LGB Romance Options in The Sims

All of the games in The Sims series have allowed for same sex romance options. In The Sims 2, gender preference was added to character design and carried through to The Sims 3. A Sim’s gender preference indicates to whose romantic and sexual advances they are likely to respond positively or negatively and what autonomous actions that Sim may take when not controlled directly by the player. A Sim with a heterosexual preference is not likely to autonomously “flirt” with someone of the same gender and is likely to respond negatively to romantic or sexual advances from a character of the same gender. A Sim’s gender preference works on a sliding scale and is determined by romantic interactions and thus can shift through gameplay, largely through player directed interactions.

Secondary gender characteristics can also affect a pair of Sims’ “chemistry.” Chemistry determines when romantic and sexual interactions become available. If two characters have a lot of chemistry, actions like “kissing” will require fewer friendship or romance points before becoming available. Chemistry is determined by a character’s gender preference, “turn-ons” and “turn offs” aligning or conflicting with another Sim’s attributes. A Sim’s character design may have facial hair marked as a “turn on” and makeup as a “turn off,” thus they will have the most chemistry with bearded characters who don’t wear makeup. As these characteristics are sometime determined by a character’s gender, a character may be more likely to experience chemistry with Sims of one gender more so than the other.

LGBTQ references in this game series:

LGB Romance options

LGBTQ Characters

Joined Unions and Marriages Between Same-Sex Couples

Queer Pregnancies and Reproduction

Gender Customization

Citations: