Ea makes statement March 2 making paysites ok?

[Melodie]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but I thought this was worth mentioning.

Blizzard (the company behind World of Warcraft), just released an update to their policy
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/policy/ui.html

People can no longer charge for their mods or add-ons.   

People have been debating it a little on the forums, and it reminded me of the Sims community.       

So, you see.....EA *could* amend their policy if it suited them.   Blizzard had no problem putting the smack down.  /shrug

and re: the petition.... I did sign it, and I'm sure my email address and name are out there now...  only have myself to blame for that, I suppose.

[Skoria_Bay]

Thankfully Bioware has never charged for second party mods for Neverwinter Nights. They actually host them on their website. They do have modules they made that you can buy, but they were made by Bioware. EA would never be that helpful to the Sims Community.

[Pescado]

[SoggyFox]

Doesn't surprise me, overall, Blizzard actually cares about their playerbase.  Since the ui mods don't keep people from buying more wow stuff, its not even a case of Blizzard protecting their own pockets - its just to protect the players themselves.

And you know, if any company was to go under or suffer in the economy today, it ought to be EA - most other companies actually do care about how they look and what the players think.  EA could learn alot.

Hey, maybe we should send letters to the board suggesting they start implementing things companies like Blizzard does.

And someone should squeeze that troll and make some orange juice.

[neriana]

And someone should squeeze that troll and make some orange juice.

But who would want to drink squeezed troll?

I've been playing WoW for a long time, I use lots of addons, and I've never even come across any that were pay. Good on Blizzard, anyway; they know how to make money.

[SoggyFox]

there are a few that are part of paidfor leveling guides - but honestly, there were only a few to my knowledge to begin with.

[Rowan]

there are a few that are part of paidfor leveling guides - but honestly, there were only a few to my knowledge to begin with.

That was the first thing that sprang to mind when I read the post about Blizzard changing their policy. If memory serves, I believe an author of one of those guides went to court against Blizzard when they got Ebay to remove the guide from their listings.

[SoggyFox]

That's funny - blizzard would/will spank them.

[Pescado]

Tougher to say, really. A "levelling guide" does not constitute any form of content that interfaces with the game itself. It is more akin to a Prima Guide, something that IS sold. Is it really a good thing to protect an enforced monopoly on strategy guides? Is it even right to stop this?

[eternal_darkness]

WoW is 15 bucks a month, the players SHOULDN'T have to pay for anything else...

[SoggyFox]

Prima and Brady games pay a fee or work a deal with the companies to do their guides.  Nothing wrong with giving your guide away, but selling it i think is illegal, without permission.

[Skoria_Bay]

WoW is 15 bucks a month, the players SHOULDN'T have to pay for anything else...

Agreed. Games like "Everquest" and "Asheron's Call" all have monthly fees. I play Neverwinter Nights 1 online and I only had to pay for the game itself. Bioware runs the server we use to log in for free.

There was another game I can't recall the name of that was from Korea (I think) that people paid really money to buy "gold" in the game. The game itself was downloadable for free. It was all the rage a few years ago in the Far East.

Prima and Brady games pay a fee or work a deal with the companies to do their guides.  Nothing wrong with giving your guide away, but selling it i think is illegal, without permission.

I would think that is true. And I know places like 'Gamespot' have user written online guides or walkthroughs. But they do not charge for them.

[SoggyFox]

Actually, most asian mmos are free to play with item malls - you get the game for free, you play for free and if you want extras, you pay real money for it.  I honestly think its a better model over all.  Perfect World, for example, has vanity items and things like extra space for only a few dollars, and you pay it one time.  EA is trying to use that model, but the problem is, alot of these companies when bringing the idea to the US try to either use it in a p2p game like CoX [City of Heros/Villians], where they charge 10 dollars a pop for a few costume pieces and a new dance, or a convenience power, or like EA they charge us through the nose for stuff packs and expansions, then want to charge us through the nose for crap.

In the Asian market it wouldn't float.  One just has to take a look at how lovely the various f2p games are, and good a quality the extras are, then compare it to what these companies think they can do to use dumb Americans [NCSoft being a Korean based company, as I understand it, and EA being an American one, but seemingly of the same mindset regarding us customers.  Yes, those are the examples i know best]

[Melodie]

I think there are a few reasons for Blizzard taking action.   

- they just won against Glider in court (botting program)

- paid leveling guides (Zygor's Guide, for an example) are becoming more popular.   
  it's not just a .pdf or a book you buy - you buy an addon to install, and it displays step by step what you need to do in-game.
  with a big pointy arrow and nice map mods, etc.

- sometimes Blizzard takes ideas from the mod creators (like CTmod) and puts a similar version in the default UI of the game.
  if you have people getting paid for their mods, couldn't they demand that Blizz compensate them as well for 'stealing' their ideas?
  that seems like you'd be getting into a lot of ugly grey area, and copyright stuff...i'm no lawyer, so /shrug

Anyway, to keep it on the topic of The Sims

I posted the update because while I'm not sure I agree with Blizzard's methods 100% - I do think that paid mods/add-ons detract from the creative spirit of the community.
Same with the Sims.   It alienates good people that create for fun, and often create more quality stuff.   And I wish that SOMEONE at EA would realize what they're doing to this community by not taking a stance, or enforcing, or updating their f***ing policy.    I realize my opinions matter not to EA or their speshul paysite partner.

I believe The Sims games were originally meant to be a 'free' and open moddable game.   It's been a good time-waster for the last 8 years, and I was interested in seeing if they've made the Sims3 engine more stable.   But I seriously doubt it will be.   =/     They're just grubbing for more money at this point.    If EAxis had wanted more cash out of me, maybe they should have made a Stuff Pack called 'We fixed our crap code' and I would have pre-ordered it.   

I had a point in there somewhere.  Maybe.

[SoggyFox]

Well, yes.  Blizzard doesn't -lose- money from people selling the guides with the add-ons.  Not really, maybe from a few people 'beating' the game and quitting for something else, but that will happen regardless.

On the other hand EA does lose money from supporting paysites.  If someone is shelling out 100$ a year, or worse a month [it is possible too] to get all the nifty pay-crap, then they are less likely to shell out the 100$ to EA for the expansions and stuff packs and now the official paysite.

So, if Blizzard can go, 'This is dividing the community, cut it out.' when its not affecting their bottom line, but just overall player enjoyment, then why the fuck can't EA do the same when it is going to cost them a lot more money?