Long Long Post - Tumblr Posts

I was literally typing up my 2 pence worth of thoughts and as I’m checking my sources, the page updates and Early Access is fine. All my legislative interpretation experience wasted ha.

I’m still going to post this even though I hate controversy, but I’ve seen some stone cold takes that do nothing to but pour lemon juice in the injury that this whole matter has uncovered - because let’s be real, it was already there.

Maybe its because I’m old, maybe it’s because I’ve both paid for and pirated content, maybe it’s because I’m mostly a consumer, not a creator, but I feel very ehhh about the whole matter. Nonetheless, my thoughts are scratching against my brain so I’ve laid them out. TLDR is it is what it is.

Observation 1

I think what’s rustled my jimmies into making this post is the lack of internal consistency that is being thrown around.

What EA’s Terms of Service and End User Licence Agreement say is pretty immaterial if you also advocate for pirating the game. No judgement if you do pirate it, I have exactly zero feelings about it. You just also have to agree that it also says in the TOS/EULA that you mustn’t pirate the game so I don’t think you can really pick and choose which principles you want to follow if you’re making this the basis of your argument.  

Whenever a ruling class, i.e. EA in this case, make a judgement that causes in-fighting amongst those affected by the judgement, I think you have to ask yourself who is benefitting most. EA have had a string of public disasters lately and I’m sure they’d much rather that we were tearing chunks off each other instead of them.

Whatever you think about enforcement etc, EA are unlikely to have the processing power to take perma-paywallers to task. They only had six Quality Assessors on the latest expansion. They’ve got their own problems.

Even Disney can’t take down every unbranded merch creator on Etsy...

I highly doubt this is a call to action from them and I think their further clarification taking us back to the status quo supports this.

Observation 2

Some people are going to make excellent quality content for free. Some people are going to make excellent quality content that will be free if you can wait for it. Some people are going to set their price too high for you to pay. Some people are hucksters looking to make a quick buck on shoddy content.

Ok.

No one is entitled to have anything. Not consumers to content (free or at cost), nor creators to capital. I don’t think I can put it any more simply.

Personally, as someone who cannot stand to play vanilla, The Sims 4 is a broken base, made playable by modders. I think it is fair that creators have the opportunity to ask for payment for their labour in what is, in effect, a collaborative effort. Especially those who have skills to offer in this regard, but can’t offer them to the capitalist machine at large because they’re neurodivergent or disabled.

Whether EA endorses it or not, I think reasonable Early Access is fine. I really think it should only bother you as a consumer if you can’t bear the Fear of Missing Out. That’s all an early access payment is - the privilege of skipping out on the FOMO. If it still bothers you, you might need to assess what you perceive to be your entitlement to content.

If it bothers you as another creator, with all the respect in the world, maybe have a think about whether you are coming from a place of envy. It’s a natural emotion - the world would be a better place if we all got more comfortable admitting it. No one should be ashamed to acknowledge that they are envious that someone is receiving money for something they do for free. But envy does not a moral judgement make.

Observation 3

Of course I said reasonable Early Access - what’s reasonable? Well, how long can you stand to wait? As long as there are people bursting at the seams that are willing to pay for access to content NOW, there will be paywalls of increasingly indeterminate length.

I don’t like perma-paywalls. It’s depressing to look at things you want but can’t afford. It’s even more depressing these days since the doxxing scandal has sown so much distrust among us. I think that is the actual genesis of all the pain coming out now.

Let’s get it straight - doxxing is a line that should not be crossed. Discounting the TOS/EULA argument, Piracy is as fundamental a principle as the urge to monetise and perma-paywallers need to accept that as much as consumers need to accept that we can’t always afford what we want. If you, as a creator, are putting all your income eggs in this risky basket, that’s on you.

Like I said at the start, creators are as entitled to capital as consumers are entitled to content.

We’re both gonna have to make peace with that - it’s a dead dove: DO NOT EAT. Don’t like don’t look I guess.

Observation 4

I don’t know if all payments for content are as responsible for killing this community as people say they are. Maybe in a similar way that the Industrial Revolution killed Arts and Crafts I guess?

I’ve lurked since 2016ish and the peaks and troughs are no different to any other online creator community I’ve been part of. People move on to other ventures, age out, get bored, and the new generation ushers in. The human urge to monetise everything we do is as old as the sun and the sky - Stardoll is an excellent example if anyone else was part of the Facebook community alongside it and has watched people pay exorbitant amounts for what is effectively a shit NFT. And besides, a couple of months back, it was lack of engagement killing Simblr. Community is a fickle thing.

As a consumer, I can’t say that I feel short of content, especially on a site like Tumblr, which is one of the few social media sites where I can still curate exactly what I want to see.

In summary, I dunno. paywallers gonna paywall, free creators are gonna free, consumers gonna consume. Facts are Facts. EA doesn’t matter.

Everybody loves to hate vegans bc they sometimes come across self-righteous, proselytising and annoying (fair).

(I’m gonna pretend that all the notes on the post are people who look into where their meat comes from and the treatment of those animals and are not just part of a circle-jerk of self-righteousness and self-justification ‘UwU I eat meat and I don’t think I’m bad [you shouldn’t] so it’s the vegans that must be wrong)

I’m vegetarian but this post doesn’t seem to make any sense. The meat (and animal product) industry is filled with the mistreatment of animals?? Even if you hate vegans & vegetarians for their personalities they are trying preddy hard to prevent mistreatment of animals usually?

Obviously there are exceptions to any generalising statement but if you saying “well I know some vegans who feed their cats celery” is kinda reductionary. Those people are bad to their pets, a form of animal cruelty. This is a bad action. Are they worse than people who support cruelty of pigs, chickens or cows in captivity?

Nobody is “better” or “worse” than you for their dietary choices (no matter what they say).

But this post is pandering to people who do eat meat “I’m a good person, vegans are bad”. Like not to stick up for v*gans but they are preventing a much larger scale of animal cruelty. Not saying you aren’t, but you can admire their dedication.

Yes, you can be against animal cruelty and eat meat and for some people it’s impossible due to dietary or access issues to not eat meat. You can try to purchase meat that is sustainable with good treatment of the animals. You can buy free range eggs. This is all against animal cruelty. Vegans & vegetarians to an extent take it further by trying to reduce animal death entirely. And it’s easier to reduce mistreatment in captivity if you don’t buy anything.

Some vegans & vegetarians may be annoying so it’s best to just leave them alone (it’s like hitting a bee hive with a stick) and if you have a guilty conscience that you need to reconcile, find another outlet.

anyways can we start recognizing adhd as an actual and serious disorder that

can affect on functioning in every day life so badly that it interferes with taking care of very basic human needs

is not 10 yrs old white boy exclusive disorder

is not a fake disorder created to benefit medicine companies

definitely should not be reduced to “kid who cant sit still and wont stop screaming” stereotypes because adhd has a whole fuckton of symptoms ranging from serious memory issues to fine motor control difficulties