Unless they've completely blocked out their "badlist" people, the TSR one seems to be gone.

Nah, she probably meant former SA's like me.  yaknow, the ones that work jobs that a just so low.

Well, shit that does suck and yeah, for the type of work you do, that's probably the hardest hit, which is why I got out of office work.  It seemed like every time there were cutbacks, all that happened was middle management fought to keep their job by sacking everyone below them they could get away with, and piling 9 times the work onto the few lower downs that they were able to keep.   



We have similar situations here.  I don't fault anyone who collects unemployment, or TDI, that's what it's there for (TDI you pay into the system yourself, so all you really get is your own money back)  The whole idea is that it's survival money while you look. 


Oddly, the Burger King across the street doesn't need any help,  but the McDonalds needs all shifts, the Subway needs night help, the Wendy's day help.  Some of that, I'm sure is Summer is here and mom's working to stretch the household budget will now take the summer off to be with their kids, but the college kids aren't flooding into the market, which is what usually happens.

And, as I said, we're still looking.  And yes, 2-4 people a month doesn't seem like much, but that's all the people who are applying for the job.  We'd love to take on about 10 new people, which again, isn't going to save the state, but it's rather ironic that we can't get ten people to work the job and stick around, we can't even get ten applications a month.  Where my husband works (Same company, different branch) they need about 15 people for various shifts, and they just aren't getting the applications.  And yes, it's a lousy job, but you do get medical insurance.  Terrible insurance for part timers, but it's absolutely free.  Full timers pay 10 dollars a week for better coverage.  You'd think that alone would bring people in who are unskilled labor.


I don't know how unemployment works where you're from. Around here, it isn't welfare.  Companies pay into the system on the idea that if something terrible happens, people aren't starving in the streets while they try to find work.  And it's perfectly understandable if someone can make 400 dollars a week on unemployment that it's better to be on it, than to make 300 dollars at my job, and not have time to go looking.  However, the people we hire that end up quitting are usually people who are unqualified to even run a copy machine.  It is not skilled labor. It's honest work, don't get me wrong, but it isn't rocket science and the people who apply are not rocket scientists.


Just to clear it up, I wasn't talking about you.  Again, you're more skilled than what we're getting.  Maybe skilled isn't the right word... polished might be better.  The people I work with and that we hire are not people you'd put in an office situation, unless you wanted to find your receptionist or data entry person, on the phone with the higher ups talking about the state of her vagina or other such interesting facts. 

However, again, in the case of Juice claiming s/h/it needs to make Sims stuff because it's all they can do for work, I'm not buying it and I'm not very sympathetic.  I'd love to stay home and sit behind my computer all day making money by creating. I think a lot of us would love to do that, but we don't. We're either homemakers, or searching for a job, or working, or students.  Just because the economy does suck, doesn't give people a free ride to open up a paysite, or do anything even remotely illegal to survive. 

Wow, nice to know you equate what I do to survive with topless dancing.  Fuck you.

I think that depends heavily on what type of work you're looking for.  I work in the state with the highest unemployment rate of the entire country (10%, last I checked and I've heard there have been some massive layoffs since.)  Yet, without fail, where I work, we hire 2-4 people every month.  By the end of the month, they've all quit, or some have stayed and other workers who've been there longer have quit.  Yes, sometimes it's kids going on to University, but most of the time it's just a case of, "This job sucks, I'm outa here!  People regularly go to lunch or to the bathroom and never return.  Now that it's summer, we're going to get more bathroom escapes, because people won't have to worry about grabbing their jacket before they leave.  Is it a crappy job?  Yes it is.  Pays a tiny bit better than minimum wage, it's very stressful.  However, it is a job, and every time I see people whining on TV about how they can't find a job, and it isn't fair, and why can't they extend unemployment for another year, I want to smack them.  

Across the streets is a McDonalds.  Again, not glamor work, but they're looking for openings of all shifts, and all positions.  And like our work, you can work during the day or at night, and you can pretty much set your days, so there is no reason why someone couldn't work there while looking for a better job.

I understand if you were a white collar professional or skilled laborer, making significant money, that working for McDonalds or where I work would create a horrible strain, as your lifestyle probably just can't live on that.  However, a lot of the whining comes from unskilled labor.  Not too long ago, they interviewed some people using the job search at the local unemployment and one of the people interviewed worked where I did for three days, then went to lunch and never came back.  Now she's on a local cable  show, whining about how haaard it is to find a job, how she tries and tries, but no one is hiring.  

Maybe I'm cold, but I have no sympathy for this girl and when I saw her whining, I was so tempted to call the cable company where the show was and tell them about her leaving a job after three days, without notice, just leaving in the middle of her shift.  

I can't imagine Juice is making much more money than unskilled labor pays.  

I don't know your situation, uknorthener, and I'm not making light of it.  With the way you mentioned interviewing, I'm guessing that you're not exactly unskilled labor, but a professional of some sort.  I put Juices situation somewhere in the middle of anyone who does crafts for a living and a drug dealer.  In the first case, dips in business to an all out drying up happen at times, especially when money is tight.  In the case of the second, you should never depend on illegal income to survive on, because it has a habit of disappearing.  

The problem with that argument is that FA pay is pretty much based on the amount of paid subscriber downloads.  So, if subscriptions are down, then FA's will feel it anyway, because less paid subscribers will be downloading their items.  How well the site is doing already reflects their pay, to cut in on top of that is adding injury to insult.  It would be like going to work at an hourly job and first being told your hours are cut, then being told your pay is being cut. 

And, while I hope that the lack of up and coming FA items is a sign of discontent, with the general hive mentality over there, I fear it's more a case of "Everyone is having fun with TS3 right now!"   I hope I'm wrong.  I hope the FA's wake up and smell the coffee. 

I honestly don't believe anyone should be paid for making Sim creations, so I can't really say I'm that upset that the FA's will be making less pay.  If they were dependent on this income, well, they should have known better. 

That being said, if I were an FA, I would probably look at Thomas and say, "Oh, so all our items that are X amount of days old, are free?  Excellent."  Because if I signed up for the deal expecting to get paid from the get-go, it's pretty shitty to reneg on the terms, especially since the items are still pay items. 

I also think they'd better be careful about FA's having the right to delete content.  Because again, if it were me, I'd start deleting all my old content.  "Well, since you don't want me to give it away, and I'm not making any money, I thought I'd just get rid of it." 

I remember they used to have some type of policy about after X number of days, an item would no longer count to earn incentive days.  The argument with that was that there were some items on the site that were so popular, that this one item/set/whatever, would earn these people a free day, every day, in other words, one item would give you a paid subscription forever. 

I pointed out that if someone made only one item that was so popular that after three months it was still pulling in 10 thousand downloads a day from paid subscribers, instead of punishing that person, they should give them a fucking medal.  I never got a response from Thomas on that one, but imagine, every day, ten thousand new people who have paid money are downloading this object.  A free subscription to the site seems like a small price to pay, really.  I mean, how cheap can you be? 

Wait a moment, this is TSR... "Screw the FA's, I need a second house!"

And here in Castle Anthrax, we have but one punishment for setting alight the grail-shaped beacon.  You must tie her down on a bed and spank her!

On what planet does it make more sense to have it when you install the game?  And just because you don't have any issues, doesn't mean there aren't any.

I'd have no problem with it being inside the box IF I could return it if I disagreed.  But the way it works, the moment you open the box you've voided any money back promise.  The best you can do is get another copy of the same software.  And if you disagree with their policy, well, that's your tough luck, you've just bought yourself an expensive little Frisbee.  

This would be as if you bought an MP3 player. And the warranty was put in the battery compartment.  And the first rule of the warranty was, "If you open the battery compartment, you void the warranty!"  

It doesn't "make sense" to me.  And it only works out to benefit the gaming industry, not the consumer.  This is one of the things I mention when people start trying to cry the blues that pirating software has been soooo cruel to the poor gaming companies and how we all ought to be more sympathetic.  Bullshit.  If the car company started a policy of, "Once you open the car doors, the warranty is null and void and you can't return the car!" there would be outrage.  But when it comes to music, movies, or software we all just go, "Oh, okay."  

And it's getting worse.  At least it used to be that if you ruined your gaming disc, most companies would send you another one to replace it, if you sent it to them.  I accidentally vacuumed my Sims 1 disk and shattered it.  I called Maxis, sent them the pieces, the case, and five dollars for postage and they sent me a new game.  When a similar thing happened to a friend of mine with Sims 2, she was told she had to buy an entire new game.  

In truth, as long as you don't have to use that button in order to share the creation, I can't really fault them for that.  If the one Delphy made had an "Upload to MtS" button, I'd think it was a nifty idea. 

ZOMG! *Squeal* I LURVE U 4 SAYING THIS!!!1111!!!!

*don't hit me*

The only way I can explain those ugly Sims is by telling a story. 


It was a dark and stormy afternoon, the skies black, the sidewalks wet.  Up in his fancy, penthouse office, Ron Humble cracked his knuckles before pressing the button on his intercom.  "Send them in," he ordered, not waiting for his secretary to speak. 

The door opened and Steve and Thomas walked in.  As the two men walked nervously up the long carpet that lead to his desk, Ron folded his hands, prayer style and rested his head on the fingertips.  He said nothing, as the two men approached him.  Even when they were standing in front of him, he said nothing for a good thirty seconds. The smell of nervous sweat began to fill the room.  Inwardly, Ron smiled.

"Sit," he finally said, and yes, it was an order, not a request.  Both men sat down obediently. 

"I-I heard you wanted to see us?" Thomas asked, his voice cracking nervously.

Ron gave Thomas a long, hard, look before he finally spoke.  "Yes.  I did.  You may recall when I offered to turn my head in the other direction when you constantly violated our EULA, that I said some day, you would have to return the favor.  That day has arrived."

Steve's eyes went wide.  Even though he knew this day would come, part of him hoped, nay, dreamed it never would.  He swallowed nervously, but said nothing.

"What-what can we do for you?" Thomas managed to say, his voice sounding unusually high and girlish.

"As you know, the Sims 3 is coming out soon." Ron began, his gaze going from one man to the next.  "And as you may also know, while we will still continue to pretend you are not violating the EULA, we too, would like to... offer our customers .... certain benefits in the form of custom content.  A few for free, then we will begin to charge."

"Yes," Steve said, still wondering where this was going.  Surely Ron didn't think that they were going to protest this.

"So, one might even say that we are now becoming competitors," Ron continued, his voice sounding more and more like Marlon Brando's in The Godfather. 

"Yes, but I'm sure people will be happy to pay for items from your store, as well as paying for subscriptions to our site," Thomas said, eager to kiss some ass.  "In fact, I'll bet you'll even get more customers than we will, after all you're the off-"

"Yes, I'm sure we will," Ron interrupted him.  "But... I need to have a little extra... insurance, to make sure this is true."

"What do you want us to do?" Steve bravely managed to ask, wanting to get this over with.

"This should not be difficult for you," Ron said, taking his own time to tell them.  "You're already, without my help, almost doing the job anyway.  At least with Sims 2.  I merely want you to take it up a notch."

"Take what up a notch?"  Thomas asked, licking his lips.  This room seemed as dry as a desert to him. 

"Let me put my cards on the table," Ron said, taking a sip of water from the crystal glass in front of him.  "I will continue to look the other way when you violate the EULA.  Moreso, I will even continue to look the other way when you run around implying that TSR has a special relationship with EA.  And I'll even continue to have Drea, on occasion, post another silly statement that looks as if it is supporting you, while it's actually just a bunch of nothing, designed to keep the sheep in line.  But in return I need this one little thing..."

"What?" Steve said, louder than he intended.  "What is it?  Tell us! Anything you want, we'll do it!  Once again, despite telling himself never again, he found himself cracking under Ron's gaze.  Looking over at Thomas though, he noticed a large wet spot on his jeans, which told Steve he wasn't alone in feeling the pressure. "Please, just tell us."

"Everything you make for Sims 3," Ron said, pretending to not even notice the nervousness. 

"Yes," the both said, breathlessly.

"it must be-"

Again, in unison, "Yes," to urge him on.

"-much uglier than anything we offer on the exchange or in the store." Ron finally said.   "Significantly uglier.  I want to see Sims that look deformed and so ugly that their parents will have to tie a pork chop around their neck to get the family dog to play with them."

Thomas and Steve looked at each other, and slowly exhaled in nervous relief.  "Oh that," Steve said. 

"No problem," Thomas interrupted Steve hardly knowing he was doing it.

Ron was slightly puzzled at their instant relief and despite himself,  said, "Aren't you worried that people will refuse to pay for inferior rubbish?"

Steve shook his head. "Nah, they've been doing it for years anyway."

Unfortunately, TSR has made everything involving them, political.


Really?  I can't imagine any project involving TSR to be a pleasure.



I don't know Inge enough to judge, but just hearing this it sounds like she is trying to be on both sides. 

I don't get it.

If it were just the maze, I'd say it was interesting wall art.  But with the candles, it's just stupid.   Unless the idea is that you have space for a lot of candles or a few.

And, isn't flame that close to the wall a bit of a danger?  Or at least it would lead to a lot of wiping of sooty walls.

But, at least it has SHAPE.  No detail, the bitch forgot that again, but damn it, it's got twice the SHAPE!