00:00Lesbian was a dirty word when I was growing up, but now I don't feel that way and The
00:05Sims helped me to see that it wasn't a dirty word, it was just two women who very much
00:10loved each other just like any other relationship.
00:14This is Molly.
00:15Molly is a gamer and a YouTuber.
00:17Playing as fabulous carefree same-sex characters in The Sims helped her accept her sexuality.
00:22Most importantly though, The Sims helped her find her LGBTQ plus community online.
00:27This is how gaming changed her life.
00:34Gaming definitely helped with my coming out process because it felt like I was finally
00:39seeing myself represented on the screen.
00:42When I was in The Sims, I could really romance whoever and it never felt like a big deal.
00:47The game didn't make it a big deal, there's no coming out process in The Sims, like everyone
00:52just starts off however you want to play them.
00:54Yeah, I was definitely attracted to Bella Goth when I was growing up.
01:00She's an iconic Sims townie, she's been in it since The Sims 1.
01:06Gaming has absolutely changed my life, it made me comfortable with who I was as a person and
01:12my sexuality.
01:15My love for The Sims definitely started when I realised I could basically take the stories
01:21that I had in my head and I could basically put them on my screen and it was like I
01:27was directing
01:28my own soap opera or my own movie.
01:32I absolutely love stories within gaming, it's exactly why I do what I do.
01:37And I found that people were telling their own stories through The Sims and that's where
01:42I fell in love with sort of telling stories to other people.
01:46I got invested in their stories and then I was like oh maybe I could do this.
01:51Basically what The Sims is, it's just a life simulation, there's relationship, character
01:56customisation, there's your dream job if you want it.
02:01I think it's absolutely great.
02:03Over the 21 years that The Sims has been a thing and the franchise, you always have that
02:09freedom to make it your own and start again from the beginning but tell a different route.
02:14I feel like there's always something new to discover even though I've been playing it since
02:19I was six years old.
02:22There's been a couple of really big achievements in my life so far, I remember being invited
02:27out to LA for EA Play which is basically a conference and they did an awards ceremony and
02:34I actually won the award for Community Achievement Award which basically meant that I had fostered
02:40a really calm and really friendly community.
02:45That was a really nice feeling to feel like I've been doing this for so many years now and
02:50it's finally recognised and I have that physical award in my bedroom.
02:55Some people have always seen it as a more casual game and therefore they don't really see
03:01you as a gamer and I have the thought of if you play video games you're a gamer.
03:06So, really it's just part of the territory, I've kind of learnt to live with it and I know
03:13I'm going to get those comments but I'd like to see other people with like 4,000 hours
03:18on a video game, like I play this every day of my life and I'm definitely a gamer.
03:25I feel really really lucky that I get to represent women online, I think it's such an important
03:31journey and I know so many of my female friends are just like all out having fun, we all try
03:38and play together and it's a little bit different for us because with playing The Sims a lot it's
03:43definitely seen as a women gendered game more so, so I feel like the shoe's sort of on the other
03:50foot
03:50for once and we really do dominate the space when it comes to The Sims community online.
03:57I've met them through playing The Sims, most of us have our own channels and it's so nice to have
04:02that support system that really understands what you do as a job and see all my women friends
04:10absolutely kill it in the space online.
04:17Red Dead Redemption is basically Grand Theft Auto in the Wild West. I know it doesn't seem like the
04:24calmest sort of game when I've just died and also I play games like The Sims and farming simulators and
04:31stuff like that but at the weekends I find really stepping out of my comfort zone in a way and
04:37playing
04:37games that people probably wouldn't usually expect me to play on my channel but I enjoy in my down time.
04:45Going to the arcades with my friends, having a few beers and playing games is just such a nice casual
04:51night out. It's something that you don't really get to experience in many places and it's so much
04:57nicer than just sitting at home and playing these games. Also they have a massive variety of all the
05:02old school games that I used to love to play when I was younger so getting to introduce those games
05:07to new people, new friends. It's something that I enjoy so much.
05:14I think it's quite serendipitous that I just happened to fall into this career and growing
05:20up in a big family I feel like you have to be a people person so it's not really a
05:26surprise that I
05:27grew up to host and now I get to chat to new people, I get to fly to new places
05:32and that's something
05:33that I've always wanted to do. When it comes to gaming in general I love the storytelling side of
05:38things, I love bonding with characters. I would definitely say that's my favourite part.
05:43I have a bachelorette challenge, all the contestants live in one house and they're all trying to win the
05:49heart of one specific sim which is the sim that I created. These two are hanging out so much right
05:55now
05:55where as everyone else is sort of just off doing their own thing, playing video games, playing more
06:02video games. Then we have like Adrian over here, he's having some grilled plantains. People can interact
06:09and they can vote for who they want to go on dates with, who they want to be eliminated which
06:14was so
06:14lovely to see. When you're live you just get that instant feedback. Hi everyone, it's the English
06:21Sinna here and welcome back. I started live streaming on Twitch about three years ago now and it's that
06:27instant feedback but also just being able to hold a conversation and seeing my community grow over
06:33there and I do play The Sims an awful lot but I also find that Twitch is a nice space
06:39to sort of
06:40experiment with different games. I love like farming simulators where I can kind of just zone out and
06:47this kind of gives me the cottagecore fantasy that I would never want in real life because I'm definitely
06:53a city girl. Animal Crossing was definitely the one that got me through most of last year and playing
07:00it with my friends, hanging out with them, designing our islands together. A lot of fun.
07:09I definitely want to carry on within the gaming industry, be that continuing with my channels,
07:13growing them and growing my online personality, playing more games, getting to be part of more
07:20opportunities. I love the gaming community and just the passion that everyone has and how everyone
07:28interacts with each other and we're really going through a phase now where people are holding doors
07:33open for each other to get to the next stage or achieve what they want to achieve and I think
07:40as
07:40long as we can keep opening up to diversity and inclusion and keep opening those doors and holding
07:46them open for people is really really important and that's how I hope to see the gaming community grow.
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