Should sims have Asperger's/Autism?

[jthm_nny]

This is not a request thing or even a mod creation, but out of curiosity do you guys think sims should have Autism and give it to their children genetically. I have Asperger's myself, and got my Asperger's from both my Dad and mom's side of the family, though it's more common on my dad's. It skipped a generation with my mom so she just has ADHD.

[~MadameButterfly~]

Oh, I don't know. I think it would be fairly easy to recreate my son, who has Asperger's, if only they had the British Humor trait. Everything else would be: loner, shy, genius, good.

The sims already have some of his anger management issues that flare up from time to time.

Edit: I am almost positive they would never add my own Synaethesia, one who tastes colors, trait. ;)

[Elphiron]

Absolutely not! We all have failings, foibles and idiosyncrasies, do they really all need to be programmed into a light hearted fairly humorous game? I know this is an age old debate, but honestly, as an OCD sufferer, I'd absolutely hate to see it either represented wrong (which it possibly would be over exaggerated etc, to keep the game light hearted) or represented in a way that devalued it as a serious condition, playing up to stereotypes etc. These things can be sore spots for people and would cause outrage if EA or modders didn't handle it sensitively enough. No , if they where to add long term conditions it'd have to be funny and made up :)

[SuicidiaParasidia]

Absolutely not! We all have failings, foibles and idiosyncrasies, do they really all need to be programmed into a light hearted fairly humorous game? I know this is an age old debate, but honestly, as an OCD sufferer, I'd absolutely hate to see it either represented wrong (which it possibly would be over exaggerated etc, to keep the game light hearted) or represented in a way that devalued it as a serious condition, playing up to stereotypes etc. These things can be sore spots for people and would cause outrage if EA or modders didn't handle it sensitively enough. No , if they where to add long term conditions it'd have to be funny and made up :)

there is also such a thing as a video game (read: ESCAPISM) being too realistic.

for the same reason i dont think AIDS should exist in the sims, i dont think that real psychological disorders belong in the sims.

if you really want a clone of yourself, id suggest focusing your efforts on stem cell research.

[soylentfiend]

I think Elphiron was saying it SHOULDN't be in the game. I think you misunderstood what they were saying.

[SuicidiaParasidia]

I think Elphiron was saying it SHOULDN't be in the game. I think you misunderstood what they were saying.

i was adding to their sentiment....which yes, means i realize that they were saying they're against it being in the game. as i am, as well.
...so who misunderstood whom, hmm? :P

i really should just start putting a disclaimer at the end of every message that says no, no i am not talking about YOU *personally*, "you" can also be used in a general sense and that is always the sense i use it in unless i am directly referring to something you (and you know who that is, and who that isnt) actually said.

[Elphiron]

^ Hehe, no harm done :) I was a bit confused when I first read it, thinking you where talking about me, but I did assume you were talking to anyone rather than specifically me. Ha, perhaps you should have used 'one'? :)

"if one really wants a clone of oneself, id suggest focusing ones' efforts..." That's better grammah.

[SuicidiaParasidia]

^ Hehe, no harm done :) I was a bit confused when I first read it, thinking you where talking about me, but I did assume you were talking to anyone rather than specifically me. Ha, perhaps you should have used 'one'? :)

"if one really wants a clone of oneself, id suggest focusing ones' efforts..." That's better grammah.

*grammar.
have you noticed i dont use capital letters or punctuation much, either?

...oops, getting a bit off topic.

[ulrikchen]

I don't really get the question "should sims have Asperger/Autism?"
I mean, there isn't just one way that people with AS or autism works. Sure, the most common thing I've noticed about people with AS is sensitivity towards impressions they get from the surrounding area. At least all the people I've met with the diagnosis is like that... *erasing long rant about stuff that doesn't make sense*
What should be pointed out is that there is no way that one can make a sim have autism without basing it of things that are assumptions and might be extremely wrong in some cases.
Just for the record, I also have AS and goes to a school for people with AS. Now I'm going to try to keep myself from ranting.

[~MadameButterfly~]

I agree Ulrikchen! Mainly because if EA were to attempt such a thing, it would only come across as phony and offensive...especially since there is so much variety on the spectrum.

[efolger997]

I agree that they shouldn't add diseases/disorders to the game--not in my opinion, anyway. I have thought it'd be cool to have a 'depressed' or 'pessimistic' trait, but it would not be cool for Sims to have major depression. Not fun for me in real life, and I don't want to deal with it in my Sims life! Pessimism/optimism is very different from major depression, anyway. And I wouldn't really want my Sims to have anxiety or OCD, either. Again, not fun to live with in real life, much less in the Sims. (At least not in its severe forms; if it's comical then it'd be fine.)


Edit: I am almost positive they would never add my own Synaethesia, one who tastes colors, trait. ;)

I don't know if this causes problems or not, but I have always wondered what it's like. I'm sure it could be bad sometimes, but it is still one of the coolest things I've ever heard of (I've researched it just a bit.)

[~MadameButterfly~]

I don't know if this causes problems or not, but I have always wondered what it's like. I'm sure it could be bad sometimes, but it is still one of the coolest things I've ever heard of (I've researched it just a bit.)

Well, I can't get the latest KP Stuff Pack, because there are too many colors together. I've had to avoid the main site while they promote it. If you can imagine throwing all the flavors you've ever tasted in your life...good and bad...into one giant pot, then that about sums it up. I do ok with certain colors that taste good, but others can make me dog sick. I avoid them in my game when I can. (One of my friends made me a huge house for my game, and I had to change all the walls. It would have been fine if I had been anyone else, but I was sick sick.)

(Of course, there are other forms of this trait. Mine just happens to be the color/tasting.)

[r_deNoube]

...I mean, there isn't just one way that people with AS or autism works...
Oh so true. So I'll add another reason not to try to simulate it in the game -- that doing so might make players imagine that they'd gotten some kind of actual clue about it.

[ulrikchen]

Oh so true. So I'll add another reason not to try to simulate it in the game -- that doing so might make players imagine that they'd gotten some kind of actual clue about it.

Well, lots of people don't question the information they find in games or online. Kind of sad...

If you can imagine throwing all the flavors you've ever tasted in your life...good and bad...into one giant pot, then that about sums it up. I do ok with certain colors that taste good, but others can make me dog sick.
That kind of reminds me of Terezi from HomeStuck... but she is blind so it's a totally different thing when she separates colours by their taste... ^^;

[J. M. Pescado]

Should they? You act like they don't already. ADHD and headbanging isn't an optional state for sims, they're ALL that way by default!

And no, you don't have Fad Internet Disease That They Just Recently Made Up. You're just a dork.

[jthm_nny]

Um...ok then. This whole thing was as if someone made it besides EA and the plan from beginning was to have multiple types and some that affect some things and some that affect others. All the problems you guys are talking about seem to be only if someone who doesn't have the disabilities in the first place and only knew about it from TV or from their 8th cousin they've met once in a family reunion 12 years ago.

[jthm_nny]

And yes, there are some very bull crappy people out there who give their kids a diagnosis so they can act like spoiled brats. There are ENOUGH of them in my special ed that it's nearly impossible for ANYONE else in there to get the help they need because those spoiled brats literally run across the classroom like some wild animals (in a high school classroom!) Those kids do not have any form of autism whatsoever. I however have symptoms of autism, though they aren't as extreme. As a kid I acted a lot like a normal autistic kid, except that I talked much earlier than most kids. I'm curious why someone would click on my thread and say i don't have autism without actually knowing who I am, and who's only knowledge of me came from a simple short paragraph.

[piggypeach]

My first reaction to this post... WTF?!
Then I was like.. oh, you're serious.
Hell no, that's cray!

But you know what would be cool? If they could get the cold or the flu, or like chicken pox. And the children would stay home from school! And they could fake it to stay home! Maybe it could come with seasons. And they would have to get medicine! Woo-hoo! Death by Disease!

[mithrak_nl]

Would never work. Sims emotions are exaggerated to make them more entertaining to watch. So ,if you represent the condition it in a serious way, it is just not entertaining enough for this game. If you represent the condition in an entertaining The Sims way, ppl will be offended because it isn't taken seriously enough by the mod creator or EA (whoever makes it). Not to mention that players would think that Asperger's is all about not being able to find your way around your house. Because that is what my sims usually do. Having routing issues :p

[crocobaura]

I like diseases that can be cured, like the flu and the zits in TS2. I loved keeping my sims in bed, feeding them chicken soup and applying zits cream on their faces. Having diseases that act like traits won't be fun and they take up the space that could be used to give your sim an useful characteristic.

[MOOKIEBLAYLOCK]

I know that playing Sims frequently causes me to exhibit symptoms of coprolalia , as to the other I have no &%# !%& opinion.

[christx101]

I think its a bad idea.

[Makai447]

For most of the reasons already mentioned, yeah, no I don't think autism or anything like it should be in these games.

I thought about it before, since my brother's pretty severely autistic/MR, and I see a LOT of kids like that. The only downside to it not being in the game for me personally is I can't really re-create my own family in there like my friends used to like to do with the sims when we were younger. It'd be nothing like my real family. But honestly, I don't wanna deal with that kinda thing in my game, or have other random afflicted sims showing up in my game. It'd just depress me, and all in all it's so variable not only within different parts of the spectrum (mild to severe) but even within the same area of the spectrum--none of the kids are the same.

Besides, why single out this one disorder as something that should go in the game rather than any of the other plethora of things that could be "wrong" with any one person? It's not a rabbit hole ultimately worth going down. Curable things like the flu (I do miss death by disease in the sims 2) or like, a broken ankle, that's fine, and could be fun. I don't know about anyone else, I get enough incurable dysfunction in real life.

[JDacapo]

It'd be nice to have that kind of trait, and possibly have an interaction for when the sim is low on energy and visiting another house: "Complain About Sleepover". Basically, you would get to do the things that visitors in Sims 2 would do even if you didn't invite them to spend the night. The lot owner's reaction of course would be either to apologise(if he/she is good or cowardly) or say "What? I didn't invite you to spend the night!"

[Artimis]

I think its a bad idea.

I have to agree as it may insult people with aspergers and autism. I would be insulted if sims could be autisc as I am autisc.

[Ghost sdoj]

When my son was being diagnosed with Aspbergers, I was looking at everything on that questionnaire that indicated that he had it and saying "But that's ME!" (Including several qualities that I had to be brutally honest with myself in order to admit to.) I was never diagnosed, because they didn't do that when I was a kid, but it does explain quite a lot. As far as I'm concerned (and my husband agrees with me) my son's diagnosis diagnosed me as well.

I've seen the wide variation in autistic personalities, and I've seen the stereotyping that happens when you say the word "autistic." I've also seen what EA has done with simple traits like absent minded. I have seen an absent minded sim who was just making out with his wife in bed forget that he was starting to woohoo with her. I don't trust a company who would program a behavior like that to do a decent job with anything in the autism spectrum even if I -did- want it in my game! I don't just think that it -may- insult people in the spectrum, I can't see how their interpretation of it would -not- be insulting.

[Artimis]

I was diagnosed with autism at the age of 4 I am not what people thing of an autistic as I have never told anyone on mts adout my autism as I was worried that I would get judged for it. I hate being autistic as I am in the lowest group in school although I am top of my class and most of time people who know in my class do'nt even know I am autistic at all. I am probably at the low end of the spectrum although I do not know for certain.

Do not judge me people just deacause I am autistic.

[J. M. Pescado]

When my son was being diagnosed with Aspbergers, I was looking at everything on that questionnaire that indicated that he had it and saying "But that's ME!" Translation: You're both just normal dorkfaces, and Fad Internet Disease is just made up.

[Elphiron]

Translation: You're both just normal dorkfaces, and Fad Internet Disease is just made up.

:alarm: The 'fad internet disease' that has been discussed and documented since 1747? You're showing apparent lack of emotional intelligence either intentionally or unintentionally - I know you like to be the one with the sarky comments but surprisingly that's actually not at all funny or tactful when you're dealing with peoples problems.

[shaaaii]

Translation: You're both just normal dorkfaces, and Fad Internet Disease is just made up.
Wow, that is such a rude thing to say. It's clear that you try to be the funny guy but that is so rude and offensive to the woman who said she has it. Why on earth do you think it would be made up?

[Artimis]

Translation: You're both just normal dorkfaces, and Fad Internet Disease is just made up.

That is insulting remark to make.

[Makai447]

Translation: You're both just normal dorkfaces, and Fad Internet Disease is just made up.Autism is not made up. It *might* be over-diagnosed, but it most certainly is not made up. Or else there would totally not be group homes for severely impaired kids to live in, right? Or school's dedicated to teaching them, ESPECIALLY for the severely impaired?

Self-diagnoses are something to be wary of if you don't have all the information, or you're dealing with a hypochondriac or something (or you're not familiar enough), but I guarantee you if you take an autistic child and a normal child, and put them side by side, you will immediately notice the difference. Maybe not as much for people on the low end of the spectrum, who I personally rarely encounter anyway, but the difference is obvious.

[ulrikchen]

Translation: You're both just normal dorkfaces, and Fad Internet Disease is just made up.

Are you aware of the fact that this is not a disease, it is a personality type.
the fact that you call it disease is just pointing out that you don't know what you're talking about.
Also, if it was just a "fad internet disease"... why on earth would they make special schools for youths with the diagnosis?
and have you even thought about checking what we're talking about before you start sprouting out nonsense?

[Ghost sdoj]

Translation: You're both just normal dorkfaces, and Fad Internet Disease is just made up.

No, I'm not normal. There is no such thing as "normal". My weirdness just happens to be a bit more obvious, and now it's got a name. :lol:

(And I love you too, Pescado. :duck: )

[fraavio]

Oh, hey, is that Drama? I haven't seen him in a while. Tell him he's not welcome here. Let him know also that this thread is about wether or not Sims should have a disease/obnoxious personality type/condition. And just so I won't remain off topic, here's my take: political correctness is a bitch since everyone has to walk on eggshells all the time because of everything. That being said, I don't think Sims should not have this or that because people may get their feelings hurt what I do think is that any kind of real condition(imaginary or real or whatever you want to call it, I'm not here to judge as I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist) from real life being incorporated in the game even if just a little, will suck a bit of the fun of it. Take the Insane trait, for instance, your sim will talk to himself and do crazy shenanigans but that's only because it says the sim is insane which is very broad and can be totally laid down in a light-hearted fun way. It's not like it says outright that the sim is specifically schizophernic or any other mental illness for that matter. It just says it's insane in a cartoonish fun way.

Well, that is it.

[Artimis]

I am also have a bit of dislicsa along with my autism which makes things even better. I accept what I am and I have my own iunquire look on things. I am not a dorkface!! J.M.Pescado I am a autisc and a simmer with a good and kind heart. And if this how people treat people who are differnet then I am glad that I am not normal.

Sorry if I am breaking any of the rules :(

[Artimis]

Oh, hey, is that Drama? I haven't seen him in a while. Tell him he's not welcome here. Let him know also that this thread is about wether or not Sims should have a disease/obnoxious personality type/condition. And just so I won't remain off topic, here's my take: political correctness is a bitch since everyone has to walk on eggshells all the time because of everything. That being said, I don't think Sims should not have this or that because people may get their feelings hurt what I do think is that any kind of real condition(imaginary or real or whatever you want to call it, I'm not here to judge as I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist) from real life being incorporated in the game even if just a little, will suck a bit of the fun of it. Take the Insane trait, for instance, your sim will talk to himself and do crazy shenanigans but that's only because it says the sim is insane which is very broad and can be totally laid down in a light-hearted fun way. It's not like it says outright that the sim is specifically schizophernic or any other mental illness for that matter. It just says it's insane in a cartoonish fun way.

Well, that is it.

I see your point but I would not like to see stuff like mental conditions and so on sadarised on the sims. Insainty is already in the sims games.

[Simsdestroyer]

I wouldn't mind a disease that was a part of the sims world like Llama virus, or something along that lines. But disease or sickness from a realistic standpoint isn't really fun. And how could they incorporate something like that into the sims without offending someone? It would be impossible, because how can you make autism look funny?

[rian90]

I know a few autistic people and I am very glad they are in my life. My youngest daughter's best friend is autistic and he is a sweet, intelligent boy who will no doubt do something great in the world someday. I have two children who are ADD and while they can be a challenge at times, they are also extremely bright and creative. I agree with Artimis...EA could not do a good job at portraying people with differences. The little they do already is very poorly done, such as the absent mindedness. Rather than create a person who forgets where he puts things, is sometimes late from work because he gets involved in other things, and might forget a name or two, they create silliness, such as the example above. Forgetting they are woohooing with their wife? What?

While that is fine in a game, to extend that to more extreme conditions would more than likely be poorly done, especially in the case of Autism which has a very wide spectrum of symptoms. This is why I would rather have a wider range of traits and be able to make my sims different from each other. I don't need to make an autistic or ADD Sim but I can make a shy, loner, genius or an excitable, artistic, social butterfly sim. More traits would only help us in diversifying our sim personalities.

[DaBoogadie]

As it turns out, J.M.Pescado is far less awesome that a lot of us.

[itsamariokart]

My uncle has autism and I would be uncomfortable if EA included this in the game. If they done it ever so slightly wrong it come across as offensive. I don't think the risk is worth it.


Translation: You're both just normal dorkfaces, and Fad Internet Disease is just made up.
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

- Martin Luther King

[Artimis]

Agreed, some people are nasty to me beacause of it mainly teachers who do not understand.

[HystericalParoxysm]

Pescado is being a trolling asshat.

Please don't take his trollbait. I would delete the post but then I'd make swiss cheese of the last half of the thread. Please try to pretend he didn't say something so completely fucking ridiculously offensive that it would -almost- be funny if it weren't so entirely dickish and horrifying. Let's move on with the thread and pretend it was never said, please - any further replies to that post or that line of discussion will be removed. Thanks.

Pescado - You know better. Do not post in this thread again.

[UltraRobbie]

Absolutely not! We all have failings, foibles and idiosyncrasies, do they really all need to be programmed into a light hearted fairly humorous game? I know this is an age old debate, but honestly, as an OCD sufferer, I'd absolutely hate to see it either represented wrong (which it possibly would be over exaggerated etc, to keep the game light hearted) or represented in a way that devalued it as a serious condition, playing up to stereotypes etc. These things can be sore spots for people and would cause outrage if EA or modders didn't handle it sensitively enough. No , if they where to add long term conditions it'd have to be funny and made up :)

Agreed. With my character, as I have anxiety, I gave mine the Neurotic trait, but this trait is presented in a comedic way (panic attacks are silly, you worry about things constantly like the sink); basically, it stays mostly true to real life, but puts a comedic spin on it. I think if it were to be too close to reality, then it is sort of pointless as the idea of escapism is to take a break from what you're escaping from, you know?