These folks have made an honest effort at inclusion and the Center was happy to assist them in any small way the could Anyone who has questions should contact Jerome at jerome@simfreaks.com

As part of a prestigious project SimFreaks presents the first Sim in a wheelchair. This unique Sim, created by Jerome, can be imported in the game The Sims.

Man in WheelChair

The Sims, a virtual-life simulator from Maxis, provides computer users the opportunity to raise a virtual family. Originally intended as an architectural simulation, the game has grown over 4.5 years of development into something more like a soap opera.

Design and decorate a house, fill it with stuff, and then let a family loose in it. By controlling and guiding the interactions of the family members with every aspect of their environment and the people around them, you get to totally manage their lives.

You can choose to have your characters move around independently, or you can take control of every aspect of their lives--from using the toilet to eating and watching TV.

The concept of this game, an open system, makes it possible to create, add and share customized creations like new furniture or clothes. Mainly due to this concept, the game appeared to be the biggest hit of 2000 and 2001, resulting in an upcoming release of a forth expansion pack.

Fan sites can be found all over the Internet. SimFreaks, one of the biggest fan sites around, is exploring and expanding technical limitation of this game contiguously. With their new project “the Magpie Trap”, a true Mystery plot in cooperation with CluedoFan, finally the first working wheelchair is released.

Using a smart trick, Jerome managed to have the dimensions of the new Wheelchair Sim matching the one of the two animation sets, available in the game, correctly. Unfortunately this resulted in unintended side effects.

As a consequence adults in wheelchairs will use the child based animation sets. Jerome consulted ICDRI, to inventory possible opinions of its community. Since the only alternative appeared to be NOT to release the wheelchair he decided to make a statement.

Knowing the Sims community, he is sure everybody playing this game sitting in a wheelchair will understand the limitations of the game with this matter. In fact he hopes the majority of disabled players will be thrilled to have finally a character like this in their game.