First of all - thanks to
@GLovely1 who already
elaborated on this over a year ago and was silenced bluntly by closing her thread (as I also expect this one to be closed soon).
Secondly, I am not emotionally involved, I really don't care about numbers (or cheaters), though I really like people liking my stuff and showing so by downloading, faveing or commenting. My own download numbers are ridiculous, but cheating them up wouldn't give me any of the satisfaction I get from an honest, friendly comment.
And I get it that others
do care, after putting all their work and creativity into a household/build. There are different kinds of simmers, and those who build/create often gain their rewards through public appreciation. Everybody commenting stuff like "the internet isn't fair" or "it is just a game" is totally missing the point.
Another aspect is that the Gallery is not just a social medium itself but that the whole The Sims universe is closely bound to other social media like simblrs and YouTube channels. People actually make RL money through popularity.
The most simple and obvious solution would be to just not count any download if uploader and downloader are the same person/account. There is really no special magic developers would have to work.
if
uploader = downloader
then
totalDownloads += 0
else
totalDownloads += 1
endIf
Now, was that so hard? Rating systems have been around for ages. I mean, come on, look at these forums (any forums). Are you able to "like" your own comment multiple times? Of course not. That would really be pretty stupid.
This is not a bug, otherwise someone would have fixed it aeons ago. This was deliberately developed this way, and my real question to EA/Maxis is:
Why, in the name of the great simmer above, are you so keen to ruin this part of the TS4 experience for some of us?
(And, on a sidenote, why did it take three months to change the default Gallery sort order back from
Most Popular to
Newest?)
BTW, closing this thread won't change the fact that people are actively discussing this topic in the Gallery using descriptions and comments
right now.
Comments
On EA forum Stories and Legacies board and on QueenOfMyshuno.tumblr.com
You've summed it up pointedly though, major kudos! Bottom line ~ the gallery structure is popularity based therefore it should be respectfully changed for fairness across the board.
[img][/img]
My Families Via PlumTree App
I've done the math as I stated in my original forum thread linked by the OP here:
1 minute = 10 downloads
5 minutes = 50 downloads ... etc.
This is happening .. Please do not go around guessing who is or is not doing it now though .. I don't want any more people whether they are doing this or not to be hurt. There has been enough of argument, frustration and hurt. Years worth to be honest. The way I see it we are all being hurt by this one easily manipulated loophole in the download system and I will beg again to anyone having the power to change this .. please make this a priority change for the gallery.
Sincerely,
Lisa
[img][/img]
Yeah, I redownload some of my own sims sometimes too. It annoys me that my download numbers go up when that happens. Especially since all of my uploads became unsynced from my library recently. Since I usually go through my profile to get my sims for new game saves, I have to download my own sims again and I get one new download. And it's from me.
And speaking of dishonesty, I recently had two of my sims stolen and reuploaded, by two different people. Oh sure, they changed the name and traits of the sims, but not the description and household name, which contain the original names of both sims. I didn't think I was popular enough for this to happen tbh. (Here probably isn't the place for that discussion though)
The social media climb is just not something I get I guess. My insta is on private and so is Facebook (which no one in my gen uses much anymore anyway) and I have less than 100 followers/friends 😂 I only let people follow me if I know and like them. The like is very important. 😉 But then again maybe some people just know and like more people. I just know if I opened it up I wouldn't ever post, because I'd worry to much what the masses thought. But if it's actual friends, they're okay.
I agree, this is not about a witch hunt, all speculations about who is or is not a cheater would be futile. And I don't even blame those that work with the tools that they are offered, I blame the system.
I ask myself, should we partake in this hoax? Should we spend a few minutes of our time, as @GLovely1 demonstrated, just to catapult our creations into the Most Popular Now section of the gallery? After all, these are the ground rules laid out by the reality of how the Gallery rating system works, so maybe we should. But I, for myself, would rather turn my back on said system and never come back than be the bearer of a title worth plum.
I am really stunned by the fact how, on the one hand, game software companies are willing to invade our privacy by forcing us to install anti cheat mechanisms that spy on our computers, but on the other hand care so little about such an obvious loophole.
We expressed our opinions. Now let's just hope that the powers that be care as much about their own game as we do.
[img][/img]
Yeah probably. Once I searched for a small lot and clicked on popular now and there was a lot with an enlarged gnome that came up first. I would assume that person did it lol. At the time I was puzzled how it could have so many downloads. Now I know lol
Oh well, thats not likely happening very often, in my opinion. Taste is very subjective. I see a lot of people in the sims facebook group discussing their lack of building skills and they love using the gallery to download creations created by other players. Sometimes things just become popular because enough people wanted it. Even if that creation might not be something you yourself would want.
No library doesn't count, even downloading your stuff from the gallery doesn't count. I think you have to use a cheat for it to count when you download your stuff from the gallery. Or maybe mods make your downloads from the gallery count, I don't use mods or cc, so I can't say for sure.
I know when I download my stuff from the gallery, it doesn't count for the downloads count.
Edit because I typed galaxy instead of gallery.
@DragonAge_300905 I wish you were right about this, but it still does.
EDIT: Also, client side mods should never be able to manipulate EA's servers.