The war on modding continues

[I first wrote the following as a private email, but later decided that it would make more sense to turn it into an open letter, so anybody can use it as an instrument for discussion and hopefully a motivator for positive action.]

I just learned about this: The Sims 4 custom content creators are now prohibited from charging for their creations. For creators who earn a living modding the game, this could result in significant financial losses.

I find it spectacularly anti-consumer and anticompetitive that EA (or any game publisher for that matter) should be allowed to:

• dictate the terms under which modders and gamers can modify the games they own, and unilaterally decide whether or not modders can put such modifications behind a paywall in order to sustain themselves;
• change such terms arbitrarily overnight, without warning and without any consideration for the fact that once an aftermarket becomes popular, people start relying on it for their livelihoods;
• play both sides of the game (pun not intended), first profiting immensely from the community that builds around their games, and then becoming jealous that said community has money transactions that don't go through them and arrogating to themselves the right to shut off those transactions;
• deliberate that the hard work from which the publishers reaped benefits for years in terms of copies and DLCs sold should be made free, so their profits can become even larger (because more free mods means more gamers buying the game or its DLCs) and they can rest easy knowing that nobody else is receiving money.

Most worryingly, this is no longer a matter limited to modding but is evolving into an alarmingly rapid erosion of consumer rights, similarly to the "right to repair" issues, and springing mainly from the legal construction/fabrication that software (a primary good in today's society) is not sold but licensed, and that its licensing terms should be infinitely malleable and mutable upon a whim by the publisher.

The public has been conditioned to believe that this situation is normal, but I see it as sheer lunacy.

This kind of conditioning that impairs rational judgement is typically revealed by reversing the situation and showing how absurd it becomes. In the case under discussion, reversing would go like this: "software is licensed in exchange for money" becomes "money is licensed in exchange for software".

Let's see what happens to the points listed above. Gamers and modders should be allowed to:

• dictate the terms under which developers and publishers can build their IP into products and/or put a price on such products in order to reap any financial benefits;
• change such terms arbitrarily overnight, without warning and without any consideration for the fact that once a game company grows, employees and owners start relying on it for their livelihoods;
• play both sides, first enjoying the games that the studios and publishers have produced, and then becoming jealous that such companies got revenues from the games and arrogating to themselves the right to shut off those revenues;
• decide unilaterally that the hard work from which the gamers obtained many hours of entertainment should be made free, so they can have even more fun playing (because more free copies means more players being online to have matches with, more challenges and so on) and they can rest easy knowing that nobody else is enjoying themselves.

Or leaving for a moment the gaming world, in a similarly surreal scenario: thanks Adobe for providing me with a copy of Photoshop. Here's my money in exchange for your work. Oh wait: before taking the money be sure to read and confirm this 25-page agreement written in 6-point cursive that you can easily scroll through this slit that almost shows two full lines at a time. For your convenience, let me summarize the agreement for you:

• The symbolic token you receive ("money") is not paid but loaned. It will remain mine to dispose of as I please. I may discontinue your holding of the "money" at any given moment without reason or warning.
• To the fullest extent permitted by law, the "money" is not guaranteed to have any monetary value, and is not intended to be used as (or exchanged for) legal currency in any country of the world.
• You are not allowed to spend the "money" on any activity unless it's previously authorized in writing by me, the "customer".
• If you obtain any service or goods in exchange for the "money", such services or goods shall immediately become my property and you will be held responsible for any consumption or damage to them.

And so on and so forth. It's so absurd, it's patently ridiculous. And yet that's the world we're living in.

Before you mention it, I do know that I'm preaching to the choir here, so feel free to spread this post to anybody who might be interested and especially where it can provoke some reaction, in order to let it become a tool for discussion and change.