Will User Created Content Hurt Sales of Sims 2 Stuff Packs?

So there has always been this huge online debate going on between people who abide by the rules, and people who bend the rules. According to every pamphlet included in Sims games, users are not allowed to create content for profit.

Fair enough...

However every Sim fan out there already knows that in order to get the good content, they have to 'pay' to get it. I am on the fence with this. I feel that the user who created the content puts tons of time into their work, yet at the same time, I feel it is illegal, because EA says that no one can make a profit off of user created content.

Uh oh...

Pay sites however are still very much alive. As wrong as charging someone $10.00 for a 'donation' set may seem, real fans know that there is a way around this hooey. I mean I am all for supporting user created content. However sometimes that content is definitely not worth $10.00....so we go to that secret site... and download it all for free; the way EA intended it to be.

Since The Sims 2 first got downloaded onto my PC, I have searched the internet endlessly for new user created things. From furniture, to wallpaper, Mods, to new cars. I wanted the gusto, I wanted it all for my Sims.

I loved the user created content. I loved the meshes, the new skin tones. The internet brought me to endless possibilities, from cigarettes to a pack of tampons for my bathroom counter. Stuff like this just has never been given to us from MAXIS! It is sort of disappointing knowing that users are creating better content then the actual game developers! That is just sad and pathetic!

Users are forced to create these works of arts because MAXIS feeds us garbage in their stuff packs. Yet, over at Peggy Sims, or other well known Sim sites there is something new, and something spectacular every other week!

It's almost as if MAXIS knows fans will make the content, and they can just sit on their asses feeding us these crappy stuff packs every 6 months for $20.00. I mean hello, if a teenager can create these awesome hair styles, skin tones, and clothing...why the hell hasn't the developers over at EA taken notice and followed suit!? It's pretty pathetic, when your fans are creating better content then the developers! WAKE UP MAXIS...

Wait, what is that? They are trying to wake up eh... yeah, I seen the screen shots to the newest stuff pack, which is being titles as The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Items.

Oh, ah, everything looks gorgeous. It truly looks like the upped their game... only one small widdle bitty witty problem.

I have all of this content already!

Yep, the gorgeous claw foot tub, I downloaded that on some user created Sim Stuff site. The cool marble top counters, and stove vent....I've got like 20 of them, in 20 different colors.

That neat stove? got it!

The rugs, the lights, the fridge, and the towel holders? Check, check, check, and yes. Got it!

Those clothes included in the pack cannot even compare to some of the user created content out there right now! While Maxis is busy filling our hard drives with these cartoony looking articles of clothing...user created sites are allowing us to download clothing that looks real, has texture, and high heel shoes!

While Maxis gives us ridiculous articles of jewelry, download sites offer us realistic looking jewelry, and in some cases designer jewelery! Maxis gives us blurry fake looking monstrosities.

Granted the items included in this new pack are all done very well, in fact probably the nicest bit of objects I have seen offered from a stuff pack. Sadly though, it looks like Maxis is now copying download sites objects, because nearly everything offered in the new pack are all items I already have downloaded for free.

So do download sites hurt Maxis sales?

Download sites may not hurt expansion packs, but after seeing their latest soon to be released Kitchen Stuff... I have to say that yes; user created items can hurt Stuff Packs.

After seeing the pre-released screen shots and realizing that I already have nearly everything the Stuff pack offers in my game already, I have no use to cough up $20.00 for Maxis' version.

Take a look by clicking here, this will give you a show at what the new Stuff Pack will offer. Yep... deja vu no?