If someone is willing to pack up and leave because people support pay sites then they obviously weren't involved with the community for the right reasons. Pay sites have been allowed since the sims 1 days. They won't just go away. People seem to think the the world is wrong just because people don't agree with them. It's usually my way or the highway and that's the problem.

I'm not going to go through all of these posts because I've been reading discussions on this topic for a little while now, so if I say something that's already been said, forgive me.

I've been very much a lurker in the sims community for a long time now. I've been playing on and off since the sims 1 days.

To me, this whole pay site argument is circular. The pay site owners feel that they should be compensated for spending long hours creating content. Fine, whatever, but that means you better give me something worth spending my money on, treat me with some respect, and kindly address any issues that I may have with your work, gaps, ect., as long as I treat you with the same respect, and even at times when I don't. As a "business" it is your responsibility to keep the paying customers happy, and pay site owners, from my experience, see it the other way around.

On the other hand free site owners, not all, but some, have this attitude of "well I'm free. I can do whatever I want, and if you don't like it leave." Then a month or two later they want donations. Sure I can donate to you and still have access to all of your content without having to go through "pay walls," but you're driving away people that help keep you afloat in the same way pay sites do. You're angering those that could potentially help you.

To those of you who love to throw in a hobby as a way to justify pay sites, let me use an analogy that's similar to the debate. I'm in school for music business, so I spent a lot of time studying copyrights, intellectual property, and the like.

As I'm sure many of you know by now the RIAA has spent tons of money going after illegal file sharers. Pirating didn't start when Napster came along, that's just when it got out of hand. Like EA will, the RIAA just sat on it until they decided to do something.

Now in today's climate, let's say I take a Bjork song. (For this example Bjork will be EA) It's been copyrighted by her, her publishing company, her production company and her record company. The copyright says that I cannot use ANY part of her material for any type of financial gain. I, (the CC creator in the example) decide I'm going to make a remix of that song and sell it for $2. At this point, I've taken her work and used it for financial gain, but the RIAA does nothing about it.

A year later the RIAA sends me a subpoena to appear in court. During the trial I state that I spent hours perfecting the remix and thought I should be compensated for my hard work. Of course I'd lose and would have to pay X amount of dollars.

Just because the RIAA took a year to get to me doesn't make what I did any more legal than it was when I was sued. Same thing with the sims. Just because you spent hours making it and dragging your butt through the mud in frustration doesn't make it legal. You're still held to the terms you agreed to when to installed the game, which included not selling CC for personal gain.

That said, I don't hate pay sites, I'm just not going to spend tons of money on them because I can get better content for free, and unless I choose to donate, I won't have to deal with any snotty creator who can't take constructive criticism. (Not that all creators are snotty, I'm just making a point.) If you choose to sub to a pay site, fine. If you don't, fine. It's your money to throw away as you wish. Just don't come whining to me when that Peggy hair you bought makes your sim's head look like swiss cheese.