I've been chewing over this issue ever since I was alerted to this post on the Racialicious blog.  Another Sims 3 player found a ridiculously racist pre-made family (the Bakers) in Twinbrook. 

The family of black NPCs consists of two teenage boys and their overweight single mother who works as a cook.  Which is to say, to quote the original post, "every stereotype possible."

I wanted to politely overlook this problem.  For one thing, it's easy to overlook - I barely even notice the pre-made families that ship with the game.  I certainly never play them.  The first time I noticed this family was when Racialicious pointed it out.  And I firmly believe that the game is what you make of it - not what it ships with.

That being said, I think it's clear that there are some very "problematic" elements in what it ships with.  Ambitions brought us not only the black family mentioned above, but a whole host of poor white characters who live in the swamps, are ugly in a stereotypically "white trash" way, and who wear mostly camo.

And then of course no discussion of racial stereotypes would be complete without talking about World Adventures.  Can we talk about this?  We need to talk about this.  

I had qualms about World Adventures from the first moment I heard of it.  World Adventures promised adventures set in France, China, and Egypt.  The countries are explicitly named, i.e. not disguised by the game.  The locations themselves are small towns which have been given "local flavor" names like Shang Simla.

You're going to have to tread pretty carefully with something like this, to avoid ending up with a bunch of "CHING CHONG CHINA GIRL" racist cartoons.  And EA didn't really do that.  Many Chinese Sims wear conical straw hats, or sport Hop Sing topknot/braid combos.  Everyone in Egypt pretty much runs around wearing a bedsheet dress.  And so forth.  

It's cringe-worthy, and every time I visit one of the other worlds it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  I hardly visit them at all anymore, except to take advantage of the fact that time doesn't pass back in your home town while you're on vacation, so you can have a three day "skill-cation."  And even then, ugh.

Here's the thing, though: The Sims 3 is still one of the most open, accepting, and non-judgmental games you can play.  It's a big huge sandbox, and I guess I feel like even though it was pre-loaded with racist content, that doesn't make it a racist game.  

The game is what you make of it, and there's nothing racist inherent in the game's architecture.  Once you have the game up and running, Story Progression will randomize everything nicely.  (In your home town, anyway - people in the World Adventures towns will continue to be sad little racial stereotypes.)

EA set itself up for failure by choosing real-world locations, and by allowing its developers to include pre-made families that should have been vetted more carefully.  It's unsurprising that they failed, and even more unsurprising that they haven't yet made any kind of public statement about it.

So here's your chance.  If you're bothered by racist content shipping with The Sims 3 expansion packs, say something about it.  Tell EA that this matters to you.  Take them to task.  Don't let it slide!