Photo credit: Electronic Arts

Today Electronic Arts announced a significant update to its popular game The Sims 4 that allows players a greater range of gender customization options when creating their Sims.

The Sims 4 allows players to create characters, known as Sims, and then launch those Sims into the game where they lead a life that includes aging, falling in love, getting married and starting a family. Some players create Sims that resemble themselves and their friends, and they can also create Sims who are not based on actual people. Released in September 2014, The Sims 4 was the best-selling computer game of 2015, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

Within the game, players use “Create A Sim” mode (or CAS) to create their Sims. In CAS players can select the Sim’s gender, body shape, voice tone, hairstyle, and clothes, among other options. Before the update, players were limited to choosing only male or female Sims, and most voice, clothing, and hairstyle options were specific to only one gender. 

With today’s free update, players now have many more customization options when creating their Sims. Body shapes are more variable, and all voice, hairstyle and clothing options are available to all Sims, regardless of their gender. The update also allows players to bring a Sim who was created as male or female back into Create A Sim and modify the Sim’s gender. This gives players the opportunity to tell transgender stories in way that wasn’t possible before the update.

Several months ago, Electronic Arts reached out to GLAAD and asked the organization to consult with them as they re-designed the customization options within Create A Sim. While all players can use the new gender customization options, the company wanted to make sure that the update was respectful to the transgender community and reflected choices a transgender player might want to make when creating Sims.

“Creating the possibility for greater gender diversity within the world of The Sims is an exciting development,” said Nick Adams, the director of GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program. “It was a pleasure working with developers who were committed to updating the game so that all players can create a Sims world that more accurately reflects the world in which we live today.”

The update is available today to those players running the most current version of The Sims 4.

Read an interview with four staffers at Maxis, the studio that creates The Sims.