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.

Thanks for the response Jeff. I appreciate hearing straight talk on the topic of Sims paysites from an EA rep but I have serious problems with what you’re telling Sims fans.

Firstly, I want to say that if  such sites were officially licensed by EA, there would be no problem. I have no problem with people being fairly compensated for their work, but not if they’re breaking laws to do so. As it stands no paysite has a license from EA to conduct their business.

Secondly, you didn’t address why The Sims is the EXCEPTION to the rule for EA’s games when it comes to charging for user-made content. For example BioWare has spoken out through their forum moderators against any attempts to sell mods or offer them as “donation incentives” (where you must “donate” to receive the content at all) for their games. Doesn’t it disadvantage the large casual audience of The Sims 3, new to gaming, who might stumble on a pay site and not know that there are free ones out there?

Thirdly, your response basically sanctions the selling of derivative works of EA’s assets – in breach of their EULAs – because it’s a free country and a free market. Why then has EA Legal stopped people from trying to sell machinima, even when they were trying to raise money for charity? (Do a web search for "Bloodspell DVD EA" and "Male Restroom Etiquette EA").

Where does this permissiveness end? Can I also rip game art or music from a PC game, upload it and sell that as my own? Is it OK to sell multiplayer cheat hacks for games like Crysis or Battlefield? In a totally free market it’d be logical to do all this, plus pirate games and plagiarise its content without mercy. The only thing stopping that in the real world, apart from one’s morals, are intellectual property and contract laws…

Finally, the Create A World tool that just came out this week for Sims 3 has a clause restricting distribution to "personal noncommercial website(s) for the noncommercial benefit of the fan community." (I know that not all modding uses official mod tools, but a large proportion does.) How are paysites EVER operated for the “noncommercial benefit” of fans? Their very purpose is to generate revenue from commercial transactions – subscription or per-download fees, giving out items in exchange for “donations”, etc. Also, how are the for-profit companies that run some paysites “personal noncommercial website(s)”?

Sorry to chill the vibe of this blog, but I hope this response is seriously considered.

- Ryan D.

Next step? I’m seriously thinking about writing to EA Legal.

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.