This is from the official statement composed by EA Legal (not a forum moderator as the Pirates like to claim), as posted by EA recently:
"...Whether players choose to share their original artistic creations with the community is up to them: some custom content creators design work for a fee; some host their works on sites that organize, store and serve an enormous amount of content for subscribers; some artists request donations; and some artists allow all players to download their creations for free. These artists set their own terms for how they want to share their talents with the community at large. Those terms should be respected by other players."
This is from the company that hold all rights to Sims game code. Does that read that Paysites are illegal to you?
So much fail I don't know where to begin.
1: If it was an "official" statement, why was it posted by a mere Maxoid? If it's an official statement, shouldn't an official person be making it?
Potential comeback: The BBS is official enough! EA doesn't have to have something posted officially! That's what maxoids are for!
Response to potential comeback: Humble had all the time in the world to assure people that Sims 3 would not have SecRom on it, and it wasn't just by a cutsie little note left in the BBS, it was on the front page of the site under "news."
2: Generally, "official" announcements don't use internet slang (that little post he refers to is on the BBS, and uses the word 'plz' in the title. Not "Please," but "plz.")
Potential comeback: Drea is just trying to get people's attention, and internet slang usually does the trick.
Response to potential comeback: Yeah, it also makes you look like a twelve year old AOL user. It does not put forth any air of professionalism about that announcement, it makes it look like a joke.
3: How come only YOUR artists rights are taken into consideration? I want my stuff removed from your site. So does Paleoanth. So do other people. Yet you refuse. How come your rights need to be protected, but only yours?
Potential Comeback: You signed an agreement that said we could keep your stuff. STFU!
Response to Potential Comeback: I changed my mind. My terms now are no pay sites. I'm still the artist of those items, I created them, I want them removed. These are my terms now, and I want you to respect them.
The story: The Pirates want the pay content but they don't want to have to pay for it. It's in their nature. Read their forums, they openly pirate Expansion Packs and they intend to do the same with Sims 3. "I'm going to Arr Sims 3" means they will steal it rather than give EAxis as they call them, any more money.
The story, huh? If we wanted your precious pay content so badly, why would we have a thread that encourages people to look for free alternatives? Most of the core members don't even use the booty, we prefer to keep our games as clean of pay content as possible. The only pay TSR content I have in my game, is content I downloaded when I was a paying member or had an incentive day.
Yes, some people here are planning on Arring Sims 3, but that doesn't mean all of them are. I admit I thought about it, but it wasn't because I wanted to steal it. I and other members have stated several times that we wanted to own the game, not steal it, but that if EA was going to have SecRom on it, we weren't going to risk it. I don't like to steal. In fact, the whole idea has bothered me enough that it's one of the many reasons why I just am not going to bother with Sims 3 at all.
I find it ironic that members of your site were sending out links to get illegal copies of PSP and other software, yet you claim to be holy and pure. Bullshit. Your former artist manager sent out email and PM's telling Paleoanth, myself, and others how to get illegal copies of graphics programs. Maybe she doesn't work for you anymore, but she did when we got them. If we have to take into consideration that just because a member did it, it doesn't mean everyone does it, it works both ways. SOME pirates believe in ARRing. Not all of them. And the reasons why they believe in it are their own business, and we owe you no explanations. How about your Artist Manager encouraging people to download pirated copies of PSP? I'll bet you don't want to explain that, do you?
Pay content is about choice, if you want it, and can afford it, then buy it. If you don't want to or can't buy it, go for the free stuff. Piracy is theft. Theft is illegal, selling CC for The Sims games clearly isn't! Anyone with any ability to see sense can work that out for themselves.
1: That's the problem, it isn't clear. If EA comes out with an official statement saying that it is all right to have a commercial website and to sell items commercially, I will no longer be seen on this board (I'll lose all respect for EA, but that's not important to you, right?) If EA comes out and says, "We sanction TSR as an official fansite that is allowed to sell content," I will leave this site unless all TSR stuff is removed from the booty. I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Potential comeback: But we haz a statement! See above!
Response to potential comeback: A vague statement, that still claims that the EULA isn't changing (I noticed that part of the "official" statement is missing from your cut 'n paste up there) and the EULA is what's official. Anything else is just a suggestion. Even the wording in the statement points to their suggestion. there rights "should" be respected. What your official statment really boils down to, is someone trying to placate you, while still keeping the true law intact. Sorry, to me the EULA speaks a lot louder than a statement posted on a BBS. Again, if EA really believes in you, let 'em prove it. Let 'em state clearly that they don't mind at all if you charge, that it's perfectly "legal" to them.
The story: Initially it was claimed that TSR and other Paysites shared subscriber's credit card details between themselves to create bogus accounts and take payments for them without the card owner knowing. When we pointed out that PayPal handles the transaction and the service provider never sees credit card numbers, that part of the accusation got deleted because it was realised for once, that someone making something up didn't actually constitute a fact.
1: Uh...no. That was not the issue. You hadn't been accused of making bogus charges on people's credit cards, or if you were, there is no official evidence of it, so it can't be considered fact. What you were accused of doing, was sharing personal details about paid subscribers that you
suspected were pirates with members of your site who were not administrators, but merely hired help. You were also accused of cackling gleefully about catching people who still had several months left on a subscription, banning them, but keeping their money anyway. Those are what the screenshots showed. Not you making illegal charges. Several times it was suggested that if you had mentioned these people only by their "screen names" it would have been considered merely petty, but not harmful. But you shared real names and other real information. At one point, one of your members even shared someone's true phone number and encouraged other people to call this person and harass them.
Potential comeback: No we didn't.
response to Potential Comeback: Prove it. And having Dot play a ten year old game of "Hai, Screenshots are faked!" is not proving it. Honestly, I don't think you can really prove that now, because you waited too long. If you had the "true" pages, you should have been able to show them ages and ages ago. Sorry, you lose this one.
The Pirates didn't like that we were on to them so cooked up this story because at the time they didn't know how we were catching them. They hated it even more when they found we used their own shared files against them! Of course they now know, but wont retract their claim because it adds too much value to their smear campaign.
1: I can't speak for everyone, but what I heard from the pirates was that the files had a tracker in them. I only worried that it was worse, when I saw BlackGarden gleefully cackling how booty files were crashing people's systems. Until then, I was convinced that the trackers were nothing more than an irritation, not something that was potentially damaging.
Fact: The owner of Reflexsims approached Thomas privately about the growing piracy situation, asking for advice on how to deal with it. Thomas' first advice was, quote: "you need to stop allowing them to trash paysites in bigforums such as yours". She tried just this and in return got kicked out of the very forum she started!
1: If she got kicked out, then why did she have a noticed up that she was giving up the forum? First there was a notice that she was handing over the forum to someone else, then the next thing, the forum was closed. If you're kicked out of a place, you don't usually leave a lovely little note about how sorry you are, but you just don't have the time to run the forum anymore.
The Story: This is the newest one, and a direct result from my chat with Delphy. He informed his community that TSR was subject to a security breach early this year. He doesn't know the details and never actually claimed to in his post, but it has been twisted and turned into the "fact" that all TSR member accounts had been compromised and that TSR did nothing to inform or protect them. Its now even suggested that subscribers credit card details are included.
1: Either you got this one wrong, or I might have started this one, and if so, it was a misunderstanding. I mentioned that if the site had been hacked, whoever hacked it could easily get some valuable information. I mentioned that because I paid with a credit card, that I had given you 100% honest information in my member profile, because I believed that in order to pay by CC, the two would have to match up. Also, since the information wasn't visible to anyone but me and the staff at TSR, I figured it was safe. I also admitted I shared a lot of personal information by PM with folks, and kept those PM's. IF your site was hacked while I was a member, and they went after my account, they would have access to serious information I do not want made public. I never said that my credit card was in jeopardy.
If our information is correct we actually know who she is, and given that she once wanted desperately to be an FA at TSR but didn't get it, we think it explains quite a lot about her bitterness towards us, don't you?
Boy, it sure is taking a lot of time for you to prove this. Are you sure you guys are all that smart? I mean, shouldn't you have caught this person by now since she's just a bitter person. Why would a bitter person have so much time and patience to plan attacks so slowly? She's been able to do this for months, according to you, why not destroy and run?
But, I'll be fair. I look forward to seeing this evidence. (And yes, there had better be evidence, not just "We said!") I will go over this evidence with as fair a mind as I can. If I conclude you are still wrong, then that's how it goes. If I conclude that given your evidence and that of Coconut, a true conclusion cannot be reached, then I will never tell anyone that you shared personal information, I will say that you've been accused of it, but that it wasn't proven. If I end up believing you, then I will never again say anything about TSR sharing information, or closing down reflex Sims forum, or any of the other things you've been accused of.
However, I won't stop bitching and whining about you still having my minisite up, because that IS a fact and it's easy enough to prove. And, I won't stop hanging around here, because that has nothing to do with the EULA and that whole issue. But I will not mention again, any of the crimes you manage to prove your innocence with, unless it is to correct someone who is misinformed and is still accusing you.
PMBD
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