Premades and Precepts

If you see my previous post, I posted a too long to read rebuttal to my query about paysites (post before that). Jeff actually did respond to my concerns, which is kind of nice:

Ryan,
Well, first, my reply was more just me being a flip smart-ass than what you would call an official statement of policy. :) My point, I guess, was that if these guys were really doing something wrong or illegal, I guarantee you that EA would not be linking to them, and would probably be going after them. So, your questions are worth trying to get a more official response. I’m off for holiday break now, but after the new year, I’ll ask the Sims folks to help sort this out. –Jeff

Will we get satisfactory answers? Official licensing? Another forum sticky? Nothing? I think a “To Be Continued…” is appropriate here!

In other news, the Error 12/13 problem with my old save unexpectedly disappeared. (I posted on MATY about it; no, I don’t know what the hell I did to make it work again.) So now I’m on the verge of Generation 6 in my “don’t call it a Legacy”. It’s definitely the furthest I’ve ever played in a Sims game. What? I think it’s cool. Pics soon.

Also, Create-A-World. Man, I plan on having some fun with it, but my handmade efforts so far have sucked, and I tried to import a heightmap only to get crazy spikes everywhere. I have another modding project that I want to finish before starting a new custom town though.

I’m not in the sharpest of moods right now, due to it being the day after Friday, so apologies for rambling incoherence.

Anyway, I got a public response to my pointed letter on paysites! Yay for corporate sincerity.

Jeff Green writes:

Well, the fact that we link to many of these sites ourselves, as you say, gives you the answer to part of your question: These sites aren’t doing anything wrong. Part of why The Sims is so dang popular is this ability to create and trade objects with other gamers. There are a ton of sites that do this completely for free, too, offering thousands of items at no cost at all. So, really, you don’t have to "put up" with anything. You can ignore the pay sites and go to the free ones. Or, make your own stuff and sell it yourself.  Capitalism FTW! God Bless America!

I posted the following (long) comment to the post on ea.com. In case it fails moderation, I’m posting it below.

(more…)

I found out through Simprograms that Jeff Green, former member of Department Sims over at EA and current EA.com editor, has a Mailbag where you can send in questions. Questions on anything! I thought to myself, there’s no way I’m passing up such an opportunity to rant a little about Sims paysites. The world must know…

Anyway, here’s the contents of my short letter, preserved for online posterity.

(And in case it ever gets a response…but I’m not very optimistic.)

Dear Jeff,
I love The Sims 3, but we fans of The Sims have had to put up with paysites for years. These sites make a tidy profit from selling unlicensed user-made content and mods. As a lifelong PC gamer and modder, it disturbs me that The Sims is virtually the only modern PC franchise where paysites operate so openly and rampantly. I’m not seeing a Dragon Age or Battlefield 2 paysite taking off any time soon, either – it’s just The Sims where you’re ‘allowed’ to stick a price tag on your pixels and get away with it. My question is, why does EA turn a blind eye to Sims paysites? Selling modified game files breaks all sorts of IP laws and the game’s license agreement to boot, so it’s entirely within your rights to be cracking out the legal threats and busting these scumbags. Instead, I see paysites getting endorsed on the official forums and their representatives invited to fan events. What gives?
–Ryan D.

Additional remarks:

• If you search Google for “dragon age paysites” and “battlefield 2 paysites”, guess what? All roads lead to The Sims. That’s how idiosyncratic this problem is.
• If anything the second-to-last sentence is too hot for EA! However, it is factual. Here’s my evidence should I need to back the claims up:

TS3 forum sticky: Custom Content Sites – Share em’ with us! [sic]

• Save parsimonious.org, all the sites listed withhold a portion of their content from non-paying customers. I believe this advertisement is a pretty prominent endorsement of their continuing operation.
• The PMBD definition of paysites: “a paysite is any site that offers user-created content that you must pay for, whether through a donation or a subscription. If it is not freely available to all, it is a pay item.”

Another sticky: SIMPOSIUM Write-ups and Reviews from the attendees

• Both The Sims Resource and Holy Simoly are paysites whose agents attended this recent event. This was just the most recent one: paysites have attended past events, and if nothing changes, future Sims events too. It’s a bit like a cop inviting a gang lord on a skiing trip, isn’t it? (Don’t tell me, I suck at analogies).
• TSR is definitely the worse offender of the two, being an incorporated business and all. That’s just the tip of the murky iceberg that is The Sims Resource.

That’s all I’ve got today. Well, seeing Jeff Green’s name makes me want to go and watch some Curb Your Enthusiasm, so I think I will now. You know, I keep meaning to actually post some screenshots of my TS3 games or something up on this site. I’m sure I’ll eventually get around to it.

As we approach the release of TS3 I’d like to give a shout out to all the sensationalist media outlets and moral crusaders. Your misinformed insights and biased reports bring joy to all gamers. I know that the game isn’t out yet, but if most ‘angry’ critics don’t bother to play the games they’re complaining about, why should I?

Here’s ten fresh controversies for the nutters with microphones. (Keep in mind some of my suggestions are actually saner than others. I needed ten things, OK?)

[Image]

This post is very emo and whiny about pirates getting stuff before honest folk, and the second half is really me railing against oppressive broadband quotas.

Regard this as your forewarning.

Well, it was 99% certain to happen early, but the Sims 3 (weighing in @ 4.94 GB) has leaked.

Edit I: SecuROM is BACK. Run.

Edit II: Whispers that it may be an early leak of the Download Edition (already confirmed to contain SecuROM). Jury is out on whether the disc version will have the Blight. Alternately, may be preview code, due to missing content. Smart to wait until retail version is up. Smarter to buy the freakin’ thing.

I’m angry at this. Two reasons.

(more…)

Yay, no oppressive DRM! Rod Humble tells all. Of course, the copy protection remains, because EA aren’t THAT progressive.

What nefarious schemes will EA implement instead? Here are some ideas for them…

1) Intentionally program the game ‘broken’, and release a day-one patch while restricting its downloading as much as possible to genuine owners. Games for Windows Live, etc. Issue a statement on your official forums; don’t acknowledge what you did but apologise for the issues and then accuse people with broken games of piracy. Hilarity ensues.

2) Create an awesome bonus feature for your game that increases its replayability 500% OR makes the game so much more functional that it’s practically a necessity for all serious players. Restrict the Awesome Bonus with a one-time code packaged with new copies of the game. Gamers will complain: “It’s too Awesome! Why isn’t it in the game itself? I don’t want to download it!” Accuse the complainers of being pirates. Six months later, release the update for $10. Leave it out of the ‘game of the year’ edition just to piss off a few more people. Extra points if Awesome Bonus isn’t ready for three months.

3) Package the game with a proprietary content delivery system which is a mandatory install with the game. Make it impossible, or at least heavily frustrating, to play the game without the PCDS running in memory, chewing up system resources. Accuse anyone who complains of being pirates.