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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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
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
Personally, I like the Bethesda CC content that requires payment. It's a choice to buy or not to buy.
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.
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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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.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
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.
Just because people are doing it doesn't mean it's right.
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.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
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.
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.
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.
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.