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Are Patreon/paid Exclusives Content Allowed In The Sims 4?
BrittanyChick22
Posts: 2,130 Member
There's been a huge uptick of patreon content within in the sims 4 community. One thing I noticed is that a lot of it is exclusive and isn't never being released like I thought it should be . I just want to know if EA allows this or does this go agains the tos/eula? Do we also need permission from them to use their content? I know simguru drake talked about this some time ago, but sense it's being ignored I want EA's take on the matter. It's causes a lot of issues and conflicts among other players, sims 4 is pretty pricey enough so it's disappointing to see content out side of EA being priced at high rates.
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CC creators can put their content behind a paywall for early access only, but it has to be released to the public within a month or something. I have read an actual mod response on a quite old topic about it, I'll link it if I find it. :)
Thank you for the response. I hope a Guru or ea responds just so i can get final say on the matter.
I did come across content locked behind paywalls for months on end, I usually just move on and assume it isn't done purposefully, and it simply has been forgotten. There are so many creators that make their content entirely free, or actually release it after 2-3 weeks that I just feel thankful enough we have a big dedicated community.
No idea if rules and policy has changed in the last years, might be that there are simply too many creators and forgotten content you need to pay for, that it would be too much of a huge time investment investigating each and every one.
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> If it isn’t allowed, that sucks. People spend their time, energy and talent on that CC. I see no reason they shouldn’t be compensated monetarily. I’ve always wondered why people didn’t charge for quality CC. It’s not like it’s usable outside of the sims and isn’t taking anything from EA. People need to buy the sims either way.
Most CC creators run pretty successfull Patreon pages, so as much as they can't keep their content locked forever, they still get lots of support and get some money for their time invested. I have seen some with 1k+ Patreons, and the lowest pledge being 1, so that is some pretty solid income.
I think that is simply a decision made by EA, so they can't do anything about it besides risking consequences, although I have never came across a creator who's been "punished" for this. Maybe they just don't talk about it.
https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-Feedback/CC-Creators-not-following-EA-s-patreon-rules/td-p/8371897
According to an EA staffs reply on that thread you can make a report by following the steps in this link:
https://help.ea.com/en/help/faq/how-to-report-cheat-hack-scam-websites-to-ea/
The issue is that microtransactions get out of control regardless of whether they come from EA or private individuals.
If it was allowed, the community would rapidly devolve into a 'money making system' and the CC makers would start feeling like they needed to be elevated above users in terms of service and features provided by EA. As in... this would become like 'Second Life', which is basically just 'Sims Online with paid for CC'.
Once money gets involved, EVERYTHING else gets pushed aside by those seeking to protect their financial interests.
While there may be plenty of people breaking the rules right now - they don't have any sense of entitlement to do so, it's all done wherever they can 'get away with it' up until they get caught. And they have no voice with which to have their stance take over things.
I think the main difference here is that external micro transactions don’t come with the same stigma as internal ones. Internal ones feel like they are being pushed on us. External ones are completely optional. That’s just my opinion, though.
Hold SHIFT while using the FRIEZE tool to apply it to a single wall, and not an entire room!
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They're using EAs assets and intellectual property. If they want to make money off the game then they should create their own game.
I've seen so many patreons be paid only. I've seen so many making over $8K per month with CC that has never been updated for any of the patches. It's ridiculous to have these creators making that much money and not actually keeping their stuff up to date while charging simmers $5/m.
You don't want EA's take on the matter, all that they can do is ban modding for the sims4. Maxis might be able to help you out, but I doubt it.
In my opinion, modding works best as a grey area (within limits), when you start to enforce rules and try to involve EULA then that's when things just go bad and no one wins. If people want to hide their content behind paywalls, then I think the only choice we really have is to go somewhere else, if no one pays for their content on patreon then they make no money.
Does it seem like anyone who can do anything about it actually cares? Also, no.
I suppose this is the flip side of the stance I note above. Because they're not supposed to be charging for their CC, it's not like we can have an expectation of them working on it unpaid.
I'm fine with that trade off, but that is the trade off.
I'm also new here, so maybe I won't be fine with it eventually. But it does seem a lot better than the place isn't flooded with a ton of third party microtransactions.
Too true
I don't own the rights to the sims. However, a CC or Mod creator can say intellectual property that they deserve payment for when they use free programmes like Blender, Autodesk Sketchpad, Gimp, etc to create their content.
I personally make Poser and Daz Studio Content all the time for fun. I used to create IMVU and Second Life content all the time as a student for fun and to better learn the programmes I was learning at the time, The difference is I have licensing that allows me to create this content and charge others for that content for both Poser and Daz Studio. If I had the energy to create CC I would however I wouldn't charge others behind a paywall. It's because I don't have legal rights to do so. I don't have licencing rights from EA to create paid content for the game. For that reason, I would not charge anything for creating CC.
However, that is simply how I am because I was taught about respecting trademarks and copyrighted material. I avoid the legal drama by honouring what my licencing allows for me to create. I don't hold others to my morality or ethics.
If EA and companies they use to create CC like Disney ever decide to bring them to court ignorance is no excuse in a court of law. Just because you saw it on the internet does not make it public domain.
Yes, I've seen it, it's just such an old post that I felt the need to reask this cause it's gotten insanely out of control.
so is the sense of entitlement for other people's money? I could understand If people were requesting their works, then I say yes- definitely charge for it sense someone is asking for you time and skills, but a lot of them go out their way to make content. No one asks them to do this during their free time- they choose to do it. If they are going to charge, then fine--but it definitely should be free after some time sense they are not affliciated with the company nor own the rights to this game.
Trouble is that there is no one else that do certain types of mods and in the same way, some of these modders know that and make sure their content can't be easily accessed because it's a one of a kind.
So in those instances, there is no "somewhere else" to go for modding needs.
There is no expectation they should be forcing us to pay them either or that they should be paid for giving of their own free time. Just so you know, there are modder teams out there for TS4 and other games that do these things gratis and under correct licences, do they have an expectation they should be paid for their work as well?
I don't disagree. I am just shocked by the way the community often talks about content creators and their work. You are exactly right, they don't have to do it in their free time and yet they do. They are not entitled to your money because the game still works whether or not you have that piece of content. But their time is spent regardless. I think reporting a person just because they haven't made their content available after two weeks is wrong. Just go to another creator - one that does have their content available for free immediately. Without these people's work and effort we wouldn't have any additional content. I don't think it's absurd that they're requesting money for that effort.
True. But it works bad. So bad i can't play without bug fixes. For me some modders are saving the game. Thankfullly the one's i need share their work for free. I'm thankfull because the company that sold me the game seems to not care or is just fixing the game so slowly that is almost embarassing...
Nobody's forcing you to pay - there's thousands of other content for you out there. You don't need the content in your game for it to function.
Everybody should be compensated for their work one way or another. I agree that not releasing the content after a while is wrong but wanting to report a content creator for doing it when there are literally thousands more cc out there that a person could turn to is just ridiculous. for a lot of these people, utilizing their talent to make money is a serious help. i cannot personally afford any of the patreon exclusive stuff but i recognize that people are putting a serious amount of effort and just go on with my day.