Date Posted: 10th May 2007 at 8:33 PM

I've never been a very prolific creator, so no one is likely to notice. But I became uncomfortable with the way TSR was doing business a while ago, and I'm much happier with switching over to MTS2. I've come to a point where I really don't want to be associated with a paysite.

Back when I was playing the Sims 1, I loved TSR. They were the best site for information about the game. In a way, they were to the Sims 1 what MTS2 is to the Sims 2: creators and meshers hung out at the forums there, sharing ideas and helping others create new content for the game. Sure, they were a paysite, but their policy of continuously rotating content into the free section meant that getting something you wanted for free was merely a matter of patience. In that sense, they weren't a real paysite. Only impatient people or grateful people bought memberships, and the rest of us were content to wait and profit from the generosity of others.

I've watched the policies at TSR change over and over again. They seem kind of stable now, but for a while, it seemed like they were constantly trotting out a new flavor of the month regarding what would be free, what would be pay, and what they would do for their non-FA artistic contributors. I feel like I hardly recognize what TSR has become. (And does anyone else wonder why ''kid safe'' TSR needs to supplement their income with sexually suggestive dating advertisements?)

I used to have no problem with paysites. A few years ago, bandwidth was expensive and selling a few downloads could help sites break even. However, it's now hideously overdone. Some sites charge for everything, or offer ugly stuff for free and have the rest as so-called ''donation items'' -- if the only reason someone ''donates'' is for the thank-you gift, it isn't really a donation. That is called ''selling'' and ''buying''.

Back in my Sims 1 days, someone once told me I should make a donation item. I got those little dollar signs in my eyes for a few minutes, thinking about profiting from my hobby. Of course, I quickly realized that I couldn't do that and feel good about myself unless I was really business-like about it. I would have to offer customer service, ensure that everything on my site was of at least Maxis-level quality, and continue to pump out content and keep my site updated to ensure that I wasn't ripping anyone off. If someone payed for the ''donation'' item and didn't like it, I would have to fix it, replace it, or refund that person's money.
...Does ANY paysite do that? Shouldn't they? Shouldn't every paysite ensure that they are producing quality items and offer basic customer service? More often than not, if you don't like a paysite item, you're screwed.

I have neither the work ethic to properly produce pay items nor the complete lack of ethics needed to sell substandard custom content. And if I really want to stay away from paysites, I can't even recolor meshes made by artists at TSR or the meshes my recolors need may wind up locked away behind the subscription wall. I'm just best off staying away from the whole paysite mess. And ultimately, I can't stand the idea that someone else might be making a profit from something I made for free.