Yeah, same. Your friends offended me, not you. XD

We're not offended, we're just concerned. Or at least offended on your behalf.

and then there is me using Discord rich presence to let people know I am playing Sims 2 and I want to left alone for the time being

Some of my best friends are my Sims. (Especially Andrew of course!) They certainly don't complain about me playing The Sims! I can hardly hide my Simming from them!

I was very close to my late mother, but I never let her know that I was playing The Sims. But then I never let her know that I was gay either. In fact I'm gay but celibate. Very, very few of my Sims are celibate! I think, if she saw what my Sims were up to, it would have been absolutely obvious that I was gay. Plus I didn't want her to see how scantily clad my Sims usually are. (Of course Veronaville has a much warmer climate than Scotland, and I don't have Seasons, so it's never winter there.)

I probably should have told my mother that I'm gay. But I don't know if I could ever have brought myself to let her see me playing The Sims. There is a lot of gay kissing, cuddling, making out and woohoo in my game, much of it done in a state of near nudity. I don't think I could ever have shown that to my mother. I'm not joking when I say I live my sex life vicariously through my Sims!

Interesting.

In my game I don't particularly try to make sims follow a particular sexuality. To clarify, I make straight sims, gay sims, bi-sims, lesbian sims, etc. But I don't make a 'big deal' out of it - they just 'are', if it fits their story and the sim then that's what they are. It's that simple.

I wasn't aware playing Sims was considered gay by some men. My older (female) cousin introduced all of us younger cousins (gender neutral) to it during family gatherings in the early 2000s, and I remember us all being huddled together and watching the chaos on that tiny CRT screen. Later I played with my male cousin on his PC who also lend the base game to me when I got Open for Business for my birthday, so I could install the game on my own one. To me, Sims always screamed gender neutral since it's a life simulator and you can do what you want with it. The sims world is your oyster. Well anyway, they are missing out on the fun. Wouldn't be me. I play whatever speaks to me, whether that be brutal or cosy, it just depends on the mood.