WickedWhims is one of the most popular mods for The Sims 4. Led by modder Turbodriver, the fan creation, which adds fully animated and interactive sex, expanded relationships, and even a menstrual cycle and birth control for your Sims, has over 16,000 paid supporters on Patreon. According to a recent interview, the actual number of people using the mod is far higher than that.
As noted by PC Gamer, German news site Taz published an interview with Turbodriver (who uses his pen name for anonymity) this week. Via Google Translate, when asked how many people use WickedWhims, the modder said that his server is pinged an average of 400,000 times per day. For context, the pings occur whenever someone starts the game with the mod installed.
It’s important to note that, according to publisher EA, The Sims 4 has accrued more than 80 million players worldwide, a statistic it shared with Variety during an interview in September 2024. Of course, not all 80 million boot up the game every day, and the average 400,000 pings can include repeated sessions by the same person. Still, the mod’s widespread usage provides a valuable and curious insight into how many people are interested in amplifying the sexual content available in the game.
As it stands, the (figuratively and metaphorically) vanilla version of The Sims 4 includes options to customize sexual orientation around “men” or “women,” romance dynamics and boundaries, and attraction turn-ons and turn-offs. When it comes to intimacy, however, the act of sex itself isn’t shown, often obscured by shower steam or bed blankets.
Mods like WickedWhims break that barrier with painstaking clarity, while amplifying both visual and simulation options. Sims can be fully controlled during sex—including over 10,000 animations from various creators, according to the site—naked bodies can show pubic hair and sweat, and fantasies such as voyeurism are added into the mix.
But as Turbodriver told Taz, anyone playing a life simulation wants it to be “as realistic as possible.” That’s why WickedWhims also includes mechanics around a sexually transmitted disease, menstruation cycles, and birth control, among other things. The modder doesn’t intend for WickedWhims to be educational, and considers it a side effect.
“The most confusing thing is that Sims have different fertility levels depending on when they’re in their cycle,” he said, via Google Translate. “Of course, as a man, I had to do some research when I programmed that part of the mod.”
While Turbodriver doesn’t consider himself a feminist activist, he remarked that the mod is a product of his “political convictions,” and that feminist views also influence his work, albeit not exclusively. Moreover, the modder argued that game developers are becoming more open to explicit content, citing Cyberpunk 2077 as a title that features nudity, but that there’s still a double standard in the industry when it comes to sexual content.
“Large game developers can include sex scenes in their games without any repercussions,” Turbodriver said. “Indie games, on the other hand, are penalized much more quickly by the platforms, which label them as adult games and show them to fewer people.”
While the number of WickedWhims sessions is definitely noteworthy, it’s important to remember the context in which this activity is taking place. For one, as Turbodriver pointed out, the internet is becoming increasingly centralized on fewer platforms that restrict sexual content of any kind.
The context surrounding The Sims 4, too, is important to consider. Developer Maxis recently shared a blog post saying that it remains committed to its values, one of which is inclusivity, and that “The Sims team’s creative control has not changed.” This comes in response to concerns from the community around the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund’s intentions to become the major owner of EA, as it marches to secure a deal to buy 93.4 percent of shares in a $55 billion deal.
While the deal is pending government approval, the Public Investment Fund is almost entirely owned by a state known for persecuting and killing queer people and denying women many basic rights, among other causes for concern. It’s unclear if Maxis will be able to maintain its values if the deal comes into fruition in the future, but it’s clear that players have an interest in mods like WickedWhims which provide forms of expression and experience that go beyond the boundaries of what’s offered in the vanilla game.