October 6, 2020, was a big day for The Sims 4 for two major reasons. The first skin tone update rolled out, supposedly fixing the blotchy, pixelated darker skin tones in-game. Second, the developer announced a surprise addition to the update in celebration of Hispanic Heritage month. It wasn’t much, necessarily, but the surprise free patch included new clothing, recipes, build/buy mode objects, and even a new base game tattoo.
As inclusive as The Sims 4 team has tried to be recently, many players were upset after the free patch. Some Simmers found the items, particularly the clothing, to be stereotypical and not representative of Hispanic culture. Plus, many players were unaware of the fine print on the skin tone update, and only realized yesterday that it’ll only work for high-end PCs, leaving laptop players behind.
For all the good Maxis is trying to do in terms of representation, The Sims players and fans are overwhelmingly unhappy with the way it’s being executed and added to the game. The new clothing, while stylish, has been accused of being re-colored items included in the Create-A-Sim options for the Get Famous expansion pack. Players are unhappy that items that were behind paywalls, like the EP, are now being added to the base game for free.
Even the re-colored designs of the clothing have been under scrutiny, with many Hispanic Sims players stating they incorporate stereotypical designs. However, it’s worth noting that in their announcement EA and Maxis hired well-known Chicano tattoo artist Mister Cartoon to design these clothes and the free tattoo. Although it may not have been done the way players wanted, it’s a big improvement that EA hired someone outside the studio to collaborate with for Hispanic Heritage items.
Additionally, The Sims dev collaborated with SOMOS EA to decide what items would be patched into the game. The developer wanted to make sure that the items were representative of different families and Hispanic/Latinx cultures, and SOMOS EA helped ensure that was possible. However, base on many Sims players’ response, it’s clear that it may not have landed as intended.
Improved skin tones in The Sims 4 have been the topic of conversation for a few months now. With EA’s message to players about the steps it was taking to fix the skin tones in-game, many players had high hopes for the skin tone improvements. The “big” update won’t be out until December, but this recent patch was supposed to fix what’s already in-game in the meantime.
However, many players didn’t realize that they need high-end PCs and graphics settings to see the full effect of the added skin tone update. According to EA, players need to have the box “Uncompressed Sim Textures” checked to see any improvement with the skin tones. The issue for many players is that The Sims’ blog specifically states that players need graphics cards ranging from medium to ultra and at least 2 GB of RAM. If players don’t have this and run their game with “Uncompressed Sim Textures” on, their game could crash. Understandably, many players were upset to realize their game would essentially be unaffected by this skin tone “update.”
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the skin tone update is the fact that the patch didn’t actually fix anything. The darker skin tones are still ashy, splotchy, and pixelated with no visual improvement. Turning “Uncompressed Sim Textures” on made their appearance only slightly smoother, but still didn’t fix the discoloration and ashy appearance. The final skin tone update is set to release in December, but some players aren’t holding their breath thanks to the disappointment of what this update promised but didn’t deliver. Hopefully, Maxis takes fan criticism and feedback to heart and fully delivers come December.
The Sims 4 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
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