There has been a great deal of discussion in the community in the last few days about contact with EA Legal in regard to paysites. As many of you know, recent contact has offered new hope to some, and despite naysayers, I believe it is time to make our voice clearly heard. Nouk's petition is a great step, and worth signing. Here is the next one.
I have spoken with a lawyer friend at another gaming company, and he assured me that sending letters by postal mail will at the very least ensure the matter gets EA's attention. Of course, he could not predict the outcome, but he felt that the most negative thing would be EA's decision to let paysites stand.
That being said, I am now confident that lobbying EA's Legal department is an appropriate action.
Linked here is a letter I have composed; if you believe, as I do, that EA should take the abuse of the EULA seriously, and free the Sims content for all to enjoy, please consider sending this letter.
The letter is saved in RTF format, which means you should be able to open it with your document program (Word, Word Perfect, etc.).
Once open, please follow these instructions:
1. Be sure to change the information indicated in bold BEFORE you print; note that there is a sentence in the middle where you can highlight a site in particular that you wish to bring their attention to.
1a. Remove bold formatting before printing.
2. Be sure to put your return address on the envelope. This is just good sense.
3. Be sure to sign the letter before mailing. (sounds silly, but it's worth reminding.)
While I know there are EA legal departments scattered throughout the world, I am asking you to make your statement to EA corporate headquarters; those of you outside North America will have to spend a bit more for an airmail stamp; I hope you think it's worth it.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
_____________
If you don't wish to open the file, the text is reprinted here (the rtf includes the address, etc.):
As a fan of The Sims and The Sims2, I am saddened by the unmitigated growth and greed of fansites requiring money for user-created custom content.
I understand that your End User License Agreement prohibits paysites; in the third paragraph, your EULA states, “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”. Unfortunately, a growing number of sites are blatently ignoring this statement and benefiting commercially. A list of 87 paysites, including pay content and pay structure, was sent to your department on May 21, 2007, should you require further detail. In particular, I find
www.thesimsresource.com and
www.openhouseforsims.com especially offensive, as they ask for an unreasonable subscription rate, which means subscribers would be paying more for content than they did for the game and its expansion packs.
Paysites seem to have gone unchecked by Maxis and EA – statements made in chat logs by employees, such as this exchange:
Chat Participant: What about people trying to charge or make money off of your free hosting? Will you allow that or ban them?
MaxisLuc (Sep 18, 2003 6:24:49 PM): My goal is to allow for that.
This is just one example among many that has discouraged the fan community, and we have found internal methods of combating paysites, from filesharing sites to public lists and accreditation of sites that comply with the EULA.
However, recent contact with your department has heartened me, and I now believe you have the information and the will to pursue violators of the EULA.
Custom content is what keeps many players interested in The Sims; many people have several gigabytes of custom content that enhances their lots, their Sims, and their play experience. This content is valuable to us, and all of it should be available to all of us.
Please do not let this matter drop. The fan community is in turmoil, poor and young fans are denied access to what should be free content, and paysite owners are making money off your product.
Sincerely,
Note: this has been cross posted at Insim, FFFSS, and SFV.ETA: for those who wish to fax... Fax Number 1-650-628-1422
PMBD
Author