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Old 04-05-2007, 10:38 PM   #1
Greg
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Default Fan Sites Must Be Destroyed!

FAN SITES MUST BE DESTROYED!


Fan Sites Must Be Destroyed!
This is a recolor of the maxis Young Adult outfit that it looks like, so of course it's not worthy of consideration as any sort of new creative artwork. The download includes only the outfit for YA males. The anonymous model's headgear and glasses are by Maxis; they come with one of those silly expansion packs that you can no doubt steal from somewhere on the net.

Are you tired of all those poor people with their pathetic busker jars and subscription schemes on their Sims sites? Do you believe it doesn't matter who you hurt as long as you get what you want? Do you enjoy hurting others because this is your way to assuage your pathetic ego? Do you want to clear out all the riff-raff so only the arrogant rich can afford Sims sites? Want to keep all but the richest of the rich from engaging in any form of art so that talented paupers can't outshine the piteous produce of us rich folk?

Are you able to invent increasingly absurd rationalizations for your crimes and still believe them?

Want to drive all the great Sims artists off the net and make them get real jobs where they produce really useful things like male enhancement nostrums and porn sites with never-ending pop-ups?

Need to make sure that no struggling single moms can afford to stay home with their children? Have you grown weary of all those fan artists making all that neat stuff that makes your game so much fun? Do you seethe with envy of the artists who can actually do this stuff? Want to get back at them really good?

Let's keep those buskers out of the concert halls and on the streets where the beggars belong! Wear this T-shirt and tell it to the world! But don't forget to hide your cowardly thieving face behind a mask of Internet anonymity while you claim that you're not a criminal!

BE A DESTROYER! STOP THOSE CREATORS NOW!

FAN SITES MUST BE DESTROYED!



Copyright ©2007 by The Pearl, but since I'm just a poor fan artist, you can ignore that, right? Downloaded for personal use only, except by criminals who make their own exceptions from copyright laws and personal integrity; nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Derivative works of this garment may be made and distributed, but only from sites owned by people so incredibly wealthy that they can afford to pay for your luxuries! And, for the sake of your own rationalization, never face up to that crook in your mirror! After all, you're not a criminal as long as you don't get caught, right?

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
--Rev. Marvin Luther King, Jr.

"Was that over the top? I can never tell!"
--The Mask
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Old 04-06-2007, 07:06 PM   #2
DragonMan Ren
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I believe he's taking a shot at BlueSoup and Pescado, Wren. They've got a site that offers pay-exclusive content for free, claiming that such content violates the rules with EA or somesuch.

I'm really not decided on the issue one way or another. There's a lot to be said for both sides of the debate.

Arguments for the site:
1. Pay sites might actually violate the rules. I haven't actually studied it to see the EA rules on custom content, but it seems plausible, as I've seen similar restrictions on other software.
2a. Pay content is only previewable through the screenshots, and in game, it is often substandard crap. If such content was provided for free, the creator would be deeply ashamed of his premature release.
2b. Pay site operators are often jerks, knowingly pawning substandard crap off on us.
3. It only affects pay-exclusive sites. A free site with a donate option doesn't even come up on the radar.
4. Content creation, like everything about the game, is intended to be a hobby, not a profession.

Refuting arguments:
1. People like the stuff enough to buy it. If EA doesn't like it, they should provide better stuff.
2a. People can stop buying from crappy creators if this continues to happen. The fact that it hasn't happened yet doesn't change the fact that people are still willing to pay for it.
2b. Pescado is also a jerk.
3. Relying on people's generosity is for fools.
4. People pay for and get paid for hobbies all the time.

I'm sort of favoring the pay-site side of the argument right now. As a political scientist, the economist in me says that, if you want something enough to pay for it, you should expect to. Of course, I'm broke right now too, after the move, so I haven't gotten any pay site content in quite a while.
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Old 04-07-2007, 10:03 PM   #3
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Yes, I intended that as extreme sarcasm. Sardonicity, as BeosBoxBoy so aptly expressed it.

In case it's not clear: I have no sympathy for criminals and their attempts to rationalize their crimes by demonizing their victims and shouting down those who criticize their thievery only add to the disgust that anyone with even an iota of personal ethics must feel for them.

I did try to make that very clear in the Rules and Community Standards that nobody ever reads.
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Old 04-12-2007, 12:24 AM   #4
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There's an interesting discussion on the Sims 2 Mesh Mall regarding the question of these criminal activities. Bloo was wondering why there is so much hostility between sims fans, especially on this issue.

Here's what I had to say about it:

After seven years of this, I'm pretty much convinced that it stems more from personalities than from rational thought. Among Sims fans, there seems to be a disproportionate number of people who really enjoy stirring up bad feelings in others. There's really not much we can do about that except ignore them.

That's not to say that there aren't also ill-advised business motivations for troll events, even though the trolls greatly amplify nastiness fomented by unethical business behavior.

There are some amusing stories about that. The first I experienced was when one webmaster whom I was hosting for free on Moon Sims decided to see she could make some money from running a subscription site. She and a couple of cohorts on her staff spent a couple of months covertly setting up the new site and then in the middle of the night, deleted their site from the Moon Sims server and replaced it with a bunch of nastygrams.

The web log from that night was filled with hacking attempts where they also tried to wreck the other sites we hosted at the time as well as the primary web server itself. (Didn't work; they were blocked by the server's security system. It was a silly thing to try anyhow; server space for Moon Sims is donated by CyberTeams, the guys that wrote the security system for World Bank.) Then for the next few weeks I was inundated with all sorts of irrational attacks all over the Sims community.

When I asked the webmaster why she did this, she outright told me that she didn't want to have to explain why they left a "free" host to set up a "pay" site. (Let's be serious; there are no "free" sites. Somebody has to pay the bills for every site on the net.)

This same event was repeated many times after we got SimsHost going. Several webmasters decided to go off on their own with dollar signs in their eyes. They just didn't believe when I told them that SimsHost wasn't earning big bucks; and in fact never reached break-even. Many of them elected to follow a scorched-earth policy on their way out. They just didn't want to explain why they left a $2-a-month host where members could download from 100 sites to set up an $8-a-month site where members could access only their stuff.

The most amusing side effect of all those troll events was that each one resulted in an increase in the number of SimsHost subscribers. Such is the value of free publicity.

The tragedy is that not one of those sites lasted very long. The webmasters got discouraged when they discovered that Sims sites aren't the money machine they expected, and they one by one, they closed.

I really disagree with the notion that money is the root of all evil. The original saying is that the love of money is the root of all evil, and I would argue with even that point.

Myself, I value honesty above all else, and hold considerable disdain for dishonesty and unethical behavior. At least one of the big donation-based "free" sites engages in what I see as reprehensile marketing practices, beneath contempt; however, my greatest disgust is reserved for the criminals who are out to wreck "pay" sites just because they get their jollies from destroying things.

I rarely speak up about these things because it's just more fodder for the trolls, but I think it's worth doing once in a while just so that those who still have their personal ethics will know that they are not alone. That's why I posted this bit of silliness over at Insim (and also on my site, Sun Sims). It was really a promise I had made to Kathy, that I would fire a broadside at the criminal philosophy that was arising in the forum. Of course, being me, I couldn't resist loading the canon with joy buzzers and Groucho glasses.

----------

Not surprisingly, this evoked a response from folks who continue to attempt to rationalize their criminal behavior. It always does, and that's what we should expect. People don't like to face up to their own crimes, so they invent increasingly absurd rationalizations to protect their own egos.

But really, face up to it guys: You're either a crook or your not. If you're a crook, pretending it ain't so won't make you any less guilty.

Worse, it's a very self-destructive thing to do. The longer you continue to build up rationalizations for your behavior, the more it will eat at you.
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Old 04-12-2007, 01:47 AM   #5
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Hi Greg. I posted on my site in regards to "Why the Hostility" I guess you had already left when I had done so. I have always seen things from a totally free point of view. I guess being ignorant of the arguments, I never thought to consider any other sides. I understand what you are saying and can relate to it. I admit at times I can be critical against pay sites...perhaps because we have just been dealt a hard blow by one of the biggest sites on the web. I still don't understand all the arguments brewing in the TS2 Community. I didn't realize until a few weeks ago there was even sites out there that was Pirating stuff from pay sites. And no it does not make it right. I guess you could say I am a bit dumbfounded to it all. I just stood for keeping my site and meshes free. The thing that bothers me in respect about some paysites is they take meshes from artists who want their stuff free and they turn around and charge for it, doing an injustice to the members of their site and to the artist. And they try to make a living off of the artist.....who blindly keeps giving them their work.
I am sorry and I apologize to you and your site if I in any way offended you with my thread. I meant no harm. Only venting my own thoughts on my one sided view.
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Old 04-12-2007, 04:34 AM   #6
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No, you should not charge for something the artist intends to be free. You should also not give away something the artist intends to be a pay item. Symmetrical, right?
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Old 04-12-2007, 04:38 AM   #7
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Bloo, of course I couldn't condone those who sell others' work without their permission. I certainly agree that taking another artist's work and taking credit for it is stealing, and charging money for it is far worse. That's plagiarism, yet another crime.

But hey, if I've lead anyone to think about what they're really doing, then I accomplished the goal I set out to do when I promised Kathy over at Insim that I'd fire a broadside at the whole criminal philosophy.

You are very fortunate enough that you are wealthy enough to be able to run your web site for free. Far more than that, so incredibly wealthy that you can share the time and talent it takes to create the things you do without need for monetary compensation.

I have happily hosted many "free" Sims sites for seven years now on the Moon Sims server; but I think that it would be arrogant of me to argue that just because I'm lucky enough to be able to do this, less fortunate people shouldn't be allowed to have Sims sites.

Every field of human endeavor has its dilettantes and its professionals. I'm an amateur astronomer, but I don't insist that professional astronomers should not be paid. Volunteer firefighters don't denigrate professional firefighters. People who play baseball at the park on weekends don't go around insisting that all professional sports must be destroyed. (Imagine: "After all, it's just a game. Nobody should be paid for it.") Fan fiction writers don't try to undermine the careers of Jack Clancy and Stephen King, and I've never met anyone who thought it was not a crime to steal books from a bookstore or to make illegal copies of books.

How are artists who make things for The Sims any different? Obviously, they're not. It takes the same levels of creativity to invent and design the things they make, the same level of skill to create the things. Yet, somehow, among all the interest groups in the world, only Sims fans have the unique ability to rationalize criminal behavior based on the philosophy that no one should earn money from their art.

Some people do this because they want to hurt people. "Pescado" openly says this on his criminal site--he only does it because it hurts people. He gets away with it because his crime is too petty to be of interest to the Department of Justice, and because he hides behind a cloak of Internet anonymity.

I probably don't need to go on about how cowardly and sick this behavior really is. Honest people don't have to hide their shame behind false identities and sane people don't have that much shame to hide. But, really, I believe that the majority of Sims fans are not so sick, and they really want to be honest people.

The worst tragedy is that all this is teaching a whole generation of young sims fans to be crooks, as long as you're only stealing intellectual property.

Worse yet, it's happening at the beginning of the Information Age. The job market is changing. More and more, manual labor is being displaced by machines. We are moving toward the day when creating and distributing intellectual property becomes the only means that the majority of the people in the world can earn a living. Yet here we are, brainwashing children into believing that it's all right to steal intellectual property.

If we can just get people to think about what they're really doing and saying, there may be some hope. If not, well hey, it's not that hard to learn to speak Chinese.
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Old 04-27-2007, 06:14 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg View Post
Every field of human endeavor has its dilettantes and its professionals. I'm an amateur astronomer, but I don't insist that professional astronomers should not be paid. Volunteer firefighters don't denigrate professional firefighters. People who play baseball at the park on weekends don't go around insisting that all professional sports must be destroyed.
Boy, did you ever hit the nail on the head (and strait into a hornet nest) with that one! The number of people who don't consider Art Theft to be theft is really disturbing, but facts are facts: Theft is theft no matter what you're stealing, folks!

As an aspiring self-employed Artist, this is a REAL hot-button issue for me so I'll spare you the rabid, fire-spitting tyraid, which is in 110% agreement with you, btw!

I also can't help but notice that the "pro stealing" side is forever trying to muddy the waters with rants about the comparative quaility of objects available- usually involving personal attacks against any "enemy" creators- while neatly side stepping the REAL issue at hand which is that people who wish to provide their Art for free & people who wish to charge for their time/creative process should BOTH be able to have their wishes respected (& not deliberately undermined) by the other.

'Nuff said!

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Old 04-27-2007, 09:37 AM   #9
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That brings up a fascinating question: If the stuff on "pay" sites is of a lower quality, then why bother to steal it? Plain ol' kleptomania, perhaps?
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Old 04-27-2007, 01:15 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zirconia Wolf View Post
...people who wish to provide their Art for free & people who wish to charge for their time/creative process should BOTH be able to have their wishes respected (& not deliberately undermined) by the other.
Yep. I've done very well using approximately that statement to shout down teefs. Especially effective on egroups that have been shut down for letting teefs run their mouths excessively and are trying to get their membership and resources rebuilt. Do not argue. Simply shout them down. This is one case where volume wins.

Last edited by Miros1 : 04-27-2007 at 02:18 PM.
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Old 05-01-2007, 08:53 AM   #11
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I can't seem to find the word "teef" in my dictionary.
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Old 05-01-2007, 11:21 AM   #12
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Lol, it's a term we used in Dragon Realms for people who stole everything that wasn't nailed down and whined "but I didn't break any rules" as an excuse when caught. The whining was actually the defining trait, not the stealing. The worst offenders weren't even of the Thief class, just people who'd developed the pick pockets skill to high levels.

Some of my friends caught one scripting (running a program to gain skill while afk, really dumb when you know people are angry with you) and one friend shot him in the head with a crossbow. Then said friend, with 0 first aid skill, proceed to "tend" the wound by pulling out the bolt. I think he stirred in the process.
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Old 05-01-2007, 04:00 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miros1
...shot him in the head with a crossbow.


Dang!

Why can't this be legal for dealing with spammers?

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Old 05-01-2007, 04:38 PM   #14
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Lol, that's a concept! Or it could be reserved for trolls or people who share paysite stuff....
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Old 05-01-2007, 05:01 PM   #15
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We could start by using the crooks as a back stop when we shoot the spammers.
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Old 05-01-2007, 08:59 PM   #16
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Quote:
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We could start by using the crooks as a back stop when we shoot the spammers.
Even better!

(The whole two-birds, one-stone thing! Very efficient! )

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Old 06-19-2007, 12:05 PM   #17
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If this is EA's "official" or "legal" position, they need to look at their own site for their "list of these pay sites." If you provide advertising services, you're giving de facto approval!
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Old 06-21-2007, 12:51 AM   #18
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It would appear that the crooks' latest ploy is to create fraudulent messages attributed to Electronic Arts.

In keeping with our policy of absolutely zero tolerance for criminals, the user is banned.
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Old 06-30-2007, 02:38 AM   #19
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I'm quite sure that message off EA wasn't fake and I don't see any crooks round here.
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Old 06-30-2007, 02:47 AM   #20
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I'm not sure if it was or not, but the part asking for a list of paysites was stupid. Either it's fake or the lawyer hasn't got the wits to visit EA's own websites. The "crook" Greg was refering to is the banned poster.
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