Why is cyber bullying a part of HSY pack? [ Edited ]

[simsplayer818]

@PatrickClSim3LowIt's not about that, it's about control over my world in my opinion. I take your point that the mean interactions certainly have their place in the game. One issue is autonomy is so faulty in my game (on console) that the mean interactions are out of control. They have completely taken over. I can't stop them or the mischief interactions. All social events are over taken by them, which I have reported as a bug many times. I literally have to battle them when my Sims meet up.
Nobody said they wanted some Utopia, or some over correction.
But can you imagine someone who is suffering from cyber bullying IRL then having it impact their game too when they were trying to escape into it for a break. Case in point one of my loved ones who isn't on this forum to voice her opinion and was excited about the high school pack. Cyber bullying in her case led to 2 separate violent attacks by male classmates at 2 different places of education and a broken nose. It can leave people feeling incredibly vulnerable, especially at school age. I studied it extensively after what happened to me, even going back to my old school several years ago to interview 40 teens between 12-14. What I found from my interviews was extremely disturbing. 2 of the 40 kids were dangerously vulnerable because of this issue.
For too long tech companies and the authorities have responded with an eyeroll and a "kids will be kids" response. I was cyber bullied on social media by the same ex classmate who attacked me. I got no support from the tech company and no longer use social media. We play the Sims to relax and if a player is so bothered by this that they have raised it immediately then it's a problem.
@EA_Cadethanks for your response. It's very welcome.

[xochiquetzl_xkvn]

I'm afraid that I'm a sweetness and light Utopic player and... yeah, if you can cheat on your spouse, divorce, throw drink, have a fist fight, insult face, imply mother is a llama, etc., I don't see how sending a mean message on Social Bunny is worse than that. If it's because they're teens, well, teans can fight each other, insult face, imply mother is a llama, etc.

In fact, mean Sims can "crush dreams" of a child or teen Sim, and that's worse to me because it's an adult being mean to a child or teen.

I agree that bullying is bad! but I don't think sending a mean private message on Social Bunny is that much worse than mechanics already in the base game. If there was a mechanism to get EVERYONE to post mean public messages about a Sim, that would be different. Also the mean messages I've seen in gameplay are, say, "Your face is so punchable" and not, say, urging someone to commit suicide. Not to defend people sending private messages of "your face is punchable!" that's awful, but it's not the same thing as the stuff where people post horrible public things about someone and everyone retweets/reshares it. In fact, I've noticed there's no retweet/share and that might be why.

Edit: @simsplayer818 was posting at the same time I was and I think she's convinced me to change my mind...

[Backstabbath88]

@simsplayer818 Not taking anything away from your experience, though this sounds suspiciously like the "violent video games cause real-world violence" argument that gets debunked every 5 years.

[simsplayer818]

@Backstabbath88I respect your opinion, my point is that we can't ever normalise this issue. It makes lives absolutely miserable and can take a life as well. We have real life cases in the UK on a regular basis with kids who are tragically young and I've seen it in my own circle more times than I can count. I've a little neighbour, 11 years old right now absolutely in bits over it before he's even started big school. I've just been in a fruitless battle with 2 tech companies for a loved one pushed to his limits by a gamer who uses her platform to abuse her ex...live to the world.
In Get Famous it was already problematic but I was putting up with it and buying fame perks to mitigate it. My good Sims, even my cops, my feds, my doctors, family members all send abuse to my famous Sims telling them they are garbage, etc. It just wouldn't happen to that extent (not from their dad!) and to a young player seeing that it makes it look normal.
I don't want to see another tech company make this look normal or acceptable. If it's not a trigger for you then genuinely, that's great I'm happy to hear it. I've seen so much of it I was starting to think it's just never ending.
A game is for entertainment. Sufferers of abuse that I know actually play the Sims because of the kind of game it is. Myself included. I chose The Sims 1 in part for this reason. As for violent games I don't play them, but my late mother... I know for a fact she would have been on COD and absolutely nailing it because that's what she loved well into her 60s. A helicopter and artillery, that was her scene in her gaming room and I rolled my eyes and said "I don't know how you play that!"
Aside from my experiences, with all the positive work that the game is trying to do for the LGBT+ community, this feels tone deaf. It's an issue that can disproportionately affect their community directly or indirectly.

But this is my closing argument on the subject before I exit this thread because in the main I find this forum to be a positive experience and I've just seen a fellow player I like very much announce a break from posting after a debate that became too heated for them. When I trained as a Personnel Officer I was taught about something called a "crumple button". That button that someone presses that just makes someone crumple. Any form of bullying is one of those issues.
So my suggestion to keep everyone happy is to suggest a filter option/privacy setting on a Sims tech to filter out hateful messages for students and for GF celebrities. That way everyone gets what they want.
Thanks for bearing with me and hearing my argument.

[xochiquetzl_xkvn]

Yeah, honestly? I think my initial reaction was colored by the fact that I was on the Internet in the early 90s (before some of you were born), and incivility was the norm, especially if you publicly identified as female. The nicest response you would get is, “There are NO WOMEN on the Internet. Admit it! You’re a fat man in his underwear!” Any disagreement was settled by proving that the woman must be sexually undesirable. I used to suggest to other women that they choose gender-neutral and violent sounding handles to avoid harassment (“bloodaxe”).

I may have been the first person doxxed, before the term existed. Someone posted my home address during an argument about a TV show. (It was scary for a hot minute, then I realized that the other combatants were failing to pay for plane fare to the place I lived to physically fight me over it.)

In short, I still have callouses and my skin is thick, and my comfort with someone telling me my face is punchable is most likely abnormal. 😉 (Or, at least, the norms of another era.)

[ForanzoF]

While the random attacks in Windenburg can be a lil disturbing, I don't think any of this is actually cyber bullying. Mean messages are just what happens - especially among young people who still think there are no consequences for their actions. However, the thing with good relationships and parents seems only like an oversight that should be relatively easy to re-code and change. I disagree that it should be removed from the game altogether. Just like other people suggested - it's simply one of ma-a-any mean interactions that exist in the game already. And I'm also saying this as someone who wasn't treated all that nice at school.

[Knitbot]

I agree that bullying and fighting have been in the Sims game since Sims 1, however, it is worthwhile to note that while games in general can help gamers to cope with real life issues (I know I have), It might be a good idea to somehow have an option to keep it out of the game for highly sensitive gamers who might have been impacted by bullying.  Just a thought.

[Backstabbath88]

@simsplayer818I'm not understanding the reasoning here. Because something happens in a Sims game it is being "normalized" or "made acceptable"? In what way? Does this also imply that Sims is making theft and arson acceptable? Would you find it odd if I said that people who have lost their house in a fire would have a bad experience with the Sims because your house can burn down in the game?

To your LGBT point yes I would of course agree that if there were options to bully sims for their romantic orientation or doxx a sim then obviously that would be crossing a line. But the mean messages in this game are things like "go home and delete your door". It's as obviously silly and self-aware as "imply mother is a llama" is.

To the issue of frequent mean messages that you can sometimes get, that sounds more like a bug rather than an intended feature. And yes that should be fixed, just like the multitude of other issues of frequency this game has like people frequently calling you to ask if they should have a baby.

I guess I would like some, any, evidence that the existence of using mean interactions through your sims' phone can actually harm a person irl. The people who rallied against violent video games had the best of intentions too, and yet their concerns were based on nothing real. We should be vigilant about these false premises before trying to pressure game developers into changing their art, is all I'm saying.

[sirdayne]

I suppose we should remove Evil and Mean sims from the game too? 🙄

Some of these things are there for the sake of roleplay. Sims is about creating characters and imagining what they'll do or playing as that type of person. If everyone is sparkly sunshine, then nobody is special.

[sailorleontine]

@sirdayne 

i completely agree with you here, allthough i can understand their struggles,
it's been there since sims 1 and it IS realistic for people who used to be mean
(i used to be both these things, being bullied and bully people) and NOT all
people gets along with each other, it will be TOO boring in sims life if everyone
gets along with each other and like you said it's for the roleplay, i don't have a
good feeling if EA removes evil and mean interactions

they should atleast make an option if you want to hide these 2 things or not,
win-win for everyone, we can make dramas in the sims while the others can live
a happily life with the option evil and mean being disabled (even in shows and
movie it have dramas, it won't be realistic if they remove the evil and mean
interractions)