The Sims 4 will finally introduce more varied body types, something that fans have begged for. Now, Sims can be big, rotund and Santa-like or rail-thin beanpoles, or bodybuilders, or something in-between.
However, EA Maxis is careful about assigning values to body shape, not wishing to make one state “bad” and another “good”.
According to producer Grant Rodiek, “Sims can naturally change over time in the game. If they overeat they’ll become overweight. If they never exercise, they might become overweight. But if you eat healthily or eat properly or you exercise, your sims will lose weight.”
As for a Sims reaction to significant weight loss or gain?
“We have the ability for them to be unhappy about their weight. It’s tricky with the emotional state being based on people’s weight. We want to make sure we’re not making a statement or telling people what’s right or wrong, but you can tell a story with those tools,” Rodiek cautioned. “We give you all the pieces you need to tell that story if you want to do that.”
He went on to state, “Your Sims might react, like, when they get bigger you’ll notice they’ll look at themselves and react. How well we change their emotional state based on it, we don’t want to make a statement about things like that because that’s not our place to do that.”
It’s probable that there will be a personality trait for a Sim that make them either weight conscious, and become unhappy when they get fat, while another personality trait may make them happy to have a bowl full of jelly. On the other side, some Sims may be attracted to overweight Sims, or be turned off to the extra poundage.
The Sims 4 is due to be released exclusively on PC in 2014.
