Maxis shares progress update and first look at The Sims 4's customisable pronouns feature

eurogamer.net:

Maxis has shared fresh insight on the complexities involved in bringing gender neutral pronouns to The Sims 4 as part of a new livestream update detailing the progress it's making on implementing the highly requested feature.

The developer initially confirmed it was investigating ways to introduce expanded pronoun options to The Sims 4 last May — following a community petition signed by more than 22,000 people — and its first livestream of 2022 has now offered a substantial progress update, including a first look at how The Sims 4's recently announced customisable pronouns feature will work in-game.

As Sims 4 producer John Faciane explained during the livestream, Maxis' aim with customisable pronouns is threefold: to introduce greater representation for transgender and non-binary players, to allow for greater freedom of expression for all players, and, ultimately, to create an experience that feels more welcoming and kind.

It is, however, a feature that brings with it a significant number of technical and logistical hurdles — particularly in regards to fact The Sims 4 is currently translated across 18 different languages, each with their own nuances where pronouns are concerned.

As localisation lead Veronica Morales revealed during the livestream, it's a linguistic challenge EA's localisation team is already grappling with, but one that's further complicated by cultural and regulatory considerations across each region.

«Some languages [such as Sweden and Spain] do have officially accepted and ready to use non-binary pronouns,» Morales explained, «but for other territories, the pronouns are not included in their dictionaries». However, in some of the latter regions — including Germany, Spain, and Brazil — local LGBTQ+