Video game The Sims appears to have doubled down on its commitment to diverse characters by attempting to stop a mod that automatically changed Black NPCs to be white and LGBTQ+ characters to be straight and cisgendered.
The ‘DEI Remover 1.0.0’ has been around since March 2024, but gained attention after a Sims creator called Danielle Builds posted a screenshot of the mod on Facebook.
WIRED reports that an RPGHQ video game forum admin who uses the name “Rusty Shackleford”, had posted that they were contacted by the IP enforcement department of EA, asking them to delist the mod, which Shackleford described as an act of “targeted censorship.”
On The Sims website, EA state that they do allow non-commercial mods as part of the game experience. However, they “reserve the right to address any inappropriate Mods, including Mods that infringe the intellectual property or privacy rights of others, contain obscene, objectionable, or harmful content, jeopardize the integrity of The Sims 4 gameplay, or otherwise violate the EA User Agreement.”
However, these “inappropriate” mods remain difficult to police as they can be easily reposted when one is taken down. The thread which had ‘DEI Remover 1.0.0’ listed on RPGHQ has been moved to a new thread, with a “copyright disclaimer” claiming fair use.
