i iz laughing at the fugly green monster in the lake. well done!

who or what is MIKEY? i have been out of town for a few days.

going back to the topic of TSR, according to EA, TSR is their top fansite if this quote is anything to go by: "We welcomed back our top fansite - The Sims Resource..."

http://thesims2.ea.com/community/fanday_2007.php

 :roll:    :evil:

cute! pestcado is going into my custom paintings folder immediately.

disclaimer : i am an attorney but i do general litigation in the area of delict/torts, i also used to be a state prosecutor (DA to those in the USA). i am NOT an expert in the area of copyright law. these are my own, rather blonde, thoughts on the topic, ie what would i do if i was an EA legal adviser.

my guess would be this:

litigation is expensive. so, in order to litigate against paysites, EA must choose between 2 evils.

1 is doing nothing. are paysites actually harming EA? not that i can see. EA is not responsible for what fansites do, and requires a disclaimer to be placed on each such website.

2 is litigating. paysites are everywhere, not only in the USA as we know. so this means appointing lots of lawyers all over the planet, then getting details of all paysites including company details and addresses. some sites belong to individuals, some to companies. (this usually means doing a company search because here we have to cite the details of incorporation and place of business of the defendant if it is a company)

different countries have different copyright laws, as we at PMBD know very well! some courts might interpret the EULA differently.

then, assuming the litigation is successful. what damages is EA going to prove? as i said, maybe nothing. in my country we do not have such a thing as punitive damages, a successful litigant only gets actual damages proved plus costs according to a tariff. this is usually about a third to half the actual costs.

so the best they could hope for here is an interdict (court order) preventing the paysite from selling sims 2 content.

what happens to the costs incurred by EA in all this litigation?

in my experience, some companies disappear in mysterious ways when faced by a huge bill of costs. they stop trading and declare themselves bankrupt. then it is risky for creditors trying to get anything out of them.

so any litigation against paysites is likely to hit EA's pocket. how would they make allowance for that? games costing more. thousands of people would be unhappy about that.

merely sending "cease and desist" letters probably would not be that expensive and would give some people enough of a fright to make them go free.  

if anybody really wants action, i suggest getting full and accurate details (full names, company details if applicable, physical addresses and so on) of paysite owners and emailing them to EA's legal department in your country together with a letter of complaint.  :?

i knew i had to get bon voyage when i saw that pirate ghost!
but i'd rather have my sims take him home than a yeti, plz? i think that would cheer him up muchly.

what's Proactiv?

and what did you do with fluffy?

yay! its good to see new pirates finding the booty (almost as good as a fresh hot grilled cheese sandwich on seed bread with cheddar cheese and chili mayo... but i digress)

new pirates please spread the word. and don't forget tell your friends about grilled cheese. all you'll get here is RUM. want some?

 :lol:

this also bugs me, and did even when i was a brand-new baby simmer and knew nothing about the paysite issue (erm about 4 months ago). it just didn't gel with the rest of what happens at MTS2.

numenor's website is here http://www.numenor-moddings.com/lodge.html

well, shall i give you a free legal opinion? SRSLY, i is a lawyer. but dont tell.

technically it's illegal to charge. the end user license agreement states that really clearly.

that said, if people ask you for a specific thing, why not ask for a favour back, that they can do for you? like a cooked dinner, or some work done around your home  

and to those people with websites who really want to make a living out of designing game content: why not get a job as a game developer or start a fresh original business designing new games. stealing copyrighted material from EA/Maxis.... is just not cool or creative.

oo! pretty stuff! (heads for booty)

from reading the TSR fora, i gather that TSR uses a lot of flattery and also offers some incentives based on the number of downloads.

greedy definitely. actually i dont really look at the prices on paysites as you can tell  :oops:

i am at the wrong end of the exchange rate. for me, paying R200 for an EP and R140 for a stuff pack is quite enough.   :roll:

eek i just looked at the site. a minimum payment of 3.5€ for ONE SET?!?!111

that's a helluva lot of money. they must be mad.

and no way are those donations. other pages refer to "transactions"

and i agree, its a schoolgirly kind of translation. rather silly when its so easy to get something properly translated. even in sa...

i also see they try to get around the trademark thing with disclaimers. pathetically so.

hmm Elize is an Afrikaans name