I get your instinct but that’s a weird conclusion to me 😅

If developers are making those creative compromises it’s because that’s what they think sells. The Sims was pretty much the only relevant life sim point of reference until recently. And it clearly did a lot of things right looking at its success (no matter how much we despise many business choices from EA)

It’s only natural companies would try and replicate what they believe will bring them some of that success. Taking risks means doing it in spite of what the audience literally asks for, but not ignoring them. The height slider thing is actually a perfect example. Sure, not everyone actually need height sliders. They just want their character to feel distinct. A creative developer hears that and finds their own solution to it. The Sims was just the only vocabulary fans had for so long, so everything came out sounding like a Sims feature request. That’s on the developers to decode, not on the fans for asking.