I'm not a fan of this update at all my profile just started to grow and bit more popular I had some creations that got on the popular now tab but since I don't have many followers it's impossible to get any downloads or gain more followers and it's really annoying other creations like me that are just starting to gain more recognition are also experiencing this problem and I think it has to be fixed.
I think there are 2 issues here. The new Gallery system and DL cheating. I think the Gallery is working with complex algorithms that are not easy to understand without study. I am totally against any kind of cheating.
The frustrating thing here for me is that both issues seem so easy to solve.
-Cheating by not adding a download from your own page to the download count -letting people set there own default page. Naturally you have to start with a page in the very beginning and if that is pop now so be it, but I don't see why after changing the page it can't stay changed until you change it again.
I am not a tech person so I don't know if this is technically harder to achieve than I think it is. The situation as it is would be a lot more acceptable to me if someone with the technical knowhow can explain to me that these solutions aren't possible.
The frustrating thing here for me is that both issues seem so easy to solve.
-Cheating by not adding a download from your own page to the download count
-letting people set there own default page. Naturally you have to start with a page in the very beginning and if that is pop now so be it, but I don't see why after changing the page it can't stay changed until you change it again.
I am not a tech person so I don't know if this is technically harder to achieve than I think it is. The situation as it is would be a lot more acceptable to me if someone with the technical knowhow can explain to me that these solutions aren't possible.
Your first suggestion isn't good for some reason. Even though it forbids you from using 'the self-downloading' trick yourself, you can ask other players to add downloads to your creations anyway. See, it's not that easy to solve. What about the 'one person per one download' concept? It has the same concept like 'one person per one fav'. When you download a creation to your library, the total is increased one time. And when you delete it from your library, the total is decreased one time, too.
The gallery change is working for some, if you can't see that this update has hurt those with few followers, than it's because you have enough to keep you going, your popular some where.
I have a few builds that have done well, but only because a person(s) with many followers liked my lot, it's that simple. In liking my lot, others saw it. In no way did this change help me. Yes, the builds that make it to the popular now category can get good downloads.
For those with few followers, they are suffering the most.
There are not two issues here. Only one major issue. Clearly EA/Maxis is pushing the popular now section as a key factor in the overhaul of the gallery. I repeat, I do believe if this new system was actually functioning correctly, fairly, randomly as advertised and without the manipulative influence of a minority of simmers willing to do whatever it takes, to include "self download" and reupload, then I think we would have actually seen a better outcome than we did. I submitted my findings to the EA live investigative team back in October about the one major gallery flaw that is creating dysfunction in the whole gallery system. If the emphasis is going to now be even more focus on the popular now page then EA has a responsibility to respect their new and improved system by removing the method to cheat on downloads, period. Cheaters will always cheat. They will not stop because they have suddenly grown a conscience.
Let's talk stats now ~ SimGuruKate's twitter poll with just over 2000 voters reflects how much this change has hurt the majority of the gallery. With 35% in the neutral/no change category we do not look at them as they statistically speaking have no sway or buy in on either side. So, now compare the 49% seeing drastically low to sadly no downloads compared to the 15% who have seen higher downloads. Those stats do not make me happy about this new gallery change at all. More work and thought I hope will go into this gallery overhaul in the weeks to come. That is really the only thing keeping me going on in the gallery right now. The knowledge that they are not done with the overhaul and therefore hopefully better things are ahead.
Side note ~ I have noticed that the randomization on the popular now page is occurring occasionally but I personally think they could get that random algorithm working better as well.
> @Plantyl said: . What about the 'one person per one download' concept? It has the same concept like 'one person per one fav'. When you download a creation to your library, the total is increased one time. And when you delete it from your library, the total is decreased one time, too.
I download a lot. Allways to my library so I can look at these buildings in game later. When i've looked at them in game and I decide I want to keep them for whatever reason I fav them and throw them out of my library. I'd go nuts if I had to keep them all in there. if other players use the gallery like that too, downloadcounts will go up and down like jojo's
The frustrating thing here for me is that both issues seem so easy to solve.
-Cheating by not adding a download from your own page to the download count
-letting people set there own default page. Naturally you have to start with a page in the very beginning and if that is pop now so be it, but I don't see why after changing the page it can't stay changed until you change it again.
I am not a tech person so I don't know if this is technically harder to achieve than I think it is. The situation as it is would be a lot more acceptable to me if someone with the technical knowhow can explain to me that these solutions aren't possible.
Your first suggestion isn't good for some reason. Even though it forbids you from using 'the self-downloading' trick yourself, you can ask other players to add downloads to your creations anyway. See, it's not that easy to solve. What about the 'one person per one download' concept? It has the same concept like 'one person per one fav'. When you download a creation to your library, the total is increased one time. And when you delete it from your library, the total is decreased one time, too.
“You can ask other players to add downloads to your creations anyway“
Maybe it’s just me but I wouldn’t spend 20+ minutes repeatedly downloading someone else’s work to boost their stats. I think that sounds pretty fishy, and like a monumental waste of time and energy.
I like the idea that self-downloads don’t count toward the total. I don’t see why anyone should have an issue with that, as the creator of the item you only need to download it if you are playing on a different computer. Everything you upload is automatically saved to the library, and unless you delete it there shouldn’t be a need to download it at all.
@drake_mccarty Well, if I told you that there are cheaters in the gallery who have cheater friends and they support each other, would you believe me? Yes, it must be a waste of time and energy but... for popularity, they can do anything to be famous, even boost each other's downloads. How supportive Please note that what I was representing in my previous comment was about offering how to stop people from cheating on downloads, not backing up creations like you said. The new system can encourage people to be more dishonest and I'm sure there will be an uncontrollable disaster happen to the gallery if EA fixes nothing.
I agree with OP. When things are sorted by most popular, the most popular items get more and more popular, while everything else gets shoved into the corner of the room. I've always hated this across all websites. The game should default to newest.
People with thousand of followers are happy now because they have creation uploaded before the Gallery change, thats means If some of that creation were at the most popular section, now people see more and that how they gain a lot of downlods but, as @kreatora says popular or not, you won't gets downloads if you share something new, no matter haw many followers you have, except of course, people like Deligraci or any other you tubers.
So, I decided to stop gaming/ building till the Gallery gets fixed, I hope the staff check this out and fix it soon as possible.
I have a total of 8 followers. Most of my lots get maybe 10-15 downloads. 1-5 faves. That's it. But since the gallery update, I'm seeing a lot more downloads on some of my builds. I suppose there could be other reasons, but I tend to build similar style homes and things.
I must say that the oldest things that I uploaded to the Gallery gain more downloads with the update, but what I'm trying to say its that the new things people don't see them, so if you uploaded something new right now you probably will get less downlods than before
I take everything I said back. I think I lucked out because I had a couple of houses with trending hashtags. Now I'm getting 1 maybe 2 downloads and that is way worse than before.
For me, it's a mixed bag. I just got a lot on the popular now list (pretty far down though) so I guess the gallery is helping there. But new rooms I did are getting almost no downloads; I think they should be doing a little better. BTW, I started hashtagging my builds to make them easier to find and the recently uploaded lot already has one reuploaded by someone who did some changes to the interior and landscaping, but changed nothing in the gallery notes to indicate it was a reno of my original lot.
Update Thursday !!! Fingers crossed. I tried asking if the newest was going back to being the default , no reply of course Guess we'll have to wait and see.
You know, looking at 'most popular' is kind of wonky too. I decided to look for pools on 30x20 lots. I happen to have such a lot up on the Gallery, that has ~48 downloads. I sorted by most popular, just to see, and ... there are lots on there with 0-3 downloads. That doesn't actually strike me as hugely weird, as I know 30x20 pool lots are probably less common than some others ... but my lot wasn't on there at all.
Interesting, I wasn't aware of the fact that people could download their own creations over and over to cheat the system. I wonder if they could make it so you could only download your own thing once every 24 hours (or something like that). Because I'd hate to lose the ability to download my own creations entirely. There's been a few times that I lost/accidentally deleted something from my library, but was able to recover it because it was on the gallery.
I would be really mad if I would not be able to download my own creations. I enjoy people using my creations a lot, but the main reason I upload most of my stuff is so I can use it myself in another save later on without taking up space in my computer.
I think the easy solution for this would be to just not count your own downloads as downloads.
Back to the topic itself:
The new system has an agenda, a purpose: to push whatever Maxis wants to push, don't even think this has been done to benefit the regular player, it hasn't. Not for the regular simmer that uploads, not for the regular simmer that downloads.
With the popular being the default, they are erasing out of the box creations and smaller voices in the community.
I have said it a lot lately, I know, but I find it really problematic. All the popular uploads follow the same patterns and different and original is being pushed aside.
I don't even care that my uploads have decreased overall since the change, my biggest issue is the homogenisation of the gallery.
Popular now households:
Newest households:
Origin ID is: AlbaWaterhouse
All my creations are CC free.
The frustrating thing here for me is that both issues seem so easy to solve.
-Cheating by not adding a download from your own page to the download count
-letting people set there own default page. Naturally you have to start with a page in the very beginning and if that is pop now so be it, but I don't see why after changing the page it can't stay changed until you change it again.
I am not a tech person so I don't know if this is technically harder to achieve than I think it is. The situation as it is would be a lot more acceptable to me if someone with the technical knowhow can explain to me that these solutions aren't possible.
Your first suggestion isn't good for some reason. Even though it forbids you from using 'the self-downloading' trick yourself, you can ask other players to add downloads to your creations anyway. See, it's not that easy to solve. What about the 'one person per one download' concept? It has the same concept like 'one person per one fav'. When you download a creation to your library, the total is increased one time. And when you delete it from your library, the total is decreased one time, too.
“You can ask other players to add downloads to your creations anyway“
Maybe it’s just me but I wouldn’t spend 20+ minutes repeatedly downloading someone else’s work to boost their stats. I think that sounds pretty fishy, and like a monumental waste of time and energy.
I like the idea that self-downloads don’t count toward the total. I don’t see why anyone should have an issue with that, as the creator of the item you only need to download it if you are playing on a different computer. Everything you upload is automatically saved to the library, and unless you delete it there shouldn’t be a need to download it at all.
Accept Except when you pull out the library folder (it causes lag) and need your own lot back into your game. (If you start many new games). But I agree re downloading your own stuff should never count toward the total of dl totals. That's would be cheating, I guess. But I used the gallery more than not for a place to save my stuff in the clouds instead of keeping them in my library for weeks at time and lagging out my game.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
@Plantyl I do know what you are saying is likely happening because I've had extensive private conversation with an admitted repeat user of the self downloading trick. In these conversations in origin this person admitted that this person saw nothing wrong with adding some more DL to their friends and supporters to help them become more popular too. As with all things the more of something you have the more of that something you will continue to get. If you have a like-minded group helping you get it, everyone in that group will benefit. Knowing what I know about various social cliques I can see this situation happening all to easily here in the gallery. @drake_mccarty I do agree with you completely in the fact that self downloading and especially adding to other simmer's creation total is a total waste of time. I now ask you to try to think in the mindset of these simmers who's first desire is to be most popular. The gallery is built around that one fact ~ what's most popular right now. This desire for those people must have been intensified with this change to the popular now being the default. Before we had to intentionally go there to see that page. Now we are forced to see it every day. I am against this new default even though I see my own creation staring me down on it right now.
@AlbaWaterhouse ~ Thanks for posting these screenshots of the gallery. I am not sure how much I should say publicly looking in particular at this popular now screenshot. I will say one of these simmers currently taking up one or more spots on this page is the potential self downloader I was referring to in an earlier post to @FruUtter ~ I have never spoken to this person but as I said I have studied this issue a year now & for me personally an obvious self downloader is pretty easy to spot. Everyone please ask yourself this ~ How is it possible in our new gallery system for a simmer with less than 2000 followers to earn 1000 downloads in a 24 hour period? That should be a no brainer .. it's not possible. *Correction, it's not possible when playing fairly & honestly* Yet, 2 of these creations did exactly that. Self downloading for the purpose of manipulating the gallery download totals for one's own personal gain is wrong! It is also against EA's rules but because we can't actually see a person sitting at their computer adding +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 as many times as they like it is too hard to argue this point. I brought this major problem up here because it directly relates to the OP point about how a small majority of people are receiving a huge percentage of downloads now with this new default while new creators/new uploads have been shut down completely because they are no longer visible. Within this small majority I completely believe at least 25% are self downloading. That is a tragedy and if you look critically at all of these creations in this screenshot I think that while your point about the "homogenisation of the gallery" is a valid one I want you to also consider that maxis is not the one pushing this on all of us .. by my count just on this 1 screenshot alone I am concerned that approximately 7 out of 15 of these have had their download totals manipulated either by their own hand or someone else's.
I personally am tired, offended and disgusted to be force fed these creations not by maxis or by the majority who actually is liking these things but by the creator themselves when they actively choose to boost their own work to the front of the line forcing us all to see it in the first place. People get fired up these days when someone cuts the line in traffic, school, shopping .. wherever. In a sense this is exactly what the self downloader is doing.
The funny thing is that I am getting about the same number of downloads I got before. I don't know how that happened but I don't get into the hundreds and thousands anyway.
@GLovely1 I guess I don’t use the gallery enough I wasn’t aware of this self-downloading problem until recently. I agree the emphasis on popular now has probably resulted in more of that since it’s more prominent than before. Hopefully maxis can solve this problem, the stat-boosting groups will probably be tricky to solve without disrupting the ability to download in general. Perhaps they could implement a cool off after you download the same creation two or three times in a set time. Like an hour, that could curb the problem altogether. Don’t know how feasible that solution is for the team though.
@Plantyl I do know what you are saying is likely happening because I've had extensive private conversation with an admitted repeat user of the self downloading trick. In these conversations in origin this person admitted that this person saw nothing wrong with adding some more DL to their friends and supporters to help them become more popular too. As with all things the more of something you have the more of that something you will continue to get. If you have a like-minded group helping you get it, everyone in that group will benefit. Knowing what I know about various social cliques I can see this situation happening all to easily here in the gallery. @drake_mccarty I do agree with you completely in the fact that self downloading and especially adding to other simmer's creation total is a total waste of time. I now ask you to try to think in the mindset of these simmers who's first desire is to be most popular. The gallery is built around that one fact ~ what's most popular right now. This desire for those people must have been intensified with this change to the popular now being the default. Before we had to intentionally go there to see that page. Now we are forced to see it every day. I am against this new default even though I see my own creation staring me down on it right now.
@AlbaWaterhouse ~ Thanks for posting these screenshots of the gallery. I am not sure how much I should say publicly looking in particular at this popular now screenshot. I will say one of these simmers currently taking up one or more spots on this page is the potential self downloader I was referring to in an earlier post to @FruUtter ~ I have never spoken to this person but as I said I have studied this issue a year now & for me personally an obvious self downloader is pretty easy to spot. Everyone please ask yourself this ~ How is it possible in our new gallery system for a simmer with less than 2000 followers to earn 1000 downloads in a 24 hour period? That should be a no brainer .. it's not possible. *Correction, it's not possible when playing fairly & honestly* Yet, 2 of these creations did exactly that. Self downloading for the purpose of manipulating the gallery download totals for one's own personal gain is wrong! It is also against EA's rules but because we can't actually see a person sitting at their computer adding +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 as many times as they like it is too hard to argue this point. I brought this major problem up here because it directly relates to the OP point about how a small majority of people are receiving a huge percentage of downloads now with this new default while new creators/new uploads have been shut down completely because they are no longer visible. Within this small majority I completely believe at least 25% are self downloading. That is a tragedy and if you look critically at all of these creations in this screenshot I think that while your point about the "homogenisation of the gallery" is a valid one I want you to also consider that maxis is not the one pushing this on all of us .. by my count just on this 1 screenshot alone I am concerned that approximately 7 out of 15 of these have had their download totals manipulated either by their own hand or someone else's.
I personally am tired, offended and disgusted to be force fed these creations not by maxis or by the majority who actually is liking these things but by the creator themselves when they actively choose to boost their own work to the front of the line forcing us all to see it in the first place. People get fired up these days when someone cuts the line in traffic, school, shopping .. wherever. In a sense this is exactly what the self downloader is doing.
Are you actually accusing someone here of downloading one of their things on gallery ( I don't know I don't have game installed anymore to get on gallery) 1000 times? That's what you are saying, they got 1000 downloads and were self downloading? I don't think anyone would sit and download their own stuff 1000 times. Did you figure in the fact when people see 'popular now' they want to be part of the cool crowd too, so they also download something someone told them is 'popular now'. It's like when the internet tells you 'trending now' and some, o.k. millions click on it to see what is trending now, because they were just told something is trending now whether true or not it makes people click. So, it's very possible because a person's stuff was in the 'popular now' filter they got more downloads just because it was deemed popular..creating a crazy vicious cycle. ETA: I didn't follow but a few of my own friends. So, I downloaded stuff and never had to follow anyone. So, it is also possible they don' t need 2000 actual followers to get a 1000 downloads, but it would increase the view if in popular now and of course generate more downloads just for being there.
And here I thought the gallery was about sharing, and not who has to be popular. But the pure enjoyment of creating and sharing.
(If it's about popularity for some, then of course people would be upset if no one downloads). (If it's popularity someone seeks they count their followers and downloads, sharing is take it or leave it.
Post edited by Cinebar on
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
@Cinebar ~ I chose my words very carefully there. No, I didn't directly accuse someone. I am more directly accusing the system for allowing anyone the choice to self download in the first place. Here I stated my gallery observation of one creator who I have over time been concerned with is self downloading. If one understands the basic statistical structure of the gallery you will see that one does not need to waste their time self downloading 1000 times. In fact in another post I made here I clearly explain how this system works and how a self downloader only needs to add say 10 extra downloads every hour in the first 24 hours to guarantee a spot in the popular now section. 5 DL in 1 minute, 25 DL in 5 minutes. I repeat ~ in only 5 minutes any one of us could right now add 25 downloads to their own or anyone else's creation. Add that to the legitimate downloads they are getting and easily they reach the popular now page within 24 hours. Once they are in the popular now section the natural ideas that you bring up like "when people see 'popular now' they want to be part of the cool crowd too, so they also download something someone told them is 'popular now'." kicks in and then the whole gallery clicks 'like' and downloads that creation. I am agreeing with you. I am agreeing with the whole point of this thread. I am disagreeing with the methods and intentions of this new popular now as default. I am also disagreeing with the major flaw I keep clearly pointing out to anyone who will listen. I do not know how to explain this further. If I were to add 25 more downloads to my own creations that would only take me 5 minutes. My self downloads would add to my legitimate follower base who does actually download my creations then the numbers do add up. I could boost myself into that section with every creation just taking a little extra time to self download. I couldn't make it to the top self downloading in this smaller way but getting to the top in the first 24 hours is not necessary. Once you are seen in that section then we start dealing with all of the points you have just brought up. Plus, reaching the top of popular now within 24 hours would be way too obvious. It is a numbers game in the gallery. It always has been especially if you buy into the whole idea of "popular now". If I did only want popularity here I would have just shut up about this self downloading concern and joined in the self downloading strategy for popularity. It is a huge rush to be a hit and to be seen by everyone viewing that page. It is an even bigger rush now in this new system because my downloads only for this one creation are growing exponentially more than I have ever seen in the 2 1/2 years I have been creating and sharing. Plus, that new follow button is being used a lot so my follower base is growing faster than ever before just by that one male sim being up there at the top legitimately. That easy follow button is a new, and in my opinion a very tempting factor to continue using or now start using the self downloading method if my major motivation in uploading was for popularity and fame. Clearly that is not my motivation. Never has been, never will be. I am not so naïve to believe in the goodness of all people I share this incredibly creative gallery with anymore knowing the way to self download is available to all of us and much too quickly able to be used.
Thank you @Cinebar for bringing up these points which helped me to highlight the reasons some people will choose to self download in the first place. I appreciate your critical thought process. I never want to outright accuse anyone because I do not have a right to judge anyone personally. Who knows what is going on in the minds and hearts of others and the why in which people chose to do the things they do. I only want us all to see and most specifically EA/Maxis to see how damaging this one fact is to the health and fairness of this gallery.
Thank you to everyone taking the time to read, think, comment and consider the validity of what I am saying. I would even say test it out yourselves but that would be encouraging you to use a game flaw to manipulate the numbers to your benefit which is against EA's rules. I do encourage you to please reach out to anyone you know that could be influential in helping fix this self downloading mess though .. please
I'm just happy if one person downloads my house. I've only got 11 followers though and don't much like having them anyway. I don't like this collecting followers idea. Is this a competition?
I feel like I'm being stalked if I upload a house and get told a minute or two later that someone has got it. Maybe I forgot to put the toilet roll in the bathroom!!!! (see complaints threads). I put a few houses on to check the Gallery after the change and my downloads seem the same but I won't be putting any more online. The Gurus said they are aware of the multiple downloads problem so the person(s) responsible might have a cruel awakening one day.
I've never tried downloading my own though. It is not good to give me such ideas.
Perhaps a separate thread about self-downloading would be more constructive & visible to the SimGurus than posting about it here? This thread is about a different topic, so the SimGurus may take better notice of what you're trying to discuss if you made a thread specifically for it.
I don't think a lot of people really see the gallery as popularity contest, as some have implied. But rather, I know for myself, the point is that the whole purpose of the gallery in the first place is to share with others. So if no one's downloading, it defeats the purpose and makes the gallery pointless aside from acting basically as a cloud storage for your creations.
@hyrulerose Yes, I agree and I did try that back in October. Too many people got heated on that original thread I think because I called it cheating and upset people on both sides of this issue. Plus, I think I was the first person to really try to openly discuss this very hidden and dysfunctional gallery problem so it was kind of a shock to most of the readers back then. The moderator closed it because of the inflammatory comments some posters were using which in hindsight I realize they were trying to derail my thread. They did At that time I gave up with mixed feelings and a promise by the EA moderator that my documented evidence was being reviewed by EA. I am feeling similar feelings now as I did then. Do I stay and advocate for positive gallery changes or leave since the option of using the self downloading trick is not an option for me? I would leave not because I am focused on popularity but from the fact that I am a teacher in real life and I do not condone this type of cheating in any way, shape or form ~ Even if it is only a small minority of simmers acting in this way it is too many in my opinion. I am truly disheartened by this one major change defaulting to "popular now" because I wholeheartedly believe the self downloading will get much, much worse. I brought these self downloading concerns up here because to me it seems very closely related to this post. It drastically affects download numbers and what is seen on the popular now page we are all now forced to see by default
I would try again now to open another thread about this but it is against some forum rule for me personally to start a new thread about this when my original thread was closed. I don't know exactly what rule but back then I was nicely warned I should not start another forum thread about this topic and some rule was named. I don't remember what the rule is I only remember the warning
Once again I thank everyone for your respectful concerns to my words and I appreciate all posters respectful commentary regarding all issues brought up here. These interactions I've had are much more positive than the ones I had back in October. Stay positive everyone …
Comments
I think there are 2 issues here. The new Gallery system and DL cheating. I think the Gallery is working with complex algorithms that are not easy to understand without study. I am totally against any kind of cheating.
Love
-Cheating by not adding a download from your own page to the download count
-letting people set there own default page. Naturally you have to start with a page in the very beginning and if that is pop now so be it, but I don't see why after changing the page it can't stay changed until you change it again.
I am not a tech person so I don't know if this is technically harder to achieve than I think it is. The situation as it is would be a lot more acceptable to me if someone with the technical knowhow can explain to me that these solutions aren't possible.
I have a few builds that have done well, but only because a person(s) with many followers liked my lot, it's that simple. In liking my lot, others saw it. In no way did this change help me. Yes, the builds that make it to the popular now category can get good downloads.
For those with few followers, they are suffering the most.
Let's talk stats now ~ SimGuruKate's twitter poll with just over 2000 voters reflects how much this change has hurt the majority of the gallery. With 35% in the neutral/no change category we do not look at them as they statistically speaking have no sway or buy in on either side. So, now compare the 49% seeing drastically low to sadly no downloads compared to the 15% who have seen higher downloads. Those stats do not make me happy about this new gallery change at all.
Side note ~ I have noticed that the randomization on the popular now page is occurring occasionally but I personally think they could get that random algorithm working better as well.
Thanks for reading and respecting this thread
[img][/img]
. What about the 'one person per one download' concept? It has the same concept like 'one person per one fav'. When you download a creation to your library, the total is increased one time. And when you delete it from your library, the total is decreased one time, too.
I download a lot. Allways to my library so I can look at these buildings in game later. When i've looked at them in game and I decide I want to keep them for whatever reason I fav them and throw them out of my library. I'd go nuts if I had to keep them all in there. if other players use the gallery like that too, downloadcounts will go up and down like jojo's
“You can ask other players to add downloads to your creations anyway“
Maybe it’s just me but I wouldn’t spend 20+ minutes repeatedly downloading someone else’s work to boost their stats. I think that sounds pretty fishy, and like a monumental waste of time and energy.
I like the idea that self-downloads don’t count toward the total. I don’t see why anyone should have an issue with that, as the creator of the item you only need to download it if you are playing on a different computer. Everything you upload is automatically saved to the library, and unless you delete it there shouldn’t be a need to download it at all.
I take everything I said back. I think I lucked out because I had a couple of houses with trending hashtags. Now I'm getting 1 maybe 2 downloads and that is way worse than before.
So uh ... what the heck?
I would be really mad if I would not be able to download my own creations. I enjoy people using my creations a lot, but the main reason I upload most of my stuff is so I can use it myself in another save later on without taking up space in my computer.
I think the easy solution for this would be to just not count your own downloads as downloads.
Back to the topic itself:
The new system has an agenda, a purpose: to push whatever Maxis wants to push, don't even think this has been done to benefit the regular player, it hasn't. Not for the regular simmer that uploads, not for the regular simmer that downloads.
With the popular being the default, they are erasing out of the box creations and smaller voices in the community.
I have said it a lot lately, I know, but I find it really problematic. All the popular uploads follow the same patterns and different and original is being pushed aside.
I don't even care that my uploads have decreased overall since the change, my biggest issue is the homogenisation of the gallery.
Popular now households:
Newest households:
All my creations are CC free.
Accept Except when you pull out the library folder (it causes lag) and need your own lot back into your game.
@AlbaWaterhouse ~ Thanks for posting these screenshots of the gallery. I am not sure how much I should say publicly looking in particular at this popular now screenshot. I will say one of these simmers currently taking up one or more spots on this page is the potential self downloader I was referring to in an earlier post to @FruUtter ~ I have never spoken to this person but as I said I have studied this issue a year now & for me personally an obvious self downloader is pretty easy to spot. Everyone please ask yourself this ~ How is it possible in our new gallery system for a simmer with less than 2000 followers to earn 1000 downloads in a 24 hour period? That should be a no brainer .. it's not possible. *Correction, it's not possible when playing fairly & honestly* Yet, 2 of these creations did exactly that. Self downloading for the purpose of manipulating the gallery download totals for one's own personal gain is wrong! It is also against EA's rules but because we can't actually see a person sitting at their computer adding +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 as many times as they like it is too hard to argue this point. I brought this major problem up here because it directly relates to the OP point about how a small majority of people are receiving a huge percentage of downloads now with this new default while new creators/new uploads have been shut down completely because they are no longer visible. Within this small majority I completely believe at least 25% are self downloading. That is a tragedy and if you look critically at all of these creations in this screenshot I think that while your point about the "homogenisation of the gallery" is a valid one I want you to also consider that maxis is not the one pushing this on all of us .. by my count just on this 1 screenshot alone I am concerned that approximately 7 out of 15 of these have had their download totals manipulated either by their own hand or someone else's.
I personally am tired, offended and disgusted to be force fed these creations not by maxis or by the majority who actually is liking these things but by the creator themselves when they actively choose to boost their own work to the front of the line forcing us all to see it in the first place. People get fired up these days when someone cuts the line in traffic, school, shopping .. wherever. In a sense this is exactly what the self downloader is doing.
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Are you actually accusing someone here of downloading one of their things on gallery ( I don't know I don't have game installed anymore to get on gallery) 1000 times? That's what you are saying, they got 1000 downloads and were self downloading? I don't think anyone would sit and download their own stuff 1000 times. Did you figure in the fact when people see 'popular now' they want to be part of the cool crowd too, so they also download something someone told them is 'popular now'. It's like when the internet tells you 'trending now' and some, o.k. millions click on it to see what is trending now, because they were just told something is trending now whether true or not it makes people click. So, it's very possible because a person's stuff was in the 'popular now' filter they got more downloads just because it was deemed popular..creating a crazy vicious cycle. ETA: I didn't follow but a few of my own friends. So, I downloaded stuff and never had to follow anyone. So, it is also possible they don' t need 2000 actual followers to get a 1000 downloads, but it would increase the view if in popular now and of course generate more downloads just for being there.
And here I thought the gallery was about sharing, and not who has to be popular. But the pure enjoyment of creating and sharing.
(If it's about popularity for some, then of course people would be upset if no one downloads). (If it's popularity someone seeks they count their followers and downloads, sharing is take it or leave it.
Thank you @Cinebar for bringing up these points which helped me to highlight the reasons some people will choose to self download in the first place. I appreciate your critical thought process. I never want to outright accuse anyone because I do not have a right to judge anyone personally. Who knows what is going on in the minds and hearts of others and the why in which people chose to do the things they do. I only want us all to see and most specifically EA/Maxis to see how damaging this one fact is to the health and fairness of this gallery.
Thank you to everyone taking the time to read, think, comment and consider the validity of what I am saying. I would even say test it out yourselves but that would be encouraging you to use a game flaw to manipulate the numbers to your benefit which is against EA's rules. I do encourage you to please reach out to anyone you know that could be influential in helping fix this self downloading mess though .. please
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I feel like I'm being stalked if I upload a house and get told a minute or two later that someone has got it. Maybe I forgot to put the toilet roll in the bathroom!!!! (see complaints threads). I put a few houses on to check the Gallery after the change and my downloads seem the same but I won't be putting any more online. The Gurus said they are aware of the multiple downloads problem so the person(s) responsible might have a cruel awakening one day.
I've never tried downloading my own though. It is not good to give me such ideas.
I would try again now to open another thread about this but it is against some forum rule for me personally to start a new thread about this when my original thread was closed. I don't know exactly what rule but back then I was nicely warned I should not start another forum thread about this topic and some rule was named. I don't remember what the rule is I only remember the warning
Once again I thank everyone for your respectful concerns to my words and I appreciate all posters respectful commentary regarding all issues brought up here. These interactions I've had are much more positive than the ones I had back in October.
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