PSA - MS3B and Our Creations
Feb. 27th, 2011 06:36 pm![[personal profile]](../s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aikea_guinea posting in ![[community profile]](../s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
club_crimsynThis is a bit of a PSA just to let everyone know that we’ve asked that our creations no longer be posted to My Sims 3 Blog. This is something we’ve been mulling over for several months now, and have finally decided we’ve had enough of the douchebaggery that goes on in the comments over there. It’s not so much things said about our creations (gelydh never reads the comments on our stuff, and I only very rarely), but more about what goes on in other people’s uploads. We don’t want our creations associated with that sort of environment.
People who create CC are not slaves. We all may have very different motivations for what we do, but none of us owe anything to downloaders. Quite frankly, we're disgusted by how many (not all, but many) TS3 players treat CC creators. The amount of entitlement is beyond anything we saw for TS2. It’s one thing to expect perfection from something you’re paying for, but being nitpicky assholes about free items is appallingly rude. It’s ok to say things like ‘These are pretty nice, but they’d be even better if you added some ground shadows to them.’ The person who made the ground-shadowless thing doesn’t have to do anything to their creations, but I promise you they’ll be much more likely to take your suggestion seriously if you’re not a complete fuckwit about it.
What we've seen with the release of TS3 is no-one being safe from over-the-top criticism, regardless of whether or not they charged for their creations or gave them away for free or, as is the case with Club Crimsyn, paying half out of our own pocket for the upkeep of the site - we actually lose money and haven't cared up to this point! I'm not sure just how much longer we're willing to put up with this shit. Even at TSR we could post things and get genuine feedback without having to worry about it being torn to shreds just because someone felt like being a dick that day. We aren't in any way, shape, or form advocating paysites or TSR; it just really says something when we realize that free TS3 creators are being treated far worse than pay TS2 creators ever were.
Do the people who say shit about creations because they’re bored realize the potential consequences of what they’re doing? We’ve seen more than one creator quit because of the idiocy displayed recently. Helaene, one of our favorite creators from the very earliest days of TS2, recently stopped uploading because of trolls on her site. Quite frankly, we can’t really blame her. There’s been more than one occasion where we’ve found ourselves wondering what the point of uploading anything was because it was just being nitpicked to death, and we were used to that sort of thing from when we were paid creators on TSR.
We make custom content for TS3 because we feel like things are lacking in our own games. We think, 'We could really use some new hair textures/female clothes/rabid squirrels,' and we proceed to make said thing. If we don't like how said thing is turning out, we give up and wander off to attempt to make another thing. Eventually, we do manage to finish something, and we may or may not get a weird tickle in our brains that says 'Maybe someone else would like to have this,' and if Finished Thing isn't missing any major parts, we'll toss it on here for other people to use if they want.
This may come as a surprise, but we honestly don't care one bit if you use something we make or not. Chances are, we won't ever see your game, so we flat out won't know one way or the other. Therefore, saying something like 'If you did X to this, I'd download it' is pretty pointless. Again, constructive feedback is fine, and appreciated, but even then we won't necessarily do anything more to an item once it's finished. People are always welcome to do whatever they want to things we upload (aside from the obvious no paysites thing, and no claiming you did something we did), so feel free to have at it. You can do X to thing Y til your eyes bleed if it'll make you happy.
We’re always glad when people appreciate the things we upload, and a simple 'thanks' goes a very long way in making us want to continue sharing stuff. This may sound like it contradicts the above paragraph, but even though we don't care if you don't download something we make, it's still nice to know when it's appreciated.
In closing, I was just shown this Dilbert, which seems fitting, so I now share it with you:
(Note the date. You’re not doing anything even remotely new or original.)
I realize how pointless this all is, but damn it, I’m posting it anyway even though I know it won’t change a damned thing. I’m OK with that. Because fuck you, that’s why.
gelydh never reads the comments on our stuff, and I only very rarely), but more about what goes on in other people’s uploads. We don’t want our creations associated with that sort of environment.People who create CC are not slaves. We all may have very different motivations for what we do, but none of us owe anything to downloaders. Quite frankly, we're disgusted by how many (not all, but many) TS3 players treat CC creators. The amount of entitlement is beyond anything we saw for TS2. It’s one thing to expect perfection from something you’re paying for, but being nitpicky assholes about free items is appallingly rude. It’s ok to say things like ‘These are pretty nice, but they’d be even better if you added some ground shadows to them.’ The person who made the ground-shadowless thing doesn’t have to do anything to their creations, but I promise you they’ll be much more likely to take your suggestion seriously if you’re not a complete fuckwit about it.
What we've seen with the release of TS3 is no-one being safe from over-the-top criticism, regardless of whether or not they charged for their creations or gave them away for free or, as is the case with Club Crimsyn, paying half out of our own pocket for the upkeep of the site - we actually lose money and haven't cared up to this point! I'm not sure just how much longer we're willing to put up with this shit. Even at TSR we could post things and get genuine feedback without having to worry about it being torn to shreds just because someone felt like being a dick that day. We aren't in any way, shape, or form advocating paysites or TSR; it just really says something when we realize that free TS3 creators are being treated far worse than pay TS2 creators ever were.
Do the people who say shit about creations because they’re bored realize the potential consequences of what they’re doing? We’ve seen more than one creator quit because of the idiocy displayed recently. Helaene, one of our favorite creators from the very earliest days of TS2, recently stopped uploading because of trolls on her site. Quite frankly, we can’t really blame her. There’s been more than one occasion where we’ve found ourselves wondering what the point of uploading anything was because it was just being nitpicked to death, and we were used to that sort of thing from when we were paid creators on TSR.
We make custom content for TS3 because we feel like things are lacking in our own games. We think, 'We could really use some new hair textures/female clothes/rabid squirrels,' and we proceed to make said thing. If we don't like how said thing is turning out, we give up and wander off to attempt to make another thing. Eventually, we do manage to finish something, and we may or may not get a weird tickle in our brains that says 'Maybe someone else would like to have this,' and if Finished Thing isn't missing any major parts, we'll toss it on here for other people to use if they want.
This may come as a surprise, but we honestly don't care one bit if you use something we make or not. Chances are, we won't ever see your game, so we flat out won't know one way or the other. Therefore, saying something like 'If you did X to this, I'd download it' is pretty pointless. Again, constructive feedback is fine, and appreciated, but even then we won't necessarily do anything more to an item once it's finished. People are always welcome to do whatever they want to things we upload (aside from the obvious no paysites thing, and no claiming you did something we did), so feel free to have at it. You can do X to thing Y til your eyes bleed if it'll make you happy.
We’re always glad when people appreciate the things we upload, and a simple 'thanks' goes a very long way in making us want to continue sharing stuff. This may sound like it contradicts the above paragraph, but even though we don't care if you don't download something we make, it's still nice to know when it's appreciated.
In closing, I was just shown this Dilbert, which seems fitting, so I now share it with you:
(Note the date. You’re not doing anything even remotely new or original.)
I realize how pointless this all is, but damn it, I’m posting it anyway even though I know it won’t change a damned thing. I’m OK with that. Because fuck you, that’s why.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-03 04:03 pm (UTC)What's more, there's a sizable amount of comments that *have* proven useful- I've seen many cases where comments have alerted to defects that could crash or mess up the game, not just 'i wish this was like this'. I once asked a creator on the comments (Poppysims, I believe) if she'd be willing to do a small modification to a EA skirt. She did, almost instantly. There's also been a call for a mod recently, like the case where someone asked for a mod for their autistic child. The trolling was, thankfully, little to none on those posts, last I checked. He'll be throwing those out with the bad ones, unless he decides to moderate all the comments.
The way I see it, Joe's sort of in a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation. Perhaps, if trolled creators withdraw, the trolls will stop coming, Joe may not need to do anything that could call attention to them, and the blog will become safer to new creators. Those who stay either show that they're not going to tolerate bullying (not including simple critiques, of course).
I got your blog bookmarked; I don't want to miss anything. I'm glad I found out because otherwise I would have missed your future work.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-03 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-03 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-03 09:55 pm (UTC)I guess my main problem with even allowing comments at all on what's suposed to just be a central site for updates is that I don't like the fact that people don't tell me things directly. There's a bunch of stuff that could get potentially overlooked because not every creator reads the blog or comments, especially because of all the trolling. Also, I felt like having to go dig through comments on an outside site was just another step to take in cc creation, and, truth be told, I have to admit I resented it. We allow anonymous comments here and have a couple different ways for people to contact us directly, so you don't even need a DreamWidth account if there are issues. I'd hope people would take the time to let us know personally instead of assuming we read every comment on every other site on the internet.
I dunno... maybe Joe (and others) want MS3B to go beyond just a site for updates, and be more of a central gathering spot for people to talk about the CC being released. If that's the case, I don't see how he can continue to let the trolling continue as it has.
As for us deciding to no longer have our updates featured, I see it as another way to show we won't tolerate the bullying; I don't see why we should subject ourselves to such inanity just so they don't 'win.' The problem isn't that there are specific trolled creators, because almost everything posted to that site has the potential to have a shitstorm of stupidity released in the comments. It's especially bad if you happen to be at the top of the page on a weekend night.
Thanks so much for your comment, by the way! I really appreciate the added perspective, and it helped me put into words other thoughts I had on the situation that got a bit lost to the rage. XD
no subject
Date: 2011-03-04 12:35 pm (UTC)There was one who, after being picked on for his/her bad spelling and grammar, accused everyone in the comments of being too old to play the Sims, and that video games are meant for younger people who don't care about things like 'communicating properly'. It was hilarious.