I am really discouraged about the number of people joining the TSR ranks lately.  It doesn't matter that many of them are awful creators, it's the principle of the thing.  It's becoming like Starbucks, except that Starbucks is sort of good, especially the green iced tea.

I wonder if the rats are deserting a sinking ship over at MTS.  Bad publicity thanks to Lyric Lee et al?  Something is going on over there--the quality of stuff has gotten largely worse (not all of it, but a lot of it) and certainly sparser lately.  It also seems as if Delphy doesn't care too much anymore (although who could blame him?)

Even if TSR were better, and Thomas less rude, and the whole site were free, I would hate for there to be One Big Website.  :cry:

Thanking free site owners is something I don't do enough.  Thanks for the reminder.

I don't think TSR is cowed one tiny bit by EA's statement.  I would bet they have some kind of "exclusive" deal with each other.  That's one of the reasons I doubt EA would move on paysites anytime soon.

You know what gives me nightmares?  The thought that TSR will scoop up all the good (and lousy) creators in the community and become a sims2 download monopoly. :x

Rickets, thanks.  That makes sense, I guess.  Except that even if EA's strategy is to claim copyright over the package files, I don't see how they can enforce a "no selling of derivative products" policy without also getting the EULA involved.

I don't think copyright owners can make distinctions between giving away and selling derivative products, once they've granted permission for people to use their intellectual property to make such products.

So ultimately it's the EULA that counts, and EULA's tend to be hard to enforce.  

But no matter what, EA's intent about people not profiting from derivative products is clear, and it would be nice if that were honored even without a legal ruling.

That's an odd statement from EA.  Violations of copyright law don't depend on whether or not the stuff is being sold.  Even if you give stuff away for free, you can violate copyright (all those Disney beddings, etc.). Furthermore, copyright law violation is a separate issue from violating the EULA.  The statement seems to imply that they're checking only for copyright violations (based on "selling", which in itself is not a neccessary condition), not on EULA violations.  

It reads like something tossed off, not something composed with the law in mind.  I wonder how serious it is.

Do you really think EA will shut down TSR ?:roll:   Their relationship goes way back and is obviously profitable to both parties.  And since EA won't touch TSR, they can't touch the other paysites either or they'll publically look like hypocrites.

I'm glad for the clarification about copyright, but I can't see anything happening on EA's end.