Put your rubles where your mouth is!

Huh...good for you, faceless game development company, good for you. Look, I don't want to praise a corporation for making a decision that's probably just as much about profitability as it is doing the right thing, but Maxis, the developer that makes The Sims games, has decided against releasing their new wedding-focused DLC content in Russia.

Guess why? No, really, go on. Guess.

When Shari Lewis did it it was adorable 
because she was a beloved entertainer and Lamb
Chop didn't have the power to declare war.

Russia, you may remember, is the burnt-out husk of a world superpower, now run by an autocratic mob boss who's one tracksuit away from being the ultimate Russian stereotype, and boy-howdy are they terrified of the gays over there. They passed a law back in 2013 criminalizing the "propagandizing of nontraditional relationships" which is rich coming from Vladimir Putin whose own nontraditional relationship with Donald Trump was essentially that of sock puppeteer to sock puppet--which isn't a sex thing, just I'm saying that he had his hand up Trump's ass and worked him like a puppet for years.

The law is deliberately vague and used to crack down on whatever social conservatives see as a threat to their unchecked power. It was even used against a diary company because their logo included a rainbow. Our former Cold War adversaries everybody...

Hey, remember that time Russia beat us into space?
Yeah, now they're afraid that milk is going to make the kids go gay.

Pictured: Rick DeSantis.
Not pictured: a hint of irony.

Sure, we can laugh at the transparent pandering to an ignorant and hate-filled right-wing base, but I mean, this is exactly Florida right now and their "Don't Say Gay" bill. Like, exactly.

"They (the schools) need to teach them (the kids) science, history. We need more civics and understanding of the U.S. Constitution, what makes our country unique, all those basic things."

-Florida Governor Rick DeSantis,

no really, he said these things

Let's not lose sight of the real victims of
slavery and institutional racism: white kids
who have to learn about it in school.

Wai-wai-wait. Governor Rick DeSantis? Of Florida? He's calling for a focus on science, history, civics, and the Constitution? This is the same Rick DeSantis who, despite all scientific consensus fought mask mandates tooth and nail? The same one who signed a bill last year baring schools from teaching about slavery in a negative light? He's insisting that schools teach science and history? Is my eye twitching? I know you can't see me, but from the writing does it seem like my eye is twitching?

You know, the rating they give to 
Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto.
Because of all the gayness.

Sorry, didn't mean to go on a screed there, but Rick DeSantis is the worst. So the Sims, a spin-off from Sim City, has been around for ages, but in case you're unfamiliar, it's a people simulator in which you create, uh, people, and then run their lives. You have to make them eat, sleep, and shower, go to the bathroom. Everything. It's not my bag, like, I do these things in real life, but for some people it works. Anyway, the new content is wedding focused, and while same sex marriages have been a thing in the Sims for awhile now, they've been slapped with the Russian equivalent of an M rating. 

In a statement, Electronic Arts--the company that owns Maxis and really needs some good publicity right now--had this to say:

"We at Maxis want you to know
that we're A-OK with gay!"

-Maxis

"As we moved through our development and brand storytelling process, we became aware that the way we wanted to tell Cam and Dom's (a fictional couple featured in the game's marketing) story would not be something we could freely share around the world...Holding back Cam and Dom's story meant compromising the values we live by. We are committed to the freedom to be who you are, to love you who you love and tell the stories you want to tell."

-EA's Director of Queer Validation

Which, again, exactly Florida.

And I mean, obviously Maxis and EA are out to make money, so everything they do is a calculated move designed to maximize Q2 profit synergies or whatever but--what? Don't look at me like that. If I'm cynical, it's not like it's without good cause. And besides, go back and re-read the phrase "brand storytelling process" and then tell me this wasn't written by people who have stock options. But soul-less corporate speak aside, I'm glad that the company has taken a vocal stance on representation, and called attention to Russia's backwards, hurtful, spite driven laws. 

I'll take ulterior motives over hurtful and spite-driven any day. And sure, it could be that the company is just making a big deal of their skipping the Russian market as a way of showing support, but that just feels like a kind of next-level cynicism that I'm just not ready to admit to yet. Let's just choose to believe that the people who run this company are trying to make their LGBTQ+ fans feel seen...and if it just so happens to bring them positive brand association or whatever it is capitalists crave, then so be it.

"Remember to pick up our new DLC...unless of course you
support Vladimir Putin's homophobic and oppressive regime..."

-Cam and Dom, pretend 

people you can make kiss