Don'tcha hate it. . .

Don'tcha hate it. . .

When the mesh doesn't come with the download. And you don't remember where you downloaded the item in the 1st place, so you can go hunt down the mesh? I have about 20 hairstyles that I'm sure are beautiful, but I don't have the meshes, and forgot where I downloaded them!

 

I know. It becomes a scavenger hunt. What really burns me is when they have a free recolor of a subscriber mesh, and I find that out after I download the recolor. Grrr.

My hubby would disown me if I started paying for downloads. I can't even talk him into letting me subscribe to this site. (And yes I know that makes me sound like a kept woman, but he controls the finances because he's good at it and I'm really not.)

As for meshes, Kristal, try XM Sims or Guppy Sims. They seem to make a lot of them.

 

I know that if I got seperate meshes, I'd die. I don't know why though... *thinks*.

I actaully just selected EVERYTHING in my downloads folder and *spoof!* deleted it. Just like that.

I'm so reckless!

 

I agree with this gripe 100%

There is such a simple solution to provide a readme with the download that gives the link to the exact mesh required.

I no longer even bother to go looking for the mesh ... as soon as I see a credit to mesh link I move on. I only go for downloads that declare mesh included. If the artist can't be arsed to make it easy for me to enjoy their work then I can't be bothered to try to obtain it. Let's be honest here ... who's doing who a favor. Isn't the artist offering his or her wares on something of an ego trip in the first place ... already too many of them want to make money out of us (and I'm not talking about just paying for bandwidth!) OK ... calm down Mirelly ...

 

You know I understand that artists are just a breed apart, you know, they are just different. I don't mean that to insult anyone either I'm just speaking from the experience of being around artists. The ones that I know don't always want to get paid for their work, they are more concerned with getting credit. I understand that and can respect it. But I think a simple readme file included with the mesh and a link back to their site should be enough.

JMHO
Ruthie

 

Well said, Ruth. I can see I need to adopt a more sympathetic tone around here Wanna job as my Mini-Me?

 

Y'all are so right! I can handle it if there's a link with the hairstyle or clothing file that says, "Mesh here at Joe-Blow's Sims", and I click it, and it takes me to that page, or actually is the direct link to the mesh download itself. I don't think that's too much to ask. But, what really gets me, is when they say, "Get the Mesh at Joe-Blow's Sims" and you click on the link, and it takes you to the FRONT PAGE of the site, and you have to hunt for the one you want! And you probably don't even recognize the hairstyle.

One of these scavenger hunts was at XM Sims, SBW. I downloaded a beautiful recolor from Heleane's site, one of my favorites if you couldn't tell. Well, I had to go hunting for the mesh at XM Sims. I kept downloading hairstyles, and still couldn't find it! It took me three trips! And I do not have (at least I hope not) below average intelligence!

Over the weekend I had another big download shopping spree. I downloaded two hairstyles, one male, one female. Both sites gave links to different sites for the mesh. I thought I downloaded the right hairstyle, but neither of them work. So, I must go hunting again. And, I can't remember where I got them in the 1st place.

Babe, throwing out the downloads folder and starting from scratch is a good thing. I probably do need to do that. But now that I'm working my new job, I just don't have the time.

Mirelly, I agree to your point about the artists, to a point. I think that there are some of them out there who are disabled or struggling college students who have a tallent and deserve to make a little extra money to supplement their income. And, yes, the artist deserves credit, always. But, most of the artists do put their stuff out there for free, and do just want to know that people are enjoying their creations. Trust me, I enjoy their creations very much!!! Poor Heleane needs to just open me up an express lane or give me frequent user points or something. LOL I know that there are some creators (and I think it's a minority) who are just trying to make a profit. I question how much profit they are making, thought. Well, I can think of a couple, like the guy who runs TSR, who I'm sure makes good $$, but is it really enough for him to "give up his day job?"

In my fantasy world, I would be able to be a stay at home mom and make money playing my Simmies. But, I lack the tallent and the know-how, and "baby needs a new pair of shoes." So off to work I go. (sigh)

 

Kristal I agree to your points about sim artists ... but also to a point. My feelings are these: almost all of the so-called 'artists' are actually only making stuff because they see a need a need for it (their own need) ... in fact if there is anyone out there who is making custom content and not using it themselves then I'd be astounded. As an example the Disney Corp produced some character T-shirts soon after the game was released but I still wonder if the person responsible for those was an employee who took his/her creations to work. I remember airing a brilliant idea last year - to cajole firms like IKEA to commission meshes and skins of some of their popular furniture lines - fab advertising. But then what sort of muppet is gonna go to a load of trouble making virual beds and chairs unless they have an intimate interest in the concept?

An artist produces artwork because he or she has a need to create and the commercial aspects of the art (should) have a minor and secondary place in the great scheme of things.

Of course bandwidth and server space has to be paid for, but if simartists were less concerned with hogging self-defined kudos and more with sharing then P2P file-sharing networks could offer one possible solution to the perennial server traffic bottleneck issue for which cash-flow is the only culprit.

Besides simple recolors (or Maxis-made or new custom meshes) is not exactly cutting edge art. I agree that it requires a skilled hand with graphic image manipulation software, but not so much in the way of talent. The real creative talent lays in those fab people who make the new meshes. Here I do consider that such work is worthy of having a price tag attached ... if only to encourage more meshers to get involved. But again I caution against the charging.

Many clothing and hair/adornment meshes are seemingly fabulous but too many are only half completed (because I imagine their creator was satisfied with the result so far). I have hair styles that break into strange stage-flats when seen from the side, bangs that slice wickedly into otherwise unremarkable cheek-bones and as for furniture ...

I have tables that maids ignore leaving fly-infested plates behind; beds that maids leave unmade, armoires and dressers that take over whole bedrooms in the clickable area department, dining chairs that are almost impossible to click, rugs that refuse to be a destination for a sim to be sent to. Aargh! If I'd had to pay for that stuff only to discover it wasn't fully tested I'd be rather mad!

Too many people berate big businesses like Maxis, accusing them of releasing buggy substandard software and yet no-one complains about the hoards of amateurs who offer a couple of buggy meshes as a teaser to get you sign up for their donation items. Huh who do they think we are? Green like froggy muppets? I don't think so

[The views expressed by me in this message are entirely my own and have nothing whatsoever to do with Manager Josh or any other members of the World Sims team. My opinions relate in general terms only to the wider modding & customising community and no specific inferences may be drawn as to having reference to any specific website.]

 

You're right about sloppiness, Mirelly. Right now I have meshes that when I put them on my sim that part of their body disappears! (Body, top of head) Not exactly a look I was going for, partly invisible sim.

I need to get around to deleting them, but frankly it's kind of a pain. I only have so many hours in my day and I'd rather spend my free time simming, not maintaining my game.

I suppose I could never download anything, but that would just be no fun at all.

I'm much more excited about downloading guys' stuff lately. I think it's because I've already got a lot of girl stuff and most of the stuff that comes with the game doesn't make the girls look dorky. Some of the guy stuff, though ... would it kill them to make some cool looking shorts?

 

I agree about the messy meshes, where her body disappears , or the head, or you can see the wall behind her through a hole in her neck, like her throat's been cut. Since I love the very close-up picture taking I am often very upset by these things which might not be too obvious or even visible from a distance. I would be hugely upset if I had paid for it. There is one mesh creator I now always avoid because nothing looks right--gaps and holes in everything, hair or clothes. Sure it's tricky. I wouldn't even try it. But others have done it without the gaps and holes.

I imagine that objects where animation is required, like a sim sitting in a chair must be especially difficult. I've seen some beautiful things that may be nice for atmosphere but look stupid when the sim uses it. I have some cushions, for instance, which look really cool but when Errol sat on them his arms were suspended on invisible armrests. Very funny. I'll keep the cushions around, but just for looks.

(I shouldn't be here while at work. Oops, lunch done, gotta run.)

 

I'll agree that it must be difficult. I have a toddler bed downloaded right now, but instead of the toddlers being able to get out on their own, they still do the crib animation of standing up and holding onto the edge...I think it even makes the rattling noise. It is funny, but I wish they could just get out of the beds on their own.

 

As Kristal mentioned it (TSR), I went off to do some (very basic and casual) research.

TSR charges around $4 pcm depending on the package one signs up for.

The real killer cost in running a website is "bandwidth" (thats the total number of gigabytes of downloadage used in a given period). Note that 'downloadage' [Sic] includes all the little pictures of buttons ("click this button to download","sign up now" etc. etc. etc.) as well as the webpages' text and forum page views before you even start counting the megabyteage of downloadable items.

Bandwidth isn't cheap if you have tens of thousands of casual visitors (right Josh? ) but at ballpark prices for wholesale purchase it's not unfair to suggest that bandwidth can gotten for around $2 per gigabyte per month or less ... much less cos the more GB you're buying the less each one costs.

To put numbers in place of geek-o-speak. 1 gigabyte is around 3,000 items for TS2. How many TSR subscribers download 3,000 items a month? Let alone more!

So by the simplest (most fautously glib) of arithmetic a site like TSR is ostensibly making around a 50% profit on turnover (or if you prefer: it applies a 100% mark-up on its service).

Naturally I have no idea how many subscriptions go through TSR's sign up procedures each and every month. I suspect that it is a healthy and regular flow. I have nothing but respect for the business savvy of that site's proprietors and, in any case, as a capitalist at heart I would never seek to undermine the integrity of an honest business, which -- of course TSR is! (Although at the prices I have just quoted it is hard to see a genuine profit; the markup would need to be 400-500% for that ... although at that level King Customer would expect a freshly vacuumed red carpet to unreel from her mouse before the site even finished loading into the browser window ... (again MHumorousO)

I think my final word on this subject has to refer to the somewhat subversive move on the part of Maxis before the game even got to the shelves. Remember when we all downloaded Body Shop and signed up to the exchange? I do! It was a first for me. With The Sims, the exchange was a Dead Zone, a place we non-north-americans could visit and download stuff but uploading our own contributions was forbidden.

Why did I say "subversive", then? All those people who have bought downloads ... how many of them only want something to make their newly minted sim or sim's house look extra cool? How many know that the download goes into the pool when it is uploaded to the exchange? How many care?

With broadband and MSN/ICQ allofthe 'for donators only' content is only a mouse click away anyway! Multi-billion dollar enterprises like EA Games and Sony can sue the pants off copyright infringers but -- honestly! -- for the erstwhile semi-professional, asserting copyright on a glorified mess of pixels is one thing but enforcing it is not simply pointless, it is vainglorious.

I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry for going on about this. It's a raw nerve for me. People go out and buy a game and they just want to play it. They know they'll be back (in the stores) to pay out more money for the inevitable expansion packs. But somewhere along the line the old get-rich-quick monster rears its head. It doesn't actually matter, at all, if the wealth potential is real or just imaginary: it's the bald perception that the idea is there to begin with! People sign up to pay sites and download like crazy (and by so doing they justify the bandwidth charges!!) ... but ....

I've been there and got the tee-shirt. You have shelled out some hard-earned and so you download like crazy. Pretty soon you're awash with stuff and your game is clunking along like a Hudson straight six with tin-plate for crankshaft bearings ... and they're on the way out! Eventually you realise that 95% of the stuff you downloaded is terrible and in a vain attempt to get your game back from the brink of a Buffy-esque nightmare you delete the whole darn lot. Who's hurting, after that? Not the guy with your 10 bucks that's for sure!