Recently, EA revealed a wedding expansion pack for The Sims, which prominently featured an interracial lesbian couple getting married in the marketing and cover art. Shortly after it was announced, EA announced that it will not be on sale in Russia, and all hell broke loose. Many in The Sims community actively boycotted the game, the pack, and EA over this removal, and in doing so proved that they have no sense of priority, politics, or privilege beyond the lens of being able to play a video game or not.

EA explains the reason the pack will not run in Russia is because "our storytelling would be subject to changes because of federal laws." It's an excuse that holds some water. Russia has repeatedly persecuted LGBT people, and has frequently been fined, banned, or otherwise sanctioned because of racism during sporting events. It's naive to think that a pack promoted with not just a lesbian married couple, but an interracial lesbian married couple, would be all kosher no questions asked. Of course, the Simmer sleuths are on the case. This thread, by Russian Simmer Alesya Mukhina, claims that while the English language version mentions "federal laws" the Russian language version does not. Suspicious? Hardly.

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Let's take these sleuths at face value and say that they're right. EA is lying. If censorship is not the reason this pack isn't being released in Russia, what is? What possible reason could EA have for cutting off a major market and depriving itself of profits? If you can't come up with an answer - and let's face it, you can't - you have no right to complain about this. Zero.

Sims 4 wedding dom and cam walking down ailse

I work in games, so I see a lot of childish things. With the possible exception of NFTs, this might be the most pathetic thing I've seen all year. EA is taking a stance against a nation where, no doubt about it, LGBT people are persecuted. And your reaction is to cry that you won't get to play a single expansion pack of a single video game? That's your limit on things you're prepared to give up in the name of allyship? Grow up.

Of course, things aren't perfect. We aren't sure if EA has been censored (i.e. if someone from a Russian organisation has told them the pack would not be allowed) or if it has self-censored (pulling the pack to avoid being censored), but that barely matters. Clearer messaging might have helped, but if your number one priority in the world is getting to play The Sims without trivial questions like LGBT persecution getting in the way, I'm sure you would have found something else to complain about.

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Again, EA is losing money in this deal. It has the belief, possibly because it has been outright told by a Russian official, that the pack in its current form would not be allowed in the country. There are a few things it could do. It could only allow straight marriages in Russia, or it could change the marketing, or a number of other things that none of us on the outside are aware of the specifics of. However, EA has decided that queer marriage, and the Black queer woman front and centre of the cover art, is a crucial part of this pack and is not prepared to separate that from the pack as a whole.

If it had relented, it would be underlining the idea that queer content is sinful and dirty (as suggestions about age or other restrictions would imply), as well as accepting the belief that queer marriage is less important than straight marriage (as removing the couple from the marketing or the entire pack would imply). EA has principles and it is sticking to them. You want it to break them, and in asking so you are admitting you care more about your own access to a video game than you do about LGBT persecution.

I know corporations are not our friends. Someone in a suit somewhere likely had to be convinced that a Black lesbian ticked the right demographic boxes. But whenever we talk about corporations selling out for Pride, we always point out how quick corporations would be to take money from homophobes instead if there were more of them. But EA could have very quietly censored the pack to acceptable limits to have sold in Russia and the press coverage and blowback within the community would have been minimal. It had the chance to sell LGBT players down the river for extra cash, and it chose instead to hold onto the boat at the risk of losing profit. Corporations aren't your friends, but I'd at least buy EA a drink after that.

Sims 4 wedding ceremony with a sim walking down the aisle

And this will not make Putin change his mind about gay people. I don't think anyone expects that. But this outrage could have been applied way more effectively. The reason the pack is not in Russia, whatever the Simmer sleuths might think, is because Russia is largely intolerant to LGBT people. EA cannot change that. The cultural boycott of South Africa (a collective movement of musicians, Hollywood, celebrities, and sporting teams who refused to visit the country) was an effective element of the fight against Apartheid. The Wedding Stories pack alone will not change Russia but if more sections of popular media stood up against the injustice in the country we might just get somewhere. But the animosity and pressure needs to be applied to Russia's government for its intolerance and persecution, not to a video game company that cannot make an expansion pack about gay marriage available in a country which discriminates against gay people.

Oh, and if you are one of these influencers who is "standing with the Russian community on this," which Russian community do you mean? You certainly don't mean LGBT Russians. If you're one of these influencers, and you have previously tweeted a platitude like "trans women are women", "Black Lives Matter", or "love is love" - and let's be honest, you all have - you are a hypocrite and a snake oil salesman. The minute politics becomes more than a slogan every one of your followers agrees with and amounts to the tiniest bit of real action, you cave. You can stand with the persecuted gay community, or you can stand with a bunch of Simmers being 'persecuted' because they cannot play one expansion pack on a video game. That's activism to you? Take all those slogans out of your bio right now and put them back when your spine grows in.

Two sims posing and smiling, one holding up a camera, and the other using their phone

There is only one counter-argument in all of this that makes sense - 'what about other territories?'. It's a great point, Russia is not the only place where LGBT people are persecuted, and EA had even planned to launch in Russia before reversing that decision at the last minute. This suggests that it's not entirely out of allyship and is the result of pressure being applied. The only issue with the argument is it proves that EA is powerless here, and could not launch the pack in Russia anyway, and therefore launching your anger towards EA is even more pointless. That, and your reaction has not been to stand up for persecuted gay people in other parts of the world, but to stand up for yourself and your right to play an expansion pack of a video game.

Without a doubt, EA could have tweaked this pack in some way to get it on the digital shelves in Russia, but it's sticking to its guns. I'm not surprised that in taking a stance it has confused and frustrated so many Sims players - they seem unable to take any sort of stance themselves.

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