PAY SITES, FREE
SITES, PIRATES AND HONEST SIMMERS
The Good and the Bad of our
simming world
Paysites:
must be destroyed?
The answer to this question, in my opinion, depends
entirely on the definition that we give to the term "pay site".
I understand that this is just a matter of opinion, but there IS
a limit to the acceptable opinions: I may think that urban graffiti
are a form of art, but if I paint an ugly drawing over the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel, well, I can't expect people to accept my
opinion...
One doesn't need to be a genius to see the clear difference
between (just to mention few sites):
- TSR, owned by a group of non-modders that
earn money from the work of many creators that in most cases work
for free. My personal opinion? This is definitely the ideal target
for anyone thinks that paysites must be destroyed. Are they suffering
for "attacks" of any kind? I won't shed a tear for them.
- PeggySims2, owned by a real modder who formally
asks for "donations" but actually imposes fixed prices to get a
membership that lasts for a given duration; some of the most expensive
subscription fees I've ever seen! I'm not surprised at all if this
site is targeted by pirates, we could say that PeggySims had it coming...
- ReflexSims, that has a lot of good free stuff,
but also a wide number of "premium downloads", each one with a fixed
price set (and a button that honestly reads "Buy Now", and not "donate");
good quality, but you must pay nevertheless: if people is not wise
enough to understand that can get the same quality for free (even at ReflexSims itself), there's
nothing we can do about it...
- VitaSims, Holy Simoly and some others, that
have a lot of free stuff, and some huge sets that can be bought
by "donating" a fixed (but small) amount of money; VitaSims and
the other sites of this kind are surely "guilty" of having
pay content, but thay don't deserve a "must be destroyed" treatment...
- Numenor Moddings, that doesn't contain any
object at all, because my creations are freely downloadable at MTS2;
anyone can make spontaneous donations (no fixed amount, even one
cent is accepted), and I will thank the donors by donating a gift,
i.e. one object that I chose not to share with anyone, but only
with my friends, with my donors and with other persons (known or
unknown) that I feel inclined to give the gift too.
Numenor Moddings is a paysite? Must it be destroyed? You can think
whatever you want; I think that it's like shooting at the Red Cross.
Some think that a site or a creator is "pay" whenever people can't
get all of his creations "for free". Well, just to let you know, I have several
objects that I choose not to share "for free". I have work-in-progress
objects, that could never be published; I have other "donation
gifts" that I give to anyone I like; I have a brand new
gift that will be assigned to selected contestants of the "Creators
Challenge" at MTS2...
Therefore, I can't legitimately state that *all* my
stuff is free to download: some creations of mine are given only
to the people that - in MY exclusive judgment - "deserve" them.
Am I arrogant? Perhaps. Is this "pay content"? NO.
Do you think that in order to have some of my "private" creations
you *MUST* pay? Well, ask to the many people that got my donation gifts for free;
and I'm NOT talking about my friends, but about people that kindly
asked for them, because they couldn't afford a donation, or didn't
have a credit card, or just were doubtful about the quality of my
tanning bed (some promised a donation, if they liked the object,
and then never donated...).
And ask also to the people (quite a lot, actually) that donated
one cent (no joke!) and got my donation gifts. And ask to that young
graphic artist that once donated me a virtual painting, instead
of money, and I appreciated it so much that I purposely created
for her my very first "donation gift"!
Can someone really say that my Tanning Bed is "for sale"? Come on!
First off, there is no "price": if I could get a Ferrari for 100€, I'd call that a gift, not a sale.
Secondly, you don't *need* to pay. Of course, I'm not giving it to anyone who asks for it; but nevertheless there are a lot of people that
- for various reason - got my Tanning Bed, or my Numenorean Phone or other "private" objects for free.
A gift is a gift, and I give it to anyone I like; and if someone feels bad because he isn't eligible for receiving a gift from me,
then he should think that we can't have everything, in this world, and this has nothing to do with pay content.
Pirates: wise saviours
or blind killers?
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