#it just shouldn't rule our lives completely esp when someones being cruel

[wildfangz]

@ Anon respectfully I do not feel comfortable publishing your ask because of the namedropping and I hope you can understand that. I'm going to put this under a cut since it got long but I want to put it out there for anyone engaging with this subject at all to please be mindful of if you're holding black simmers to higher standards or being more aggressive with them, think about what language you're using to describe inZOI and rather it's rooted in anti-asian sentiment, and call each other out when you see other simmers crossing lines.

All I can say first off is I'm so sorry you received the same ask. It is mindblowing to me that someone can ~supposedly~ care about such a subject but be such a bigot which is why I suspect this isn't a person that cares at all and is just using this discourse as a power trip or to fuel their rage addiction. The fact we both received the same ask and it wasn't just unique spur-of-the-moment ableism directed at me bc I pissed them off just makes me more confident in that belief.

And I'm sorry for other aggressive asks you received. Even if you had actually touched the demo and even if you knew about the AI like I said earlier, I feel like there's no good reason to approach people like that. It often has the opposite effect and it's just shitty! Be normal! Stop dehumanizing people that don't 100% agree with you or that are ignorant! Not only are there people that probably agree with you but just didn't think before jumping in which isn't a crime btw, or didn't know, but I know from experience you can even convince people that are excited about the AI inclusion away from supporting it. It always starts with kindness rather than shame or aggression.

Race issues are not something I feel comfortable speaking on in depth because that is not my place but I have noticed a lot of simmers messing around with and enjoying inZOI right now are POC, and black specifically. I can understand the frustration when you feel like you finally have a game that respects you and represents you for it to suddenly be the subject of controversy, I can understand the bad taste in your mouth it leaves to watch fellow black simmers getting harassed seemingly by mostly white and nonblack simmers, and I have no doubt you're getting the worst of any harassment because that's how racism goes. I do also agree that some of the "soulless" type of comments do come off sinophobic and anti-asian in general. (Using sinophobic specifically here since I know the game is made by a south korean company but I've still seen people go on anti-chinese rants about it, and I still remember seeing someone refer to it as "Soulless chinese crap" back not too long after it got announced specifically on yt)

I just ask that fellow white simmers and nonblack simmers try to be mindful about how they're interacting with POC on this subject, and speak up when you see someone being weirdly harsh or mainly targeting black users or other POC. I also ask that people be mindful of the words they're specifically using to describe this game and why they're using those words. And yes I'd agree it's really weird to put a black person specifically on blast while you're just quietly unfollowing and blocking other groups of people that have touched or talked about the game.

That said I hope you or anyone else doesn't let racists and immature people drown out the actual solid criticisms this game is getting. I know I played with the demo and watched gameplay videos, and I'm going to utilize the interest I do have in the game to try to voice my concerns before its too late, but if the AI stays in I will not be purchasing the game and it will not be getting any mentions from me on this blog and that's for what I feel are good reasons.

It's also not great they have a partnership with Curseforge at the moment and I'd love if the community could persuade them out of it, but at the same time I feel like it'd be hypocritical of me to demonize the game completely for that when The Sims has the same deal going on. I think if you're someone strongly in the "It's flat out evil they're doing this and you should not even be talking about the game because of it" camp then respectfully your morals dictate you shouldn't be playing or talking about the sims either, even if you pirated it, even if you invested in it long before the collaboration came about. Been leaving a bad taste in my mouth seeing people be so selective about their morals and knowing it's just different to them because it doesn't directly effect them, they weren't interested or invested in this game at all before this point. Also been sad seeing people brush off and shut down discussion of the impact gaming has on the environment as well, again, because it suits their interests, but I digress.

Overall I feel like there's a lot of people getting caught up in emotions right now, and being further riled up by bad actors, and shutting any and all arguments down out of natural defensiveness when ideally this could be a community discussion. Like I feel like we could do so much more good educating & putting pressure on Krafton collectively to change these things whether we have any interest in the game or not than just trying to shame and block anyone that's not within our echo chamber, or strawmanning anyone that takes issue with the game.

Anyway all that aside I can perfectly understand why you don't feel safe in the community. This is just one incident out of a long line of incidents. Even outside of tumblr and outside of serious topics I've seen so much crazy shit!

Simmers can be especially vicious even compared to other gamers, so I don't wanna say just ignore it. If it takes a significant enough toll on your mental health, it's unfortunate you feel you have to, but you're not "losing" by stepping away from the community. You deserve to enjoy the sims in peace, and if you still want the good parts of the community there's a lot more tight knit sims communities you can enter into other than simblr. At very least right now I'd recommend turning off anon asks and utilizing the block button.

At the same time while getting shitty messages is always distressing sometimes the trash takes itself out !! I wouldn't want anyone following and interacting with me anyway that assumed the absolute worst of me just because I reblogged a mutuals zoi right after the demo came out, and again I'm sorry you got shit for that without even knowing anything about the game.

But I'm a very big believer in people being themselves and the people that matter or align with you will stick around. You do not have to, and shouldn't, give a fuck about people that are disingenuous or dedicated to misunderstanding or misinterpreting you. Anyone on any side of this. And I know that's easier said than done, for me this mindset didn't fully sink in until I cut off some family members that had drained my self confidence all my life, but adopting it makes life so much easier and I hope you can one day enjoy the sims as publicly as you want without worrying about what anyone else has to think or say, within reason.