Remember the Sims? That game where you could make digital humans have jobs, fall in love, then pee their pants, commit suicide and haunt your swimming pool? The latest version, The Sims 4, came out two years ago, and it seems like it is still in fact a thing: in just the first year after the launch, users had created 93 million new sims.
Remember thinking, “Man, I wish I could install a mod on this game so the Sims can all have genitalia and get naked and do crazy sex stuff all the time?” Yes? It took almost two years after the game’s release, but in late July, a brave self-taught programmer from Poland named Turbodriver published Wicked Woohoo, the most comprehensive sex mod for The Sims 4 yet, with a learnable Exhibitionism skill thrown in as a bonus.
Woohoo, if you’re unfamiliar, is the official term in the Sims universe for lovemaking — when two Sims have (discreet) intercourse in the course of the un-modified game, it’s logged as a “WooHoo” in the game’s recordkeeping system. Typically, the accompanying animation shows some fireworks (in The Sims 2), or a bunch of floaty hearts emerging from the place of lovemaking (TS3, TS4). With Wicked Woohoo installed and engaged, the Sims-ulated sex act is depicted in any number of extremely graphic ways.
And as of press time, even though Wicked Woohoo is free for anyone to download, 391 fans of Sims sex are paying Turbodriver a combined $1,614 each month on Patreon to keep up the good work (paying supporters get to try out releases a little earlier than the public and suggest new features). Updating Wicked Woohoo and responding to the input of his Patreons is now Turbodriver’s full-time job.
He wouldn’t give us his real name or his real age (he claimed he was in his 90s), but he did give us the lowdown on what it’s like to code Sims banging every which way for a living.
Is this your first sex-related video game mod?
This is my first time. I’ve never made any mods for the Sims series before, let alone nudity- or sex-related mods. I had to learn everything from the ground up to even start.
What inspired you to create Wicked Woohoo?
It had been two years from the release of The Sims 4, and nobody had made an attempt to create the full mod that people were asking for that whole time. I knew what was possible, having seen previous mods made for Sims, and I had to try. I had to.
I was interested in the idea of your own world, with your own scenarios and that realistic touch of sex interaction. It wasn’t only to learn the design and how it should work, it was to learn the appeal that came with so many possibilities and unique situations.
So you were a fan of earlier sex mods?
I used the Sims 3 mod until I lost interest.
Was the plan always to start a Patreon for the mod, and hopefully get paid to work on it?
I wasn’t rushing anything. I spent two whole months learning and creating the mod before showing it to anybody, and didn’t even include the main appeal — the sex interactions — in the first release. Once I added that, I knew that if I want to continue this project I needed to get something from it or look for a job.
What had you been doing for work before this?
I had been working for a security company, installing alarms in shops and plants. I quit that because of an injury, and started this in my free time. I’ve been programming as a hobby for around 9 years now, but rarely earned anything from it. The idea was to get a driving license so I could get my own car and inspect alarm installations. But now I’m doing this, haha.
Is making Wicked Woohoo more fun than your alarm installation job?
It’s like 1000 percent more fun.
Why did you set $900/month as your initial goal on Patreon?
That’s the minimum wage I need to live, after the taxes I have to pay.
Now you’re making almost twice that, $1,600 a month. Were you surprised that you got that much financial support?
I don’t get surprised by a lot of things, I guess it’s a trope of a programmer, to think about every possibility before it happens, as stupid as it sounds. I was really excited though: My plan worked and now I can do it as a job and have a nice community to talk with.
How does that compare to your old salary?
This is the most money I’ve ever made.
Now that you have patrons, what kinds of additions to Wicked Woohoo have they requested?
There is a lot that people suggest. Besides general additions that work with the Sims world, like relationships, pregnancy, or emotions, people want it to fit their personal preferences. A lot of people want more gay and lesbian interactions (positions/animations), more gender-mixed interactions, prostitute, escort, stripper and porn star jobs, sex parties, and even rape.
I know sex mods for past version of The Sims have included rape. Are you hesitant to include rape in Wicked Woohoo?
Not really. It’s not my priority, but I will do it. It’s just a game, and it’s not about the act itself, but the idea of it happening. I would probably avoid stuff that includes children though, it doesn’t seem like there is a right way to do it.
I’m curious about Sim autonomy with the mod. Do the Sims have to “like” each other, generally speaking, in order to start having some kind of sex?
The mod is not yet there; any Sim can have sex with any other Sim. Because of that, they don’t do it on their own yet. Once Sims know what they want, they will decide based on who they prefer, based on their relationships and emotions.
Relationships will play an important role here, because there are so many possibilities, like sex because of hate, sex without love interest, monogamy, swingers, players… it will be the most challenging thing to add, but I will do it.
Right now, you select a Sim, press a button, and they begin to have sex?
Pretty much yes. Exhibitionism has more autonomy.
So after you click the button, and two Sims are having sex, can you choose how the interaction advances from then on, or does it proceed automatically?
At any point you can change the position, do whatever you want. I still haven’t decided if you should be able to end up with negative results in relationships, or block users from doing stuff other Sims don’t want to do. The first option seems like something that makes you think about others, but I don’t know if that is something that people want when using the mod.
Oh, like theoretically making it so that different sex positions can make the Sims happy or unhappy?
Right, Sims could have a favorite sex location, sex category and sex position that could affect them positively. But what would happen if you stick it into her butt on her first time?
I saw that Exhibitonism is a “skill.” What does that mean in the game?
The Exhibitionism mod allows for an easy way to undress and flash others — a lot of options for nudity in The Sims 4 were fragmented (a lot of different mods from different creators) and didn’t work together as something meaningful.
The skill works like confidence. Every Sim in the world learns that slowly, trying things out on their own, but stops at some point, giving the player the ability to affect them and convince them to gain more experience in Exhibitionism.
The more confidence they have, the more they can do. First Sims stop wearing underwear, then are not embarrassed to be naked and strip on their own, and eventually getting naked in public is not a problem. But you always start with getting more comfortable with your body and being naked in your house.
Was Exhibitionism included in mods for past versions of the Sims, or was that something you invented?
It’s not new, but I think my version makes more sense, where you learn things in stages — it avoids the world where everyone is automatically a professional nudist. It’s annoying when your Sim gets naked in situations where it doesn’t make sense. And I am not saying other mods are worse, it’s just something that was happening.
Do you feel like you have to respond to requests right away from people who are paying you?
A big issue that I was expecting with Patreon is the pressure of supporters. That’s why I don’t offer submissions, only suggestions. I don’t want to be pushed into doing something; I want to be directed to do things people will enjoy.
When you start collecting suggestions you learn that people don’t understand the technical side. I have a plan to make everything into a full experience, not just a bunch of unrelated features.
On the technical side, which of those requests would take the most work for you to add? Is adding a stripper career track more work than adding more same-sex interactions?
Because of the amazing community, I don’t have to work on the animations or positions, since there are creators who do it, and I help them as much as I can. That helps me focus on adding features to the mod itself.
Pretty much everything is a challenge if it was not already done. There is no documentation or people who would help, I have to figure out and learn everything on my own. The more complicated the idea, the more there is to do.
Do you have a favorite interaction, or something you’re excited to add soon?
I really want to add Peeping Tom, the voyeur stuff. Teasing content is a lot of fun.
How long do you think you’ll keep working on Wicked Woohoo?
It’s a dream job. I don’t want to be ever done, as long as it is a job. If I can’t make a living from it, then I will release it open-source and find something else to do. Maybe they will release The Sims 5 at that point.
