Big things have arrived on The Sims 4.
July 23rd was a world-changing day for the digital denizens of the Sims-verse and their all-ruling God human puppet masters. For you see, there was a free update to the base game, but it wasn’t just any ol’ run of the mill, bug fixin’ update. No no.
As of this week, the game contains straight-up polyamory! The new update also allows you to livestream your gameplay without worrying about copyright infringement issues for music.
Let's dive in.
If you go into the the Music section of Game Options, you’ll now see a “Safe for Steaming” toggle that allows you to play only the music that’s safe for streaming.
TikToker @jeremy_gonewild explains the update thusly: "This blocks copyrighted music from playing on your Sims radio when they listen to the radio."
@jeremy_gonewild #EAPartner There was a HUGE uodate for the Sims 4 Base Game today! Here’s all the new features introduced today. This is not a sponsored video but I am a member of the EA Creator Network and have received free content for the Sims 4 in the past. #TheSims #TheSims4 #Sims4 #Sims4News ♬ original sound - Jeremy_GoneWild
But, Jeremy cautions, "This isn't about build mode music, or the Create-A-Sim music, that stuff is fine. This is preventing a Simlish version of Last Friday Night by Katy Perry from coming on your Sims radio while you're livestreaming, earning you a copyright strike."
To his point, you'll notice quite a difference between songs that are copyright approved. You'll notice all of the in-game original Sims music—including those composed by Mark Mothersbaugh—are free to use in streaming mode:
When you take a look at every other music genre, nearly all of the Simlish versions of actual songs don't make the cut:
While your sims won't be having a Brat Summer during a live stream anytime soon, you'll no need to worry about your Sims live stream being rudely interrupted because of the man!
But that's not all. Yup, things are about to get real messy in the Sims-vese, folks. The update contains a feature called Romantic Boundaries, which allows users to add nuance to their romantic in-game relationships, tweaking their Sims’ preferences around jealousy and exclusivity.
@gamesradar Polyamory is being added to The Sims 4 #thesims #thesims4 #polyamory #maxis #ea #gamingontiktok ♬ original sound - Gamesradar.com
According to the update’s patch notes, “[You can] define the conditions under which your Sims become jealous.”
How jealous can your Sims get? Well, there’s now quite the range, as your Sims could get jealous at non-physical romance, physical romance, "WooHoo", or, if you’re not all about that drama life, they can not get jealous at anything.
The controls exist in the Create-A-Sim feature, alongside the Gender and Sexual Orientation options in the Identity panel. These features can be changed at any time.
However, you’re not locked into your choices, as your Sims’ opinions and preferences can be changed at any time. It'll look something like this in the Simology menu under Relationship Preferences:
The polyamory feature has been heavily requested, as beforehand, the only method players could get their Sims to have multiple romantic partners would be to complete a serial romantic aspiration to achieve a trait that prevents it. There were also cheats one could copy-paste that would give them the trait instantly.
But, no more: Sims can now dip into many inks with no hoops to jump through. At the same time as the base game update, EA also introduced an expansion pack called Lovestruck, which introduces even more locations for sims to "WooHoo" in.
What has the reaction online been like so far? A mixed bag:
If you’re a polyamorous live-streamer who has never played Sims 4, my friend, now is your moment!
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