Letter to Maxis – A Problem & Possible Solution
Respectfully, I will openly discuss a long-term problem with the Sims 4 gallery. Please note this is not about “stealing”, “re-uploading” or “copying” another creation so please steer clear of bringing that up here and focus on this secret problem in our gallery I am presenting.
I call this hidden problem cheating on your own download number. This is an unfair gallery tactic that many players are using to move their own creations up and into the “popular now” section of the gallery. Players do this to gain extremely fast but completely faked popularity & fame. Being at the top of the popular now section week after week allows your creations to be seen by the majority of simmers. Those simmers see something at the top & usually go follow that top “popular” simmer too. Some creators don’t care about being noticed in the gallery & don’t focus on the numbers because the joy of playing & creating something beautiful is the main drive. I completely get that because I was one of those creators. However, I felt that way when I believed the number system the gallery was built upon was honestly functioning. Meaning 1 download per person, 1 fav heart per person. Recently though I have learned the specific method by which many players cheat on their download total. Yes, there is a way to quickly & easily increase your own download total on every creation you upload without needing followers or even a fav heart clicked on the creation. At this time, I do not think it would be wise of me to share the few specific steps of this cheat method but please believe me it is extremely easy to do. In addition, I know it can be done as I have tested it out personally once. I have also shared my discovery with several gallery friends I trust and they tested this method also. Since my discovery of this problem I have been upset & angered seeing the disrespectful actions of those players choosing to abuse our gallery system by cheating.
***I have removed the part about looking for yourselves to see evidence as I do not want this to turn into a "witch hunt". My goal is not to point fingers at individual simmers who are cheating. My goal is to make all simmers aware of this problem & to encourage Maxis & the powers that be to investigate & make positive change.*** We all know the gallery system depends on fav hearts to move our creations around the gallery & our loyal followers who enjoy our creations enough to consistently fav & download them. In my opinion, using this cheat tactic is blatant misuse of the gallery system. I have been disappointed in this dysfunctional abuse to our gallery ever since I found out about this problem a few months ago. Even through my disappointment I still choose to support the gallery & this game that I absolutely love so I have decided to attempt to make all players aware of this dishonest gallery action by this forum discussion.
I also believe in searching for a solution when presenting a problem so I ask everyone who has any control of updates and game changes to consider this system abuse & quickly find a reasonable, respectful & fair play solution. I have given this much thought personally and I hope you will consider my solution as follows:
Since the number tracking system is already in place, please consider switching the number this system measures to track in the popular now section. Change from measuring the download total number to the fav heart total number. To my knowledge there is no way to cheat on the fav heart number. Each player gets only 1 click on the heart. If we re-click it the heart deactivates and takes 1 number away from the fav total. We can re-click again to add our 1 fav back into the total and that’s all. Plus, we creators can’t fav our own creations so this way it really is up to what the gallery views as “popular” and not the selfish dishonest actions of individual players faking their way to the top by cheating on their own download total.
Thank you for reading my words & considering any possible solution to change this unfair abuse to the current gallery system.
Respectfully,
Caring Sims 4 Fan - GLovely1
Lisa
I am choosing to tag the following SimGurus in hopes they will quickly see this information & consider moving this forward to the people who can create positive change in our gallery. Thank you for your attention to this concern.
@SimGuruNick @SimGuruDrake @SimGuruSteve @SimGuruGraham @SimGuruGrant
Comments
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Skeptical.
@agustd Yes, I agree with you in both the "lots" and the "households" there are simply bad creations. It took me 1 1/2 years to figure out why creators were getting so many downloads with few to no favs or comments. Those people are cheating, plain and simple.
@Chazzzy I do not "claim" this .. I know this .. as I have said I have actually done it and though I clearly do not approve of this method I am willing to do it once in the gallery to show it can and is easily being done. The main reason why I don't want to describe the actual method is sadly that will give people who do not care and are willing to cheat the exact easy way to do it. There are enough cheaters in the gallery already. I do not want to create more. Thank you for bringing up this valid point though
@sweetness86 @kass17 @GalacticGal and @gillr52 Thank you sweet friends for constantly supporting any and everything I do in the gallery and now here in the forums. I was nervous to "blow the whistle" on this issue but I am glad I did and am hoping together we can make a positive gallery change
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Maxis is not YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, ... The Gallery popularity brings nothing to the game, the everyday life of the sims.
It's useless to be obsessed by the popularity in a video game which will end soon. Nobody will remember their names in 5 years.
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A lot of people cheats, they purchase fake "Likes" on Facebook or fake "Followers" on Twitter. The popularity is totally fake.
There is always a way to cheat.
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The Sims 4 General DiscussionAh thank you for clarifying
Since you are not willing to tell us how people are doing this, it makes me think this:
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@Vee_Sam I'm sorry you've had bad comments, so have I before. I think there are some trolls going round on the gallery who just want to make others feel bad, ignore them. They're probably jealous of your creation and are the ones faking their own faves.
Yes you're right, it shouldn't matter how many downloads or faves yoh get, if you like it then that's what matters!
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