Before I even download this game does this game "introduce" brown people into the equation???

Before I even download this game does this new VF game "introduce" any brown people into the equation? I am not thrilled with playing this game in a "vanilla" world with no peeps of any color or nationality.

I've not played for that long but I've noticed some peeps who look Asian to me. I'm not sure about any other ethnicities.

No, there are no brown people. There wasn't any in the first VF either.

I was thinking a similar thing as I was playing the other day. Why is there no diversity in the game?

There are also a few who look like they could be arab, spanish, or italian, but no one that could look african or african american. Its funny that you should mention this because I was thinking the same thing yesterday as I was playing this game. It doesnt make sense to exclude black characters from the choice of peeps especially because there does seem to be other nationalities in the game. Sad reality is that, in comparison to how many games are on the market, very few offer character choices that include a person of color. Most games give you a variety of ways to color up a white character, red hair vs black hair, blue eyes vs green etc. Kudos to the few that do offer it though. In my opinion they should all offer those choices, perhaps even offer some chubby people.

I wasn't going to enter this convo but I feel the need to defend the devs here.

All those games where you can change appearances probably don't also have you "making babies" and growing families through genetic births. While it would be awesome to see some ethnic diversity in the games from this dev, I'm assuming it's probably a logistical nightmare as far as programing goes. It used to be in these games that the children inherited some traits from their parents, this time around that doesn't seem to be the case which makes for some interesting outcomes, more unpredictable. There are lots of different looks and hair/eye colors. But think for a second how that may or may not work if it came to lighter and darker people or various ethnicities. They can only program it so far and the possibility for complaints could be huge. This dev is a very small company (only 3 or 4 people I think) and they simply cannot please everyone with how they program the game. Plus, it would probably take them twice as long to release each game and as it is it can be years between them.

BTW, calling white people "vanilla" is pretty insulting as it implies boring or bland the way you said it. Also white people are from a WIDE range of nationalities! But I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn't mean to be insulting and it was just a comment on the lack of ethnic diversity in the game.

Hey thanks for all the comments and obvious concern for the lack of diversity. Now I want to address the interesting and sincere concern from OrionsRose, there is so much to say and so many of comments that I want to address.

Well you wrote
BTW, calling white people "vanilla" is pretty insulting as it implies boring or bland the way you said it. Also white people are from a WIDE range of nationalities! But I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn't mean to be insulting and it was just a comment on the lack of ethnic diversity in the game.


Yes are right in assuming I meant no harm in the use of “vanilla” so thank you for allotting me benefit of the doubt. I actually inherited the term from Phobe in the TV show Friends as she was addressing Rachael lack of flair. This is actually how I feel about the VF games, it honestly feels as if they are using a version of “Leave it The Beaver” or “Mayberry” by following the 60’s TV mode of excluding any minority influence from their games. Especially when I have children playing the game and they ask Mom why do they have no diversity? Now honestly, if this VF game ONLY had characters with absolutely no representation of your own European culture (assuming you are of European descent) as if their presence in this world were soooo easy to dismiss would you still buy it? Would you still play it? Would you still support it?

Now as far as the wide range of diversity for “white” people. The word “white” check the history on the word was invented to exclude people who were not from certain European histories which is why I never use the word anyhow. If you are interested on the best books read on race was by a professor at Duke University entitled Race: A Theological Account, by J. Kameron Carter. By the way nor do I like to use “black” how can one color stand for an entire race of people whose most cultures have nothing in common? And of course there are differing European nationalities which but I disagree wholeheartedly on the making babies comment you wrote.

But think for a second how that may or may not work if it came to lighter and darker people or various ethnicity.

It’s just a color spectrum that is all…if cosmetic makers from Revlon to Cover girl to Mac can compose makeup for various people with varying complexions how much more easier could it be to program designers? Nor do I give them a pass for being a small company,

Nor do I give them a pass for being a small company, if anything that should make them want to excel to the highest degree. They just have to want to do. No you can never please everyone, but to excuse diversity in the world WE live in is frankly inexcusable to me. It doesn’t seem that the makers of Virtual Family want to explore skin tones, nor do they care, so therefore I am assuming the same old thing will fly as long as consumers don’t bother to care. Feels to me like VF creators would be standing in line with the protestors to that new Cheerios commercial with the biracial family. “No diversity in Cheerios is needed!” This is so sad.

Wow, that's a lot of assumptions.
Assumptions about me (my race and my knowledge of the world).
Assumptions about how easy programing is.
Assumptions about a company's intentions and opinions.

I'm sorry you found so many things to feel offended about. Perhaps you should take this up with the devs if you feel they have intentionally set out to exclude.

I was just defending what I truly believe to be a well-intentioned company.

Have a nice day.

No not offended at all, it takes much more than two people who share differing opinions on something as simple game to offend me. I mean honestly it seems you had a lot of assumptions about me as well. "Assuming" I didn't really know that people of European descent didn't have nationalities among other statements that you wrote above. The best thing was you did not assume I meant offense. Which gives you a star in my book. II did not assume about programing I am fairly certain it is doable just takes effort like everything else worth while in the world. Their intentions are obvious not to include much diversity or they would have, that seems factual since this is the second time they did not do it.

Again not offended that you assumed that I was offended I will write them a letter of inquiry, but truly the reason I posted this was not to argue or debate rather than to find out if they updated VF to be inclusive of ethnic people around the world. Since that has been answered by a several other people earlier I have nothing else to input. Have a blessed day.

latinavixn wrote:There are also a few who look like they could be arab, spanish, or italian, but no one that could look african or african american. Its funny that you should mention this because I was thinking the same thing yesterday as I was playing this game. It doesnt make sense to exclude black characters from the choice of peeps especially because there does seem to be other nationalities in the game. Sad reality is that, in comparison to how many games are on the market, very few offer character choices that include a person of color. Most games give you a variety of ways to color up a white character, red hair vs black hair, blue eyes vs green etc. Kudos to the few that do offer it though. In my opinion they should all offer those choices, perhaps even offer some chubby people.

Well said!

This was well said, but I was not thinking necessarily about just "black" people. Because people of African descent range from pale to very dark. I was thinking brown people because so many people fit into that category across the world. People from India, also Hispanic and of course people of African descent. This leaves out more than just people that the world labels as "black."

Why is this being debated and discussed here? BF isn't the game developer and they don't have any control nor say in what goes into this game nor any other game. Why not take the concerns to the LDW site and ask them?

Great suggestion Lorie, I will indeed contact the developers of this game to inquire. However my reason for posting was to question whether or not they had updated the game to be more diverse (color, weight, height..etc) The answer was received and people felt compelled to question, wonder and voice their agreement/concerns. This forum was the best way for me to get my answer to help assist me to decide to purchase/download this updated edition.

propgramming skin tone variations between light & dark-skinned parents is not a "logistical nightmare." i've done it, it's not difficult even with my less-than-uber coding skills. it took an afternoon or so using "if" statements to get 4 skin tones.

possibly the reason LDW doesn't bother with it is because with their clothing set-up, the skin & clothes are 1 piece. making clothes with all skins would either require 4 sets of the same clothes, or a "nude" body for each color that attaches the same set of clothes for each pose. basically the clothes would be attached the same way a carried object is attached. this is a little more work, but really not a big issue.

I agree it would add to the game if there was more diversity of skin color. I would like to suggest that although skin color is associated with race / culture, we don't have to decide that it means there are only 'whites'. Some of the hair styles, or facial features, and clothes could be interpreted as suggesting Asian, Hispanic, or bi-racial heritages. For example: I have a dad peep with dreadlocks so maybe he could have some African ancestry if I wanted to imagine that. I usually imagine that if the girl peep with the beautiful sari has darker hair she could be Indian. We can make back stories for our families that are inclusive.
I realize it doesn't completely make up for the lack of racial diversity; this is just how I see the possibilities of imagination within the game.
(My own real life family of origin is Caucasian. Through several marriages over the years it has become more racially and culturally diverse; so I am the proud aunt of several nieces and nephews who are identified by society as either African American or Asian American. What's important is they are family!)

Oh brother...play another game!

exdir wrote:Oh brother...play another game!

I couldn't have said it better myself! And now, back to the game........

Glad this question was asked and saying "play another game" is disrespectful.

Deuces.

These are only games. Life is too short to waste time on a game you don't like for whatever reason. Just find a game you do like!