Disability Survey + LGBTQIA Survey Recap + Terrain Tools Preview

This is so cool. I'm neurodivers myself and having it represented would be so amazing.

You have to be quite sensitive when executing some of these possible disabilities. Although it’s amazing to be inclusive we have to be careful with what is depicted in the game. Sexual orientation goes without saying but I think it as much as it’s important to represent a wide array of individual identities it’s important for some of this to be left to player imagination. Regarding disabilities I definitely believe that regardless of what get implemented, we should be able to toggle.

Luther Duncan

Hi, I was too late to the survey! I think it would be amazing to see ADHD represented here, I wish neurodiversity was talked about a lot more. Thank you for bring up the discussion xx

Believe it or not, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Because the disabilities seem to be the one of the most controversal topic in Paralives community, I'd like to present the following thoughts and suggestions. They are heavily based on modding - please pardon me on it. Like many have suggested above, the disabilities may be better to be optional. Traits will be very likely the best way to achieve it if there is no separated "disability/disease/illness" system in the game. Besides, the heritability and giving the traits for game-generated paras may be best to be optional, too. The following suggestion (and petition) is primarily written for the staff. Because the mental illnesses will be excluded, would it be possible to support modding in order to make players, who prefer have them, possible to add them? If the idea seems considerable, would you please make the following features easily moddable to the game? 1) custom traits * the easiest way to create any kind of illness/disability/phobia/... which is desired to be permanent on the para * if there is no moodlet, fear and memory system in the game, this may be the only way to create any custom disability * can be treated in the health care 2) the custom moodlets (if they are considered to be included in the game) * mentioned in the previous comments: this would be the rather simple way to represent (occassional) mood disabilities like depression (and perhaps the anxiety disorder, too) ** the worse missfortunes/treatment the para faces, the worse consequenses. In addition, more it affects their life and needs the treatment ** can be linked to the traits. For example, if the "family oriented" para's child dies whereas the para who dislikes children gets pregnant, their moodlets would be more effective and long-lasting * can be treated in the health care system * may be treated if the para talks with the paras who are close to them. It depends on the severity of the moodlet, of course 3) the custom fears (if they are considered to be included in the game) * mentioned already in above comments. Please mind this is just about the custom fears, not every kind of fear! * can be treated in the health care 4) the custom memories (if they are considered to be included in the game) * the base for the traumatic and phobic memories * the base for those illnesses which are not heritable * depends on the para's traits, how likely they get the specific memory ** an example: the "lonely wolf" para doesn't get nearly as likely the negative/traumatic memory about being (left) alone than "the social butterfly" * can be treated (and possibly cured) in the health care 5) the custom interests (if they are considered to be included in the game) * a very handful feature to specify the treatment: ** the more the para spends time with things they enjoy and are interested in, the better their treatment results are 6) the custom interactions (+ custom animations & objects if needed) * if there is a health care system in the base game, custom treatments can be easily created * add new interactions linked to the traits, moodlets, objects, memories... The possibilities are endless! 6) the examples of combining the above mentioned: * the moodlet linked to any specific object/interaction/para/... + the traumatic memory linked to this specific feature => paras get triggered (gets the trigger moodlet) ** The effect of this moodlet depends on the severity ** Interaction, precence and the reference to the trigger can activate it ** can affect the getting enjoyment. For (very simple) example, if the para has the negative memory of being bullied by their looks, they don't enjoy looking at the mirror and may avoid doing it at all. * the moodlets + the fears + the memories => may be a quite handful way to presentate the phobia which can be cured * "the trigger moodlets" (see above) + the fear of facing triggers => may be a quite handful way to presentate mental illnesses like anxiety disorder and PTSD * the moodlets (like randomly changing mood moodlets, being paranoid, neurotic, psychotic...) (+ fears) (+ wishes) + interactions linked to the moodlet => endless possibilities to create different kind of mental illnesses * about "the sense(less) of being ill": this is very complicated. When being "the simpliest", it's the moodlet linked to the specific illness like NPD. In other cases, it's not; that's why it put it here. It may be possible to imitate by using the features mentioned above but it may also need the other aspects like the para's attitude to (mental) illnesses. Like I've said before, all, that I actually suggest is to make these features mentioned above easily moddable to the game. That's why, I'd like to kindly remind about the fact there will be no these custom features if they're not downloaded and added to the game. I wanted to share my thoughts because there are the players who'd love to play the life simulation game where many colours of the life, including those darker ones, and complexity are representated. This is the very first time when the potential players can take the part to the development of the life simulation game from which I'm really grateful to you, Alex. I hope we all can create together the inclusive game which has the wide scale of features for the different kind of gameplays - by default or with the modifications.

Annamaris

I find it better to "hide" my text on the front page. It is ridicious long and may contain triggering elements. This is the third time I send this message. If somebody removes it manually, please inform me about it so I won't resend it ever again here.

Annamaris

BTW I won't take the disability survey BUT a lot of my friends are PMLD and if you had hoists I would ugly cry x https://www.mencap.org.uk/advice-and-support/profound-and-multiple-learning-disabilities-pmld

You're all doing great work so far <3

I do hope there is a way to disable townies as I enjoy creating each and every person myself and controlling the gene pool... :P

Grouch

I think that's a great idea! hope the team will see your comment!

Emma-Lisa Roux

Are the lots going to be flat with the option to only modify terrain within their boundaries, like in a certain other game?

Jan

I really liked and appreciated this survey. I'm autistic and I am very physically expressive. I would love to have the ability to use sliders for facial/physical expression. Some Paras would have very Vulcan-like stoicism, and some would be very animated with their face or hands. Anxious or depressed moods, and the option of lots of different self-care actions would be great. I'm not physically disabled, but I would LOVE to have the option for wheelchair-users, sign language, etc. Obviously all these things would be optional, with townies maybe having random chances? Y'all are doing great work, and I am thrilled to see this kind of inclusivity considered. Especially the results from the LGBT+ survey! Keep it up! You've got one queer at least chewing their nails in anticipation!

I am really excited to be able to play characters with disabilities and neurodivergencies. For those who do not want them, there's nothing wrong with having an option to disable these things. But for me personally, my neurodivergencies can be frustrating but those things are part of me and dictate so much of my life and the lives of the characters I would want to portray. I want them in the game, and I am tired of people understanding those things as only being misery-makers. I wouldn't be half as creative without my severe ADHD, and my best friends wouldn't be who they are if they weren't autistic or had DID. My depression is awful and my anxiety disorder is debilitating but I don't want to make a version of me without those things, they are inherent to the way I live. Thank you so much for asking for input, it's wonderfully helpful.

Thank you so much for trying so hard to include minorities. It feels incredible to feel seen and respected. Thank you so much for being humble in your process of learning. I am so excited for this game!

Awesome news on the terrain editing! one thing that has always escaped me when building in the Sims 3, was a proper green roof. I hope it will be easier/possible to match or slope terrain over existing structures to create that effect!

JazzyJay

I'm so excited for the terrain tools, they look awesome so far!! I'm also really looking forward to any disabilities you may add to the game, hopefully it'll provide some fun, light hearted representation of those who may have to deal with that! I don't feel qualified to answer the survey, as I don't personally have any disabilites, but I like to recreate my family in these types of games and my aunt lost her leg in an accident, so it would be very nice to be able to recreate her somewhat accurately! I also think it would be interesting to add deaf parafolks who use sign language, but that would probably be really difficult to animate, so I'm not expecting that at all lol

Emily Jimenez

“Our vision is to put the focus on a positive and light-hearted representation. We understand the game is an escape from reality for many and we do not want to force a certain gameplay on anyone“ I hope this means that disabilities and mental illnesses will be optional and we’ll be able to opt in or out of it occurring in our world. I love the representation and I would like to play as someone with my illness sometimes I’m sure, but these type of games are also my “sunshine and rainbows” happy place where everyone and everything is perfect and nothing sad happens.

Omgggg so happy you guys are considering illness, only hoping a health system will be implemented as well to coincide. I need my paras to go to the doctors, get vitamins, medicine, ultrasound scans etc also YAAAAYYY terrain tools I mean - WE GET A POND TOOL?!? yesssssssssssssssssss. My only question is for the hole in the terrain, so we would have to place a hole in the terrain before building a into it? Or will it be like a terrain wall tool? Either way, I’m so hype

Joanna Hinds

"Our vision is to put the focus on a positive and light-hearted representation. We understand the game is an escape from reality for many and we do not want to force a certain gameplay on anyone or gamify serious and painful elements." It sounds like disability is something we can opt into for different Paras, not something that will be forced in them. I think that's a happy medium.

Ryn

polyamory is disgusting and is not a part of LGBT as far as I know

Ok, so... I think everyone was reading too deeply into the survey. I sure had! In the survey we basically listed traits that describe our own selves and the other stuff was just context backing the traits up. Cool, I like it. On a lighter note... Terrain Tools, yay!!!!!! come on, gorgeous rolling hills!

Vicarious Human

I don't know if this is the right place to say this, but I'm sad I missed the LGBTQIA+ survey. I feel like it would be nice to add that although it's not in the same category, it would be nice for there to be opportunities for consensual polyamoury in some form or another, even if it may just be limited to polyfidelity. I feel like the options for gender and romantic/sexual attraction are awesome, but I also love to see the options for people to express themselves in broader relationships.

Im with you! I hope you get better, i too had a bipolar episode.

People, relax. They're asking this because someone in the discord asked about it months ago and had a really good reception (of the comunity) back then. The fact that the crew asked MEANS THEY CARE, because they don't want to reproduce stereotypes, but to understand them from our own experiences. The purpose of the survey is to ask you if you want this or not. I already did this in the interview but I'll put my two cents here anyway. The thing back then was that you could add "quirks" that wont use a trait/personality spot and you could disable them entirely from your game in the main menu (which is the safest choice to satisfy both sides), not to "feel sad a week" but "bright lights are quite annoying". I want to clarify too that I have Bipolar Dissorder type I and I'm hipersensitive as well (second year in medschool too, I'm in therapy and have my meds, I'm functional), I don't want harmfull traits (like selfharm, be called drama queen, have other paras to not feel safe around me) or anykind of stigma be thrown at myself. But everytime I have a sim it doesn't feel like me at all, because is way to happy. What I would like in paralives isn't a fully accurate representation, but to have thing I didn't had when my first episodes happened during school; I was forced to attend to classes or I would be expelled over inasistance, I would go trough the same test as my classmates even though I wasn't mentally capable at all and non of my friends knew what to do with me because I didn't response well with social interactions. If your para feels down, they can call and get a free day in work/school without loosing performance and getting paid, coworkers would call to ask you if you need anything. The sims had a phone line for sad people and that was cute, but I didn't like to put traits linked to my dissorder as my personality traits; I'm not gloomy, I'm not hotheaded, I'm not a drama queen. I have my own traits, that's why I was happy with the options of quirks, they don't need to be a full medical diagnosis. Some literature (or movies, series) use quirks to make a full character without diagnosing them, like Lilo from Lilo and Sticht, I'm also part of the AED (the mildest corner of the espectrum though), I felt a lot of empathy toward Lilo during my childhood and helped me to keep going even though I wasn't perfect. For me, and maybe for others, having a vanilla and lighthearted representations of little quirks can help us heal from our wounds, if I had social and medical support when I was a teenager I wouldn't have though of ending my suffering. When you live in a disabling, ignorant and hostile enviorment mental dissorders are traumatic, until this day I cry if I talk about my very first episode, but because of my family, educated friends, teachers and my school administration (I mean they're all doctors and health care professionals) my most recent deppressive easier to overcome and to share the experience with the purpose of education. However, I actually fully understand when you'll are coming from, I still remember to this day about an "inspirational movie" about a kid that was raised by a bipolar single mother and I was awful how they portrayed her, also Black Mirror: Bandersnatch uses PTSD in a way therapist don't like either, and in 2018 Congress of neurology, psychiatry and psychology of my country there was a whole seminary roasting 13W and the lack of mental health education in exchange of literary sensasionalism (unlike other pieces of art). As a mental health advocate I fight for our experiences to stop being taboo, for that representation is needed, a lot of you came with really good points: it's an small team and for a topic like this to be lighthearted but accurate, the team would need not only and specialist but also a literature expert (most of good represented characters are made by normal people, not therapist), I would recomend this point to be one of the last details to be studied and applied since it is still an small team, goals like this are really ambitious. But I'm still thinking if life simulations don't apply this concepts it in invisibility and marginalization caused by taboo stigmas.

I agree on this I don’t want mental illness, only physical illness! It can’t be portrayed right, it needs details and they are a small team.

Tini

Patreon keeps deleting my post, but I'll try again. I just wanted to say that, although I can see it is an unpopular opinion, I decidedly do NOT want mental illness in the game. Not because I think they wouldn't be able to accurately portray it, but because I don't want to be reminded of that reality in a game. Mental illness is horrible, and there's no way that's not gonna be triggering/depressing if portrayed accurately. I am fairly certain I would not be able to play a game that includes mental illness, because it would be too depressing or triggering for me to get slapped in the face with the reality I'm seeking to avoid. I see people saying mental illness is 'normal' and that we need more awareness, and I only partly agree with that. Yes it's normal in the sense that it's something a lot of people struggle with, but it's still an *illness*. Your brain is literally reacting in an unnormal way to normal scenarios. And yes we need more awareness, BUT a game is not the way to increase awareness. Because I think it would alienate a lot of people that actually have these illnesses. I feel it's similar to when white people share videos of violence against black people on social media in order to spread awareness. The result is that black people suddenly and constantly get exposed to their trauma whenever they try to use social media. And that is not inclusive! It's the opposite. Getting slapped in the face with your mental illness while trying to enjoy a game is not representation, in my opinion. I want a game I can play, more than I want a game that educates neurotypical people about anxiety. I don't want an anxiety simulator, in the same way I doubt a cancer patient would want a cancer simulator. This survey and comments section has honestly made me lose hope that this will be done in a sensitive way. I know that everyone doesn't feel the same way, I can see that I do not speak for everyone with a mental illness here. But *please* think this through so you don't alienate people with mental illness in a failed attempt to be inclusive.

I agree, including basically any mental illness would be akin to including cancer. Is it realistic? Yup. Could it be done well and made fun to play? Absolutely not (except perhaps to incredibly insensitive people who haven't had to struggle or known anyone who struggles with such a thing, and who wants to cater to them?). I'm all for certain traits or quirks being available on their own that one could pick and choose to create their idea of something like OCD or autism, but to have the conditions directly referenced and attempting simulation of them, it's a no-go.

PinkLyon

As someone with OCD, I really hope they don't decide to try to represent mental illness in the game. I just don't think they could possibly do it accurately or respectfully. If OCD has to be reduced down to being "tidy" or wanting "order" I honestly think it would turn me off of the game entirely. For something like OCD, the disorder can look so, so different in different people, and I just don't think there is a mechanic that could portray this accurately. I 100% support physical disabilities though! But please, don't use my mental illness as a fun quirky trait to choose for a para. They say they want positive and light hearted portrayals and I just don't think there is anything "light hearted" about my mental illness. Severe OCD and "light hearted" don't belong in the same sentence, and if the portrayal isn't accurate then it's not real representation at all. It will just lead to more misinformation. If it IS accurate I will avoid this game, as that would likely be extremely triggering for me.

Emily S

They are opening the door to people's biggest vulnerabilities here, of course people are going to get emotional. It's messy work, but good work.

I am so glad this aspect of gameplay is being considered. I, as person with a disability (I'm okay with how I describe myself) have played another very popular simulation game with all its iterations, without the challenges. I love the aspect where storytelling and building can be further enhanced with these possible features. I play my games as an escape from my condition but others may find this liberating and affirming.

I am so excited by all of this! As long as everything is optional so we can determine our own stories and games (which seems like what the team is going for) then the more options and representation the better!

Chandra Marie

I couldn't disagree more. I have severe anxiety, and I absolutely do not want that to be an obstacle in my game as well in real life. It would absolutely increase my overall anxiety. I don't want it to be all unicorns and rainbows like the sims 4, but they don't need mental illness to avoid that. Just look at the sims 2, how they handled the ups and downs of life. That was great and in-depth, without including specific mental illnesses.

Also to most folks, do realize that you do not have to give your para these traits. They're most likely going to be completely optional.

eoghan

Perhaps allowing the player to opt out of realistic gaming, and instead something more utopic to help satisfy both game styles? :0

eoghan

Guys this is great, but I think it would be nice to have an option to opt out disabilities. I really like my gameplay being almost utopic.

It is admirable that the team is asking for articles to educate themselves. They do not want to include stereotypes; they want to do this right. They value neurodiversity equally important and valid represent as physical disabilities in a world that does the opposite.

NaJa Jackson

I agree with a lot of what the people talking about why they don't want "mental disorders"/ neurodivergence in the game are saying, but a lot of them are including mental illness under that umbrella, and I do not agree that should be wholesale left out. While I think some mental illnesses will be very hard to represent without turning them into jokes or misrepresenting them, I think mood disorders could be added in subtle ways that are not explicit but still realistic. That do not depict self harm of any kind but still illustrate the added difficulty in every day tasks. As someone with depression and anxiety disorders, I would love to see these in a life simulation game. In the sims, if I want my sim to actually at all feel familiar to me, I have to give my sim blatantly negative traits like "slob" "gloomy" and "lazy" just to get them to sometimes behave in the ways that represent my disordered thinking and mental and physical exhaustion. I crave a game that feels realistic and contains some of the negative parts of life as well as the many positives. I want to see paras have variations and diversity like people do in real life, and that means, to me, some having a harder time with day to day tasks or managing their thoughts and emotions than others. I think there is a fine line to walk, for sure, but I think they are making a very good step in the right direction with this survey. And I don't want people to be so afraid of this that representation never happens.

❤️

C

I’m so proud of paralives for acknowledging any of the topics you have so far and believe people shouldn’t respond so emotionally to this project. Take a step back, breath, go on a walk and think of how lucky you are to be here before posting :-)

Hanna

Thank you so much for all of your surveys, seriously. As a queer Indigenous disabled person, I finally feel like I will be able to accurately represent myself in a simulation game.

Me too. 🥰

Anastasiâ Helwig

Yeah honestly I’m angry that I’ve given this project money just for them to take such an anti-woman stance. It’s not some sweet everyone’s happy deal 99% of the time, but sure, let’s support the commodification and exploitation of women’s bodies to appease the people using whataboutisms.

KrisCookies

Physical is great! Mental/neuro is not. As a person with autism, I don’t use toys to calm myself down and my stimming is not hand flapping lol. Plus a bunch of people are asking for eating disorder representation-like great, my Para can now count calories? Binge & purge?

KrisCookies

They are 100% not going to include EDs on a PG-13 game because they are forms of self-harm.

KrisCookies

Absolutely. I agree 100%. Hell yeah! I am not physically disabled but damn it, I approve!

100%. And so MANY people are struggling with them. Medical conditions ARE normal, both mental and physical, people all over the world, everyday struggle with them! It's just a part of life and it sucks but it's ultimately okay! 3 MILLION people in America are diagnosed with PTSD and/or some type of Anxiety Disorder EACH YEAR. And this is NOT an "over-diagnosis." Humans are extremely environmental and very much nurture over nature and the condition of American society is not great and has not been great for YEARS. There's a lot to be afraid and so many people do abuse and hurt one another creating long-term traumatic experiences which tend to do more damage than a one time traumatic experience and those are really hard for people as well! I think it's so important to represent EVERYONE. Non white people, non straight people, non cisgender people, and people with psychological and/or physical conditions, as well as non-neurotypical people and people with other exceptionalities and special needs. We ALL need to be represented and NOT representing us will actually make these things worse because it continues to "hide" us until a stereotype or a blatantly offensive version is shown instead and then people cry "No one will do it right! It's impossible to do right!" But it's not. It's 100% not impossible to write these things. There is a way to write them wrong but there is also a way to write them correctly AND it has been done before! Very rare and few and far in between but it has been done. Not representing the "non normal people" at all is only going to make stereotypes and misconceptions WORSE especially in regards to invisible illnesses. We all need to be normalized because we are normal and there is a lot of variation and that's just a fact of life.

I 100% agree. The people constantly going "No! Because stereotype! Or there's no way to do it right so no way!" Is actually making it worse. A person can have the same exact condition with the same exact symptom and they can act completely differently because they're different people. The truth is there is no "correct" way to portray those things outside of making sure you're not using obvious stereotypes or making fun of those people. All anyone can do is their best and that's all I ask because not being represented at all SUCKS and it's a kind of a erasure. The primary treatment for Social Anxiety Disorder is exposure, this stuff is similar. If we constantly dismiss and "hide" people because they're not "normal" and it's too hard then we'll never truly be understood. In fact, I think it's CRITICAL to get as much representation about all these different things as we can because then we can see how truly diverse people as a whole are and how diverse psychological and non-neurotpyical conditions are. That way, maybe I can eat dinner with two friends and one of them is symptomic and the other friend says: "Well I have BLANK mental illness and you don't see ME acting like THAT!" It's so important to show how diverse these conditions are and the way they can affect so many people that way people can understand there's variation and go: "Well you don't fit into this clean box of labels so no you don't have" because that's not how it works at all. Everybody thinks they understand what the symptom "Dissociation" is until they learn that there's SEVERAL types of Dissociation and everyone's exact behavior or method or ritual for that symptom/type of symptom is (Example Dissociation, exact type, Dissociative Daydreaming) different. This would also keep people from trying to self-diagnose because that's incredibly dangerous for so many other reasons. It's so easy to look at a label, what defines that label, and then a list of symptoms and think: "That's like me!" When in fact, it isn't at all because they don't truly understand what the symptoms are, the severity level, the different types of those symptoms, and how they affect people. Representing this is so important on so many levels and I cannot stress it enough. Just saying: "IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO DO IT RIGHT!" Therefore just ignore us and sweep us under the rug is wrong. It's just as harmful and it's going to keep being harmful. There is a way to write these things WRONG but there isn't way to write these things 100% correctly AND THAT'S OKAY, because nothing and no one is perfect to being with. All you can do is your best. Research, research, research. Do interviews with psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, and several people who suffer from even the same illnesses as well ass different illnesses. I guarantee that you if you put in the genuine hard work to do all of that the results will be SIGNIFICANTLY better. And then people will know that you didn't obviously rely on a stereotype or that you were writing this purposely to be offensive and make them out to be a "joke." It's not that difficult and people are making it out to be like it's one the most impossible tasks in the world when it's truly not.

Yess to the lake tools! This is so exciting to me!! :)

Lena Marie

Thank you for everything. I'm sad to see a lot of people rejecting the idea of disabilities in the game. I love the idea of representation, and I believe leaving mental conditions to the player is the best option.

Auntyleti

I know I'm late on this but as a lesbian I actually hate the idea of a "coming out" option as for me whenever I'm playing the Sims I want the world to be ideal and an ideal world isn't heteronormative and as such there should be no need to come out. And I find the possibility of a surrogacy option downright offensive. Who wants to be reminded of the exploitation of women while playing a life simulation game? I already have real life for that. I think players should use their imagination more

Same! When I read that I was over the moon! And also that gameplay doesn't change it, because it doesn't have to be absolute for everyone.

Auntyleti

Absolutely! There are many things that just have to be or not (like wheelchairs), but I suggested just have blank traits that we can fill and adjust how we want, so we can really make whatever we feel suits our paras best. I think leaving certain things to us can make it more available and less compliocated.

Auntyleti

Thank you so much for including the options for making asexual and aromantic characters! Now of course I want to see it in the final game but I'd understand if it didn't make it in, but the fact that you're at least considering it means so much to me!

museofvoid

I'd like to see a video of building, with the building tool so far. So we can get a more close look of the game

And to me, third gender is natural as other genders and part of evolution.

Wondrous_Mickey

I just don't agree with including a third gender when two genders; male and female, are enough.

Latricia Goodman

Someone who thinks they're of third gender and wants to use "they" and "them" as singular words instead of plurals. Also known as "Transtrenders".

Latricia Goodman

Just a side note on the autistic thing-it's a neurocognitive disorder, not a mental illness. And honestly? As an autistic person, saying "they don't understand evil" is a really disgusting generalization. This is why I do not want these kinds of neuro/mental issues included in the game, because they propagate harmful stereotypes.

KrisCookies

Yup. In their survey they gave poor, generalized examples of the autistic spectrum (I don't use a fidget spinner or flap my hands lol). Plus, people are asking for schizophrenia, eating disorders, OCD-are these supposed to follow DSM-V diagnostic criteria? Couldn't this be extremely triggering for others living with those illnesses or having friends/families deal with it?

KrisCookies

I loved the terrain tools, it reminds me a lof ot planet coaster/planet zoo's terrain tools, which is great because i find them really good to use. some games have really tricky terrain tools that i often can't use properly. I can't wait to see how the things from the lgbt survey will be implemented, its really exciting! And regarding disabilities, it would be cool if we could go to therapy and/or physical therapy, in a rabbit hole, but every week at the same day and time, and then your para could come back feeling good about it, or confused, or tired, idk!

Mari R.

I take back what I said. (It won’t let me edit the message I said “there should be a pride for being straight”)edit of this message-I take back that because somehow that part I said is finally gone but I still don’t agree with the thing I said that nobody would’ve known I said without me saying that I said it. Yes. That all makes sense. Message starts here > I meant was, in my opinion, sexuallity shouldn’t be treated differently. And good thing you’re not using English words or anything because it’s impossible to count the amount of times that people misuse the word gay.

Jack Springs

Now also someone said something amazingly true. Please don’t call them disabilities. It’s like we’re separating them from (abled?) people. They are just a people with different abilities. You wouldn’t call a person who can’t draw disabled right? They just ain’t an artist. So what? Who needs legs? (Not trying to say it’s easy to not have them, just saying it shouldn’t define who differently abled people are) everyone’s difference but it’s not about appearances. Same for sexuallity and mentally ill. Now mentally ill I can’t exactly say the same thing because while I might say I love meeting autistic people because they are actually extremely kind because they don’t understand evil, I don’t know if there’s a pain they go through in their head.

Jack Springs

And just cause I'm still thinking about this, I love escaping to the sims where I can be gay/bi without any hurdles, like it's just accepted that anyone can be bi there. I'd love a game where it's accepted that you can have the deaf trait but luckily sign language is automatically taught in all schools, you can have the cystic fibrosis trait but there's no reduced life span because the medications you automatically take during the eating animations keeps it under control, and you can have the dyslexia trait but schools and workplaces are actually prepared and funded for that so it's never much of an issue.

Also why does that sound extremely offensive? (I’m bad at catching on to offensive things, so I always ask because I can never tell) What Latricia Goodman said.

Jack Springs

Wait what is gender delusion

Jack Springs

Here's my unpopular opinion: While I'm all for LGBT, I think a choice of a third gender should NOT be included. To me, it's a form of gender delusion.

Latricia Goodman

I can't express how excited I am that I might finally be able to make myself in a video game the way I REALLY AM - a wheelchair user!!! I understand people who are scared of having disability in the game but to those people please read the reactions of people like me - we want this so badly. I CANNOT make myself in the sims, not accurately. No video games are about people like me. This would mean the absolute world to me.

Erin Kyan

Surrogate can also be a friend, family member or someone who otherwise chooses to. It isn't just for gay couples either, but also for infertile straight couples, or mothers who due to complications cannot get children on their own. There are a lot of things wrong in this world, but surrogacy can be a good thing too. I'm sure in this game they will make sure to avoid any negative emotions associated with this to avoid triggering negative emotions. They mentioned positive representation after all!

Jordy

Oh one thing I forgot to put in the survey is that often it's the world that makes people 'disabled' versus differently abled. When I'm at home I don't feel like I'm disabled because my crohns disease isn't impacting me, it's only when I go out and have to deal with restaurants potentially not catering to my intolerances that it becomes an issue. And sort of tying it into the Sims, being gay isn't an issue because there's no homophobia in the world. When you're building a world from the ground up you get the chance to remove a lot of the things that cause the problems that a lot of us have in real life. If all stairs in Paralives had a built-in yet discreet wheelchair lift by default, or when eating at a restaurant, all my menu options were automatically altered to be diet friendly you can bet that's a fantasy world I could escape to.

That just means they are adding the tech for Paras to see where they can walk (and do so), not that you manually have to add it

Jordy

I would love to see sign language in the game!

Draconicrose

Could it not be optional? Being in a wheelchair doesn't make my life less beautiful. It is part of who I am as a person and I've never been represented in a video game. That is the part that makes life sucky. The part where others assume the worst or think less of me because I can't walk. I think if you don't want wheelchairs or sign language in your game than that is your business and you should be able to turn it off but this will be the first time many people can actually represent themselves. Do I want my pain I deal with to be in the game? Not necessarily. But being in a wheelchair =/= pain and my life is a good life even if I can't walk. I would believe lots of other people with prosthesics, vision impairments and that are hard of hearing would 100% agree.

Kitten Walters

Ohmygoooosh my suggestion from the LGBTQ+ survey was mentioned here! Makes me so happy to see that other people probably mentioned it as well :D The terrain manipulation looks incredible!!

Aaron

Everybody is saying they’re against disabilities being in game. I agree when it comes to mental disabilities but disagree when it comes to physical. Some people have one leg, some people have two. Some people are in a wheelchair, some people are not. There’s nothing offensive about it, but geez somehow there’s ZERO representation of that in any game I’ve ever played. Now, I think the mental aspect should just be avoided. You can’t have any quirky personality traits that come across as funny, AND have mental disabilities/illness. The lines will be too blurred. You’ve got a para with “erratic” personality trait who does some funny things - but then you’ve also got a para with diagnosed autism ... how do we know what is and is not a joke ? Idk ... I can’t speak for other communities , but some things are too risky to trivialize.

PixelPerfect

I 100% support mental disabilities and physical disabilities. I think its a great idea and its about time they become NORMALIZED. It is normal to have these things and if people don't like it give them an option to turn it on or off. I have ADHD and I would love to make myself in game having it.

Nida Kamran

All of this is fantastic :)

Christina Ozeki

I really really really do not think subrogation should be in the game. I love all your ideas and I support this game, but I feel that's a scary topic. Such as prostitution, nearly a 0% of the people who does that would do it if they had other things to do to get money. I know you do it for gay people, which is great, but what about women who have gone through this and could trigger some nasty stuff for them. What about all the psicological treatment and pain that someone suffers during that process? What about the pain of knowing that you are a person who was bought? Would paras be able to go to paicologist in order to treat themselves? How much would a para pay for a baby para? How much for renting a female para's body?

Nelssie

I think it’d be cool if pathfinding could work for dirt paths or gravel paths or patches of grass we paint down onto terrains paras could travel on foot for, including bikes, and maybe cars. What about icy terrains like glaciers? Will we be able to create those or will they be more like something we’d paint on if that makes sense?

S&M Gonzalez

Im not sure it's good idea to include mental and physical disabilities in game where most of us wants to forgot about. I think maybe better to just only change in creation of character gender for biology gender and only include in the game some of actions to operation when we can aleays modify gender and body/face of character. We really wants something else ?

I think you need to be EXTREMELY careful with disabilities, and it very much SHOULD NOT be something in base game. The reason it simple: You need to sell the game as being able to handle this respectfully, which means people are going to need to get an idea of how the game handles everything else first. Then add disabilities in a later update, if fans still back the idea; this manages to both add representation and avoid the pitfall of accidentally offending people straight out of the gate. Secondarily... Some disabilities should simply be avoided no matter what. Spectrum disorders, for example, are nearly impossible to provide proper representation for; they vary too much in how they present in individuals. This variation allows well-meaning representations to easily come across as insulting. Autism in particular often falls prey to this. That said, I would love to see a character who can switch physical sexes on the fly. But that's not exactly realistic, so I don't expect it early on.

Tehkeela Suhnrayze

Will we be able to make shore lines not just for oceans but lakes too or will they automatically be made in caw but not terrain tools? I hope I made since with that question. I think it’d be nice if the terrain tool could include a way for rivers and streams to be made and then we could connect them to a larger body of water (a lake, pond, water falls for example) and maybe have the option for these things to be automatically generated (rivers streams across the map) Making pond water to be able to be either deep or shallow, with shallow you’d be able to see plants and other wild life inside the water vs deep water you wouldn’t Having the possibility to carve in tunnels for houses to live in or under. I think being able to carve tunnels into terrains that would allow roads to be placed inside of them, for cars to travel through would be amazing. Also maybe a way to create terrain tools for more rough/jagged edged mountains especially rocky ones, and also sand dunes if we were to make a deserts

S&M Gonzalez

I hope that it was relevant to speak about mental health in the survey! I think it should be done in a light-hearted way. Maybe involving traits that are involved in some disorders but I think accurately showing what happens to someone when they suffer from psychosis or severe disorders would be extremely triggering. As someone who has overcome serious disorders, I really would not enjoy reliving them.

I forgot to include these in the survey, but these are necessary for gameplay and representation such as eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia), psychological disorders such as PTSD, Schizophrenia, OCD, Bipolar disorder, Borderline personality disorder, Dyslexia etc.

moonlightsimmer

While I do not suffer from any disabilities. I ABSOLUTELY SUPPORT THIS!! If I can recreate myself in my own games, others should as well!! This really opens up a lot of customization and can also help us, the players who don't have these issues, learn about them and helps us understand. I love this so much!! Along with all of the pride and inclusion. Thank you Team Paralives C^:

Hannah Varnell

as an aroace its lovely to see so much representation for those who haven't had that before. yall are doing amazing, stay safe and keep it up 👍

With my upmost respect for you and your opinion, I respectfully but wholeheartedly disagree with that sentiment. I, myself, am not disabled. However, there is not a single simulation game off the top of my head I can name that has disability representation, especially disability-friendliness. I see what you mean about it being abused, although I think the group that would do something of that sort is a very small group. Much smaller than you are giving them credit for. To me, giving someone with a prosthetic or a wheelchair the option to make themselves in Paralives with those things is more important. Shouldn't the point of a good simulation game be to represent the majority of people as possible? When has a disabled person been the protagonist of a video game, or had a customizable feature for it? Who has the right to decide who does and who doesn't get representation? Why should only able-bodied and neurotypical people get to recreate themselves, and people in wheelchairs, prosthetic, and cochlear implants have to make versions of themselves that can walk, or have both arms, or hear sound, or see? The good outweighs the bad here, tenfold. Again, I don't wish to argue with you. I respect your opinion. I just disagree, and wished to give my two cents as to why. I think disabilities should be in the game. For people who don't wish for it, they don't have to use it. But it will mean more than you could imagine to the people who do.

Everbough

Unpopular opinion but I don’t want any kind of disabilities in the game. First of all, disabilities take a lot of resources to make, especially physical ones and secondly, disabilities are NOT a joke. I know that many disabled people want themselves represented but the problem is that how much the disabilities will abused for fun and pleasure. I know that representation is important and all but don’t let Paralives become too much of a representation simulation. Also, good job on the terrain tools, team!

Stermatical

THE TERRAIN TOOLS AHHHH

Alyssa Abernethy

Pathfinding is a term for the game being able to figure out how the Para gets from A to B. Terrain is more complicated for the charcters to cross than flat ground so the program needs pathfinding that can do that. It finds an invisible path. When sims get stuck on things on The Sims it's often to do with bad pathfinding.

Oh God, mental health is very important. You are very right!

I must say that when I saw the prostheses I almost cried. ;; One of my best friends has a prosthesis for his right leg and I love to recreate my loved ones and characters. I'm certainly very happy to see that. ♡ I'll be able to create the Winter Soldier in the game, ufff!

I don't personally suffer from disabilities, so I will leave the survey to those who are far more educated on the subject that myself. I did want to say, though, that the inclusion of disabilities in Paralives is something that I support completely! You are all doing such an amazing job at including diverse groups and it makes me very proud of supporting this game and community! On another subject, I love the terrains! I look forward to building so many amazing things with this game.

Jennifer Huber

Was literally what I was thinking about today!

pixipui

Hey! I'm so sorry you had to go to the hospital recently! I hope you're feeling better and doing well. I may not suffer from a physical disability but I understand what it's like to be ignored especially if your condition is invisible in general. Good luck!

I'm so happy about the LGBT options. I am a cisgender white women but I am bisexual with a heavy preference towards woman, I am pro Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual people, and Transgender people all the way! I am very excited about the Disability+ survey, which I just completed. As someone who suffers from PTSD, Social, and Generalized Anxiety Disorders I am so tired of not being represented at all or not being represented accurately and then basically being told that I don't deserve representation because it's "too hard to get right." I am really excited that we're being listened to and taking a huge direction at being progressive and actually representing EVERYONE including people who are non-white, non-cis, or non-straight or who are just not able bodied or non-neurotypicable because special needs people/people with exceptionalities are left out all the freaking time for so many different reasons too. "Well they can't communicate like us and talk normally so that's hard" I've heard people say. Yeah, life is hard shut up! Stop dismissing people and their entire existence aside because they're not your perception of "normal."

Terrain pathfinding so Parafolks can walk around. Does this mean that Para's will only be able to walk on paths? If it does I don't like that.

I'm so happy and thankful for everything you do for this game, I see how passionate you guys are and I love the ability to be involved and doing such surveys. Thank you for all your hard work, I really appreciate it a lot! The terrain tools look amazing! Love goes out to all of you <3

Tini

Thank youuuuu. Omg you have no idea how much these surveys mean and that you're trying to hard to implement these features!!! As someone with mental health issues, a family member with disabilities and a recent discovery that may either be Demi or Ace, I want to cry every time I see these. Yes games have always been an escape for me, they're my me time and stress relief- the fact that I can make stories that embodies that has me so so grateful

There are lot of surrogacy that use family members or friends - in this case, it is not exploitation of women's bodies.

Wondrous_Mickey

I am so freaking happy. I've been having a really hard few weeks (I was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago and I'm in school full time and I'm now really struggling to catch up to the point where I'm making myself sick again) anyway... I have been waiting for a long time to feel represented in a video game. It can be really hard to not see your story being your your entire life and I finally feel I have a chance now. I spent a lot of time filling this survey out because I have so many ideas and while I know everything can't be implemented I'm excited that at the very least I can make myself in game that much closer to reality. When will we be able to share the survey because I have lots of friends that I think would really appreciate all of your hardwork?

Kitten Walters

I'm so excited about the results of the LGBTQIA+ survey! Thanks for the update! Are the physical/romantic/personality/trait attraction options on sliders? I would love to customize a Para's preferences such that they're attracted to Paras with "long hair and tattoos" or a "generous personality" as opposed to an orientation towards a specific gender. Also, I agree gameplay shouldn't autonomously change a Para's identity or gender, but it would be more realistic if a randomized event/interaction in gameplay prompted the player with "Is this Para questioning their identity?" option.

Lex

I finished the survey! The lake looks beautiful, and I hope Paras can interact with it such as fishing or swimming.

Earl Grey

Would you be able to create tunnels and caves? I would love to be able to create a house inside a cave. Would be perfect for my crazy scientist para 😁

Marcin

As an Ace person, you don’t know how exited I just got about possibly making Ace/Aro characters in a game.

Zeevryn

I've just submitted my survey and I really hope the information is helpful and you'll be able to impant this idea or some of it to the game. Living with epilepsy isn't always easy, but it's still doable

Not for now but it would be cool to have that eventually!

Alex Massé

That's the goal, I hope we can achieve it!

Alex Massé

Thank you!! Building on water will be possible!

Alex Massé

Thank you! Yes! This should all be possible!

Alex Massé

Terrain pathfinding so your characters can walk the specific path.... 🤯

Your decisions and ideas surrounding LGBTQ stuff is just perfect! All of it! As a lesbian with many LGBTQ+ friends this is exactly how inclusivity should be made in a game like this! The terrain tools look hella awesome too!!

Ida

Can you please NOT include surrogacy? Surrogacy involves the direct exploitation of women's bodies and can cause severe physical and psychological consequences, hence why it's illegal in most countries. Maybe include something similar to The Sims where you can play with genetics for non-hetero couples?

KrisCookies

I am so happy to be a part of this! I love how inclusive the game will be and I am so excited for what's in store for the future!!

Ayanna F

Wow, that’s amazing! Very in-depth. Can’t wait to get my hands on them!

Nazly Sabet

This is so cool! I love how much thought the dev team is putting into this game.

This all sounds brilliant!! I’m so happy wow 🥺

Guys, this is like a dream come true. Thank you so much for all your hard work !

With the terrain tools, will it be possible to make waterfalls, small or large?

Sarah

For the terrain tool, I would love it if when you lower the ground to have say a walk out basement, if you could put windows and doors on the basement level.

Sarah

This all sound sso amazing!!

Sarah

This is all so promising! I don’t have a disability myself but do have a close family member who does. I find it impossible to represent them in life sim games and have to either leave them out entirely or create a wildly inaccurate version of them. It would mean so much to finally have them represented and to include them in my game. You guys are doing a great job!!!

Thank you so much for the disability survey ❤️

I don't have many great ideas to contribute, but I'm so excited to see the push for this representation ☺️ everything's looking great to me team!

I feel like at any moment I'm going to wake up and realize this entire game was a dream. You guys are doing incredible things. I almost cried at the ace/aro representation part, holy crap I'm so excited

paleio

Thank you guys for doing this survey even if my disability can’t be implemented it would be nice to see the representation of others and even if nothing gets implemented it means a lot me that you guys even asked to begin with

Patricia Martinez

Gosh, I just LOVE you guys!! *throws lots of cookies at you* Asking us what we want and explaining, what is possible and all... THAT is how it should be done! YOU ARE AWESOME!! <3 <3 I am so excited for what's to come :) The only thing I can think of adding right now... would be: being able to built on water. I just loved Sims 4 Sulani, but only with Twisted Mexi's Mods it was perfect ;) I can only guess that you probably know what I mean xD With the terrain tool and building on water... I just imagined building a lake house near a hill <3

MadhattersTwin

I really love this! The terrain tools get me so hyped, the lgbtqa is so inspiring and you guys are really doing your homework and working hard! I really enjoy the idea of the disabilities and I really hope they are somewhat impactful for gameplay purposes! While I totally understand the idea of making it light-hearted, I do think that there should be ways that our paras can get new disabilities, or even get surgery or treatments to regain some abilities! I also really really hope there is a well thought out memories system, as I would love to see a bubble for overcoming trials whilst having a disability, or coming out while LGBTQA. Cannot wait to see more and more updates!

Ewaka Flaka

OMG TERRAFORMING! How I love this feature! Thank you for not making it strict! Can we build of from a cliff too? With support or something? Build out over water etc? :) Fantastic!

Kiiiwiii

why are they against it?

Ellen Thomas

Done. That disability survey was so necessary. We need more diversity and awareness for people living with mental and physical disabilities.

This so awesome. I can’t wait for this disability survey to be public, I’m gonna share the hell out of it!!!

Sena Dawes

Thank you! We are planning to release a world creation tool some time after the initial release :)

Alex Massé

Thanks for sharing! This all looks amazing and well thought out. Great job team!

Krissy

Thank you! A terrain system like the one in Planet Coaster would have been awesome! But we decided not to go that way because it's very complex on the technical side for a small team like us

Alex Massé

This looks so awesome! I would really love the ability to make our own worlds or neighborhoods in Paralives. This is something I'm missing so much from "other games." I'm not sure how feasible that is, but just wanted to suggest it. I know a lot of people really love creating their own world from scratch. I love everything you guys are doing! Thank you!

This looks promising! I don't know if it's possible to implement this, but I would love to see terrain tools take after Planet Coaster which can create archways and stuff. Or what if you could build a house and then "pull" the terrain over it like a hobbit house? Still it looks great, and I can't wait to see it in action! And I'm glad you're working hard to optimize this for multiple cores because as much as I love TS:3 a NASA supercomputer would have trouble with it.

this all looks so amazing! thank you so much!

I love how much you are doing to help add diversity and representation! this survey along with the last are incredibly important and I hope you got some great ideas! thank you all! 💗💗

I love how your asking about inclusive things xx

The thing that you are trying to take many informations as possible through the surveys is great. You are just making the game of our dreams, thanks! I wish you the best.

Giammarco Victor Venturi

Wow, these terrain tools are blowing my mind!!

Courtney David

This is amazing as usual!

Simday1

Haha <3

Alex Massé

I love to see these advances, they are great. But please reconsider surrogacy, it is illegal in many countries and a lot of feminist movements are against it.

We'd love that and we're looking into it! Can't confirm it yet though!

Alex Massé

Hooray, TERRAIN TOOLS!!! Now I can create my own world! Thank you Paralives Studio. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH AS THE SUN, MOON, STARS!!!

Although I don't have any disabilities myself I do have several friends in the deaf community and would love to have ASL or "simlish signs" as a skill for my Paras to learn

talaynalynn

Going to fill out the new survey. I wish I could have contributed to the first one, but looking forward to seeing how it plays out. For suggestions for the terrian tool, the only thing I have to contribute is maybe being able to customize the water aesthetic? Like Studio Ghilbi style ocean water vs a realistic fresh water lake and all those visual nuances. More then just color.

ribbon-kitten

I really hope they don't overwhelm themselves with too many things to include in the game. More representation is always great, but going too far with the details could make the game feel more like a complex simulation rather then a simulation game. I hope they figure out a good way to balance everything and keep the game not overly detailed and complicated to play.

Myles Roy Revivo

No, any disability!

Anna

thank you for listening to us. i can’t wait!!!❤️

Aurora

This looks amazing! I was wondering if anyone knew if swimmable water (aside from pools) has been discussed ?

thank you so so so much. The work you're doing here is essential, thank you again.

Emma-Lisa Roux

idk why but i had this idea of instead of making sand and dirt a terrain paint make it so that when you click on an area the sand/dirt would actually drop on there! it would look sooo cool and satisfying to see that happen after making an indent or a hole in the terrain then pouring sand/dirt in!

Dovima

Does the survey only apply to physical disabilities?

SweetTea

I honestly can’t wait to play this game. Out of all the games coming out this is probably the most anticipated game for me.

I love these terrain tools! They look really great and lite it allows of creativity!

You guys are amazing! Keep up the great work!!

This team is the best keep up the good work❤️

Damn y’all really workin! Keep it up!

I'm so happy to see the possible inclusion of disabilities, illnesses, impairments etc. Thank you so much

Love it! Congrats as you’re all so awesome 🌼🌸❤️ terrain tools look fantastic! Keep up the amazing work devs 💕🤯

Becky

amazing!!!!

farah

You guys are seriously AWESOME!!! this is gonna be such an amazing game with even more amazing representation! thank you for all your hard work!!!

yay!! congrats alex and team! y’all are doing some seriously amazing work. keep it up <3