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    Is paid/"donate" exclusive CC breaking the terms of the EULA?

    KurotardKurotard Posts: 380 Member
    in The Sims 4 General Discussion
    Hi! I've been looking into this for a while, as it was brought up to me on my blog concerning fellow CC creators in the community. Things like link shorteners (adfly, shst, ouoio), patreon-exclusive (paid), and outright payment exclusive content, I believe might be against the user agreement. I want others thoughts an opinions, and if so, a Sim Guru's opinion on it. I feel people shouldn't be charging money for modded content when we've already paid for the game itself. I mean, that didn't pan out so well when Bethesda tried it, so I believe the Sims series shouldn't be any different.

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      StormkeepStormkeep Posts: 7,632 Member
      edited December 2018
      Not sure about the link shorteners, but the answer is...yes, paid exclusive CC does violate the ToS. EA has actually made an official statement regarding this. I think that is why it is much less common then in was in previous Sims games.

      The Guru's have made official statements on the topic as well, in the forums. Here's one thread with an example from last year where a guru chimed in, but it is just one of many: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/930045/ea-its-time-you-start-doing-something-about-the-entitled-cc-creators-in-the-sims-community/p3
      This post will be edited by StormKeep at some point.
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      The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
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      SuniroseSunirose Posts: 460 Member
      edited December 2018
      Right or wrong, people have been charging for content since the Sims 1. It's been going on for 15 years. It's nothing new.

      Personally, I like the Bethesda CC content that requires payment. It's a choice to buy or not to buy.
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      SuniroseSunirose Posts: 460 Member
      edited December 2018
      Stormkeep wrote: »
      Not sure about the link shorteners, but the answer is...yes, paid exclusive CC does violate the ToS. EA has actually made an official statement regarding this. I think that is why it is much less common then in was in previous Sims games.

      The Guru's have made official statements on the topic as well, in the forums. Here's one thread with an example from last year where a guru chimed in, but it is just one of many: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/930045/ea-its-time-you-start-doing-something-about-the-entitled-cc-creators-in-the-sims-community/p3

      Which brings up another point. The people that constantly accuse other people of stealing their creations on the gallery are completely in the wrong according to ToS then. Because once it's uploaded to the gallery, it becomes EA's property. How then can it be stolen? However, doesn't EA punish the people that do upload other peoples creations by banning them from the gallery? Isn't that a double standard? The funny thing about all that fuss about people stealing other peoples creations by uploading them on the gallery is EA makes that option possible. It was EA's idea to do that. They shouldn't be punishing other people for using the very system they created.
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      CupidCupid Posts: 3,623 Member
      People argue all the time about whether or not this is legal and the truth is, it doesn't really matter if EA doesn't care enough to prosecute anyone for it. Jaywalking is illegal in my city, but the police never ticket anyone for it so if we all continue to jaywalk and not get punished for it, is it really illegal in a practical sense?

      My opinion of it all is that modders have the right to request money for their efforts if they want to; just as people have the right to refuse to give them any.
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      StormkeepStormkeep Posts: 7,632 Member
      edited December 2018
      @Sunirose, not entirely true. If you upload someone else's creation without giving some credit is when it's a problem. If you upload with credit given and have made some changes or alterations, they don't generally care. As that is what they are talking about. I think that's more about ethical standards, and keeping the gallery from getting clogged with repeats of the same thing.

      No matter what, any time they take action it is covered by that 2nd paragraph of section 5. The words "..at its sole discretion..", which basically means they make the rules.
      This post will be edited by StormKeep at some point.
      2c2ab3785fad83173d9a155efa4afd1fc99b9595.jpg
      The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
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      SuniroseSunirose Posts: 460 Member
      edited December 2018
      I guess then the same could be said for paid content.

      Besides, how can you avoid not giving people credit when EA set up the system to acknowledge who the original creator is when it comes to houses? And when it comes to sims, lets face it, most of them look the same. Mistaken identity could easily happen on the gallery.
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      KurotardKurotard Posts: 380 Member
      edited December 2018
      Sunirose wrote: »
      Right or wrong, people have been charging for content since the Sims 1. It's been going on for 15 years. It's nothing new.

      Personally, I like the Bethesda CC content that requires payment. It's a choice to buy or not to buy.


      Just because people are doing it doesn't mean it's right.
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      SuniroseSunirose Posts: 460 Member
      edited December 2018
      I absolutely agree Kurotard. Just because people are doing it, as with anything in game or life, doesn't mean it's right.
    • Options
      StormkeepStormkeep Posts: 7,632 Member
      edited December 2018
      Personally, I like that the paid content is much less prevalent than in past games in the series.

      I personally go out of my way to avoid even the CC that has the link shortening method....because it is both annoying, and a lot of those link shorteners are shady (looking at you ad fly). The content creators that use them are disrespecting their users by not caring about the shady practices of the companies involved as long as they get paid.

      Content that is well done, free, but accepts donations...those folks I respect, because they show respect to their users, and will support with said donations if they do good work.
      This post will be edited by StormKeep at some point.
      2c2ab3785fad83173d9a155efa4afd1fc99b9595.jpg
      The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
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      KurotardKurotard Posts: 380 Member
      edited December 2018
      Stormkeep wrote: »
      Personally, I like that the paid content is much less prevalent than in past games. I personally go out of my way to avoid even the CC that has the link shortening method....because it is both annoying, and a lot of those link shorteners are shady (looking at you ad fly). The content creators that use them are disrespecting their users by not caring about the shady practices of the companies involved as long as they get paid.

      Content that is well done, free, but accepts donations...those folks I respect, because they show respect to their users, and will support with said donations if they do good work.

      Old TSR, RoseSims, Raojena, New Sea, Peggysims, oh I could go on about all the Sims 2/3 "donate"/paid CC. There's a reason PaysitesMustBeDestroyed was created.

      I can get if someone has a Ko-Fi or Paypal link on their blog/site, that's cool. But charging money outright? Naaah.
    • Options
      SuniroseSunirose Posts: 460 Member
      Kurotard wrote: »
      Stormkeep wrote: »
      Personally, I like that the paid content is much less prevalent than in past games. I personally go out of my way to avoid even the CC that has the link shortening method....because it is both annoying, and a lot of those link shorteners are shady (looking at you ad fly). The content creators that use them are disrespecting their users by not caring about the shady practices of the companies involved as long as they get paid.

      Content that is well done, free, but accepts donations...those folks I respect, because they show respect to their users, and will support with said donations if they do good work.

      Old TSR, RoseSims, Raojena, New Sea, Peggysims, oh I could go on about all the Sims 2/3 "donate"/paid CC. There's a reason PaysitesMustBeDestroyed was created.

      I can get if someone has a Ko-Fi or Paypal link on their blog/site, that's cool. But charging money outright? Naaah.

      You missed Sims 1. Yes, paid CC existed even then.
    • Options
      ReksohReksoh Posts: 303 Member
      If Im not buying it then it doesnt hurt me. Only one its hurting is EA. If EA doesn't care enough to do anything about it I dont see why I should.

      Sometimes I feel like people only bring this up because someone made something they want and put it behind a paywall. I'm not saying thats why you're doing it, but at the same time I doubt the real concern here is over EA losing money and being taken advantage of.
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      KurotardKurotard Posts: 380 Member
      Sunirose wrote: »
      Kurotard wrote: »
      Stormkeep wrote: »
      Personally, I like that the paid content is much less prevalent than in past games. I personally go out of my way to avoid even the CC that has the link shortening method....because it is both annoying, and a lot of those link shorteners are shady (looking at you ad fly). The content creators that use them are disrespecting their users by not caring about the shady practices of the companies involved as long as they get paid.

      Content that is well done, free, but accepts donations...those folks I respect, because they show respect to their users, and will support with said donations if they do good work.

      Old TSR, RoseSims, Raojena, New Sea, Peggysims, oh I could go on about all the Sims 2/3 "donate"/paid CC. There's a reason PaysitesMustBeDestroyed was created.

      I can get if someone has a Ko-Fi or Paypal link on their blog/site, that's cool. But charging money outright? Naaah.

      You missed Sims 1. Yes, paid CC existed even then.
      Sunirose wrote: »
      Kurotard wrote: »
      Stormkeep wrote: »
      Personally, I like that the paid content is much less prevalent than in past games. I personally go out of my way to avoid even the CC that has the link shortening method....because it is both annoying, and a lot of those link shorteners are shady (looking at you ad fly). The content creators that use them are disrespecting their users by not caring about the shady practices of the companies involved as long as they get paid.

      Content that is well done, free, but accepts donations...those folks I respect, because they show respect to their users, and will support with said donations if they do good work.

      Old TSR, RoseSims, Raojena, New Sea, Peggysims, oh I could go on about all the Sims 2/3 "donate"/paid CC. There's a reason PaysitesMustBeDestroyed was created.

      I can get if someone has a Ko-Fi or Paypal link on their blog/site, that's cool. But charging money outright? Naaah.

      You missed Sims 1. Yes, paid CC existed even then.

      I know, but I remember the infamy surrounding those paysites, hence why I mentioned them. I recall TSR was forced by EA to make it so people could no longer charge money for CC.
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      LadyKynLadyKyn Posts: 3,595 Member
      Honestly the majority of 'paid' content is low quality and trash. Yet, there are people willing to give their money out for it. Same with stolen meshes from things like IMVU and Second life that's being resold or put behind multiple link shorteners with no credit or permission from the original creator. People just ripping themselves off, but oh well.

      I do donate to some creators/modders that have their stuff fully released or releases in about a week or two and don't hide their CC behind ad-fly links and link shortners. Just the ones that put a lot of effort into their stuff and put so much time and effort into it. Deaderpool is an example of someone who I am more than happy to donate to.
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