Silver's Sim Stuff FAQ
Q. Can I use your custom content on sims/lots I upload to another site?
Sure, on 100% free sites (yes, even the Exchange) and you properly credit me and include a link back to here. Also please leave a message on my guestbook/CC pages to let me know!
I do not want my work on sites that charge for content in any way, whether directly charging or through a subscription. Voluntary donation sites (like WNF, InSim, etc) are fine, "donation set" sites are not! And under no circumstances may you put anything of mine on The Sims Resource; I don't care if it's in the free section. No TSR and this is not negotiable.
Q. Can I upload your custom content as is onto my own fansite?
I won't forbid you, though I'd rather you didn't. My CC will always be available for free, so there's really no need to upload it elsewhere. And besides, I'm nosy and like to know how often my stuff gets downloaded (not very often, admittedly).
Q. May I use your textures/alphas?
Yeah, why not? But only for Sim projects and if for distribution then only on 100% free sites. Most of my work is based on Maxis textures anyway, but please credit me and provide a clickable link back to here. If my textures use a 3rd party image (e.g. fanseelamb's texture) then their conditions will also apply. Again, no paysites and no TSR. Textures I created myself from scratch and photos I took myself are released under the following license. (ask me if you're not sure if the texture is 100% mine or not). Also a quick message to let me know how you use my stuff is appreciated.
Q. May I use your items in screenshots, stories, movies, etc?
Yes, of course! I would be flattered! You don't have to credit me, unless you really want to. If you would let me know when you use my items in pics and stories I would appreciate that very much.
Q. Do you take requests?
Feel free to make requests. Simple things, like modifying my existing CC to a different colour for example, I'd be happy to do, no problem. As long as you don't expect anything more fancy than what I've already created, then I should be able to fulfill your request, just leave a message in the Happy Fun Book. If you want something complex you're better off asking a proper artist 😉 And I absolutely, definitely CANNOT mesh!
Sorry, I've retired from CC creation.
Q. Can I reproduce your stories?
No (why would you want to??). Whatever about the screenshots, the story text is copyright to me and may not be reproduced, either in whole or in part, elsewhere.
Q. My game isn't working!!!!
Tough. Stop asking me for game help, this isn't a support forum.
Q. Can I use your Smash Bros/KI/[insert game here] screenshots on my own site ZOMG PLZZZZZZZ?!?!?!!?
Only if you stop talking like a moron. Just joking! Sure go ahead, copyright isn't mine, but credit for the awesome choreography is appreciated.
And now a few answers for the benefit of moronic flamers:
- No, I am not Pescado.
- No, I do not run the booty. Pescado runs the booty.
- No, I am not even an affiliate of PMBD.
- If you send me one more stupid message about how Steve from SimSlice is the nicest guy in the world and doesn't deserve his pay stuff to be posted online, I will put all of SimSlice's pay stuff on the torrents.
Have a nice day!
Anti-Paysite FAQ
Q. Why are people so against paysites?
Because the aim of EA/Maxis in providing tools to create custom content was to promote FREE sharing of custom content. By using these tools (and community-created tools such as SimPe), to make money, paysite creators are not only violating EA's EULA and copyright law, but destroying the community spirit. Pirate Lorelei puts it very eloquently:
It is also rather rude, to be honest, to take a tool that was given free to the community at large to create items you intend to sell. That is not why SimPE was offered to us. The creator offered if for free, and does not even accept donations, much less sell it, because he wanted everyone to make content that was likewise free.
Q. Is it legal to distribute other people's custom content without permission?
EA have confirmed that it is:
I can certainly understand your frustration over this issue, as it probably is not always clear whether EA is interested in pursuing these sorts of cases. However, I can assure you that, legally, Electronic Arts owns the rights to all material created from our engine, and that the sharing of said material for free on community sites is completely legal, even if it is material that some players are attempting to sell. If you would like to submit a list of these pay sites, I will be more than happy to pass it on to the EA Legal team to review.
Take care,
EA Rep Fenris
Player Relations
Electronic ArtsSee Nouk's site
Q. But hosting a site costs money! How else can I raise funds to cover the costs?
If you've set up a site in the first place, it obviously means you can afford to. Okay, I'm going to have a bit of a rant here. Please get it into your head: it is not the duty of the Sims community to pay for your costs. No one is asking you to quit your job to spend all day making custom content. It's not a legal obligation to put all of your custom content online either. If you're so selfish to only provide CC (of which you don't even own the copyright) to those who can afford it, maybe you shouldn't put your work online in the first place. If people like you and your stuff enough, they will give a voluntary donation to help your hosting costs.
Besides, it's possible to set up a fansite for free. There are plenty of free hosts (although likely you'll have to put up with ads). You can do what I've done: set up a site on any of the free web hosts and put your pages there, then host your download files on a site like box.net. Images can be hosted on photobucket. Or shop around for a cheap hosting company. Failing that, just host the download files as torrents. Another easy option is just to host your files on an established site, like MTS2, InSim, etc, or ask the Wicked Nouk Family if they have space for you. In no way is it ever necessary to charge for custom content. There is simply no excuse!
Q. I created my custom content from scratch! Doesn't that mean copyright belongs to me?
Actually, no. While you can lay claim to any textures/meshes that you made entirely from scratch, once you put it into a package file, that package file is the property of EA. Now, you can stop someone extracting your textures/meshes and using them, because they are yours, but once they are in the package, you lose the rights to forbid distribution (within the package).
Why? Because once your work goes into a package, there will ALWAYS be elements of Maxis's proprietary coding in there that tells the game that your file is a hair/bed/carpet etc. That is how the game knows what to do with your file. When you create a mesh, you are still having to clone a Maxis object. Without that Maxis code, which is copyright to EA, your file would essentially be useless. EA has given the community rights to use the code and distribute files containing that code, but they have not given us rights to charge for the code or assert copyright over the code (hence All Rights Reserved). By charging for that code, you are violating copyright law. See Money Better Spent for more on this.
As for textures/meshes that are based on Maxis's own, I'm guessing the copyright here would still belong to EA.
If you are using other people's copyrighted photos for your textures without permission, then this is an entirely different kettle of fish. In any case, copyright would certainly NOT belong to you! And those artists who dare to charge for such work and stick a copyright symbol next to it are shameless hypocrites!
Still want to charge for your stuff? Then only sell the raw object/texture file and make sure it's entirely your own work. No one can have a go at you for that. Or better still, apply to EA for a license.
Q. I want you to remove the torrent list from your site. Copyright is mine and I say no filesharing!
Unless and until EA tell me that torrenting paysite custom content is wrong and unlawful I will continue to torrent. As for copyright, please see above. In any case I am not taking credit for anyone else's work, I never torrent free content and the artist names are very clearly labelled in the torrent. My aim is only to provide the pay-content for free to those who cannot and do not wish to give their money to paysites - why should anyone be forced to give money to an illegal site? I myself am making no gains from this. If you make your content free I will remove it from the torrent list and delete the files from my hard drive. Until then, they stay.
Anyhoo, you say that you need to charge for content to help pay for bandwidth, but hey, guess how many gigs of bandwidth I'm saving you every month? Lots, lemme tell you. As Pescado says - if it pees you off, then you know why I'm doing it.
Q. Great! So in that case you won't mind if I torrent your stuff?
Personally, I don't care. Heck, I'll even help with the seeding. If I was deluded enough to think there was that much demand for my stuff, I'd have torrented it myself.
Why I Left T$R
You're probably thinking TSR has a lot to offer and is a convenient place to upload all your sims-related stuff without having to worry about hosting costs. So why did I leave?
Firstly, I was given little choice in the matter - Thoma$ got there first and banned me, for this:
You have been banned for the following reason:
No reason was specified.
Date the ban will be lifted: Never
Okay, I was asking for it, but I find it quite ironic that posting an e-mail from EA, the very publisher without which TSR would not exist in the first place, warranted my account being locked. And even more ironic (or should that be moronic), even though I'm evil enough for them to lock my account, they were still quite happy to keep my uploads and stories on their site, even after being requested to remove them. Why? You know, I couldn't care less about being banned - I posted up the message from EA having already decided to no longer submit anything to that site - but why is it that to this day they still haven't given the reason for the banning? Thomas, why don't you grow a pair and just say outright you banned me for dissenting? And why did it take torrenting their pay content for my work to be finally removed?
Not only that, they send spies into filesharing sites, like the Pirate forum and SimsFileVault, and check the usernames, profiles, even avatars and signatures of forum members and compare these to TSR members. If they find any of them match up, your TSR account gets locked pronto. This is how I got caught. My username on the pirate forum was different from my TSR name. But stupid me didn't black out my name in the screenshot. Doi. The spy found me and I was blocked in under an hour. Sneaky. Just shows how much contempt TSR has for its own members. Even if you have taken out a subscription that very day - if you get caught filesharing, you can forget about their refunding you.
Let me just remind you, in EA's own words:
Legally, Electronic Arts owns the rights to all material created from our engine, and that the sharing of said material for free on community sites is completely legal, even if it is material that some players are attempting to sell.
Second, this is a website that deceives its members into coughing up for a subscription by telling them that their subscription money is necessary to keep the site online. Will TSR disclose just how much of your subscription payment goes towards hosting, and how much lines the pockets of its owners? They will never tell you. Instead, their sheep members are brainwashed to parrot such nonsense as this:
You're not paying to use the stuff (CC), you're paying to keep the site open. Websites are not free, there's money involved. Most sites call them "donations" and that's exactly what it is. You're donating money to help keep the website open. TSR is the ONLY website I have ever paid for, and that's because there's so much here. At any time of the day, you've got great people who can help you fix errors, there's so many downloads, and so much more troubleshooting and help areas. It's a GREAT site, and that's why I chose to "suscribe" (sic).
Let me make things clear, in the words of TSR itself:
In other words, if you want these files now, you will have to pay for them. This is a sale, no matter what name TSR and its sheep wish to give it. If you donate £50 to Oxfam, you will not expect them to provide your lunch for the next 6 weeks. Likewise, if you donate to a fansite, you should not expect anything more than an e-mail of thanks. If you receive something for donating, it stops being a donation and starts being a sale, and a sale is a sale; call it what you like, it doesn't change the nature of it.
As for EA's EULA,
You may include materials created with the Tools & Materials on your personal noncommercial website for the noncommercial benefit of the fan community for EA's products, provided this is beneficial to the product(s) in EA's judgment, and provided that if you do so, you must also post the following notice on your site on the same web page(s) where those materials are located: "This site is not endorsed by or affiliated with Electronic Arts, or its licensors. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Game content and materials copyright Electronic Arts Inc. and its licensors. All Rights Reserved." You will not represent that your site is endorsed or approved by or affiliated with EA or our licensors or that any other content on your site is endorsed or approved by or affiliated with EA or our licensors.
The fact that TSR censors any mention of this on the site (despite that everyone who has installed The Sims 2 will have seen this anyway) would lead one to believe that TSR KNOW they are in the wrong by charging for content.
Lastly, hundreds of members upload free content to TSR in the spirit of sharing (more here), and TSR is very unfairly making money out of this. Applications like SimPe were made for the benefit of the Sims community, not so that certain websites can use it to make a profit.
If you need more convincing, visit The True Face of TSR and Associated Content's paysite article... and don't forget to raid the booty!!!