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.

EA now typically spends two or three times as much on marketing and advertising as it does on developing a game. That’s because advertising is critical to getting a game in the top ten rankings. If you have a $10 million game, don’t be surprised if the the TV advertising costs drive the ad budget to $30 million. If a $60 game yields revenue of $35 for EA, then (according to my math) the company has to sell 1.1 million copies just to break even.

I’d sure like to know how much it cost to develop The Sims 3, and exactly how much of that budget was spent on flashy billboards and product placements.

(Source)

TS3′s REAL core audience

“The Sims 3 is looking at 16-24 year-old PC players .. [it] has been developed from the ground up specifically against those consumer audiences.”

“it’s not just about appealing to the current Sims fans – they’re critically important, but we know we have to bring new consumers in too.”

So the people complaining about unnecessary changes, and who aren’t in this nicely-segmented age bracket or are ‘old consumers’, have a point. It’s not “developed against” them.

More below about the delay, social networking and kids, and the surprising use of the Internet to market games.

Intentional delays

When it comes to the reason for the June date, Arons replies, “Half strategy, half shifting.“. She gives the standard “more marketing” reason, adding that they intend to bring in new consumers (as quoted above).

She also talks about why EA went out with all these “trial experiences”: to bring in the “lapsed” flock who played TS2 when they were 12, but have probably moved on to KillBlow 3 and such games.

“A lot of what we’ve put significant effort into since we moved from February into June was creating trial experiences for new and lapsed players … “

Making kids buy stuff – I mean, network socially

“…what we’re leveraging on The Sims 3 in terms of social networking being a primary marketing vehicle – actually that’s not as appropriate for, say, young kids, but as we go into building up Littlest Pet Shop online, or any kind of kids online sites, we now know a lot more about social networking and how you dial it down for younger consumers.”

I think “dial it down” means “make it less obvious/offensive so we don’t end up on the news”. Parents should be concerned when they hear marketers talk about things being “primary marketing vehicles” for their children.

‘The online’

On marketing strategies:

“…with The Sims 3 (16-24 year old primary target) – those folks aren’t watching TV. Good luck there, they’re all Tivo-ing or watching online, so we had to go online. It’s probably one of the first marketing plans in EA where the online is more heavily weighted than television – and that’s an evolution. We have to spend a lot more time getting to this consumer group, that’s a lot harder to find than ever before.”

This is why they delayed it four months; because the core demographic is so hard to find! I’m a bit surprised that marketing mainly on the Internet is considered ‘novel’ for EA. In 2009.

Brilliant quote

“EA Play is less about “Let’s make a great game, because we know there’s a market out there.”"

OK, in the interest of fairness…

“It’s more about seeing that girls are really getting into gaming, younger and younger…So I’d say it was (sic) a consumer-centric approach that asks where the market opportunities are, and then goes about building the right titles and game experiences towards them.”

SimSocial, the so-called “free trial” of TS3 went live this weekend. I currently have horrendously slow internet but I did play it for about half an hour, and found the most interesting aspect of it the careers. We now have some information on career tracks that will probably make it into the final game! There’s probably a list elsewhere on the net, but here’s the one I’ve been compiling. As you may tell from the snarky comments, I’m not a big fan of them.

MEDICAL

Identical to TS3.

Organ Donor (ethics aside…)
Bedpan Cleaner
Paramedic
Medical Intern
Resident
Trauma Surgeon
Gene Therapist
Infectious Disease Researcher
Neurosurgeon
World Renowned Surgeon

POLITICS

Identical.

Podium Polisher
Ballot Counter (OK, it’s pedantic, but ballot counters aren’t permanent full-time positions.)
Campaign Intern
Yes-Man
City Council Member
Local Representative
Mayor
Governor
Vice President
Leader of Free World

JOURNALISM

Paper Child
Automated Spell Checker Checker (Ha ha. No.)
Freelance Writer (defeats the meaning of freelance if you ONLY work for one employer.)
Professional Blogger
Anonymous Source Handler
Investigative Reporter
Meteorologist – TS3: Weather-person
Lead Reporter
Editor-In-Chief
Star News Anchor

SCIENCE

Test Subject
Useless Contraption Manipulator
Lab Tech
Fertilizer Analyst
Carnivorous Plant Tender
Genetic Resequencer
Aquatic Ecosystem Tweaker
Top Secret Researcher
Animal Something Crossbreeder
Mad Scientist

CULINARY

Kitchen Scullion
Spice Runner
Vegetable Slicer
(none) - TS3: Ingredient Taster
(none) – TS3: Line Cook
Pastry Chef
Sous Chef
Line Cook
Executive Chef
Five-Star Chef

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Snitch
Desk Jockey (I don’t know what this means. What’s wrong with a real title?)
Traffic Cop
Patrol Officer
Lieutenant
Wiretap Reader
Crime Scene Technician
DNA Suspect Recon Simulator
(Forensic Analyst?)
(Intl Super Spy?)

MUSICAL

Music Fan (A paid one? SELLOUT!)
Roadie
Stagehand (isn’t that substantially the same thing as Roadie, except less music-specific?)
Band Manager
Talent Scout
Vocalist (because vocals < guitar)
Lead Guitarist
Pop Icon (because pop idolism < being a guitarist)
?
Rock Star (pop <rock. Value judgments!)