YESSSS: “The Sims 4” is removing gender barriers for its characters

At some point over the past 16 years, we’ve all created our very own family on The Sims — whether to help them live happy little virtual lives or to completely terrorize them. And now, The Sims 4 is changing in a huge and important way: the creators are opening up gender customization options to be available to both male and female characters.

Today, publisher Electronic Arts and developer Maxis will be providing a free update for The Sims 4 that will allow you to create a Sim of either gender with any type of walk style, voice, or physique. Before, various options were available to only male or female Sims. The update will make over 700 options available to both genders. In a statement, EA said that it wanted to “make sure players can create characters they can identify with or relate to through powerful tools that give them influence over a Sims’ gender, age, ethnicity, body type and more.”

The update, which has been a year in the making, “gives players more ways to reflect the world around them, or in their imaginations, creating the [S]ims and the stories they want,” lead producer Lyndsay Pearson explained to The Verge.

According to Pearson, the development team also consulted with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defemation (GLAAD) to make sure its changes were acceptable. The team also listened to feedback from players, Pearson explained to The Verge:

We could not be more in agreement with these awesome updates. The gaming world currently isn’t a very inclusive or accepting place for a lot of people and we love that The Sims creators are working to change that. As a Sim would say: whippna choba dog!