stolen mod.

fewlines

hey all. i hope this is all right to post. i have found out (at MTS) that there's a mod thief around, called "Pand-oraSims". they have stolen a mod by PolarBearSims called "Shower Bladder Reliever" (found here) and uploaded it, under a different name, to their own website here. (remove hyphen from URL and username, IDK why it is a forbidden word.)

when looking at their available mods, i have also found "Emotional Inertia", "Stop Random Flirting", "No Autonomous Rude/Flirty/Enchanting greetings", and other mods i have seen elsewhere before. so this website basically uploads a stolen .zip file of a mod.

if that isn't bad enough, the website charges for certain mods/objects. this is what PolarBearSims has written:

How can I help?
Boycot them. Cancel your account, stop downloading or visiting their site. The less traffic, the less downloads they get the lower they will get on the search engines.
Encourage other modders that you know to take a stand by Send a DMCA to their Host, Send a DMCA to Patreon guidelines@patreon.com, Send DMCAs for each Link to Google HERE Each link needs to use a new group. The more DMCA's that are sent to good the farther down they will get on the search engine.
Please Please help, not just for me but for all modders and all future modders out there. This has been an on going thing with them for years.
Thank you so much for helping!

Bananas_45

@fewlines that particular site contains adult/banned content that violates the TOS here on the forums. That is why you cannot post links. We are not even supposed to discuss them here but, I appreciate your PSA.

fewlines

ah, i wasn't thinking. i apologise. (i believe the stolen mods i've mentioned are safe, though.)

Chazzzy

I thought it was illegal for anyone to profit from Mods and CC, including all those folks on Patreon

fewlines

good point... we do know that mods/cc aren't illegal, right? because the game itself has the option to use them.
about what you wrote... the illegal thing has to be when people make money off whatever content they create, because it is based on EA's scripts/in-game stuff, or anything that falls under intellectual property. so of course the company owns the copyright/legal rights to everything. i wonder if they have to receive some sort of compensation...

Chazzzy

fewlines wrote: »

good point... we do know that mods/cc aren't illegal, right? because the game itself has the option to use them.
about what you wrote... the illegal thing has to be when people make money off whatever content they create, because it is based on EA's scripts/in-game stuff, or anything that falls under intellectual property. so of course the company owns the copyright/legal rights to everything. i wonder if they have to receive some sort of compensation...

Yea so these people on Patreon who keep the mods and CC they make behind a pay wall are breaking the law. I’m really surprised EA hasn’t stopped them from doing this yet.

princess_kaguya

Chazzzy wrote: »

fewlines wrote: »

good point... we do know that mods/cc aren't illegal, right? because the game itself has the option to use them.
about what you wrote... the illegal thing has to be when people make money off whatever content they create, because it is based on EA's scripts/in-game stuff, or anything that falls under intellectual property. so of course the company owns the copyright/legal rights to everything. i wonder if they have to receive some sort of compensation...

Yea so these people on Patreon who keep the mods and CC they make behind a pay wall are breaking the law. I’m really surprised EA hasn’t stopped them from doing this yet.

im okay with modders getting financial support via donations and ads but this is just... pls ea do something

fewlines

(sorry, i double-posted.)

fewlines

there is creative work behind modding and CC. however, lots of modders (PolarBearSims being one of them) feel it's wrong to charge for them.

if we forget about the legal/illegal thing, Patreon could be seen as different, because people can choose to support creators, to show appreciation/give thanks, etc. these modders most likely already have original, quality content available for free, so people can actually see if they'd like to support them. this would be a smart and respectful way to operate.

i can see that some sort of "pay-wall"still exists, but i think people who want to get content for free would be okay with that/willing to wait if the creators made everything available at a later date. still, at the end of the day, buying or supporting is the user's choice. nobody owes no-one.

about this, PolarBearSims said: "All CC and mods are supposed to be free. Supporting creators is fine but don't ever buy." (i looked at their Patreon page, and "support" means getting early access to builds and mods. i assume that they later upload all of the creations to MTS.)

fharlz

a good example of that is the basemental mod (dunno if we're allowed to talk about it as it's 18+) but she has a patreon and the mod is released but if you're a patron you get early release/beta features and that's a good way to do it tbh

fewlines

yes, i think more modders are going that way, instead of just "locking" their creations.

LittleMsSam

I think there is a huge difference between Modders who have Patreon and give Early Access and Sites like 🐸🐸🐸🐸. 🐸🐸🐸🐸 has 99% of the Mods on their Site stolen, renamed and uploaded behind a Pay Wall without given any Credit at all to the Modder. A few of my Mods like "More buyable Venues" are on there too and it is frustrating to see your hrs/days/weeks of work getting stolen by such Sites with just a few clicks. Some Modders even stopped modding because of that and that's a shame. PS is doing this for 10 years or so already and yes i wish EA would do something against those Paysites especially when their content is stolen.

fewlines

yes. i think this is the main issue. people who 1) steal a mod and 2) actually charge for it are being completely dismissive of the work the original modder put into it and (if it applies) their decision to make it free. it is insulting and belittling--their creativity is reduced to a quick cut-and-paste.