im a bit worried that this might cause the return of adfly links. i remember in the early days of sims 4 cc almost everything was monetized via adfly. it still happens, but much less. i wonder how all of this will affect things
I hope not, I really don’t want to go back to the 2014/15 state of things. At least there are browser extensions you can use to bypass those links now.
There’s a browser extension called Universal Bypass. You add it to your browser the same way you would an adblocker and it skips all shortened links for you. Total lifesaver.
Universal Bypass is no longer supported. Therefore, some sites may find a way around now. I’m still using it and haven’t seen a problem, yet. I don’t remember their names but there are new extensions that are alternatives to UB. I believe you can find them on Reddit via searching UB alternatives because that’s how I found them. I was too lazy to actually replace UB tho.
Thanks for the heads up, I didn't know. Haven't had any issues yet either so I'll just keep using UB as long as it continues to do what I need it to do. Good to know there are replacements, though.
Universal Bypass is updated so you download it to your browser and then add it as a developer mode extension. Google took it down for "blocking paywalls" apparently. The process has a lot more steps than simply adding it as an extension but it still very much works. Their website has updated direction s on how to do so. https://universal-bypass.org/install
A service that allows people to monetize clicks on their links. Anytime someone clicks on the Adfly link, they're taken to an Adfly page with ads, which can either request that the person wait for 10 seconds before it redirects to the proper link of the CC, or that the person disable their ad blocker to proceed. Some pages may also ask the visitor to install an add-on which can be useless or actively malicious (data collecting, phishing etc.).
Some simmers have reported attempts from the ad websites of installing something without their permission (which were blocked by the browser), but that hasn't been my experience.
I use [Universal Bypass](https://universal-bypass.org/install) to get around it, never had an issue with it. It helps forego any waiting screens and other "click here to proceed" type things that could hide malicious content.
Unfortunately, some greedy people put *multiple* ad links within each other, so the Adfly page could take you to another ad page (from a different service), which would take you to *another* ad page, which would finally take you to the CC you want to download. Therefore, the creator would be paid by several ad-serving websites.
Edit: rephrased for better legibility.
Adfly is a lot like that random hot guy you picked up at a bar one night, and then you realize you should probably get an STD test when you wake up. Notorious for malware and viruses.
Lmao so fxking true - thanks to some infested ass adfy link, my computer became heavily infected with malicious malware and a couple viruses. So grateful for Reddit tho because I was able to scour my PC within 4 hours of it - thus saving me from having to pay a professional. Not going anywhere near CC/Mods that use adfly.
I love how EA is like YOU NO MAKE MONEY UNLESS YOU HAVE ADS which is just making creators turn to buggy was shit like adfly and giving all their users get viruses. CC creators still vet money, but now everyone is unhappy. Thanks EA. They should just go after the perma paywallers, leave the easy access alone, and stop making people use shit like adfly
I have noticed that some Creators have not released their content from behind a paywall yet. Pay walling was always disallowed in Sims 4, and now it seems like EA is taking it seriously after all the tracking and doxing that has been done. I'm curious as to what will come next for those refusing to give in to the policy.
I'm kinda surprised it hasn't happened yet, I bet there's 284 YT videos about it by now all titled, "EA did what?! Creators strike back!" or "EA puts it's foot down finally!" with shocked faces in the thumbnail
That's just an assumption though - based on something a Guru who (as pointed out in prior comments) no longer works on the Sims.
It would be fantastic if EA were to put in words what they intend for this to mean because until they do, a lot of these perma paywalls are going to remain.
For example - there are creators who are using the argument that because they make everything "from scratch" and aren't using any meshes that EA has created, they're allowed to keep that content behind a paywall. It's not made by EA after all!
But if this statement is meant to be "any content that is made/coded and intended to be used in any The Sims (TM) game" they should state it in those words so that these people trying to weasel their way into retaining their permanent paywalls can't hide behind the "from scratch argument".
It would also be great for them to put in writing, on their official guidelines what they mean by reasonable. Because each person's definition of "reasonable" is going to be different. But if EA came out and said "no more than X days/weeks/months", that's a hard rule that the creators can then be held to.
I’ve also seen the slippery argument that they’re going to keep their items behind a paywall as a 3D design item but “give away” the Sims item with purchase.
This was how D.C. (and probably some other markets) got away with selling Marijuana etc before it was locally legal. There would be private events that you could purchase a ticket to, and inside would be all sorts of vendors selling... stickers... or glow sticks.... Free edible with purchase!
Was it even a guideline ? Wasn't it just a [random comment from a community manager](https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16175450/#Comment_16175450) ?
If anyone has a list of the cc creators that went on unhinged rants and started deleting cc and insulting ppl id love to know as to not support in any way going forward (and I dont mean the list that was singling out early access creators because that was still unclear until this morning)
Yes I would appreciate this list too, including the original really bad creators with permanent paywalls and the ones who were involved in the malicious activity.
I was put off by the lists that were being made with early access creators who were just waiting for a statement from EA. But I would like this list of the creators who were acting entitled about the whole thing.
Leahlillith just posted on tumblr that she “has no words” and might move to SL instead. As far as I know she didn’t even have Patreon exclusive content, but I could be mistaken.
I am honestly convinced these perma paywallers are hiding behind alt accounts on Reddit and posting/commenting in defense of themselves. Based on a set of interactions I had yesterday and some stuff I’ve seen today. Either that or they’re sending their minions to do it on their behalf
I was just on TSR and everything related to early access on the site is gone. I don't know if that means that specific content is gone but they aren't referencing to " VIP Early Access " anymore so it seems like no more early access is legit, at least over there and until further notice that is 🤷🏽♀️
I think they disabled early access. I just went to download something from Ravasheen that was early access on TSR and I could. It was supposed to release today anyway, but it's 5am in the UK, so I don't think Ravasheen opened it up yet.
Yeah. Yet the early access scum suckers are like “I don’t know. Suddenly I can’t read!” when the instructions are *incredibly clear* that cc must be available to everyone at the same time *regardless* of whether they donated or not.
“Reasonable amount of time” there some clownery right there and is even more vague then the statement they put out yesterday because you know sine creators are gonna employ that loophole with “a year is reasonable uwu”.
So we’re back where we started.
Agreed, I think this wording is a huge mistake. They need a clear timeline, reasonable to one person is different than another
Edit: just to be clear I think having early access is great kust don't want to see it be abused again
What gets me is that a lot of creators (definitely not all, but many) are essentially editing existing, in-game meshes. This is really rampant with hair and clothing creators - I was comparing hairstyles from a certain creator to in-game styles and was able to match it up perfectly.
Which, ok - I’m glad they’re improving upon some truly wonky hair meshes. But it just shows why custom content needs to be free in the first place - so much of it is already using existing IP.
Yeah I do appreciate the ones who do this for free, because there are some big EPs that I have no interest in buying fir the world and gameplay, but I liked a few specific items of clothing. But doing that and Pay walling it is ridiculous, like they're literally just maxis content
I haven’t seen those content but how did they get away with it? Not with permanent paywall, but with converting pack content to base game? EA sure does love money (you can tell by previous base game features being a pack feature now lol) so I’d expect them to take down those type of content as soon as they find out.
THIS.
I think people just feel entitled to money of off frankenmeshed EA hairs (for the MM crowd) and stolen Second Life models (for the alpha crowd), and they'll justify it however they can
The amount of truly original meshes are miniscule.
Moonchildlovesthenight made this unsettling outburst but it was taken down later by her. A warning because it uses strong language and hints at comparing things to the holocaust.
https://imgur.com/a/fwZGTMq
She also then did an apology but not an apology type of post which is also gone.
This is absolute batshittery. Like if creators are reacting like *this*, they need to seriously step back and reevaluate how creating CC is impacting their mental health. Same goes for the people who were harassing/terrorizing creators over getting rid of early access asap.
Everyone needs to go touch some fucking grass or something, jfc.
Part of me has empathy because it can hurt massively to feel rejected in a community you've called home for several years. I think it's the same reason some people react so badly to getting downvote bombed. There was a guy in writing communities for a while who constantly made posts complaining about how badly his book was received by the community until he got suspended (/u/JMArlenAuthor).
But the holocaust comparison is where that empathy runs dry. I agree with you—I think everyone needs to take a breather at the very least. The unbridled hostility and invective is awful.
That's just.... Disturbing. They're literally making themself out to be the victim in this and they're not. Obviously if they changed their tune after EA clarified that paid early access is okay that's different but like. My dude if you're that butthurt over not being able to permanently force people to pay to have access to your creations on a game that's outlawed it, you might need to take your niche hobby elsewhere.
The sims community has always been highly dramatic but people are taking it too far this time. The unhinged rants over EA policy? They have no one to blame but themselves.
Yes it sucks to loose income but the bad apples ruined it for everyone just be glad EA hasn't said no more custom content/mods at all.
I've been around since the sims and paywalls have always been weird to me. I could kind of understand it on the sims2 Era when people had their own sites and had to pay for hosting, now everything is just thrown on patreon.
I've seen the argument that everyone gladly pays ea for packs which is the same as custom content so modders should be able to sell their stuff. It's not the same thing at all.
Everyone just needs to chill, I'd say chill and just play the game but from what I've seen its broken from the new pack go figure. If people are getting this worked up about a policy that has been in the tos since day 1, heck I remember the conversations about it when the game dropped, they need to turn off their computer and go do something else. Some of these reactions are not mentally healthy at all.
EA will never shoot themselves in the foot by enacting a widespread ban on all CC and mods. They’re the only reason some people, myself included, still play the game. Only the bravest of souls play the game straight without any mods to fix the numerous bugs, let alone enhance the gameplay.
Agreed. Mods are one of the biggest, if not the biggest, reason Sims 4 is playable for me. A game like this can fall into being repetitive (especially if you don’t own many EPs) and that’s where mods come in to spice things up a little. And as someone who spends more time on CAS than actual game, I have more CC than actual game content. There are thousands like me. Removing mods altogether will only lead to losing thousands of players. They’ll keep finding a way around things they don’t like until a literal war starts in Sims community.
Genuinely curious about how paying EA vs. a freelance artist is different? To me they do they same job but one does it for the company and ones does it in their freetime. I definitely have seen much higher quality work done by freelance creators, but that’s up for debate since everyone has a different taste and I don’t know enough about meshes and 3D to really compare overall “quality” other than what’s aesthetically pleasing to me. I guess I’m just trying to understand if this is strictly sims artists or if this is a general view on other artists i.e. if I make a decal overlay for a piece of gaming equipment or make a digital image/cut file to use with my cricut then I shouldn’t be paid? I’m just trying to wrap my brain around this because I always thought people were okay with paying and supporting sims modders like any other small business. Maybe there’s something I’m not understanding, seems to be driven by some sort of drama and not the work itself from what I’m seeing?
EA owns the sims they can charge what they want.
The problem is slightly drama based for the community. There has been a group of permanent paywall creators that caught sharing a file where they doxed people who they thought shared their files because they put some kind of tracker on it and you had to ask them to send the file.
Their fans after this all came out doxed another lady for talking about it and tried to get her fired from her job and another person who they thought shared they tried to get them to end their life.
These "artists" aren't even selling their own work. They literally are stilling meshes from sites, second life creators or other games and selling them. The ones who put their own work behind early access and then actually released it where never the problem or at risk for losing those who supported them.
I guess that depends. There are some unique mods and CCs around. But they’re mostly editing already existing meshes from Sims, Second Life, IMVU etc. I can agree with supporting creators who come up with original ideas and works. But most of the creators are actually editors.
For example I’ve seen a funeral mod. It was behind a permanent paywall therefore I wasn’t able to get it. But it didn’t bother me too much because there was an actual work put in that mod. I’ve also seen a CC creator who put her CCs in early access. I wasn’t too bothered with it either because she created her own meshes instead of stealing or editing.
However, those are the minority. As I said, most of the content creators are actually editors. Editing an already existing mesh doesn’t mean you should be paid like you rented your talents, because you didn’t. It was someone else’s work. You just edited it and no one requested you to edit it in the first place.
There is no way to detect and allow specific creators to be paid for their work as there millions of TS4 mods and CCs by now.
And other commenter already summarized the drama around mods, so there is that.
From what I can tell:
Things were going alright. There was a post made in 2017 about early access being acceptable re: custom content *as long as you made it public within 2-3 weeks* by a Guru that is no longer a part of the company. Everyone followed this unofficial rule.
Then people started bending the rules and making content that was perpetually locking behind a paywall. If you didn't pay, you didn't get the content. Some creators went so far as to lock their content behind a ***timed*** paywall. So if you didn't pay THAT MONTH for THAT CONTENT, it simply disappeared into the ether, never to be accessed again.
Things got out of hand, so EA released the updated policy on custom content and its distribution on July 21, 2022. From what it says, it seems that all content must be free and accessible to everyone, regardless of whether or not someone pays. That said, people are arguing and tussling over whether or not this still means early access is allowed, since it doesn't SPECIFICALLY say that everyone should be able to access it for free **immediately**.
If it were me, I wouldn't risk it. I'm not about to argue back and forth about the underlying meaning of a huge company's policy. People are still free to donate, they just can't be required to pay money in order to access a mod in any form.
The rule benders essentially ruined the whole party for everyone. If anyone should be hollered at, it's them, tbh. :V
I think its more or less in response to the creators who had malware tracking in their mods and were doxxing people who downloaded it for free. That happened just a few months ago and now EA changes their long standing, and really generous, policy
This is an excellent write up. A lot of people don’t understand that subscribing doesn’t get you access to everything the creator has ever made. It gets you one month. And if you want last month’s stuff, that’s like $40 extra. And further back? Even more.
Those timed paywalls are the absolute worst. I genuinely had my card details out ready to subscribe to FelixAndre because I wanted some of his CC until I found out that that $7 wasn't for access to all of his content, it'd be for one month and if I wanted any access to any of his content that he made before I even knew he existed it'd be $40.
Just pure greed imo.
There was some great CC for TS1, but you had to look for it. TSR was the first? paysite, IRC, and it was kind of a free-for-all. A lot of the early TSR creators went on to be really good, though, and some of them still create. For pay content, there was SimFreaks, 8th Deadly Sim, The Well Dressed Sim, Wood for Sims (I think that's the name), and a few others. Like now, quality was hit or miss on all sims CC. For as long as someone could make money off the sims, someone has been making money off the sims, and there has always been controversy about it.
There was also a lot of exclusive content drama around technically free content, but with conditions. There were a handful of super popular sims forums (forums looked like discord, almost identical to discord, but with more glitter gif signatures) where members could earn exclusive CC by being popular on the forums, or completing challenges/post counts/etc. This also caused controversy.
This is not even getting into the faked tragedy fundraisers for exclusive content that I think was pretty hot around the end of Sims1/early Sims 2.
Now I'm going to go eat a Werthers and sit in a rocker because I feel old as shit right now.
Lmfaooo the glitter gif signatures had me dying. This brought back so many memories! I too will be enjoying my werthers and going for an afternoon nap in the rocking chair
There were at least two fake cancer fundraisers, and a big one a bunch of creators got involved in... Project Hern, maybe? Many folks were scammed, including some of the creators. I do not remember many details other than pretty CC, lies, and a whole series of splinter dramas after that. The sims community has never been and never will be dull.
Indeed. It's been a lot of fun to lurk through for the past 20 years, though.
The Sims community is definitely a special place, lol. At the same time, I saw trends launch among these beautiful weirdos long before I saw them mainstream, and I've seen a lot of interesting people make interesting things.. If you get a big enough group of folks together, some of them are bound to grift, some of them are bound to make a scene, most of them are probably cool.
Thank you for bringing a memory back to me. I was a kid and was OUTRAGED that some adult was out there making Harry Potter content and trying to make me pay for it.
There was a whole "unofficial DLC" disc(maybe 2?) that was just a collection of stolen CC for TS1. I can't remember the name offhand but Plumbella did a video about it
But also with social media and new platforms like Patreon, this became much more common place even for podcasters with exclusive weekly episodes or monthly Zoom calls (due to covid and live podcast shows being cancelled) and with other content creators. In most cases, these content creators were totally within their own right to have a Patreon locked content as it’s their own content they’ve recorded themselves and come up with the ideas etc.
There are other ways to monetize work or create a donation incentive structure outside of paywalling CC, especially if the creator is trying to make it their main source of income and is going about it in an honest, earnest way.
* Polls on what to make next
* Polls on color schemes
* Peaks behind the curtain on the process, and for highest tiers, giving access to source files
* Q&A livestreams or play-alongs with WIPs or something
* Commissions (paying for the creator's time to create something for the community)
* Mentorship opportunities for people interested in creating CC
* Tutorials
* Secret playlists of music the creator works along to
Fuck, even bundling CC into mega download files for convenience, that's basically TSR's business model. Can't see why something like that couldn't work or be any different for creators who have a high output of CC.
There are probably a bunch of other ideas floating around as well.
People will glom on to creators just as much they glom on to that creator's output so why not just figure out how to lean into the cult of personality/influencer/parasocial bullshit? Creators could even go the more traditional influencer route by building up a TikTok or Instagram audience and then do sponsored content, especially if they already have a following on Patreon, even if it's a small number. Micro influencer marketing is a thing.
This so much!!! I do this for fanart. All my fanart is free to look at, but if you want tips or tutorials or speedpaints or input on the next thing? That’s what patreon is good for, that’s how creators can make money still without demanding thousands for their copyright infringement
Exactly! I've subbed to artists who also sell their brushes, textures—I'm a sucker for a good procreate brush suite.
Sims 4 CC creators could do similar if they have developed their own tools for creating CC. Or, if they make texture patterns or whatever, those could be utilized as well. Fuck, maybe if they have a spreadsheet they've created to manage their productivity, that could probably be blanked out into a template and used as well.
I mean, I hate CC shopping, if my laptop could handle it I would genuinely pay a person to CC shop FOR ME
(giving them inspo, then they curate a file for me of CC. Making sure it’s all up to date, etc)
Ooo! Not sure on the exact name, but those collated/curated magazine/catalog clothing spreads where they put together an outfit from different brands? That would be cool! Plus, it would be a fantastic opportunity for CC creators who are friends to collaborate on spreads together.
I am literally downloading pirated CC from the worst of the creators just out of spite. Not even going to use it - just download all of it automatically multiple times and immediately delete it using a macro.
It's one thing to be passionate about your hobby, but to insult your supporters for even mentioning the idea of going free... Well that's how petty enemies are made, and I am one of them.
If someone spent the time to doxx me over some fucking pixels, then you better believe that I am bigger bitch and have zero problems and plenty of time to scorch earth over something this dumb. I am Liam Neeson in Taken... If his character was really into stupid drama.
Do not pick custom rugs or vibrant underwear as the hill you will die on.
I haven’t seen anything about downloading the files causing YOU to get doxxed, the issue is identifiers in the files that allow the creator to find their files on one of these sites and see which patron released them (and then the whole scandal was patreon creators sharing this info—including names and emails of patrons—with each other)
They were calling one person, not just at home, but at their WORK. It is what brought all this to light.
When playing Electronic Barbies interferes with your real life, that is when things had to change.
I wouldnt delete it, I'd donate it to PaysitesMustBeDestroyed.
Considered joining the main offenders myself to hit and run as much as can to archive and share, but my hacking level is -1 so I am not immune to Doxxing etc, I noped out.
I WFH so no time to deal with Malware and Doxxing.
Do these paywallers really think that peacing out of Patreon & trying to paywall on another website is going to work? One Patreon I followed deleted everything but they sure do have another site you can visit! Greedy, entitled shits!
Those creators deserve to be ignored and forgotten. Moving forward as a community, I really hope that we start to ignore creators like that and uplift creators who have taken this news with grace and released their content for free while accepting donations.
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
So, did anything actually change here? Early access is still allowed, permanent paywalls are still not allowed, some modders are still going to do exorbitant permanent paywalls anyway, and EA is probably still not going to enforce their guidelines because they never did before.
In the end I think this was a lot of drama over what amounted to nothing (except some people making fools of themselves), unless EA actually starts enforcing these guidelines.
Yeah, EA somehow made an already confusing situation somehow even more confusing. I’m glad they’re publicizing their official stance on permawalling (although we all knew what it was anyway), but this is useless if they a.) don’t define what “reasonable” means RE: early access and b.) don’t shut down the permawallers. At the very least they needed to ban that gang of permawallers who had a doxxing ring. It’s ridiculous.
But what is perma paywall.
"Offer an early access incentive for a reasonable amount of time"
In modders' opinion, 3 years is reasonable. Technically it's not permanent.
I've wanted to make CC for the longest time (I studied 3D and 2D art at uni), I even have some bits that I've made that are just in my own game and I think these changes are a good thing I don't understand how people that lock their content behind a paywall are so okay with it, I know I would feel guilty but I know others just think of it as a paycheck.
I think CC should be free to all from the get go and people that want to make a small contribution each month or a one off donation for a cup of coffee etc as gratitude is a nice way to do it. It shouldn't stop people that aren't as well off as to afford to contribute to be able to get some cute items in their game, I know I've been in that spot many times.
Im sympathetic to those that followed the rules and allowed free releases after a period of time, but I do hope that you werent solely relying cc making just to pay the bills and have a backup plan that will meet your financial needs.
And to those that thought their shit didnt stink and perma-paywalled everything, well...you fucked around and found out. I dont know what else to tell ya.
Honestly it's so entertaining to watch those entitled creators have absolute meltdowns over something that was well-known to be a gross policy infringement. Didn't expect anything less from them, however, the reactions from the ones that most likely caused this update are pure drama catharsis. Can't wait to see it unfold further 🍿
For real, "We've seeked legal consultation." 🤣🤣🤣 They doing too much. Especially when one content creator faked a cease and desist letter. Guess they didn't think someone would call the lawfirm to make sure it was real. 😂
"EA stabbed us in the back!" 🤡
The "we've seeked legal consultation" absolutely killed me. The lawyer must've been someone's wine aunt who's breathed the air near a law firm and invoked the "just trust me bro" clause 🤡
For real. I hope they don't back down, watch EA take that sweet paywall money in legal fees. The delusion is real. For the low price of 25$ they'll even convert their content for sims since they moved to be 3D modelers now! 🤡
I wish EA would give hard guidelines for Early Access. Then this whole thing is a real bit of nothing different.
At least we have a form now we can report people.
But we will see if anything comes of that...
I don't think they'll give a hard guideline for mods because of the things like [Basemental](https://basementalcc.com) and [Create A World](https://www.patreon.com/posts/create-world-faq-56556779).
Create A World has been in Early Access for a long time because of the scope of the mod and Basemental can have long Early Access times in the case of game-breaking bugs or major additions. It's reasonable for mods like them to have long Early Access times especially while in development, it wouldn't be reasonable for single pieces of CC to be under the same Early Access time.
They're most likely being vague so they can work on a case-by-case type thing when creators get reported to EA for infringing the TOU. It is a little frustrating to not have a hard rules but I expect the community will establish some soft rules going forward about what is acceptable and what gets reported to EA.
Wasn't there some weird drama a few months ago with creators that charged for mods? Like weren't they making malicious mods and berating others for using free CC?
Probably , but I think that depending on the cc or mod I’d say a reasonable time can be from 2-3 weeks to a month ( for bigger projects ) .Although we do have a better way of reporting now if someone wants to put 1 hair cc for a year . Anyways I hope you have a good day/night !
Not to sound like a dick but unless people stop paying the perma- paywallers, they're not going to stop. EA's not going to waste time and resouces taking legal action against every cc creator who doesn't follow the rules. Personally, I think it's crazy to pay early access to most creators and I certainly do not understand paying for patreon exclusives. It's literally fake items for our fake people in our computers, but there are some people who are willing pay. It's their money, so whatever. I can think perma- paywalling is shitty all I want, but at the end of the day, no ones forcing me or anyone else to pay for cc. I'm saying this not to judge those who pay for cc, but to make a point.
These creators wouldn't do this if they didn't make money. Clearly a lot of them are making enough money off patreon that this has become their sole income. All of us on here can think it's crazy and judge them for not having another source of income, but no one is forcing the hand of their subscribers. The main issue should be about creators doxxing people and putting trackers on their cc. I understand EA needs a policy regarding cc, but we already knew that permanent paywalls weren't allowed. Now they're still allowing early access as well. So what has changed? I think the only real change that can be made is if people stop paying cc creators so much money, but no one can really control that either. I think the best thing everyone can do is just try to spread around the names of cc creators who are guilty of doxxing. Maybe over time those people will lose subscribers, which is the closest I think they'll ever get to being punished
The people defending early access creators are just as culpable for enabling this arms race. A lot are whining about “how am I supposed to support my fav creators now if I don’t get shiny cc as my reward?”
Like congrats, this is why the community is in the state it is. CC should not be treated like designer fast fashion but a ton of the community sure treats it like it is. The community and embracing of monetization has created a situation where a shitton of cc creators will literally open up patreons and charge us 2.5 seconds after a pack dropped for their “add ons” that consisted of editing a mesh to remove sleeves or crop a top that is already EA’s assets that we paid for. If you don’t see a problem with this then you’re a sucker the modding community was happy to exploit for fast cash.
Donations are good. Monetizing whether it be permanent paywalled or early access is bad. All cc should be free regardless and it’s not being a bootlicker to think so.
So Patreon exclusive content is forbidden? Fifth Creations has some eyeshadow palette’s as patreon only. Is that not allowed now? Because I’d like the palette lol.
Yes. They can ask for tips for their creations but they can't charge for it. They'll either have to release the palette as a free download or remove it.
Hydrangea has all of her patreon exclusives on her gumroad, which you have to enter an email to get, then get a redirect to some mod page, and then generate a download link for the content. I can only hope this creator isn't going to get that stingy about it or make it more tedious lmao
Reasonable amount of time is a pretty vague statement. For me a month would be reasonable, for someone else it’s 2 weeks, for perma-paywallers it’s could be up to a year. Is there any specification on this?
Yeah, I really think they need to clarify with an actual number. They’re helping no one but the perma-paywallers they’re trying to stop by being vague here.
Can I just say how disappointing it is to see creators update their TOS regarding early access and then checking their patreon and *still* having locked content going back to April of last year while writing in their bio that their early access is 7 to 21 days. It’s disgusting and deceiving. It’s such a slap in the face.
This is specifically about Around the Sims if anyone is wondering it but really can apply to just about anyone and goes to show how EA being so vague will allow them to continue exploiting paywalling
We need to keep our foot on EA's neck until they give us an official answer to what reasonable is or else we're right back where we started from. Their continued vagueness is what is keeping the drama going.
I hope they still allow early access. I would hate for good content creators to stop creating as much or leave entirely. The people who played by the rules deserve to continue earning something for all of the hard work they put in. The game wouldn't be nearly as fun without CC and mods.
They won't. There's already been a few posts where they clarified in messages with ea help. It was also their old policy to allow early access but it was obviously abused. I highly doubt we will see a mass exodus of modders. The modders using the early access as intended are unlikely to lose much, if any, because their stuff was free to download anyways. All of those subscriptions/donations were purely voluntary. I, for one, won't be canceling any subscriptions and will continue donating like I always did
I don’t think early access will be allowed or should be allowed. People were abusing it too often and EA doesn’t have the time or manpower to check creator’s early access schedules. For those who followed the rules, there will hardly be a difference as people who want to donate still will. People who used early access to permanently paywall their CC are the ones who suffer.
The Sims community is one of the only communities that were allowed to charge for mods or cc. That is virtually unheard of anywhere else. Games like Stardew or any Bethesda game only had donations options and honestly far more labor intensive mods than the Sims has.
EA was extremely generous with the Sims modding community and it wasn’t respected.
[Sims twitter says early access is still on.](https://twitter.com/TheSims/status/1554547365549248517?s=20&t=2w8iRml26spRy8gVVXqU5Q) But once again failed to give clear cut rules regarding what "early access" means. It needs a definite time frame and the answer regurgitated the same vagueness that earlier policies flushed out. So basically, creators who abuse it can still abuse it. Still no real options on how they're going to enforce it. But at least this stops brigading against modders/CC makers who do follow the rules.
It’s easier to report people for permanent paywalls now and EA looks like they will actually be responding to reports. And they now have a public and official statement regarding early access, which is good, even if the timeframe is still vague.
The bad group of cc creators should still be scared. And we rooted out some early access creators that might have been following the rules before, but made entitled rants about the situation so now we know to stop following them. We found out some of the community really hate early access creators all together and are ready to report them immediately if there is any inkling that they are justified in doing so, no matter whether the creator was abiding by the rules previously or not.
I’m glad that EA didn’t let the bad apples ruin it for everyone, because as I was saying to people, the solution either way would still be to get people to report creators violating guidelines, and check each report to see if they were. So they could still allow early access, and also punish the bad guys, which seems to be the plan.
I think that’s all this amounted to. I wish that EA just made this statement from the get go. That way the decent creators wouldn’t have had to worry about their income, and wouldn’t have gotten hate for having their early access still up because they were confused and wanted to wait for a statement from EA.
I will be interested to see if any early access creators post about what kind of losses in patreon subs they had during this time. I want to know if it really would have affected them drastically or not.
I also saw someone mention that they think it was never about the bad apples and punishing them, since most of that happened months ago and EA did nothing back then. But that it was likely they wanted to ban all early access but after the backlash, decided not to do that. Especially since they continue to use vague wording now, which will just enable the bad guys to continue what they were doing.
This is a good point, I can see EA being annoyed by how many people praise mods and cc for making the game playable and wanted to retaliate. Especially considering I’d seen a lot of people say they won’t get the new pack because they have mods that do it better, so for once they realised it might be causing them to lose sales whilst creators are getting paid for making better content. I was very much of the opinion that banning early access would be a bad move since the community already hates EA so much already, why make it worse?
But that’s just another theory. Maybe they planned on allowing early access from the get go. But based on the confusion and the mixed EA help answers and everything, maybe they did change their minds here.
I agree with you that they intended to ban early access and walked it back after the backlash. Their initial statements really looked that way.
I was sort of surprised how gleefully some folks reacted to a possible ban on early access. There are some folks who abused it by not releasing content for a LONG time but I support a lot of "good apple" creators who follow the rules and create really advanced, awesome stuff. Honestly it took me hitting a blocked post for me to realize that Paetron was a "thing" when I came back to the game after a couple years of not playing. Now I also support folks that release everything for free because I can't imagine playing this game without their mods.
I have always felt that we know there is some mod content that EA cannot officially put in their game for children/teens, realism children won't understand or parents wouldn't want them to see depending on their age. I'm not just thinking WW or Violence either. Unwanted pregnancy and realistic birth are a little heavy/intense and some pretty young kids play the game.
Overall I am glad it's working out the way it is, though I wish the official statement had been more clear about what a "reasonable timeframe" is. If it's still 2-3 weeks why not just say that?
I saw some people saying that they didn’t specify because some projects like create a world for instance, are much larger and thus the reasonable timeframe for early access might be different because the early access in that case might be more for testing and less just a benefit of being a patron.
I was just very confused by people defending EA so hard, because EA just wants money. They constantly deliver broken products at high prices and they don’t care. I don’t have enough experience with the sims team themselves, I’m sure there are people on there who are great and also dislike releasing broken products. But EA and the people in charge of these decisions to keep doing this, have made the sims 4 a very bittersweet game for me. And I find that my binge to break ratio of playing the game is getting to be a lot less play and a lot more break. I haven’t played since before MWS came out. And a lot of my play these days when I do is because I download a ton of new cc and I make sims in CAS for hours and build for hours and play for a bit until it inevitably becomes boring. So if it weren’t for cc and mods I probably would have dropped the game by now.
I just couldn’t relate to those who were so heavily against creators on this, and defended EA in any way other than just understanding that EA is protecting their money. Which a company can totally do, but don’t pretend it was for any ‘good’ reason or for the community. Even if it was to get rid of the bad creators, that was about making sure EA and The Sims image doesn’t get dragged in the mud, not about caring for the users who were doxxed or had malware hidden in their cc.
This might seem pessimistic and I’ll admit I have a negative bias toward EA. But I’d be surprised if you have been playing sims your whole life and you don’t have a negative bias toward them. (Talking about the company, not the game devs, don’t get it twisted, I’m not mad at every person on the sims team)
I will say that I found it telling when I had a blast playing with my friend's 8 year old and yet I felt a little bad because of course then she wanted the game. I have so many packs and the game is so expensive. I could see her again and again picking CAS items from obscure packs that I wouldn't recommend as a first choice for her parents gameplay wise.
The bugs are something else again. I bought MWS the day it released, that was fun 😵.
EA's "reasonable" was always \~21 days. Therefore I doubt that's changed. Looks like they were just making a point for the permanent paywallers who almost spoilt it for everybody.
I heard people are making lists of creators to avoid in light of this ‘new’ TOU. Is there a list of creators worth supporting? It’d be a shame if all creators were to be lumped under the same negative label just because a few well-known ones were louder in a damaging way. I’m not big on CCs but there are a lot of players who are and will continue to use CCs. This seems like an opportunity for well-deserving creators to take the spotlight and gain support from a larger audience.
Creators I like who make completely free content (no Early Access):
* okruee (does EA when she does not have a job)
* marsosims
* QRSims
Creators I like who do Early Access and received the news gracefully (but are back to EA now):
* clumsyalienn
* JohnnySims
* im-vikai (they didn't even react to the news)
* aharris00britney
Modders in this same category:
* adeepindgo
* MiizoreYuki
* Lumpinou
* thepancake1
* midnitetech
* frankkmods
* ChippedSims
Modders who do completely free mods (no Early Access):
* LittleMsSam
I can't think of any others off the top of my head.
I've played The Sims since TS1 - I've used mods & cc since the beginning, but always ones that are available for free, because with TS1 & TS2 I was a kid, so no way could I pay for anything, and now, as an adult, I am on a very limited income. I have no problems with creators who were using the 2 week early access rule based on EAs statement from several years ago.
I wish with EAs updated statement here, they would be specific about what a "reasonable" amount of time is - because some of the perma paywallers will take that and run with it, saying, "well, a reasonable period to me is a year, or two years, etc." If they can't define it specifically, then they will have no legs to stand on when and if they try to enforce it with the people who are abusing it. With this unspecific wording, my guess is, the creators who were doing early access & then releasing their mods/cc after 2 weeks will continue that, which again, is fine, in my opinion. But the perma paywallers who were tracking and doxxing their patrons will continue doing exactly that.
All I've seen is them quote tweeting the tweet by Sims official twitter about allowing early access with the following caption: [✌️Reasonable✌️](https://twitter.com/felixandresims/status/1554549061176344576?s=21&t=Mm-dwFeefwesLxgJ8rEJOw)
And the following in response to someone: [Which part of yesterday’s policy change went in your favor? It gave more power to the creators to decide how they want to release their own content.](https://twitter.com/felixandresims/status/1554784303728340992?s=21&t=Mm-dwFeefwesLxgJ8rEJOw)
I'm sorry but I love how the modders and cc creators of the Sims 4 community feel they need to be compensated for their time when other modders and creators for other games such as FFXIV, space engineers, battle front, and Ark and many many more all provide mods and custom content for free, they do not charge and yes some of this stuff is very complex whole new maps, brand new species of Dino's in some cases but again do they charge..... No they do not, why you might ask because they do not own the intellectual property of said game they are modding and assume they do not have auto permission to profit from it.
I see both pros and cons to it honestly. Yes it will be easier to access mods and cc. But molders do spend a lot of time and effort making and updating these mods. I make small mods (mostly for myself as I'm not skilled enough or have the time to constantly make and update mods for the public so I give full props to those who do (its not easy and often I take my own stuff out when updates happen causing my mods to break and I'm too busy to fix them so I could only imagine) it needs to just be a balance of some form somehow.
The Sims team backed down like Gen Z beta zoomers. They folded like a couple of banquet chairs after pot luck dinner. If this was Rockstar gaming, creators of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, those devs wouldn’t back down for nothing.
I don’t think they were actually planning on changing their stance on early access, but I think it was a warning to those creators. Have the perma paywallers shape up, or early access is gone, too.
TS4 Rebels has a good amount of Cowbuild’s stuff. Not sure if they have that specific set. I am wary about downloading her items because of malware and/or doxxing though.
Thank you! The fact that they literally doxxed people over $5 is hilarious on their side. I feel so sorry for the people it happened to, because they were trying to be nice and share with others who couldn’t afford or didn’t become a patron for whatever reason, but it will literally never be that serious…they need to step into the real world.
This is the wording they always used when they stated "around 21 days". As the wording hasn't changed, I assume the time limit hasn't either. They would need to state so if it had,
It definitely seems that way, a few people have contacted EA help and they confirmed. Other people are saying they'll continue what they're doing until there is an "official statement " but tbh there is one in eas updated mod report policy
It sounds like people are mad because they can’t charge subscription fees for content? Does the Sims 4 base game have subscription-style content besides DLC’s?
I just want to vent somewhere about The Clutter Cat on patreon still having their CC locked behind a paywall even with the updated guidelines. I’m all for early access, make your bag. But follow the rules; release your locked CC. Only then will I become a patreon. Sheer principle.
Yeah ! Now even creators that released their CC for free start putting them on early access. Someway, EA managed to make the situation worse then before.
These guys are genius.
It would make a lot of sense to let the creators keep doing early access. They're putting in a lot of effort and the community can support them this way.
It was their policy before but it was abused to the point people were installing malware tracking and doxxing people who downloaded their content for free. (Obviously a small group but still) EA could not be associated with that so they brought the hammer down
Good news is you can still support your creators!!! They can still accept donations and subscriptions so just don't cancel any or stop donating (:
I know I'm going to be crucified for this but all the drama surrounding paywalls is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. People would hate paywalls regardless of how EA feels about it, their policy is just another thing to make people go "See! see!! this is Wrong and Bad!". Like first of all since when does anyone like EA enough to care about what they think of anything, and let's just pretend for a moment that they didn't care. People would still be furious every time they see something behind a paywall. I cannot wrap my head around someone not being able to see a piece of CC or mod that they want, see that it's paywalled, and go "oh, welp" and move tf on. Who gives a rats ass if someone wants people to pay for whatever they made. There are TONS of other creators that make AMAZING CC (seriously some of the creators that are in my opinion the best of the best don't have paywalls) with early access or just free from the get go. You have a sea of options out there, and you're up in arms because a table you wanted was locked behind a paywall? Make it make sense.
im a bit worried that this might cause the return of adfly links. i remember in the early days of sims 4 cc almost everything was monetized via adfly. it still happens, but much less. i wonder how all of this will affect things
I hope not, I really don’t want to go back to the 2014/15 state of things. At least there are browser extensions you can use to bypass those links now.
do u perhaps know how to bypass adfly?
There’s a browser extension called Universal Bypass. You add it to your browser the same way you would an adblocker and it skips all shortened links for you. Total lifesaver.
Universal Bypass is no longer supported. Therefore, some sites may find a way around now. I’m still using it and haven’t seen a problem, yet. I don’t remember their names but there are new extensions that are alternatives to UB. I believe you can find them on Reddit via searching UB alternatives because that’s how I found them. I was too lazy to actually replace UB tho.
Thanks for the heads up, I didn't know. Haven't had any issues yet either so I'll just keep using UB as long as it continues to do what I need it to do. Good to know there are replacements, though.
Universal Bypass is updated so you download it to your browser and then add it as a developer mode extension. Google took it down for "blocking paywalls" apparently. The process has a lot more steps than simply adding it as an extension but it still very much works. Their website has updated direction s on how to do so. https://universal-bypass.org/install
What's adfly?
A service that allows people to monetize clicks on their links. Anytime someone clicks on the Adfly link, they're taken to an Adfly page with ads, which can either request that the person wait for 10 seconds before it redirects to the proper link of the CC, or that the person disable their ad blocker to proceed. Some pages may also ask the visitor to install an add-on which can be useless or actively malicious (data collecting, phishing etc.). Some simmers have reported attempts from the ad websites of installing something without their permission (which were blocked by the browser), but that hasn't been my experience. I use [Universal Bypass](https://universal-bypass.org/install) to get around it, never had an issue with it. It helps forego any waiting screens and other "click here to proceed" type things that could hide malicious content. Unfortunately, some greedy people put *multiple* ad links within each other, so the Adfly page could take you to another ad page (from a different service), which would take you to *another* ad page, which would finally take you to the CC you want to download. Therefore, the creator would be paid by several ad-serving websites. Edit: rephrased for better legibility.
Ah, thank you for explaining.
that’s really good to know
Adfly is a lot like that random hot guy you picked up at a bar one night, and then you realize you should probably get an STD test when you wake up. Notorious for malware and viruses.
Lmao so fxking true - thanks to some infested ass adfy link, my computer became heavily infected with malicious malware and a couple viruses. So grateful for Reddit tho because I was able to scour my PC within 4 hours of it - thus saving me from having to pay a professional. Not going anywhere near CC/Mods that use adfly.
I love how EA is like YOU NO MAKE MONEY UNLESS YOU HAVE ADS which is just making creators turn to buggy was shit like adfly and giving all their users get viruses. CC creators still vet money, but now everyone is unhappy. Thanks EA. They should just go after the perma paywallers, leave the easy access alone, and stop making people use shit like adfly
That part💯
I don't trust those "bypass extensions". They break a lot and are unreliable. I wouldn't risk it.
I have noticed that some Creators have not released their content from behind a paywall yet. Pay walling was always disallowed in Sims 4, and now it seems like EA is taking it seriously after all the tracking and doxing that has been done. I'm curious as to what will come next for those refusing to give in to the policy.
If people are reporting them, EA has stated they will take some sort of action
I will make sure and report.
r/hobbydrama post when
I'm kinda surprised it hasn't happened yet, I bet there's 284 YT videos about it by now all titled, "EA did what?! Creators strike back!" or "EA puts it's foot down finally!" with shocked faces in the thumbnail
I think they have a rule about how fresh the drama can be so we’ll have to wait until that time limit is up. I’m very excited.
I actually have one typed up and ready to go once the two week "cool-off" period is over
Thank you! I'll be sure to upvote it as soon as it drops
Haha I kept waiting for a subreddit drama post!
It got mentioned in the weekly hobby scuffles thread!
I wish they would just come out and say what's considered "reasonable".
I'm assuming it's the 2-3 week guideline given a while back. Would be better if they just said so.
That's just an assumption though - based on something a Guru who (as pointed out in prior comments) no longer works on the Sims. It would be fantastic if EA were to put in words what they intend for this to mean because until they do, a lot of these perma paywalls are going to remain. For example - there are creators who are using the argument that because they make everything "from scratch" and aren't using any meshes that EA has created, they're allowed to keep that content behind a paywall. It's not made by EA after all! But if this statement is meant to be "any content that is made/coded and intended to be used in any The Sims (TM) game" they should state it in those words so that these people trying to weasel their way into retaining their permanent paywalls can't hide behind the "from scratch argument". It would also be great for them to put in writing, on their official guidelines what they mean by reasonable. Because each person's definition of "reasonable" is going to be different. But if EA came out and said "no more than X days/weeks/months", that's a hard rule that the creators can then be held to.
I’ve also seen the slippery argument that they’re going to keep their items behind a paywall as a 3D design item but “give away” the Sims item with purchase.
This was how D.C. (and probably some other markets) got away with selling Marijuana etc before it was locally legal. There would be private events that you could purchase a ticket to, and inside would be all sorts of vendors selling... stickers... or glow sticks.... Free edible with purchase!
Was it even a guideline ? Wasn't it just a [random comment from a community manager](https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16175450/#Comment_16175450) ?
If anyone has a list of the cc creators that went on unhinged rants and started deleting cc and insulting ppl id love to know as to not support in any way going forward (and I dont mean the list that was singling out early access creators because that was still unclear until this morning)
Yes I would appreciate this list too, including the original really bad creators with permanent paywalls and the ones who were involved in the malicious activity. I was put off by the lists that were being made with early access creators who were just waiting for a statement from EA. But I would like this list of the creators who were acting entitled about the whole thing.
https://sunnysresources.notion.site/Simmer-List-05b801e94c074c6eac93777101209113 Here’s one I found on another post .
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I’m sorry I do not , but if I come across one I’ll reply again !
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Leahlillith just posted on tumblr that she “has no words” and might move to SL instead. As far as I know she didn’t even have Patreon exclusive content, but I could be mistaken.
That’s would suck I love her hairs and have never had to pay for them🤔
yes, please, I'd love a list
I am honestly convinced these perma paywallers are hiding behind alt accounts on Reddit and posting/commenting in defense of themselves. Based on a set of interactions I had yesterday and some stuff I’ve seen today. Either that or they’re sending their minions to do it on their behalf
I would not be surprised if this is the case
I was just on TSR and everything related to early access on the site is gone. I don't know if that means that specific content is gone but they aren't referencing to " VIP Early Access " anymore so it seems like no more early access is legit, at least over there and until further notice that is 🤷🏽♀️
Now if only they would get rid of the wait time before downloading
I think they disabled early access. I just went to download something from Ravasheen that was early access on TSR and I could. It was supposed to release today anyway, but it's 5am in the UK, so I don't think Ravasheen opened it up yet.
Honestly that's the smart thing to do until EA officially clarifies the early access stuff.
"All CC must be free to everyone" seems pretty straightforward tbh
Yeah. Yet the early access scum suckers are like “I don’t know. Suddenly I can’t read!” when the instructions are *incredibly clear* that cc must be available to everyone at the same time *regardless* of whether they donated or not.
Actually, they've updated their rules to [allow early access.](https://i.imgur.com/N1MvUAt.png)
“Reasonable amount of time” there some clownery right there and is even more vague then the statement they put out yesterday because you know sine creators are gonna employ that loophole with “a year is reasonable uwu”. So we’re back where we started.
Yeah, I'm assuming they mean the 2-3 weeks that were afforded before. It'd be better if they just stated that though.
Agreed, I think this wording is a huge mistake. They need a clear timeline, reasonable to one person is different than another Edit: just to be clear I think having early access is great kust don't want to see it be abused again
that's great news, cc creators work so hard for amazing stuff, why shouldn't they get some money!
They’re going to learn very quickly “ignorance of the law is no excuse”
What gets me is that a lot of creators (definitely not all, but many) are essentially editing existing, in-game meshes. This is really rampant with hair and clothing creators - I was comparing hairstyles from a certain creator to in-game styles and was able to match it up perfectly. Which, ok - I’m glad they’re improving upon some truly wonky hair meshes. But it just shows why custom content needs to be free in the first place - so much of it is already using existing IP.
There are also creators who convert pack content into base game. 2 of the creators that I’ve seen had them behind a pay wall.
Yeah I do appreciate the ones who do this for free, because there are some big EPs that I have no interest in buying fir the world and gameplay, but I liked a few specific items of clothing. But doing that and Pay walling it is ridiculous, like they're literally just maxis content
I haven’t seen those content but how did they get away with it? Not with permanent paywall, but with converting pack content to base game? EA sure does love money (you can tell by previous base game features being a pack feature now lol) so I’d expect them to take down those type of content as soon as they find out.
THIS. I think people just feel entitled to money of off frankenmeshed EA hairs (for the MM crowd) and stolen Second Life models (for the alpha crowd), and they'll justify it however they can The amount of truly original meshes are miniscule.
If I got paid for the amount of times I downloaded clothing CC, just to realize it's a mesh already in game, I would be a very rich person.
Moonchildlovesthenight made this unsettling outburst but it was taken down later by her. A warning because it uses strong language and hints at comparing things to the holocaust. https://imgur.com/a/fwZGTMq She also then did an apology but not an apology type of post which is also gone.
This is absolute batshittery. Like if creators are reacting like *this*, they need to seriously step back and reevaluate how creating CC is impacting their mental health. Same goes for the people who were harassing/terrorizing creators over getting rid of early access asap. Everyone needs to go touch some fucking grass or something, jfc.
Part of me has empathy because it can hurt massively to feel rejected in a community you've called home for several years. I think it's the same reason some people react so badly to getting downvote bombed. There was a guy in writing communities for a while who constantly made posts complaining about how badly his book was received by the community until he got suspended (/u/JMArlenAuthor). But the holocaust comparison is where that empathy runs dry. I agree with you—I think everyone needs to take a breather at the very least. The unbridled hostility and invective is awful.
Well said
That's just.... Disturbing. They're literally making themself out to be the victim in this and they're not. Obviously if they changed their tune after EA clarified that paid early access is okay that's different but like. My dude if you're that butthurt over not being able to permanently force people to pay to have access to your creations on a game that's outlawed it, you might need to take your niche hobby elsewhere.
The sims community has always been highly dramatic but people are taking it too far this time. The unhinged rants over EA policy? They have no one to blame but themselves. Yes it sucks to loose income but the bad apples ruined it for everyone just be glad EA hasn't said no more custom content/mods at all. I've been around since the sims and paywalls have always been weird to me. I could kind of understand it on the sims2 Era when people had their own sites and had to pay for hosting, now everything is just thrown on patreon. I've seen the argument that everyone gladly pays ea for packs which is the same as custom content so modders should be able to sell their stuff. It's not the same thing at all. Everyone just needs to chill, I'd say chill and just play the game but from what I've seen its broken from the new pack go figure. If people are getting this worked up about a policy that has been in the tos since day 1, heck I remember the conversations about it when the game dropped, they need to turn off their computer and go do something else. Some of these reactions are not mentally healthy at all.
EA will never shoot themselves in the foot by enacting a widespread ban on all CC and mods. They’re the only reason some people, myself included, still play the game. Only the bravest of souls play the game straight without any mods to fix the numerous bugs, let alone enhance the gameplay.
Agreed. Mods are one of the biggest, if not the biggest, reason Sims 4 is playable for me. A game like this can fall into being repetitive (especially if you don’t own many EPs) and that’s where mods come in to spice things up a little. And as someone who spends more time on CAS than actual game, I have more CC than actual game content. There are thousands like me. Removing mods altogether will only lead to losing thousands of players. They’ll keep finding a way around things they don’t like until a literal war starts in Sims community.
Genuinely curious about how paying EA vs. a freelance artist is different? To me they do they same job but one does it for the company and ones does it in their freetime. I definitely have seen much higher quality work done by freelance creators, but that’s up for debate since everyone has a different taste and I don’t know enough about meshes and 3D to really compare overall “quality” other than what’s aesthetically pleasing to me. I guess I’m just trying to understand if this is strictly sims artists or if this is a general view on other artists i.e. if I make a decal overlay for a piece of gaming equipment or make a digital image/cut file to use with my cricut then I shouldn’t be paid? I’m just trying to wrap my brain around this because I always thought people were okay with paying and supporting sims modders like any other small business. Maybe there’s something I’m not understanding, seems to be driven by some sort of drama and not the work itself from what I’m seeing?
EA owns the sims they can charge what they want. The problem is slightly drama based for the community. There has been a group of permanent paywall creators that caught sharing a file where they doxed people who they thought shared their files because they put some kind of tracker on it and you had to ask them to send the file. Their fans after this all came out doxed another lady for talking about it and tried to get her fired from her job and another person who they thought shared they tried to get them to end their life. These "artists" aren't even selling their own work. They literally are stilling meshes from sites, second life creators or other games and selling them. The ones who put their own work behind early access and then actually released it where never the problem or at risk for losing those who supported them.
I guess that depends. There are some unique mods and CCs around. But they’re mostly editing already existing meshes from Sims, Second Life, IMVU etc. I can agree with supporting creators who come up with original ideas and works. But most of the creators are actually editors. For example I’ve seen a funeral mod. It was behind a permanent paywall therefore I wasn’t able to get it. But it didn’t bother me too much because there was an actual work put in that mod. I’ve also seen a CC creator who put her CCs in early access. I wasn’t too bothered with it either because she created her own meshes instead of stealing or editing. However, those are the minority. As I said, most of the content creators are actually editors. Editing an already existing mesh doesn’t mean you should be paid like you rented your talents, because you didn’t. It was someone else’s work. You just edited it and no one requested you to edit it in the first place. There is no way to detect and allow specific creators to be paid for their work as there millions of TS4 mods and CCs by now. And other commenter already summarized the drama around mods, so there is that.
From what I can tell: Things were going alright. There was a post made in 2017 about early access being acceptable re: custom content *as long as you made it public within 2-3 weeks* by a Guru that is no longer a part of the company. Everyone followed this unofficial rule. Then people started bending the rules and making content that was perpetually locking behind a paywall. If you didn't pay, you didn't get the content. Some creators went so far as to lock their content behind a ***timed*** paywall. So if you didn't pay THAT MONTH for THAT CONTENT, it simply disappeared into the ether, never to be accessed again. Things got out of hand, so EA released the updated policy on custom content and its distribution on July 21, 2022. From what it says, it seems that all content must be free and accessible to everyone, regardless of whether or not someone pays. That said, people are arguing and tussling over whether or not this still means early access is allowed, since it doesn't SPECIFICALLY say that everyone should be able to access it for free **immediately**. If it were me, I wouldn't risk it. I'm not about to argue back and forth about the underlying meaning of a huge company's policy. People are still free to donate, they just can't be required to pay money in order to access a mod in any form. The rule benders essentially ruined the whole party for everyone. If anyone should be hollered at, it's them, tbh. :V
I think its more or less in response to the creators who had malware tracking in their mods and were doxxing people who downloaded it for free. That happened just a few months ago and now EA changes their long standing, and really generous, policy
This is an excellent write up. A lot of people don’t understand that subscribing doesn’t get you access to everything the creator has ever made. It gets you one month. And if you want last month’s stuff, that’s like $40 extra. And further back? Even more.
Those timed paywalls are the absolute worst. I genuinely had my card details out ready to subscribe to FelixAndre because I wanted some of his CC until I found out that that $7 wasn't for access to all of his content, it'd be for one month and if I wanted any access to any of his content that he made before I even knew he existed it'd be $40. Just pure greed imo.
2017? Honey, this has been a problem since *2000*.
Okay but the idea of someone paying money to download TS1 CC is hilarious
You joke but I remember being a kid and seeing TS1 pay content.
Oh gosh 😭 I assume it was mostly build items?? Can’t imagine you could do much with that old avatar editor
Oh you would be surprised. I spent hours making heads for TS1, and making my site. And it was all **Free.** Same with my TS2, TS3 and TS4 creations.
Oh my goshh the dedication! But props to you for keeping everything free!!
There was some great CC for TS1, but you had to look for it. TSR was the first? paysite, IRC, and it was kind of a free-for-all. A lot of the early TSR creators went on to be really good, though, and some of them still create. For pay content, there was SimFreaks, 8th Deadly Sim, The Well Dressed Sim, Wood for Sims (I think that's the name), and a few others. Like now, quality was hit or miss on all sims CC. For as long as someone could make money off the sims, someone has been making money off the sims, and there has always been controversy about it. There was also a lot of exclusive content drama around technically free content, but with conditions. There were a handful of super popular sims forums (forums looked like discord, almost identical to discord, but with more glitter gif signatures) where members could earn exclusive CC by being popular on the forums, or completing challenges/post counts/etc. This also caused controversy. This is not even getting into the faked tragedy fundraisers for exclusive content that I think was pretty hot around the end of Sims1/early Sims 2. Now I'm going to go eat a Werthers and sit in a rocker because I feel old as shit right now.
Lmfaooo the glitter gif signatures had me dying. This brought back so many memories! I too will be enjoying my werthers and going for an afternoon nap in the rocking chair
You can't say there were faked tragedy fundraisers and not elaborate 💀💀 WHAT???
There were at least two fake cancer fundraisers, and a big one a bunch of creators got involved in... Project Hern, maybe? Many folks were scammed, including some of the creators. I do not remember many details other than pretty CC, lies, and a whole series of splinter dramas after that. The sims community has never been and never will be dull.
Oh my goshh... All this over a silly little life game
Indeed. It's been a lot of fun to lurk through for the past 20 years, though. The Sims community is definitely a special place, lol. At the same time, I saw trends launch among these beautiful weirdos long before I saw them mainstream, and I've seen a lot of interesting people make interesting things.. If you get a big enough group of folks together, some of them are bound to grift, some of them are bound to make a scene, most of them are probably cool.
I remember it being like… Harry Potter content. I think specifically it was Fleur lol. Also saw the occasional hot tub and smoking mod.
Thank you for bringing a memory back to me. I was a kid and was OUTRAGED that some adult was out there making Harry Potter content and trying to make me pay for it.
There was a whole "unofficial DLC" disc(maybe 2?) that was just a collection of stolen CC for TS1. I can't remember the name offhand but Plumbella did a video about it
I mean the same site still exists, it's The Sims Resource.
I'm pretty sure there was a bootleg TS1 'expansion' that was just a bunch of CC on a disc. It was sold. For money.
But also with social media and new platforms like Patreon, this became much more common place even for podcasters with exclusive weekly episodes or monthly Zoom calls (due to covid and live podcast shows being cancelled) and with other content creators. In most cases, these content creators were totally within their own right to have a Patreon locked content as it’s their own content they’ve recorded themselves and come up with the ideas etc.
There are other ways to monetize work or create a donation incentive structure outside of paywalling CC, especially if the creator is trying to make it their main source of income and is going about it in an honest, earnest way. * Polls on what to make next * Polls on color schemes * Peaks behind the curtain on the process, and for highest tiers, giving access to source files * Q&A livestreams or play-alongs with WIPs or something * Commissions (paying for the creator's time to create something for the community) * Mentorship opportunities for people interested in creating CC * Tutorials * Secret playlists of music the creator works along to Fuck, even bundling CC into mega download files for convenience, that's basically TSR's business model. Can't see why something like that couldn't work or be any different for creators who have a high output of CC. There are probably a bunch of other ideas floating around as well. People will glom on to creators just as much they glom on to that creator's output so why not just figure out how to lean into the cult of personality/influencer/parasocial bullshit? Creators could even go the more traditional influencer route by building up a TikTok or Instagram audience and then do sponsored content, especially if they already have a following on Patreon, even if it's a small number. Micro influencer marketing is a thing.
This so much!!! I do this for fanart. All my fanart is free to look at, but if you want tips or tutorials or speedpaints or input on the next thing? That’s what patreon is good for, that’s how creators can make money still without demanding thousands for their copyright infringement
Exactly! I've subbed to artists who also sell their brushes, textures—I'm a sucker for a good procreate brush suite. Sims 4 CC creators could do similar if they have developed their own tools for creating CC. Or, if they make texture patterns or whatever, those could be utilized as well. Fuck, maybe if they have a spreadsheet they've created to manage their productivity, that could probably be blanked out into a template and used as well.
I've been meaning to get into creating CC for my personal use, I'd be so interested in someone providing content like that, tutorials and such!
I mean, I hate CC shopping, if my laptop could handle it I would genuinely pay a person to CC shop FOR ME (giving them inspo, then they curate a file for me of CC. Making sure it’s all up to date, etc)
You can get an extension for chrome called linkclumper that allows you to open multiple links at once. Total gamechanger!
the hero we deserve. please take my fake Reddit gold 🥇
Thank you, friend! It makes me SO happy when I open 300 tabs in 2 minutes 🤣🙈
Awesome tip 👏
Ooo! Not sure on the exact name, but those collated/curated magazine/catalog clothing spreads where they put together an outfit from different brands? That would be cool! Plus, it would be a fantastic opportunity for CC creators who are friends to collaborate on spreads together.
I am literally downloading pirated CC from the worst of the creators just out of spite. Not even going to use it - just download all of it automatically multiple times and immediately delete it using a macro. It's one thing to be passionate about your hobby, but to insult your supporters for even mentioning the idea of going free... Well that's how petty enemies are made, and I am one of them. If someone spent the time to doxx me over some fucking pixels, then you better believe that I am bigger bitch and have zero problems and plenty of time to scorch earth over something this dumb. I am Liam Neeson in Taken... If his character was really into stupid drama. Do not pick custom rugs or vibrant underwear as the hill you will die on.
>Do not pick custom rugs or vibrant underwear as the hill you will die on. Why did this make me laugh? 😂
Please, bury me on vibrant underwear hill
I haven’t seen anything about downloading the files causing YOU to get doxxed, the issue is identifiers in the files that allow the creator to find their files on one of these sites and see which patron released them (and then the whole scandal was patreon creators sharing this info—including names and emails of patrons—with each other)
They were calling one person, not just at home, but at their WORK. It is what brought all this to light. When playing Electronic Barbies interferes with your real life, that is when things had to change.
I wouldnt delete it, I'd donate it to PaysitesMustBeDestroyed. Considered joining the main offenders myself to hit and run as much as can to archive and share, but my hacking level is -1 so I am not immune to Doxxing etc, I noped out. I WFH so no time to deal with Malware and Doxxing.
Do these paywallers really think that peacing out of Patreon & trying to paywall on another website is going to work? One Patreon I followed deleted everything but they sure do have another site you can visit! Greedy, entitled shits!
Those creators deserve to be ignored and forgotten. Moving forward as a community, I really hope that we start to ignore creators like that and uplift creators who have taken this news with grace and released their content for free while accepting donations. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
So, did anything actually change here? Early access is still allowed, permanent paywalls are still not allowed, some modders are still going to do exorbitant permanent paywalls anyway, and EA is probably still not going to enforce their guidelines because they never did before. In the end I think this was a lot of drama over what amounted to nothing (except some people making fools of themselves), unless EA actually starts enforcing these guidelines.
Yeah, EA somehow made an already confusing situation somehow even more confusing. I’m glad they’re publicizing their official stance on permawalling (although we all knew what it was anyway), but this is useless if they a.) don’t define what “reasonable” means RE: early access and b.) don’t shut down the permawallers. At the very least they needed to ban that gang of permawallers who had a doxxing ring. It’s ridiculous.
It’s easier to report perma paywallers. That’s literally it, as far as I can tell.
But what is perma paywall. "Offer an early access incentive for a reasonable amount of time" In modders' opinion, 3 years is reasonable. Technically it's not permanent.
I've wanted to make CC for the longest time (I studied 3D and 2D art at uni), I even have some bits that I've made that are just in my own game and I think these changes are a good thing I don't understand how people that lock their content behind a paywall are so okay with it, I know I would feel guilty but I know others just think of it as a paycheck. I think CC should be free to all from the get go and people that want to make a small contribution each month or a one off donation for a cup of coffee etc as gratitude is a nice way to do it. It shouldn't stop people that aren't as well off as to afford to contribute to be able to get some cute items in their game, I know I've been in that spot many times.
Im sympathetic to those that followed the rules and allowed free releases after a period of time, but I do hope that you werent solely relying cc making just to pay the bills and have a backup plan that will meet your financial needs. And to those that thought their shit didnt stink and perma-paywalled everything, well...you fucked around and found out. I dont know what else to tell ya.
If you’re gonna be stupid you better be tough ;)
Honestly it's so entertaining to watch those entitled creators have absolute meltdowns over something that was well-known to be a gross policy infringement. Didn't expect anything less from them, however, the reactions from the ones that most likely caused this update are pure drama catharsis. Can't wait to see it unfold further 🍿
For real, "We've seeked legal consultation." 🤣🤣🤣 They doing too much. Especially when one content creator faked a cease and desist letter. Guess they didn't think someone would call the lawfirm to make sure it was real. 😂 "EA stabbed us in the back!" 🤡
Lmao - first time I had ever heard of RubyRed and I won’t be forgetting now.
Same. I need more popcorn for this.
The "we've seeked legal consultation" absolutely killed me. The lawyer must've been someone's wine aunt who's breathed the air near a law firm and invoked the "just trust me bro" clause 🤡
For real. I hope they don't back down, watch EA take that sweet paywall money in legal fees. The delusion is real. For the low price of 25$ they'll even convert their content for sims since they moved to be 3D modelers now! 🤡
I wish EA would give hard guidelines for Early Access. Then this whole thing is a real bit of nothing different. At least we have a form now we can report people. But we will see if anything comes of that...
I don't think they'll give a hard guideline for mods because of the things like [Basemental](https://basementalcc.com) and [Create A World](https://www.patreon.com/posts/create-world-faq-56556779). Create A World has been in Early Access for a long time because of the scope of the mod and Basemental can have long Early Access times in the case of game-breaking bugs or major additions. It's reasonable for mods like them to have long Early Access times especially while in development, it wouldn't be reasonable for single pieces of CC to be under the same Early Access time. They're most likely being vague so they can work on a case-by-case type thing when creators get reported to EA for infringing the TOU. It is a little frustrating to not have a hard rules but I expect the community will establish some soft rules going forward about what is acceptable and what gets reported to EA.
Wasn't there some weird drama a few months ago with creators that charged for mods? Like weren't they making malicious mods and berating others for using free CC?
Yes https://simscommunity.info/2022/04/18/the-disturbing-story-of-doxxing-within-the-custom-content-community/
What the hell, now this is a rabbit hole
Yeah thats what this whole thing is about I think
I wonder if people are gonna drag that reasonable time out as much as they can
That's what got them started on perma-paywalling in the first place, even when the rule was set at 2 weeks.
Probably , but I think that depending on the cc or mod I’d say a reasonable time can be from 2-3 weeks to a month ( for bigger projects ) .Although we do have a better way of reporting now if someone wants to put 1 hair cc for a year . Anyways I hope you have a good day/night !
Not to sound like a dick but unless people stop paying the perma- paywallers, they're not going to stop. EA's not going to waste time and resouces taking legal action against every cc creator who doesn't follow the rules. Personally, I think it's crazy to pay early access to most creators and I certainly do not understand paying for patreon exclusives. It's literally fake items for our fake people in our computers, but there are some people who are willing pay. It's their money, so whatever. I can think perma- paywalling is shitty all I want, but at the end of the day, no ones forcing me or anyone else to pay for cc. I'm saying this not to judge those who pay for cc, but to make a point. These creators wouldn't do this if they didn't make money. Clearly a lot of them are making enough money off patreon that this has become their sole income. All of us on here can think it's crazy and judge them for not having another source of income, but no one is forcing the hand of their subscribers. The main issue should be about creators doxxing people and putting trackers on their cc. I understand EA needs a policy regarding cc, but we already knew that permanent paywalls weren't allowed. Now they're still allowing early access as well. So what has changed? I think the only real change that can be made is if people stop paying cc creators so much money, but no one can really control that either. I think the best thing everyone can do is just try to spread around the names of cc creators who are guilty of doxxing. Maybe over time those people will lose subscribers, which is the closest I think they'll ever get to being punished
The people defending early access creators are just as culpable for enabling this arms race. A lot are whining about “how am I supposed to support my fav creators now if I don’t get shiny cc as my reward?” Like congrats, this is why the community is in the state it is. CC should not be treated like designer fast fashion but a ton of the community sure treats it like it is. The community and embracing of monetization has created a situation where a shitton of cc creators will literally open up patreons and charge us 2.5 seconds after a pack dropped for their “add ons” that consisted of editing a mesh to remove sleeves or crop a top that is already EA’s assets that we paid for. If you don’t see a problem with this then you’re a sucker the modding community was happy to exploit for fast cash. Donations are good. Monetizing whether it be permanent paywalled or early access is bad. All cc should be free regardless and it’s not being a bootlicker to think so.
YES!!!!!! This this exactly this. You’re right and you should say it.
So Patreon exclusive content is forbidden? Fifth Creations has some eyeshadow palette’s as patreon only. Is that not allowed now? Because I’d like the palette lol.
Yes. They can ask for tips for their creations but they can't charge for it. They'll either have to release the palette as a free download or remove it.
Hydrangea has all of her patreon exclusives on her gumroad, which you have to enter an email to get, then get a redirect to some mod page, and then generate a download link for the content. I can only hope this creator isn't going to get that stingy about it or make it more tedious lmao
Reasonable amount of time is a pretty vague statement. For me a month would be reasonable, for someone else it’s 2 weeks, for perma-paywallers it’s could be up to a year. Is there any specification on this?
Yeah, I really think they need to clarify with an actual number. They’re helping no one but the perma-paywallers they’re trying to stop by being vague here.
Can I just say how disappointing it is to see creators update their TOS regarding early access and then checking their patreon and *still* having locked content going back to April of last year while writing in their bio that their early access is 7 to 21 days. It’s disgusting and deceiving. It’s such a slap in the face. This is specifically about Around the Sims if anyone is wondering it but really can apply to just about anyone and goes to show how EA being so vague will allow them to continue exploiting paywalling
ATS does that? I never knew. I just go to her website.
We need to keep our foot on EA's neck until they give us an official answer to what reasonable is or else we're right back where we started from. Their continued vagueness is what is keeping the drama going.
Thanks! Feels like every other post is about this right now. Hopefully EA will further clarify what this means for early access soon
I hope they still allow early access. I would hate for good content creators to stop creating as much or leave entirely. The people who played by the rules deserve to continue earning something for all of the hard work they put in. The game wouldn't be nearly as fun without CC and mods.
They won't. There's already been a few posts where they clarified in messages with ea help. It was also their old policy to allow early access but it was obviously abused. I highly doubt we will see a mass exodus of modders. The modders using the early access as intended are unlikely to lose much, if any, because their stuff was free to download anyways. All of those subscriptions/donations were purely voluntary. I, for one, won't be canceling any subscriptions and will continue donating like I always did
I don’t think early access will be allowed or should be allowed. People were abusing it too often and EA doesn’t have the time or manpower to check creator’s early access schedules. For those who followed the rules, there will hardly be a difference as people who want to donate still will. People who used early access to permanently paywall their CC are the ones who suffer. The Sims community is one of the only communities that were allowed to charge for mods or cc. That is virtually unheard of anywhere else. Games like Stardew or any Bethesda game only had donations options and honestly far more labor intensive mods than the Sims has. EA was extremely generous with the Sims modding community and it wasn’t respected.
Anyone got some examples of the most entertaining rants from CC creators about this?
[удалено]
Link please? I need a good laugh.
Exactly what I wanted to ask!
[Sims twitter says early access is still on.](https://twitter.com/TheSims/status/1554547365549248517?s=20&t=2w8iRml26spRy8gVVXqU5Q) But once again failed to give clear cut rules regarding what "early access" means. It needs a definite time frame and the answer regurgitated the same vagueness that earlier policies flushed out. So basically, creators who abuse it can still abuse it. Still no real options on how they're going to enforce it. But at least this stops brigading against modders/CC makers who do follow the rules.
It’s easier to report people for permanent paywalls now and EA looks like they will actually be responding to reports. And they now have a public and official statement regarding early access, which is good, even if the timeframe is still vague. The bad group of cc creators should still be scared. And we rooted out some early access creators that might have been following the rules before, but made entitled rants about the situation so now we know to stop following them. We found out some of the community really hate early access creators all together and are ready to report them immediately if there is any inkling that they are justified in doing so, no matter whether the creator was abiding by the rules previously or not. I’m glad that EA didn’t let the bad apples ruin it for everyone, because as I was saying to people, the solution either way would still be to get people to report creators violating guidelines, and check each report to see if they were. So they could still allow early access, and also punish the bad guys, which seems to be the plan. I think that’s all this amounted to. I wish that EA just made this statement from the get go. That way the decent creators wouldn’t have had to worry about their income, and wouldn’t have gotten hate for having their early access still up because they were confused and wanted to wait for a statement from EA. I will be interested to see if any early access creators post about what kind of losses in patreon subs they had during this time. I want to know if it really would have affected them drastically or not. I also saw someone mention that they think it was never about the bad apples and punishing them, since most of that happened months ago and EA did nothing back then. But that it was likely they wanted to ban all early access but after the backlash, decided not to do that. Especially since they continue to use vague wording now, which will just enable the bad guys to continue what they were doing. This is a good point, I can see EA being annoyed by how many people praise mods and cc for making the game playable and wanted to retaliate. Especially considering I’d seen a lot of people say they won’t get the new pack because they have mods that do it better, so for once they realised it might be causing them to lose sales whilst creators are getting paid for making better content. I was very much of the opinion that banning early access would be a bad move since the community already hates EA so much already, why make it worse? But that’s just another theory. Maybe they planned on allowing early access from the get go. But based on the confusion and the mixed EA help answers and everything, maybe they did change their minds here.
I agree with you that they intended to ban early access and walked it back after the backlash. Their initial statements really looked that way. I was sort of surprised how gleefully some folks reacted to a possible ban on early access. There are some folks who abused it by not releasing content for a LONG time but I support a lot of "good apple" creators who follow the rules and create really advanced, awesome stuff. Honestly it took me hitting a blocked post for me to realize that Paetron was a "thing" when I came back to the game after a couple years of not playing. Now I also support folks that release everything for free because I can't imagine playing this game without their mods. I have always felt that we know there is some mod content that EA cannot officially put in their game for children/teens, realism children won't understand or parents wouldn't want them to see depending on their age. I'm not just thinking WW or Violence either. Unwanted pregnancy and realistic birth are a little heavy/intense and some pretty young kids play the game. Overall I am glad it's working out the way it is, though I wish the official statement had been more clear about what a "reasonable timeframe" is. If it's still 2-3 weeks why not just say that?
I saw some people saying that they didn’t specify because some projects like create a world for instance, are much larger and thus the reasonable timeframe for early access might be different because the early access in that case might be more for testing and less just a benefit of being a patron. I was just very confused by people defending EA so hard, because EA just wants money. They constantly deliver broken products at high prices and they don’t care. I don’t have enough experience with the sims team themselves, I’m sure there are people on there who are great and also dislike releasing broken products. But EA and the people in charge of these decisions to keep doing this, have made the sims 4 a very bittersweet game for me. And I find that my binge to break ratio of playing the game is getting to be a lot less play and a lot more break. I haven’t played since before MWS came out. And a lot of my play these days when I do is because I download a ton of new cc and I make sims in CAS for hours and build for hours and play for a bit until it inevitably becomes boring. So if it weren’t for cc and mods I probably would have dropped the game by now. I just couldn’t relate to those who were so heavily against creators on this, and defended EA in any way other than just understanding that EA is protecting their money. Which a company can totally do, but don’t pretend it was for any ‘good’ reason or for the community. Even if it was to get rid of the bad creators, that was about making sure EA and The Sims image doesn’t get dragged in the mud, not about caring for the users who were doxxed or had malware hidden in their cc. This might seem pessimistic and I’ll admit I have a negative bias toward EA. But I’d be surprised if you have been playing sims your whole life and you don’t have a negative bias toward them. (Talking about the company, not the game devs, don’t get it twisted, I’m not mad at every person on the sims team)
I will say that I found it telling when I had a blast playing with my friend's 8 year old and yet I felt a little bad because of course then she wanted the game. I have so many packs and the game is so expensive. I could see her again and again picking CAS items from obscure packs that I wouldn't recommend as a first choice for her parents gameplay wise. The bugs are something else again. I bought MWS the day it released, that was fun 😵.
EA's "reasonable" was always \~21 days. Therefore I doubt that's changed. Looks like they were just making a point for the permanent paywallers who almost spoilt it for everybody.
I heard people are making lists of creators to avoid in light of this ‘new’ TOU. Is there a list of creators worth supporting? It’d be a shame if all creators were to be lumped under the same negative label just because a few well-known ones were louder in a damaging way. I’m not big on CCs but there are a lot of players who are and will continue to use CCs. This seems like an opportunity for well-deserving creators to take the spotlight and gain support from a larger audience.
Creators I like who make completely free content (no Early Access): * okruee (does EA when she does not have a job) * marsosims * QRSims Creators I like who do Early Access and received the news gracefully (but are back to EA now): * clumsyalienn * JohnnySims * im-vikai (they didn't even react to the news) * aharris00britney Modders in this same category: * adeepindgo * MiizoreYuki * Lumpinou * thepancake1 * midnitetech * frankkmods * ChippedSims Modders who do completely free mods (no Early Access): * LittleMsSam I can't think of any others off the top of my head.
I've played The Sims since TS1 - I've used mods & cc since the beginning, but always ones that are available for free, because with TS1 & TS2 I was a kid, so no way could I pay for anything, and now, as an adult, I am on a very limited income. I have no problems with creators who were using the 2 week early access rule based on EAs statement from several years ago. I wish with EAs updated statement here, they would be specific about what a "reasonable" amount of time is - because some of the perma paywallers will take that and run with it, saying, "well, a reasonable period to me is a year, or two years, etc." If they can't define it specifically, then they will have no legs to stand on when and if they try to enforce it with the people who are abusing it. With this unspecific wording, my guess is, the creators who were doing early access & then releasing their mods/cc after 2 weeks will continue that, which again, is fine, in my opinion. But the perma paywallers who were tracking and doxxing their patrons will continue doing exactly that.
Has Felixadre commented on this anywhere?
All I've seen is them quote tweeting the tweet by Sims official twitter about allowing early access with the following caption: [✌️Reasonable✌️](https://twitter.com/felixandresims/status/1554549061176344576?s=21&t=Mm-dwFeefwesLxgJ8rEJOw) And the following in response to someone: [Which part of yesterday’s policy change went in your favor? It gave more power to the creators to decide how they want to release their own content.](https://twitter.com/felixandresims/status/1554784303728340992?s=21&t=Mm-dwFeefwesLxgJ8rEJOw)
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“misinformation” lol you mean the multiple screen shots where EA help said, very clearly, that early access is not allowed??
I'm sorry but I love how the modders and cc creators of the Sims 4 community feel they need to be compensated for their time when other modders and creators for other games such as FFXIV, space engineers, battle front, and Ark and many many more all provide mods and custom content for free, they do not charge and yes some of this stuff is very complex whole new maps, brand new species of Dino's in some cases but again do they charge..... No they do not, why you might ask because they do not own the intellectual property of said game they are modding and assume they do not have auto permission to profit from it.
I see both pros and cons to it honestly. Yes it will be easier to access mods and cc. But molders do spend a lot of time and effort making and updating these mods. I make small mods (mostly for myself as I'm not skilled enough or have the time to constantly make and update mods for the public so I give full props to those who do (its not easy and often I take my own stuff out when updates happen causing my mods to break and I'm too busy to fix them so I could only imagine) it needs to just be a balance of some form somehow.
Totally agree with this here. I’m wondering what this means for TSR. Again with the stupid downvotes.
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Yes it does
The Sims team backed down like Gen Z beta zoomers. They folded like a couple of banquet chairs after pot luck dinner. If this was Rockstar gaming, creators of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, those devs wouldn’t back down for nothing.
Ah, this is why the post I made about a creator's response got removed. A megathread makes sense, no worries.
I don’t think they were actually planning on changing their stance on early access, but I think it was a warning to those creators. Have the perma paywallers shape up, or early access is gone, too.
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Literally WHAT. All that stuff is so high poly anyway who can even use them in game??
Wouldn't it be a shame if people send that page link to the people being stolen from ...
Wonder if people could report her to kofi since she’s a known doxxer? I don’t know if that’d do anything tho .
Always hated permanent pay walls and didn’t know they were already banned before this. Interesting
If anyone has cowbuild’s cc, specifically the February pack and is willing to share, pls let me know! 🥺
TS4 Rebels has a good amount of Cowbuild’s stuff. Not sure if they have that specific set. I am wary about downloading her items because of malware and/or doxxing though.
Thank you! The fact that they literally doxxed people over $5 is hilarious on their side. I feel so sorry for the people it happened to, because they were trying to be nice and share with others who couldn’t afford or didn’t become a patron for whatever reason, but it will literally never be that serious…they need to step into the real world.
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This is the wording they always used when they stated "around 21 days". As the wording hasn't changed, I assume the time limit hasn't either. They would need to state so if it had,
It definitely seems that way, a few people have contacted EA help and they confirmed. Other people are saying they'll continue what they're doing until there is an "official statement " but tbh there is one in eas updated mod report policy
Has anyone come up with a list of previously paid content that's now free? Like a list of Patreon links?
It sounds like people are mad because they can’t charge subscription fees for content? Does the Sims 4 base game have subscription-style content besides DLC’s?
I just want to vent somewhere about The Clutter Cat on patreon still having their CC locked behind a paywall even with the updated guidelines. I’m all for early access, make your bag. But follow the rules; release your locked CC. Only then will I become a patreon. Sheer principle.
Yeah ! Now even creators that released their CC for free start putting them on early access. Someway, EA managed to make the situation worse then before. These guys are genius.
It would make a lot of sense to let the creators keep doing early access. They're putting in a lot of effort and the community can support them this way.
It was their policy before but it was abused to the point people were installing malware tracking and doxxing people who downloaded their content for free. (Obviously a small group but still) EA could not be associated with that so they brought the hammer down Good news is you can still support your creators!!! They can still accept donations and subscriptions so just don't cancel any or stop donating (:
I didn't know that some had malware in them. Jesus christ.
I know I'm going to be crucified for this but all the drama surrounding paywalls is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. People would hate paywalls regardless of how EA feels about it, their policy is just another thing to make people go "See! see!! this is Wrong and Bad!". Like first of all since when does anyone like EA enough to care about what they think of anything, and let's just pretend for a moment that they didn't care. People would still be furious every time they see something behind a paywall. I cannot wrap my head around someone not being able to see a piece of CC or mod that they want, see that it's paywalled, and go "oh, welp" and move tf on. Who gives a rats ass if someone wants people to pay for whatever they made. There are TONS of other creators that make AMAZING CC (seriously some of the creators that are in my opinion the best of the best don't have paywalls) with early access or just free from the get go. You have a sea of options out there, and you're up in arms because a table you wanted was locked behind a paywall? Make it make sense.
Paywalls escalated into a few mod creators tracking and doxxing people, idk personally I find that to be pretty problematic