That whole site makes my head hurt from the combined forces of stupidity and greed.

Oy.

I had to stop browsing when I got to the thread demanding mandatory female member nudity. WTF? Lame. *eyeroll*

Amazone: I'm sorry if my post felt harsh to you. Perhaps *I* misunderstood *you*!

I just don't think the "worship me" thread is meant to be taken seriously. No one has, at least, taken it seriously so far.

amazone: I think you have missed this sarcasm level on this site.

We're pirates, even though we don't actually "pirate" any content, we buy it and file-share it. There are a few exceptions, but, typically, any actual sharing in the "pirate" sense is done through PMs, and I haven't seen any threads on OMBD offering EA Games' property for free.

We have a "worship me and my creations" thread, although we don't want or expect worship, and some of us are aware we are not the best creators within the community. If I recall correctly, that thread was started as a poke at self-important creators who think their efforts deserve paid reward or grovelling and ass-kissing.

We talk about sharing rum and cookies, but I still have to go buy my own.

There's a level of whimsy and sarcasm here that may be flying over your head, if you are misinterpreting our lingo and slang and believing it to be serious.

The only thing we are serious about is complying with the EULA and making sure all custom content is available to anyone.

That's how I feel about the freebies on my 4shared site. To date, there are several hundred downloads, and only 5-6 people ever thanked me, and I think I only heard from two of them because 4shared has stupid robots filtering filenames. I had to rename some things to make them downloadable.

Do I care that hundreds of downloads have been made without comment? Absolutely not. I'm grateful for the "this is neat, yay!" stuff, but I share because I want to give something back, not because I think my stuff is great or for recognition or praise. And it is all free. Always.

No hoops to jump through, no registrations or log-ins, no secret pizza fund, and no toe-sucking, grovelling and/or grape-peeling required. (Even if I do have a cult, it isn't very demanding of its members. )

I love it, Minolia! Good job.

BionixWV: I love Carlin, but did not love that sig. Thank you for changing it. It is much appreciated. Cheers, have some rum!

Maxis used to be an independent entity, and capable of setting policy and deciding how Sims-related issues could be resolved.

I'm going to yoink some data from Wikipedia to explain my comments, so consider much of the more technical / business-related data to be Wikidata.

Maxis is no longer an independent entity. Maxis Software is an American company that was founded as a video game developer and is now a brand name of Electronic Arts (EA).  After the immense success of SimCity, Maxis attempted to go into new areas. However, their new games, including The Crystal Skull and SimCopter, were commercial failures. They also acquired Cinematronics to create a game called Crucible. Heavy losses and lack of direction led Maxis to begin considering acquisition offers. For many years, Maxis was a traditional studio located in Walnut Creek, California (and before that, Orinda, California), but in February 2004 the division was folded into EA's Redwood Shores headquarters. EA absorbed them, and now is the only entity that has any legal, useful, relevant impact or decision-making power when it comes to the Sims properties. Currently, the company's most successful products are sports games published under their EA Sports label, games based on popular movie licenses and games from long-running franchises like Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, The Sims, Command & Conquer and the later games in the Burnout series.

The Sims are but one of their many properties, they probably do not sell nearly as well as their EA Sports games, and EA has further shaken things up by shuffling departments into four divisions (Hecubus posted about this in an earlier thread, so I won't repeat all that info). Not only are The Sims a relatively new property for EA, they are also a new department, and EA is learning how to deal with a new customer demographic with different concerns.

(I believe The Sims are the only games EA publishes that encourage modifications and custom content, but I am not entirely certain about that. If I am right, however, the problem of paysites disregarding the EULA and illegally profiting off EA's Intellectual Property is a new issue for them, and one that will require observation, input from the community, research and legal discussion to sort out.)

EA is also dealing with other, bigger problems than a comparatively minor Sims-related squabble. Whereas Maxis had The Sims (and pretty much JUST the Sims) to deal with, EA does not focus solely on the Sims property. Our disgruntlement with paysites does not compare with other problems they are dealing with:

* Wikipedia scandal. On August 15, 2007 it was revealed that IP addresses registered to EA had made changes to their Wikipedia entry favoring EA. The changes made included downplaying the importance of the founder of EA, Trip Hawkins, as well as playing up the importance of the new (at the time) CEO, Larry Probst. Other changes included attempts to remove information regarding the infamous EA Spouse scandal, which involved the poor treatment of workers. In other words, EA was far more concerned with what Wiki readers might think about known issues than what customers might think about game community issues. They already have your money for the Sims games, you know. By being a part of the community, you are a PAST customer, and not a guaranteed NEW source of income. They may become more responsive when they are ready to promote Sims 3, as that will gather a new community. Note how much attention they pay to Sims 1 players. In part, this is because they were not involved at all with Sims 1, that was solely a Maxian baby. However, they now own Maxis, and have not felt an urge to continue to deal with Sims 1 issues. This isn't unusual or even expected, but don't be surprised to find EA losing even more interest in Sims 2 and its community the closer the time to release Sims 3 comes.

* The EA Spouse Blog Scandal, referred to above, which revealed how EA workers were mistreated. If they don't treat their employees' concerns and well-being seriously, and these are people actively contributing to their profit margins, then how seriously do you think they take your concerns and problems? Unless you demonstrate that ignoring your concerns will hurt them in their wallet, they do not give a crap.

* M-Rated Game Moralistic Stances and Declining EA Stock Value. Following the departure of Trip Hawkins, Larry Probst took over the reins and led the company to its current size and stature. Probst considered himself a man of principle and has refused to follow the M-rated example set by Take Two Interactive, whose violent Grand Theft Auto franchise became the dominant brand in many key demographics from 2000 through 2003. As a result, Probst was heavily criticized by Wall Street analysts, who believe that because of this policy, EA's stock price is lower than it should be (though it has maintained a general upward trend in recent years). In late March 2005, Electronic Arts issued its first ever mid-quarter profit warning blaming hardware shortages and lower than expected fourth quarter sales. While Probst was in charge, you might have been able to complain about M- and AO-rated custom content and get some kind of response, though it would probably be a pat-you-on-the-head dismissal done solely to be placating, and their response would have hurt freesite creators just as much as paysite creators, as both make adult content.

* Staffing Upheavals. On February 1, 2006, Electronic Arts announced that it would cut worldwide staff by 5 percent. Logically, this means that "acquired company (like Maxis) employees" were probably let go before "EA employees" and thus  some of the people who might have been around long enough to know what was going on with regard to Maxis/EA issues are probably gone, and new people are probably not motivated to stick their necks out to address a volatile issue within the user community of one of EA's most profitable new acquisitions. Instead, Maxoid focus is going to be "make more money for EA" and/or "don't get laid off too".

* Maxis is not the only new acquisition, nor the most recent. On June 20, 2006 EA purchased Mythic Entertainment, currently working on Warhammer Online. If WO is moddable, and if paysites spring up, then MAYBE that will further encourage EA to address Sims paysite issues, but otherwise the only effect this has on our community is that EA's attention is further divided, and the newest baby is always the most exciting and interesting baby.

* Upheaval at the highest levels of management. In February 2007, Probst stepped down from the CEO job while remaining on the Board of Directors. His handpicked successor is John Riccitiello, who had worked at EA for several years previously, departed for a while, and then returned. Riccitiello previously worked for Elevation Partners, Sara Lee and Pepsico. In other words, the big boss has no experience dealing with game modding issues. Again, an issue for the legal department, and their IP hassles probably are focused more on, say, bootleg Pepsi logo T-shirts being sold in Asia and similar issues, not less clear-cut IP problems that involve defining exactly where EA's IP stops and meshers/Photoshoppers/modders IPs begin. As it stands, all your content are belong to EA Games, but their focus is going to be on making a decision that makes them the most money. Again, it behooves us to point out the aspects of paysite shittiness that potentially costs EA money or potentially drives away paying customers. If Bon Voyage capitulates to paysites, as they seem to think it might, then our response needs to be prompt and visible: to refuse to buy any more Sims 2 products, and any potential Sims 3 products, as well as any other EA titles. I don't know that the community at large has the discipline to avoid buying new shinies long enough to make that kind of protest, though.

* Expansion to Other Gaming Platforms / OSes. Also, in 2007, EA announced that it would be bringing some of its major titles (such as Madden 08, Need for Speed: Carbon, etc.) to the Macintosh. Again, another case of their attention being focused on things other than what is, to them, a very minor problem that is restricted to only one of their properties.

* EA is typically more concerned with a quick profit than customer satisfaction or game quality. EA is often criticized for buying smaller development studios primarily for their intellectual property assets, and then making the developers produce run-of-the-mill games on these same franchises. For example, Origin-produced Ultima VIII: Pagan and Ultima IX: Ascension were developed quickly under EA's ownership, and these two are considered by many as not up to the standard of the rest of the series. Can you say Stuff Packs? I knew you could.

* EA is known for punishing new acquisitions for poor decisions made by EA. EA is also criticized for shutting down its acquired studios after a poorly performing game. Many see EA's control and direction as being primarily responsible for the game's failure rather than the studio. Magic Carpet 2 was rushed to completion over the objections of designer Peter Molyneux and it shipped during the holiday season with several major bugs. This problem is no doubt a bit familiar to Sims players. If The Sims was shipped without egregious game-wrecking bugs, then modders like Pescado wouldn't be kept so busy unfuxx0ring said bugs. Maxoids are no doubt aware of EA's punitive policies towards purchased studios' employees in the past, and are likely to say almost anything to avoid becoming a thorn in EA's side. If that means appeasing some irritated paysite people or placating angry BBS people or telling some pirates what they want to hear, then Maxoids will do it. As a result, you need to take what they say with a lot of skepticism and rely on EA and EA's legal team to define what is really going on or what policy will be (or, in fact, what policy IS). Maxoids are not going to be a useful resource.

* Did we mention that EA is Trigger-happy? EA has also received harsh fire from labour groups for their dismissals of large groups of employees during the closure of a studio. Such was the case with the game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. If you don't know the official EA party line, but want to keep your job, and your job is handling BBS and tech support problems, you are going to say just about anything to keep customers happy. So Maxoid A will say to pirates that paysites are the devil, and Maxoid B will tell paysites that no decisions have been made yet, which paysites no doubt interpret as "carry on, my wayward son" because to interpret it otherwise cuts into THEIR profits. I mean, duh.

* EA is not that great at providing support as it is. After releasing many semi-finished products, the lack of support is notable in many games, assured by the fact that EA declared openly that they would no longer support relatively new but still buggy titles, like Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Need for Speed: Underground and some of the latest Command and Conquer games- though in defence of EA, the latest Command & Conquer game, Tiberium Wars has been given 6 patches in just over 4 months, and EALA have guaranteed at least two more patches, bringing the future total up to 8, which many consider a vast improvement over past efforts. Quickly, now, describe the issues Sims users have had with late patches, crappy patches, patches that need patches, patches that undo previously patched issues and reinstate old problems, patches that create new and irritating problems, and so on. Apparently we should consider ourselves lucky we get patches and support at all, given EA's spotty record when it comes to fixing games that were shipped in a buggy, fuxx0red state.

* EA is known for saying one thing and doing another. Electronic Arts announced it would not support the Sega Dreamcast unless it sold 1 million units. When this happened within a record 90 days, EA went back on their word and declined to support the Dreamcast in favour of Sony's PlayStation 2.

* EA is motivated solely by the bottom line, and their bottom line alone. EA has also been criticized for other aggressive business methods like the acquisition of 19.9 percent of shares of their competitor Ubisoft in what was called a "hostile act" by Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot. Right now, their bottom line is not as financially sound as they would prefer, their stock value is less than it was expected to be, and they have other fish to fry when it comes to public opinion and customer / community complaints.

As has been pointed out, Maxis has been "demoted" to babysitting the illiterate 12 year olds at the BBS, at least where The Sims are concerned, and even the nicknames do not always represent one individual. Maxis employees do not represent EA legally and are probably  just as confused as non-formerly-EA-associated individuals.

There have been several cases where a Maxoid has given poor advice, either because it is flat out wrong, or because they were struggling to guess what EA policy might be. They have been wrong about problems with the games, about game content, and about how to fix problems with the game. Since Maxis is no longer separate from EA, the wise thing for Maxoids to do would be to refer problems to the correct department at EA, but adding the extra step and delay to getting a user's question answered or problem resolved is probably anathema for Maxoids who used to be a part of setting policy and having their comments and opinions have more official status and weight.

Some Maxoids take a minimalist / hands-off policy on the BBS and only moderate if harsh or abusive or profane language is used, others strive to zorch even the mildest disagreements. The only thing you can count on is that they will say anything to make their BBS user wrangling less of a headache, either because they actually think it is correct, based on how things were before they were incorporated into EA, or to make squeaky wheels go away and leave them alone more quickly. If the primary power Maxoids have left these days is herding unruly users on the BBS, it behooves them to do whatever they can to maintain the peace. A peaceful BBS full of shiny, happy sheeple indicates that they are doing their job well, in their mind. A BBS full of fights over paysites and EULAs, much of which will only confuse and agitate the 12-year-olds, is not something a Maxoid would want to deal with, and an unruly BBS full of unhappy customers would imply that Maxis is not handling their duties well.

 In the end, you are asking employees of a huge company to explain the legal opinion of the parent company before the parent company has finished sorting that out themselves. It is like asking someone in MySpace's abuse department to tell you why Time-Warner is dragging its heels about announcing a needed clarification in one of its policies. Time-Warner bought out MySpace, and MySpace employees still know how to resolve MySpace-specific and abuse- or usage-related questions, but they can't tell you how or even if Time-Warner is planning on changing the legal Terms Of Use information you click "I agree" to when you sign up for a MySpace account. Someone at MySpace can't tell you about any movie or television projects T-W may be involved in either.

It is a similar situation with Maxis. Maxis is used to dealing with The Sims in a particular way, and it is normal and understandable that some Maxis employees would assume that the old Maxis way still applies, especially if they are not fully aware of the community-disrupting issue about paysites and people defying the EULA to make a buck they are not legally allowed to make. This does not mean that their advice about legal matters at EA is worthwhile.

The EULA for products that have nothing to do with custom content creation can, and probably should, remove the "non-commercial" part, because it never did apply to those specific tools. The only change they made was to make the EULA make more sense when applied to tools that can not be used in a commercial way in the first place. EULAs that are relevant to the paysite problem are EULAs for tools that actually can be used to create custom content, and to the game itself. (For more information on this, see Calalily's comments and translated legalese.)

We are used to taking Maxoid comments as gospel because The Sims was their product before EA bought them out. Now The Sims belong to EA, and EA is going to futz around and drag their feet as long as they can before finally addressing the problem, if they ever do. Again, anything that cuts into potential profit is going to get more attention and energy directed at it. Appeasing a community of PAST (and current) customers is not going to rank as high as dealing with FUTURE customers, and improving their bottom line, and selling FUTURE game units from ALL their divisions and game titles and series.

What we do have to go on is a very clearly worded EULA that only the dimmest and most greedy arsehole can possibly manage to misinterpret in any way, a EULA that does NOT ALLOW commercial profit to be made off of EA's goodies or IP, a EULA that states that once something is made compatible with their game engine and code it belongs to EA and can't be sold, and we also have new games coming out that make custom content exchange either automatic or extremely simple (I believe someone commented that they played an EA game that allowed custom mapped terrains, and that merely playing against someone who had mappable terrain they did not yet have caused the new custom content to automagically be exchanged).

It doesn't surprise me that EA's legal department would be taking their time to get back to us, because they are no doubt confused that anyone with an IQ over room temperature could possibly be confused by the current EULA and pulling their hair out in frustration and asking, "damn, how much more clearly do we have to write it? Are most Sims players really THAT retarded? Do we need to use pictures and graphs and monosyllabic words?" Hey, lawyers hate monosyllabic words. They aren't nearly fancy enough.

Whatever! This is just one person's opinion. Take it or leave it. I could care less.

(And with this, I pass the Flame The Stupid baton back to Paden. Tag, you're it.)

I hear you, Captain Berg.

I feel all left out and ignored, too.

WEH!!

Because she is a Cold-pressed Latinum Fucknut?


Or Titanium. Whatever. I'm confused and need a cookie.

Do we have a Crimes Of Bad Taste Lifetime Achievement Award yet?

I can't bear to go see the horror in person, the thread images have already seared my eyes too much, too often.

Very true.

I was a personal assistant to a psychiatrist who deals primarily with people who have addiction issue complications and several who were abused as children, which are both conditions that require a specialized approach to therapeutic care.

The bonus from this job is that I have been judged mentally sound, with two exceptions: I am an Avoidant personality. Most people avoid conflict in real life. I avoid almost all unpleasantness, and have to be strict with myself to stay on task. I'm too easily bored, basically. I manage to do what needs to be done, but I drag my feet. I procrastinate. I even avoid pleasant activities on occasion, anticipating the hassle required. Where jobs are concerned, I get them done. My personal tasks take longer.

The other exception is that I am a depressive. It runs in the family. My father donated wonky brain chemical genes to me. I am not on meds at the moment, though they would benefit me, due to financial strain. On the plus side, meds I took ten years ago were eye-opening. Part of living with depression requires learning to differentiate situational depression (stuff outside of yourself sucks, an a negative reaction is normal) and chemical depression (your brain chemicals are clouding your view, and there's nothing outside of yourself triggering the negative moods) and learning what Base Normal feels like, so you can learn to gauge whether you are reacting appropriately because stuff really sucks, or if your brain chemicals being out of whack are making you feel crappy and stuff doesn't actually suck at the moment. Knowhutimean?

My responsibility requires me to not Avoid unpleasant but necessary tasks to the point where others are inconvenienced or I risk doing a poor job for someone--or a company--paying me. My responsibility requires me not to blame my depression when I act like a jerk or hermit myself, as I have the choice not to be a jerk or a hermit. My responsibility requires me to remember I am unmedicated at the moment, and thus my take on situations is probably clouded by my brain-chemical-impaired mood. My responsibility is to work to get myself back on meds, or to ask for help if my brain chemical imbalance ever gets bad enough to cause me to lash out at others or contemplate suicide.

Typically, when I am dealing with a downswing in mood (I am typically chronically, constantly, and unendingly depressed, but it can get worse or, temporarily, be improved by positive outside-myself events), I take time to re-read before I post something online, I count to ten before I speak, and I stay away from other people when I am feeling like a wet blanket.

That digression aside, the mentally ill my ex-boss dealt with were typically aware of their problems and in the process of learning how to not let their problems take over their entire existence. Several had psychiatric maladies that sound frightening to the average Joe, be it bipolar or psychotic or schizoid or whatever. In truth, most psychiatric maladies, when medicated and when under therapeutic care, do not reveal themselves to people who don't know. It's like an appendix. Some people have one, some have had it removed. You can't tell at a glance (with their clothes on, anyway). A person with mental illness is just like you or me or someone with no diagnosed malady. It is how the mental illness is being addressed or ignored that makes all the difference.

Mentally ill people, particularly those who do not have the capability to acknowledge their illness or believe it exists (see: bipolar in a manic phase, feeling great, acting out, on top of the world, and unaware of how their behaviors are affecting others around them...bipolars aren't bad people, but, particularly when in an unmedicated manic phase, they lack the ability to sit outside themselves and judge that their behavior is wonky; see also a depressive who self-medicates with alcohol or other short term mood fixes; see also a number of other situations) lack the ability to see their actions clearly, or to accept outside information that could help them. They see their problems as all external, and nothing is THEIR fault. These folks are the ones most in need of therapeutic and pharmaceutical intervention, but are, alas, from what I understand, the least likely to seek and receive help. They see the problems as all external, and accept no blame or responsibility themselves.

Note that there is a link between having a chemical imbalance and acts of creativity. No one can seriously argue that "all" mentally ill people lack the skills to contribute to society positively. Yet there IS a stigma, especially in the US, though it is lessening in recent years (in fact, I suspect we're swinging in the other direction and are pill-happy in a lot of cases, in search of a quick fix: pills without therapy, in many cases, is like having a specialized tool but no instructions on how to use it; you may luck out and use it correctly more often than not, but you aren't getting the full benefit).

It is my opinion that there is no "normal brain", just brains which have brain chemicals balanced enough to fall within a "normal" range more often than otherwise, and brains which need a little outside help now and then to function optimally. There's still so little Western medicine knows about how outside influences effect your body as a whole, though attempts to understand the  effects of diet (e.g., dehydration, vitamin deficiency, healthy v. unhealthy foods), weather/season (e.g., Seasonal Affect Disorder), mood (e.g., acupuncture/acupressure/reiki; note that in Eastern medicine, a link between anger and the gall bladder has been noticed for thousands of years, to the point where having a gall bladder removed frequently results in the patient having a heart attack because the gall bladder as a mood buffer is removed; Western medicine has only recently noticed a correlation), and even less tangible and less powerful things like colour and scent (e.g., Feng Shui, aromatherapy, painting jails and institutions certain psychologically relaxing colours) are being made, slowly. We reach for things ranging from astrology to Myers-Briggs and Kinsey numbers, things of variable worth and accuracy, to define why we are who we are, and the number of variables that make a person who they are are so vast, no one system can fully reveal an individual.

In the end, taking responsibility for your own personal quirks and brain chemical imbalances and typical behaviors is necessary to be a fully functioning adult in society. If you try to know yourself, it makes you a better person to be around. The supposedly selfish and self-absorbed act of focusing on your personal quirks and behaviors is actually societally responsible and an act of love and kindness towards humanity in general. If you know how you tick, you then have the choice of acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses and focusing on your strengths when dealing with other humans. Sadly, it is not the "standard factory setting" for the average person to be self-contemplative. It's much easier to say "s/he made me do X" or "it's so-and-so's fault" and evade responsibility. It's just not an adult way to be.

I've noticed that, typically speaking, people who have a good handle on how and why they do what they do and/or those folks with psychiatric complaints who medicate and/or seek help are actually far more pleasant people to interact with. Why? Because they know their "out of the box" settings need a little tweaking, and that the world does not owe them anything, and that they are responsible for trying to fix their own brain settings and to monitor their own behaviors. Not all, but most.

This does not refer to people who self-diagnose and use it as an excuse to be arseholes (Asperger's is a popular excuse du jour online if you're actually just an antisocial arsehole with social retardation), or people who label themselves or get a label and trot it out at every opportunity to explain their behavior but who do not actually DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. It isn't enough, for instance, to say "I'm diabetic" and then refuse to address the problem, right? It isn't enough to say "I'm psychotic" and then not seek outside help.

I'm not saying people should look for labels to attach to themselves, or to let certain conditions rule their lives, I'm saying that the first step is not letting the label or condition rule your life. Who is the boss, the brain chemical imbalance or YOU? If you need a med to function and not hurt yourself or others, take your fucking medication. We as a society usually understand that if you have a headache, you take an ibuprofin or aspirin, and if you have a physical disease that responds to meds, you take your damn meds. I don't understand why taking medicine or seeking treatment for mental disease is so stigmatized. It seems stupid to me that you'd know you have an imbalance and don't seek to fix it if it is causing you or others distress, discomfort and dis-ease. Ya know?

Maybe in our lifetimes the stigma will disappear. Right now I'm seeing a lot of pill-pushing for minor physical complains and general feelings of malaise, when the person involved probably needed to work on diet, exercise, and get therapy first. Randomly taking pills is just as bad as not taking them when they are necessary. If my condition worsened, or started to affect people around me more than it does (people who care about me worry when I am down, but know that I am self-aware enough not to let things get bad enough that I will self-harm or harm others), I would move heaven and earth to get the meds I currently can't afford. I would feel better, on average, with a properly titered anti-depressant with acceptable side-effects (anti-depressants all have side-effects; some work to your benefit, some are bearable, and some are just not), but feeling depressed on a regular basis is the price I choose to pay so I can focus on school right now. Most of my friends and family, excluding a handful of people I trust and feel close to and confide in, have no idea I am a depressive at all. I go out when I am able to deal with the world in a pleasant manner, and force my shy, introvert self to be an outgoing extrovert. I don't take disagreement or negative opinions about myself to heart (I am harder on myself than any stranger could be, and close friends rarely take exception to any of my behaviors). I try to be assertive but kind. I try to remember that my behaviors affect others. I stay away from toxic people. Meds would thicken my skin and make being an extrovert with the ability to shrug off negative things easier, so my forays into the world at large are regulated to be within my personal tolerance zone. (I even do Xmas shopping all on one day and mostly online, as I dislike large crowds of strangers, especially if there are unattended wild children involved...and I kinda like kids, one on one. Why? Because more than a day at a mall makes me take to bed and pull the covers over my head to escape the aggravation and stress via sleep!) It's all part of knowing my limits, both when medicated and not, and trying not to poke my boundaries too much on purpose when I know the results will be highly unpleasant.

Sorry for the novella!

Short version: people with treated and/or medicated psychiatric complaints are not, by default, horrible, terrible people. I've noticed the opposite, generally speaking. These people generally are taught tools that help them cope and deal with others better. Measuring maturity, self-awareness and personal responsibility is the key. Most medicated mentally ill have taken personal responsibility to get help, which is the act of a responsible, self-aware adult. I prefer to associate with adults.

The end.

P.S. to liegenschonheit: I have your cute, vampy SimSelf in my game, actually. I don't have time to play much at the moment, but she's rooming with other MATY/PMBD gals in a lot. Will let you know if she visits a comm lot or stops by to say hello at any res lots, or if I play her house lot.

Aw!

/me appreciates the lurve

Actually, Paden and I seem to be taking turns. There is a special beeper we have, and when the buzzer and lights go crazy, i know that Paden's head has temporarily asploded from handling Teh Dumnis and it's my turn up at bat.

NOTE for the mentally ill: that is a slight exaggeration; it's not a beeper, it is a computer chip implanted in our necks. Tinfoil, while not as effective as a lead-lined beanie, makes an excellent brain ray shield. If you post a picture of yourself in your shiny beanie, you evade our Trollsporking Rays. 100% true. The FBI and your neighbor's dog, Sam, told us so.

Dude!

If you can't handle ONE personality without having a mental breakdown and inventing illnesses and traumas and imaginary offline authority figure allies, you certainly have no business trying to manage a half dozen or more.

I feel sorry for mentally ill people who seek help and stay on their meds and try not to hurt others. I have no pity at all for mentally ill people who do not seek help, do not take meds, do not see a real doctor and real therapist, and who have shit fits online whenever their brain chemicals spazz out.

There is enough shit online without genuinely mentally ill people thrown into the mix transgressing upon the naive, tender-hearted and gullible out there.

A condition of certain types of mental illness causes the mentally ill person to refuse to believe that they need help, that their behavior is wrong or foolish or unwise, that people can tell when they try on a new persona or four (or, conversely, they are paranoid that everyone is paying attention to them every minute of every day), that they are not actually smarter than everyone else they interact with, or that they need to straighten up and behave like a sane, healthy adult when interacting with other human beings.

Mental illness of this sort is a type of luxury that allows you to think the world revolves around you and your issues and wants and dislikes, to excuse all your crappy behavior and dishonesty and mistakes with lies or made-up excuses (usually illness, disaster, death of self or loved one), and to blame others for your disappointments and embarrassments (it's the Internet People causing her fake heart attack, causing her to remove her site, causing her to post in six personas, to consult non-existent cops and husbands for support, causing her anxiety attacks, causing her to rant like a crazy bitch, causing her to draw illogical conclusions (Harry Potter? WTF?), and to assume folks even deeply care about her shitfits and weirdness and psychotic breaks with reality.

What mental illness does she have? It would be foolish of me to speculate. I said "psychotic" and meant it in the clinical sense, not the "psycho killer" sense, but hell if I know. Maybe she's unmedicated bipolar. Maybe she is schizophrenic (which has little to do with multiple personalities (which is in itself an outdated term)). I have no clue. But I can tell, as could anyone after seeing her in action for a few days on end, that something is not all right in her head, and whatever flavour of mental illness it is, it is not a kind that allows her to seriously consider she is in need of medical and psychological intervention.

Do I pity her? No. I'd pity her if she was getting help and struggling while her meds were being titered. I'd feel pity if she was too poor to get medical assistance. I'd feel pity if she were underage and struggling with parents with religious or ethical objections to psychiatry. I'd pity her if her illness was not inconveniencing and aggravating hundreds of other people on a regular basis, and if it hadn't been doing so since at least 2002. Almost six years later, she is still online, unmedicated and mentally ill and causing drama. I don't pity her.

If she made an effort to face her illness and make amends for the troubles she'd instigated, THEN I might work up some pity and supportive feelings. In the words of her hyperChristian alter-ego (or was that the crazy "bride"?): God helps those who help themselves. Word to that.

Far be it from me to tell pirates what to do, but I'd suggest not seeking out the drama. If she comes here to be crazy, spork her. If she stays in her own little corner and just drools on herself and doesn't affect anyone else with her problems, let her stew quietly without interference, elsewhere.

We also typically learn better when using music or other mnemonics, because this makes additional connections in different parts of the brain. Also, you probably heard the music repeatedly and more frequently (in car, at skating rink/mall, in movie soundtrack, at home, at friends' houses, at beach or camp on portable radio/Walkman, etc.) than facts you learned sitting in your study area at home (usually the same one or two areas, same time of day, et cetera). Again, different environments, different connections in the brain.

Want to learn something and have it stick? Set it to a tune so your auditory memory is triggered, write down your new lyrics so your visual memory is triggered, then walk around your house and yard singing the new lyrics. Add some mnemonics, such as "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" to learn specific keys on a piano or HOMES for the Great Lakes, and you won't forget the info soon.

Voila!

I don't think MTS2 would be adverse to creator feedback, especially PMBDers.

Sometimes a policy seems airtight, but has loopholes or flaws that only become apparent after the policy is given a trial run.

Perhaps they chose not to link to the booty payfiles because we do release files once creators go free, which does occasionally occur (but not often enough).

How would the policy be improved? Perhaps we can hash out some suggestions and offer them to MTS2 as a gesture of support and goodwill for their efforts to promote only freesites.

Personally, I think obliterating pay items with censor bars sounds like a fair compromise as long as the offered objects are clearly visible. Another option might be headless Sims, in the case of clothing.

Thoughts?