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Is TS4 going to do anything to ensure that CC is SAFE to use in your game?
AmaraRena
Posts: 6,533 Member
http://www.gamezone.com/news/2014/06/18/the-sims-4-will-offer-more-objects-in-the-base-game-than-ever-before
The article above mentions that TS4's Gallery is going to make it easier than ever to add player created items (aka CC) to your game. That's great....except for one thing. CC in TS3 can be and often IS a complete nightmare. Arezzo Counter anyone? Despite my best efforts to be careful I have had to reinstall THREE DIFFERENT TIMES due to bad CC creeping into my game and basically WRECKING it. Heck, you can even import some nice viruses into your computer by downloading CC. And yet, EA offers absolutely ZERO ways to combat this. Indeed, they use CC as their "get out of jail free" card constantly. Have a problem with your game's performance? First thing they ask you is, "Do you use CC?" If you answer yes then they simply say, "Well we can't help you because your problem could be CC related. Get rid of all of it and THEN test your game and if you still have the problem get back to us. Have a nice day!" And there you are, left with NO help whatsoever! TS3 is COMPLETELY VULNERABLE to problems created by CC and EA takes NO STEPS WHATSOEVER to protect players. I personally have had to pretty much entirely give up on CC.
So what I want to know is; What assurance do we have that THIS TIME EA is going to be proactive and provide us with tools to screen CC that are RELIABLE before putting it in our game? Because frankly, it is totally irresponsible for them NOT to do so.
The article above mentions that TS4's Gallery is going to make it easier than ever to add player created items (aka CC) to your game. That's great....except for one thing. CC in TS3 can be and often IS a complete nightmare. Arezzo Counter anyone? Despite my best efforts to be careful I have had to reinstall THREE DIFFERENT TIMES due to bad CC creeping into my game and basically WRECKING it. Heck, you can even import some nice viruses into your computer by downloading CC. And yet, EA offers absolutely ZERO ways to combat this. Indeed, they use CC as their "get out of jail free" card constantly. Have a problem with your game's performance? First thing they ask you is, "Do you use CC?" If you answer yes then they simply say, "Well we can't help you because your problem could be CC related. Get rid of all of it and THEN test your game and if you still have the problem get back to us. Have a nice day!" And there you are, left with NO help whatsoever! TS3 is COMPLETELY VULNERABLE to problems created by CC and EA takes NO STEPS WHATSOEVER to protect players. I personally have had to pretty much entirely give up on CC.
So what I want to know is; What assurance do we have that THIS TIME EA is going to be proactive and provide us with tools to screen CC that are RELIABLE before putting it in our game? Because frankly, it is totally irresponsible for them NOT to do so.
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Comments
No.
Grant said that it's up to to person who uploads the sim with CC to tell us, not EA. There will be a flag for CC, however if the uploader is dishonest and doesn't mark his/her creation with CC, then you could be downloading CC without knowing it.
So no, it'll be as irresponsible as TS3 Exchange :?
I try to make sure to address CC although one of my creations I failed to notice a hidden outfit still had CC attached, so hopefully they will fix this issue a little bit so CC doesn't attach too much to the files, or at least they release some sort of tool to deal with this (then again that custard thing for TS3 if remade would suffice).
I don't know. But I don't think so. It would be foolish of Graham to mention that as a sort of protection from CC if the uploader can just walz in and remove comments.
Why would they take responsibility for third party content?
I don't trust or use third party CC.
To protect their loyal playerbase?
They can't sit their and monitor every single person that makes third party content that's got nothing to do with their company.
It would be impossible unless they provided the tools by which third party CC is developed (which sets limitations on possibility and creativity) and all third party CC had to be submitted to a separate location for testing which would cost extra time and resources that I DOUBT they would spend to ensure the quality of something that they had nothing to do with producing and will make no profit from.
Looking at it reasonably that isn't their problem.
Someone probably will but, just as with Custard, it can easily become outdated and you can't count on modders to keep it up and accurate. AT THE VERY LEAST I hope they can separate Store Content from CC. It drives me crazy that, in TS3, if I choose the option to "run without custom content" in my launcher it ALSO removes all my Store Content! Makes NO SENSE whatsoever! I'd feel a lot better about using CC IF I could choose to completely exclude it from my game when I build things to put on the Exchange. And the new TS4 Exchange SHOULD be able to recognize and FLAG CC whether or not the person uploading the content remembers to mention whether or not it has CC in the description they write up. The way EA chooses to NOT get involved with CC is a huge failure on their part.
True, well said and touché!
If they did implement certain boundaries to CC, keeping the player base using the gallery safe but limiting creativity players would complain. Not doing so will also garner complaints. Also, expecting each and every player uploading creations with CC attached to be honorable and let others know of it is like me expecting to become pregnant whilst being a man....lol.
Best thing is to avoid it if you are unsure about it. I know I sure will.
And that's the rub. There's some amazing, and safe, CC out there. But none of us can be sure what is and isn't OK. This problem actually LIMITS the creativity of modders by making their audience/users smaller and more hesitant to use their stuff. EA HAS the tools to scan for unsafe content and frankly I'd be happy to pay for them as an add-on. They ALSO have the ability to flag any content on the Exchange as having CC and they SHOULD do that as a bare minimum.
you CAN NOT get a virus from any mods or CC.
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/723250.page#11490872
I am not entirely sure I believe that. No, I don't believe I got a virus from CC, my last virus problem was courtesy of my teenager. lol But even CC makers end up making CC with massive problems OF WHICH THEY ARE COMPLETELY UNAWARE. And people who deliberately write malicious code are very clever and usually ahead of the curve technologically. So I wouldn't say it's IMPOSSIBLE. Pretty much nothing is. And with ZERO oversight of CC on the part of EA... you can bet there WILL be problems.
Edited to add: Also, there can be problems with many of the sites that offer CC and you CAN get a virus from visiting those sites, ESPECIALLY horrible adware infecting your machine because you have to "allow" a lot of stuff to get the sites to work to download the CC in the first place. So, theoretically, the Exchange SHOULD be the SAFEST place to get CC. But some minimal involvement on EA's part SHOULD be expected there as well!
I never used any CC and I had my share of problems anyway
I agree with Rimbaudvogessi though, at the end of the day it's not their responsibility what people put into their game that isn't EA related.
if i understand correctly you think you may know more than twallan a professional programmer that has reviewed the game engine - some how his insight, expertise and actual hands on experience still falls short of your hunches?
you can think whatever you like but you can not reasonably express a hunch as a fact
and i think its wrong to broadcast misinformation - its fear mongering to me to at the very least qualify yourself
I do think the exchange should put a tag on uploads containing CC so that those who want to forgo it can. Although, most of the better builders will state if they've used CC or not. Most of the better Sim creators will have used CC since Sims look much better with it.
I agree and certainly reputation among builders and Sim creators is helpful in deciding who to download from. I have a VERY SMALL list of creators I trust at this point. But EA SHOULD get involved in this since they are allowing the inclusion of CC in the first place. Again, they have the ability to develop tools to let us scan CC and that is actually a service I'd be happy to pay for as an add-on. However, scanning for the inclusion of CC should be free as Simmers should be able to reliably tell if a creation HAS CC in it or not. But choosing to use CC IS a player choice and lots of people will choose not to do it so those people should not have to pay for scanning software that checks to see if CC is safe. That part I would be glad to pay for.
They don't have to monitor items individually. They can create a filter which flags nonstandard content (CC) to alert anyone who views the item that it contains CC. No need to register or review or whatever the CC - just anything that EA didn't make itself would be marked. It would be super easy to make that kind of filter - visit the Exchange and look at how they list which EPs or SPs you need to use an item. It will even list the items from the Store used - and link you to that item so that you can buy it. Making a filter to flag CC would be about 5% as difficult as doing that. Making it possible to download something from the Gallery without downloading the CC attached to it wouldn't be much harder.