In the US, the possibility for women to choose whether to abort or not is questioned, in the parallel world of Sims instead no. Officially Electronic Arts, which publishes the hugely popular real-life simulator, does not take a position on the provision by which the American Supreme Court has Roe v. Wade ruling canceledhowever, in the game, things are different.
The title, born in 2000, is today the best-selling videogame series ever on PC, with over 200 million copies, thanks to an active and attentive community, which carries on policies of inclusion and representation without prejudice. A recent example is the new feature that allows players the ability to customize the pronouns of the Sims they create. The Sims it does not allow abortion, but the option comes through some mods, small unofficial programs designed by player-developers, which have been growing in popularity in the last period.
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The LittleMsSam mod
First appeared in June 2018, Miscarriage Chance & Abortion, per The Sims 4 it has been downloaded more than 250,000 times in the last year. The description reads that it is possible to send your Sims to the hospital to terminate the pregnancy, the option is only possible within the second quarter and costs 1,000 Simoleon, the game’s fictitious currency. It is also explained that Sims who take this path will experience a negative buff, a feeling of guilt, or if they have developed the “I hate children” trait, a positive buff, a feeling of relief.
The mod LittleMsSamAdwho prefers to be mentioned only with the pseudonym to protect her privacy, has specified that the choice of inserting a cost and a certain time frame in the pregnancy termination procedure allows users to reflect, the assumption of responsibility even within a video game.
Talk about unwanted pregnancies in The Sims it’s a stretch, players have more than one option to develop fulfilling and risk-free sentimental and sexual relationships. We must therefore ask ourselves why the unofficial add-ons that give the possibility of abortion are becoming so popular and why users are using them. A possible interpretation could be that some players favor being the directors of a plausible simulationinserting elements of hyperreality in a virtual world that tends to be light and joyful in its structure.
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Lumpinou’s work and the two-dimensional joy of the Sims
Thus, in 2021 la mud Lumpinoutired of the stereotypical reactions of joy that characterize the virtual characters of Maxis, released an abortion mod developed with the intent to provoke mixed emotions. Sims who terminate their pregnancy using her program may experience guilt, loss, stress, relief or other positive emotions.
Starting from this base, Lumpinou wants update its mod introducing a social judgment system that will involve other Sims related to those who have decided to terminate a pregnancy. The intent is to induce empathy, to deepen connections that facilitate the understanding of an emotionally difficult path.
But if there is the freedom to abort in a complex universe like that of The Sims, we must consider the possibility that pro-life associations also invade the virtual world. This is not a remote possibility: given the recent American developments, one can imagine organized Sims groups demonstrating in front of the hospitals in the game.
On the day of the Supreme Court ruling, the developer of The Sims, Maxis turned his thoughts to Twitter, reiterating that the game reflects the conviction of the whole group so people have the right to decide what to do with their body. It is no coincidence, therefore, that it is two women who have developed virtual abortion mods and that neither Electronic Arts nor Maxis have hindered them in any way.
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