Hey Everyone, It’s Shelly! I have a few things to get of my chest and I felt like this could be a good place to do so.

As many of you know or you may not, I made a petition last month calling for The Sims™ Team to fix the issue with the darker skin-tones in the game. I am making this post just to share my overall frustration with the franchise and as a creator as a whole. 

The Sims 4™ has been out since 2014. In that time we have had many patches and updates to the base game and yet after 6 (going on 7) years we still have YET to fix the skin-tone issue that we have had from the start. It is so hard to find accurate representation in this game. Sad to say this doesn’t just happen in The Sims™. The gaming community as a whole puts black and brown characters on the back burner and when it comes to character creation they will have a plethora of options for paler characters but then they will throw in one token black hair and call it a day. If these gaming companies truly care about inclusivity then they should be taking the steps to SHOW it. It really upsets me that The Sims™, in particular prides itself of creativity and diversity but have yet to live up to their beliefs fully. 

This next part isn’t a callout or me “coming” for anyone, but I have to make this example to show you all what I mean. 

Xmiramira is a prominent figure in the gaming community, she is a wonderful black gamer who has been playing sims for years. Mira called The Sims™ out for their lack of skin-tones several years ago and even went out of her way to make more skin-tones and colors for us black and brown players called the Melanin Pack. She did this in 2016 and here we are in 2020 and the base game colors have still not improved. Recently another YouTuber (who is great in her own right) made the request to have the ability to nickname cowplants. This feature wasn’t necessarily needed but yet in the latest patch to the game we now have the ability to do so. The only reason I am mentioning this is to point out how the The Sims™ Team doesn’t prioritize the things that players are asking for. It’s just really sad to see that a game that so many of us love not have the representation that we need. 

As a black creators we have to work twice as hard to get half as far. Even me as a black custom content creator, I don’t get as much recognition as my peers and to be honest, the black and p.o.c creators are some of the best in this community. This isn’t saying that our white peers aren’t great, but all I am saying is that you can see that there is a clear divide.

I hope that one day we can see a change. We shouldn’t have to rely on CC and Petitions to get the game that we deserve. If you all are looking for more skin-tones I made a list in one of my previous post. Here is a LINK for those interested.

Another example, several other high value creators have complained about objects being grouped together (such as small plants, shelves etc) and again the team went to the trouble of separating those things.

That’s not to say we didn’t need those things, or that those people were wrong to complain about those things, and it’s obviously not those people’s faults that the Sims Team listens to them and not others, but it’s VERY telling that those people got exactly what they wanted in a timely manner and yet Mira and MANY others have been complaining about the lack of diverse skintones, and the ones that have been broken since they gave them to us, for years and have yet to see any change in that area.

And that’s not even getting started on the lack of makeup that works on anything but light skintones…

info + download under the cut:

Hey Y’all I know that many people have shared and reblogged but I just wanted to continue to bring awareness to these topics and to keep people informed. If you wanna find ways to help the Black Lives Matter Movement here are some helpful links:

Donate to Black Lives Matter: You can find the main donation page here.

Get involved with your local BLM chapter: The full list is here.

Or start your own: More info here.

Donate to a bail fund: Some Twitter users are crowdsourcing lists of local organizations that help bail out protesters who get arrested. Thread here.

Or another bail fund: This crowdsourced Google Doc of bail funds keeps getting bigger.

Support the National Police Accountability Project: This group, a project of the National Lawyers Guild, helps people find legal counsel. More info here.

Support Campaign Zero, a police reform group that has been working on policy solutions “informed by data and human rights principles.” More info here.

Sign a petition: Civil rights group Color of Change launched a petition asking that all the officers involved in Floyd’s death are brought to justice. Find it here.

Or another petition: The “Justice for George Floyd” petition on Change.org already has 8.5 million supporters. That sends a big message. Find it here.

Also, Happy Pride Month! To All of my LGBTQIA+ friends and followers, I hope you have a wonderful month. I know things are difficult right now but I have faith that things will get better. Specifically to my black queer followers please know that you are loved and appreciated.

If you would like to help support your local LGBTQ youth here is what you can do to help out, here are some resources that can help:

Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network

GSA clubs are student-run organizations that unite LGBTQIA+ and allied youth to build community and organize around issues impacting them in their schools and communities.

HealthyChildren.org: Health Concerns for Gay and Lesbian teens

Information for LGBT teens on sexual activity, substance use, mental health, discrimination, and violence.

It Gets Better Project

The It Gets Better Project inspires people across the globe to share their stories and remind the next generation of LGBTQIA+ youth that hope is out there, and it will get better.

Q Card Project

The Q Card is a simple and easy-to-use communication tool designed to empower LGBTQIA+ youth to become actively engaged in their health, and to support the people who provide their care.

Q Chat Space

OK, Lets Discuss a topic that has been something that has been on my mind in recent days. Recently @grimcookies made an intriguing and informative video on the darker skin-tones and how they need to be fixed and how makeup doesn’t look as good on darker skin tones in the game. I suggest watching that video for a bit more insight.

The sad truth is, The Sims darker skin-tones aren’t made very well. They look very ashy and have no vibrancy. When the sims game initially came out in 2014, The game had little to no range for darker-skinned people, and the shades that they did have were very bad. In February of 2018, The Sims added a few more darker shades which brought the total to 10 medium to dark shades.

Those additional shades that they added, on the four darkest shades, a small patch of discoloration surrounds the nose. The existing makeup in the game also doesn’t look quite right on those new tones. For instance, adding lipstick creates an out of place line around the edges of a Sims’ lips. 

@escapingpotplant​ made fix to the additional swatches a few years ago HERE

Representation matters! We deserve to accurately show and represent ourselves. This game has shown growth in many areas but we still have a long way to go. It has been 6 years since the release of this game and we are still waiting for more representation. We shouldn’t have to rely on CC to get the representation that we deserve. For a game that prides itself on inclusivity I think that there should be a color-wheel for the sims skin-tones. There already is a color wheel for PETS in the game and I think that Sims should have the ability to do so as well. I want to start a petition to get more skins-tones that accurately represent us and our diversity. If you want to sign you can click HERE

But until then, here are some links that could be helpful If you are looking for accurate representation for your sims:

@xmiramira

 Melanin Pack, Melanin Pack 2, Baby Melanin Pack

@peacemaker-ic

The Other Side Skin-Tones

@pyxiidis

Stuck on You Skin-Tones

@siminspring

B-Natural Medium Dark, Phenomenal Warm, Phenomenal Cool

@disorganaized

Cloud Skin Tones, Cumulus Skin Tones

nSIMS 4 HOME COOKING ENTHUSIAST ASPIRATION

PATREON EARLY ACCESS! £1 to access all my patreon early access posts! Public release date: 24th April 2020. 

This aspiration was patreon requested, if you would like to be able to request aspirations, traits and/or careers every month, check out my patreon tiers!  

THIS MOD IS FULLY TRANSLATED (INCLUDING SIMPLIFIED CHINESE) EXCEPT KOREAN, WHICH WILL BE DONE IMMINENTLY (by wwindystar)

Home Cooking Enthusiast: (a cooking aspiration that is not tied to the culinary career, woOooOoo)

This sim enjoys cooking in their free time, and takes pride in their cooking! Sims who complete this aspiration will receive the Fresh Chef trait, allowing them to always create excellent food that never expires!

Download for £1 at my patreon [x]

Translation credits: