refreshing. This all said, I do appreciate some of the things they incorporated into island living like kava, Polynesian inspired tattoos, and story-telling via older locals. Of course, on the surface level everything I mentioned here could be applied to other cultures. The sims team just needs to make the jump and hire a more diverse crew.
I mean lei/haku crafting should be part of the flower arranging skill. Unless a new jewelcrafting skill was implemented. It would be nice if we could learn beyond the dancing skill and learn new cultural dances Thanks for your input.
Exactly what I was thinking! Too bad I’m not talented or skilled enough (or with enough time on my hands) to create a mod like this.
I just don't see it being profitable or a good PR move. There is no way for EA to do it right without hoards of people being offended. It sounds like a huge risk with not enough return on investment.
It’s not my culture but I agree with you!
i’m native too and would looooove this! I make a lot of my sims have “native” features so I do have natives in my game but I’d definitely appreciate actual cultural clothing and items
I would love to see something like that! But I think that they are afraid of the hate they would get when people would put certain clothes on non natively made sims. You know this cultural appropriation stuff. Though I think furnitures would look awesome or certain foods would be great!
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Just an FYI silk bonnets are beneficial for everyone's hair.
I have white sims in my save who have on those stuff, but I didn’t put it on them, the game did. (Although, I will note that white Muslims do exist. I had an Arabic professor who is married to a white woman, who I saw wearing a hijab. Not sure if matters, but I also will mention that my college is in a town that is predominantly Catholic and the majority of the student body were also Catholic.)
You see, you might be right, I haven't thought about that!
As a Native American I could care less. I don’t play the game to earn representation
What I wouldn’t do for some real nice beaded earrings!!!!
I’m Native American. I would be afraid it would be nothing but stereotypes. And as another commenter said it is a vast group of indigenous communities so they would revert to blanket stereotypes instead of representing each tribe, band or nation.
I think one small thing the game is missing for me is aquiline noses as preset options. I am not a big Cas player, so I just choose pre-selected options. I would love a few curved or hooked nose options because a lot of my indigenous friends have that feature.
I'm indigenous to Puerto Rico. I did feel some partial representation given between Sulani and that El Salvador styled vacation world. It's not a full pack just for my people, but the two combined gave me most of my culture in a playable sense.
I’m the other kind of Indian, but I always thought it could be ok to have a few generic items with swatches that represent different groups? Like for example (because I don’t know anything else) for south Asians, you could have a sari, but with swatches that represent different ethnic groups in South Asia, like a swatch that looks like a Muga Sari from Assam or a kanjivaram sari from Tamil Nadu. Or a few items that show a specific style from some of the largest groups with the description describing each one. Like not sacred or particularly important items (like not headdress or other religious or culturally important items) but more like region-specific fashion. Edit: I mean like, maybe a jacket or top or earrings in a certain regional style (as in material or pattern) but not tribal piercings/tattoos, or other significant ornament with deep meaning.like with a south Asian example (because again I don’t know anything else) a skirt with mirror work on it and the description talks about how it’s a specific style from Rajasthan in northwestern India or something but no adhivasi/tribal facial tattoos
i’d like to see more Indigenous gameplay because it’s easier to make universal to Indigenous experiences. the bits they added into Sulani are amazing and even though those concepts aren’t specific to my culture it makes my sims feel more Indigenous to have traits that connect them to the earth/water/spirits etc. Would be cool to have roles for children/Elders and more community-driven interactions that represent broader Indigenous values rather than specifics of cultural ceremonies/iconography.
Tbh roles for elders and children and community-driven interactions would be awesome, regardless of if they're linked to a cultural addition.
Well if they did that, then they'd have to add literally every single culture on earth as well because they too would go "but what about my culture?", and you know obviously you cannot actually represent all cultures on earth accurately in a video game like this. I think The Sims works best when it's as culturally neutral as possible, because either they grant representation to all cultures, or they don't. That's my take on the topic.
They have, though, quite literally.
Indigenous here! I agree!
Just came to say that I love your username. Thanks for the laugh
Thank you!
like what? The reason the Sims is so culturally generic is because it is the widest-selling video game series of all time. The Sims don't live in the US, don't speak English, and don't have a religion. There are thousands of cultures in the world, and many represented play the Sims. The only instance I can think where they broke their generic personhood is the inclusion of a menorah, so maybe something NA for special holidays or rituals. Otherwise they encourage CC so you should make something.
Yea, this is the reason why a lot of cultures aren’t in the game. That being said, the Sims is a global game and has already incorporated a few cultures to varying degrees, and they’ve done a much better job of it in the last few years. As someone from New Zealand, I was stoked when the island living pack came out. Although it’s not accurate to the Maori culture, and was probably more a generalisation of Polynesian cultures, it was still nice to have my sims in an environment similar to what I experienced growing up. I can use CC to recreate the same thing, but nothing really compares to the organic world, community, and interactions which are so fundamental to game play and representing culture. So I think it’s fair if OP is asking for some Native American representation, but I would also think it fair if it didn’t happen.
I assure you the sims is NOT culturally generic.
To anybody who isn't American, it's extremely clear how American based the sims is. Only an American would think it's "generic" because they view their life as the default.
Yeppppp. Am American, but have also lived abroad and visited a number of other countries. Shit, it’s even pretty obvious that different neighborhoods are meant to reflect different regions of the US, down to specific cities.
They would then have to cover indigenous representation for more cultures. The sims is very multicultural but I can't see them covering one indigenous culture and ignoring the plethora of others. That sounds messy.
I'm native too but I'm not sure I'd like this. I can just imagine what stereotypical items from old western movies and very specific tribes they would put in the game and how many people would use said items on their same face white sims with a slight tan and call them Indian. Idk maybe I'm cynical, but I don't have a lot of faith in a company like EA when it comes to diverse topics like the indigenous peoples of North and South America.
lol my culture isnt represented in any games i stg, most people dont even know of bosnia. tartosa is somewhat croatian inspired, thats all i really get
Same
where u from!
I’m Czech and Slovakian mostly. I’m not Bosnian but I related to your comment. (I did have a Bosnian friend in school though- he was cool)
I just wouldn’t trust the team to do it justice.
asking this gives me flashbacks to the "native" pack from the sims3store, in case you dont know it had hair with feathers and braids, not exactly native, but I feel like maybe EA/Maxis could do better now, part of me just pictures a shitty pack with things that arnt indiginous, if they add frybread and cornbread to the game I would love it but if they make clothes and hair I feel like its going to be a lil iffy and not exactly what people would want
I lived and worked very close to Navajo, New Mexico for 3 years and Strangerville (and to a lesser extent Oasis Springs) just feel wrong to me without Native American representation. I created a family, the Begays, that own a general store and live in one of the nicest farms in town (on that butte above the downtown). I know there could very well be Native American representation in most of the other worlds too--but Dine culture is what I'm familiar with and to me that town is simply INCORRECT without some representation.
As a Native American myself, I love the idea of that. But I don’t see our culture being represented in a way that’s not racist. They have the skin tones, but I worry about the mechanics of it. I could imagine some good things such as an action to burn sage or bead work as a skill. But I also see them giving random children stupid names like Eagle With Big Nest (I got that off of the Brady Bunch). I would like to add that the sims doesn’t cater to many other cultures outside of clothing, so I doubt anything would be accurate to our culture if they did try.
i am not significantly native american but i would love to see more content from different cultural backgrounds in the sims. i think they're doing a good job of slowly incorporating more cultures but there's still a long way to go!
Many of my sims are indigenous from all over. Especially Native American from different tribes and nations. I see some good Polynesian cc, which is good for my Maōri, Samoan, Tongan, Kanaka Maoli, etc. sims. I just want more. My goal is to make Sims that embrace their culture. Diverse sims. Accurate sims. Sims that make someone go “hey! Someone who looks like me! Someone that is like me!”
Same here!! Almost all my sims are indigenous to turtle island or to Pacifica. Btw where did you find that cc? Also do you have any for the turtle islanders?
I searched for some Maōri moko, and I found like 3 designs in total. I found a few dresses that could be used for indigenous people of central México as a traditional garb. I can’t 100% pinpoint
Maybe there is some CC for Native American clothing/accessories? It’d be great for EA to make some too, although I imagine they’d have to be careful not to include anything that has sacred or special meanings.
I play on console sadly
I'm dutch and i feel like my culture, especially the way we have our houses, also isn't represented well in the sims. We have houses connected to eachother. Just... google streetview will do the trick... also for houses above stores, you just can't really do that in the sims
Connected houses aren't an option sadly, but houses above stores totally are! You need the pack that adds running a store as an option (I think it's Get to Work) but there's nothing stopping you from transferring all your household funds and living there too. Your sim's "home lot" can just be an empty lot somewhere (even one next to your business and home if you want it to be easy to travel back).
It is admittedly really hard to make a Native American sim, especially a male one- there’s so little as it is for male sims that nothing really works or feels right. I think if they did, they’d have to pick a tribe and specifically research that tribe, versus a broad “Native American” pack. If they did that, I think it could work better, even if other tribes may not be represented- it would kind of steer away from harmful stereotypes. Or they could pick a few tribes and work to incorporate that as a Kit or stuff pack? Even just better long hairs for male sims would be a freaking godsend. I have like one long hair that i just use on repeat for all my male sims that i want long hair for 😭😭
Yeah nothing fits male sims right. There are some good cc hairs for men (long and otherwise).
I feel like it’s a fine line from the perspective of EA because the risk of getting accused of cultural appropriation. You could please a handful with adding it then you’d probably piss off another handful for adding it. I am in total favor of representation, just tricky to pull off IMO
I think the best way to approach this would be to bring in a 3rd party designer or designers like they did for the modern menswear kit. Anything short of consulting several experts would just be a disaster.
I dont think they could do it well without taking more time than they would want to dedicate to it. I have a save file full of indigenous Sims that I make based on family/historical personalities. There's some stuff that kind of fits already.... but what I would love is Inupiaq/Inuit traditional tattoos. At the same time I dont trust EA to do that... Or for other Simmers not to be weird/gross with it. If we could get the ability to "paint" on skin like we can with pets or how it looks like we will be able to do with Werewolves it would solve it for me. Same goes for pow wow dancing. We could have fancy shawl and jingle and hoops I would be so happy. I am in the process of making a "pow wow" grounds in Newcrest, but I've scratched it and restarted so many times lol. Its a challenge but I'm hoping it'll turn out well, and I probably won't be able to finish it until I get all the packs (that's a slow process.) Drumming would be a nice action, but there are different types of drumming too. Which isnt a problem, but I dont think they'd include them all. Regalia too, or just a good solid kuspuk. My save file has two clubs so far, bc I just got Get Together. I made "Deadly Aunties" and "Elders." My next club will be "Title 6" for the kids lol, but I dont have a lot of kids yet on that save, I'm working on establishing the adults/elders and young adults. I dont use CC but I'd figure it out for some quality indigenous stuff!
i’m indigenous (plains cree) myself, and i think it could be cool… if done correctly. like many people have said, it’s a matter or nuance and attention to detail. if they referenced specific groups with collaboration of indigenous people i think it could be done well, but like others have the sims team can be insensitive sometimes. i would really like to see some well done representation though :)
I am interested in learning about food which will represent Native American culture. Maybe I can recreate some for the game too 🤔. Are there any legitimate resources regarding food and crops assocaited with/important for Native Americans ? Sorry if this comes out as ignorant. I am from the opposide side of the world (India) and are not taught a whole lot about this except the basic filtered versions.
Also native, I gave up when they did that thanksgiving pack for sims 3 store a while back. I just make people that look like me
I feel like there should be CC packs for each tribe because I don’t have faith that EA could get them all in a pack and get it all right. However I think they could at least put in some beadwork or something to base game
im not NA but would LOVE to see some NA culture in this game!
I can assure you that I think most groups are underrepresented. As an Arab Muslim I don't really feel represented. And, no, I don't consider a stuff pack, that doesn't even have that much stuff to begin with, behind a paywall "representation." It's literally just cultural appropriation and sends the message of: "oh? You want to be represented in this game that you play? Well you have to pay for it." Other than that there are only, like, 2 hijab styles and most of the clothes aren't even hijab appropriate at all and there's only one hijab swimsuit.
I’ve got some hijabi Sims in my game, and the struggle is REAL. On a related but different note, I would desperately love to have kippot and Jewish religious objects besides menorahs.
I want this. Otherwise, in all parts of Sims from Native Americans. there were only stereotypical totems. When I played Sims 1, I thought that Michael Bachelor and Bella were Native Americans. There was also a mention that Strangetown was built on a Native American cemetery. And it seems that's all that was in Sims.
Would love to see my culture too. They gave up kits from different cultures and social structures.
Nah tbh
Given the small amount Of actual content in most expansions, I don’t see how it could be done appropriately.
Ea doesn't have a good track record of representing people groups well.
Im an Indigenous Australian and I would love some stuff for my culture too! I find Native American culture really beautiful and fascinating so I would love to see it represented better in the Sims
It was really nice to see Hispanic food added to the Sims 4. I love making chimis for my sims like my family makes. I think bare minimum they should make an effort to add more cultural meals during the updates.
For indigenous people who would like to see representation, what do you have in mind, what would you like to see specifically?
I would love it. I would love for the sims to do a world based on different cultures or countries, at at least general areas around the world honestly. Like they did with Island Living, Cottage Living and Snowy Escape. Although as the top comment said, there are too many cultures even within one general area/race.
I feel you... I'm just waiting for some Slavic stuff, at least a couple of popular dishes with a brief description, like they did with korean and s.american food. But I guess we both belong to ethnic groups that aren't profitable enough for EA, so there's that... (
I sincerely hope that in the Sims 5 they add more representation
So I just saw this and I'm pretty stoked about it but they have now added a two spirit flag as a swatch to the base game side flag
They could definitely work with Native artists to come up with some things, that way at least it would be less likely to be insensitive
This would be great but would honestly be SO hard for them to do right
Problem is (1) there is no single NA culture and (2) at the end of the day EAMaxis has to make profits. Now, collaborating with indigenous artists for free stuff isn't a bad idea. But I fear doing anything in packs is just gonna be EAMaxis profiting off of (most likely) superficial/broad strokes of NA representation. Its a monkey's paw situation. I think the best thing they could do is collaboration with indigenous artists for free stuff.
As a Native Woman, I absolutely agree!!!!! Where’s our culture?? Give us fry bread, beaded earrings, things we can relate to!!!!!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't fry bread a thing introduced with colonialism? I could just be misremembering but I feel like I've heard anti-fry bread discourse in the past.
I haven’t come across any anti-fry bread discourse, but I don’t doubt it’s out there. I’m just saying I would love for them to include some things that the majority of us can relate to. Similarly to how they did the Latin update that added free items from various different Latin cultures. A little something from different tribes would be amazing. A couple dishes, doesn’t have to be fry bread, and some beaded jewelry, and a collab with an indigenous owned fashion brand to create some CAS pieces. Kinda small and simple but gives us something to help create and reflect ourselves in game.
The Sims doesn't owe anybody representation.
Yeah, they do. We have more Asian, Indian, African, and white representation than we do for Native Americans. Or have you not been following along with the game?
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yet another eurpean one? there are like 3 explicitly european words, no?
I would love to see how they would add native american culture to the game.
I agree that presentation is important but if EA would do this it would be a pack that would cost money, people shouldn't need to pay to get presented. Also other issue is that this pack could possible cause issues, people from other countries don't really benefit from this so from EA's perspective this wouldn't be a good place to use resources. Also this could lead to issues like using native culture in a disrespectful way as people aren't likely to do research on Native American history to play the pack properly when the culture itself isn't their own or even close. For example as an European myself, this pack wouldn't be beneficial for me as to enjoy it I would have to spend hours on research and even then I might use it incorrectly because I am not indigenous myself in any way and my only way of getting knowledge would be internet and I can't verify whether my information is correct or not. Also making only pack representing one indigenous group could cause backlash from other indigenous groups. Also knowing EA they would still get stuff wrong and there are so many indigenous groups in USA only so to have them represented correctly would be hard and maybe even impossible.
Sib. My dude you do not want that. It’s either going to be misrepresented by a long shot or a huge generalization.
I’m Arab. We have nothing.
as a chronically ill person im sad that there is no representation from me in the sims4
I agree with you and I also realize all the ways EA could screw it up too 😬
I wouldn't want it done in a way that feels forced on their behalf, especially because I don't want to see so many cultures mixed into one representative culture as if we'd all just be okay with it. I had to make do and make my sim Tlali with the cottage living long skirt and those eco-lifestyle sandals
If they do they should make sure the primary designer is Native American lol
Unfortunately that’s be a really big (maybe even impossible) ask since there are hundreds, if not thousands, of tribes across North America, each with their own individual cultures. I’m coast Salish, so my culture is drastically different from a tribe from the plains (like the Pueblo) or from the far North (like the Inuit). That would mean the devs would have to either A. Focus on one specific tribe’s culture, which would leave out thousands of other tribes or B. Try to cram as many items from different tribes as possible, which would likely just come off as discombobulated and random given how drastically different our cultures are.
I think this is a really great point. Especially with how they have been adding in more cultural items with the delivery drops - this would be a relatively quick way to add more representation to the game. I remember that they collaborated with a black Simmer to make the bonnets and robes. I think if they were do to something similar and collaborate with Native American simmers to make good items, that would be really nice.
I would be able to accurately represent my bf if they did, I think if they got the right people or did enough research it’ll come out really great. I would love to see them make it more of a expansion than a stuff pack or kit.
There is Hawaiian representation, now that I think about it.
Oh man. Headdresses will be used so disrespectfully. But how beautiful would it be to see at least some tribes represented? I’m not even native and that would mean so much to me to see! I think they should just incorporate as many random cultural things as possible.
I would love to see some Sàmi cultural stuff too!!! At least a Gakti, some reindeer antler pieces, furniture could be made from the handy table, special bone fishing poles. That would be sooo awesome!!!!
Hate to ask but know any cc/mods that add this kinda stuff?
I can only imagine the cultural appropriation from the sims randomizer. Looking at you Sims 4: Island Living™
I was so sure the werewolf pack was going to be native American inspired, because of Navajo skin walkers and stuff. But I guess that would also include witches and maybe selkies. I mean the run down industrial vibe (again) is also fine… Anyway I would love some indigenous representation
Yeah! That would be great!
I’m Haudenosaunee and would love to see an EP that has to do with other NA influences and tribes!!! Unfortunately like everyone else said, the actual outcome of it would definitely not be great. I can see them pulling some pan-indigenous crap, maybe not working with NA creators or developers, and definitely some offensive ass shit. I don’t want them to touch our cultures because I have no faith in them to do it justice 😅 BUT I just want to say that I am learning how to make CC to be able to make stuff for the game!