Sims Stories: Research and Sensitivity Suggestions

If you're doing something in your Sims stories that delves into topics you don't have much knowledge of, or something that requires some careful planning ahead - you're going to possibly need to do research for it. And it can be daunting to know where to start. I also recommend researching both familiar and unfamiliar topics so that you have more tools at your disposal for telling your story! I can't tell you how many plot and character ideas I've gotten just by doing research. Also it's fun to be curious about things.

NOTE: This may not be necessary to do for gameplay-only stories, and how much you do will depend on multiple aspects. It's entirely up to you.

First big note: DO NOT RELY ON AI MODELS OR SEARCH ENGINE AI SUMMARIES TO DO YOUR RESEARCH. It will likely be inaccurate!

 

 Keeping research notes / links together

 • Use Milanote, Trello, or Evernote or another similar producitivity service.
 • Keep a digital document, keep links or iPhone Notes, or use my Sims story planner which has space for research links. Here is some examples from my own current story plan, where I have a table where each box has different topical research links in it.

Researching for Sensitivity and Identity-Related Accuracy Reasons

This section is about recommendations for doing research for sensitivity reasons, and wanting important topics to have a level of respect and realism about them. 

 

• Remember that anyone can have biases, even if marginalised.
Even if you are getting your information from someone of that identity or experience, remember EVERYONE is capable of bias.

If an autistic person's 'How to Write Autistics' seems a bit weird because they claim that things common in mid-to-high-support-needs autistic people is 'unrealistic' or 'offensive', then that's a sign of bias.
A white person's post on How to Write Trans Characters is likely going to not consider the experiences of nonbinary people, as well as intersex people, who often identifas trans. They will also possibly ignore the specific issues queers of colour face, the ways in which trans identities hurt marginalised cis people like butch lesbians and Black women, and the intersectional matters where queerness meets other identities and creates unique ways in which those people are oppressed.
As you are doing your research, you have to go careful with the information and do what you can to weed out parts that are imply biases from OP, or coming from OP's point of privilege.

 

Many conditions, situations and experiences rarely affect everyone one way, so it's good to be broad with your research. There is of course always pulling from your own experience! But your experience is not the only one! 

 

• Are characters of certain identities getting sidelined storyline-wise?
This most commonly happens with female characters, characters of colour, elderly characters and disabled characters. If these are amongst your main cast, or at least have a POV, are they getting a level of characterisation and authorial interest that the white male or abled characters are getting, relative to their level of 'mainness' in the storyline?

 

• There is no such thing as a story that doesn't offend anyone. 
One man's 'good rep' is another man's 'bad rep' and there's little that can be done about that other than being careful to avoid common stereotypes. It is also due to this that You are going to find conflicting information and advice and may have to pick and choose how you go about things.

 

• Whilst medical sources are useful, they can also be inaccurate in ways. 
Of course medical websites or books are a great way to research conditions, but remember that the world of medicine doesn't always have the patient's best interests in mind (and outdated information online is not useful sometimes) and you need to see what individuals with the conditions think too. For example, medicine quite often demonises personality disorders and mid-to-high-support-needs autism by only focusing on what it's like to 'deal with them' for people without those conditions - never about how they are feeling on the inside about themselves. 
An example - NPD is often characterised by medical websites as being about a big ego and self-centredness and abuse and is always about how to 'deal' with such people, but they don't always mention a fairly common symptom is a deep-down very low sense of self esteem. It's always about the external, never the internal.

 

• Be careful where you get names from. 
Baby name websites are not reliable at all for accurate names for different cultures. Census lists, Wikipedia common name / surname lists, sometimes even tourist-related websites have lists of usually-accurate names from people from that country or region.
Also remember if you are doing a historical story that naming conventions have changed at different periods in history for different countries. It's worth seeing if that's the case for your character!

 

• Remember that you will be limited by game and CC availability limitations, and may need to take liberties.

 

 

Researching for Everything Else

• Doing research can give you more ideas for the plot or characters.
For example, for my current story - the spread of valley fever being associated with dust storms, and both being common in the Southwest US, where Strangerville is based on, meant some of the locals weren't that worried about the bizarre plant spores being potentially spread by wind and dust storms - they already know about those things. Learning about plant bioacoustics gave me an idea for why the ground seems to shake in the later acts of the Strangerville story and why the bizarre plants seem to grow out of nowhere.

 

• Remember that Sims story writing and doing research are both not about being the smartest, most knowing person in the room.
It's about giving a level of believability and depth to the story, and giving yourself more tools to play with for your storytelling. I think a lot of writers, published and otherwise, try too hard to convince you of their knowledge and intelligence and not hard enough to write something that people can enjoy. This isn't an essay, it's a fun hobby!

 

• Keep an eye on dates of articles. Outdated articles can have outdated information, not good for modern stories - and things like science have a tendency to move faster than anyone can expect! Of course, it doesn't really matter that much if you only have old info, but it's something to think about - more up-to-date info, more to play with!

 

• Remember again that you will be limited by game and CC availability limitations, and may need to take liberties.