EA and Maxis have announced a free update for The Sims 4 that will expand the options for sexual orientation, and it will launch later this month.
The new options will include underrepresented identities like asexual, aromantic, and other nuanced attraction experiences.The update will be made to the character customization (Create A Sim) menu, and players are able to access this screen at any point in the game.
According to a press release, the options for sexual orientation will soon cover: “attraction to the same or different sex, experiment with attraction naturally through interactions with other Sims over time, feel physical but not romantic attraction and vice versa, or not feel any attraction at all.”Specifically, the sexual orientation tab in the gender selection menu will prompt players with three new selections: which gender Sims are romantically attracted to, which gender Sims are open to messing around with, and whether the Sim is actively exploring their sexuality.
None of these choices are mandatory, meaning players can opt out of attraction altogether.Related: We asked the team behind ‘The Sims’ all about the game’s new, inclusive pronounsMaxis, the team behind The Sims, has acknowledged that the choices will still be restricted to the gender binary due to technical limitations (the game is now eight years old, and many pre-existing systems are dependent on the gender binary).