More Featured Than You

[jezzer]

You may or may not know that the "Featured Item" selection at MTS is very SRS BSNS.  The MTS Illuminati review each submission, running it through a rigorous examination of secret criteria, ever conscious of the awesome responsibility of showcasing the best uploads by the brightest cc creators, many of whom have spent years honing their craft, yearning and striving for the elusive award.

Or, you know, some halfwit shits out a Twilight Pose Pack and MTS slaps a star on it and calls it a day.

[rohina]

Oh, I dunno, jezzer, I suspect shitting might take more effort that that piece of junk.

[Baarogue]

Oh, I dunno, jezzer, I suspect shitting might take more effort thatn that piece of junk.

I'm helping!

[bitterquill]

What I find most appalling is that there are several offerings on the very same page that are far more deserving. Cmomoney's pool slide (something many players have been asking for since 2009), Enirei's mod that allows your werewolves to actually behave as more than glorified collectors, and Fentonparkninja's entirely remade attraction system, just to name a few.

I stand by the comment I made at MTS, though: ForeverHailey's poses make her Sims look more expressive than the actual Twilight actors. I don't know if that means the poses are good or the actors are just that bad (I'm not experienced with poses and I'd rather be beaten with an angry raccoon than watch Twilight) but it's something. But is it worthy of being ranked above the sorts of content I listed? Hell. No. Maybe it's the result of laziness on the part of the MTS staff and maybe someone in "power" is just a hardcore Twitard, but it's embarrassing either way.

[kissing_toast]

What I find most appalling is that there are several offerings on the very same page that are far more deserving. Cmomoney's pool slide (something many players have been asking for since 2009), Enirei's mod that allows your werewolves to actually behave as more than glorified collectors, and Fentonparkninja's entirely remade attraction system, just to name a few.

Lets not forget the Beard-o as well. *cough cough* 

[jezzer]

Lets not forget the Beard-o as well. *cough cough* 

* jezzer pet AIDE

[deroger]

There are far too many "pose packs" around anyway... you might think that TS3 is more of a storytelling platform for wannabe authors than a game/sim.

The only types of downloads that is even more useless and redundant in numbers are the (felt) thousands of eye colors and "contact lenses" with which the community is swamped...

Regarding MTS, it's just a bad joke that they claim to reject uploads for "quality issues" and then glorify such waste-of-time crap.

[jezzer]

When the Pose Player came out, it opened the floodgates.  Suddenly, every other upload to MTS was a damn pose pack, catering exclusively to the Brynnes of the world (which should have been the first clue that pose packs are a Pandora's box of stupid).  Incidentally, the Brynnes of the world are also the people responsible for the 9,000 eye colors.  They're the only ones who play their games zoomed in enough to tell what color their sims' eyes even are, much less differences in striation of the iris.

[kissing_toast]

When the Pose Player came out, it opened the floodgates.  Suddenly, every other upload to MTS was a damn pose pack, catering exclusively to the Brynnes of the world (which should have been the first clue that pose packs are a Pandora's box of stupid).  Incidentally, the Brynnes of the world are also the people responsible for the 9,000 eye colors.  They're the only ones who play their games zoomed in enough to tell what color their sims' eyes even are, much less differences in striation of the iris.

HA! I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks all those "different" eyes are a total waste of time.

[jezzer]

It's like Peggy Zone hair:  seen one, seen 'em all.

[Anach]

When the Pose Player came out, it opened the floodgates.  Suddenly, every other upload to MTS was a damn pose pack, catering exclusively to the Brynnes of the world (which should have been the first clue that pose packs are a Pandora's box of stupid).  Incidentally, the Brynnes of the world are also the people responsible for the 9,000 eye colors.  They're the only ones who play their games zoomed in enough to tell what color their sims' eyes even are, much less differences in striation of the iris.

HA! I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks all those "different" eyes are a total waste of time.

A lot of people seem to only play CAS, and never bother with the actual game. Much of the high detail CAS mods will never be seen in-game no matter how much you zoom in. While playing, the Sims just don't have that level of detail that you get in CAS. You aren't going to notice the minute differences in nostril flare. 

I can see pose packs being handy for people creating actual content and wanting to pose their Sims for screenshots featuring that content, but why anyone would want to play the game that way, putting Sims in boring static poses, I will never understand.

[jezzer]

Oh, it's the storytellers and machinima people, who don't want to play the game so much as upload another episode of "As the Sim Turns" so their legions of sycophants can gush rapturously, "You've outdone yourself, Val!  You are the best and the prettiest and all the boys (and most of the girls) want you!"

[HomeschooledByTards]

I see wut you did there.

Most of the cosmetics are a waste of space too. I had quite a few custom eye shadows and lipsticks in TS2, but never really noticed them. I haven't bothered getting any for TS3.

[YouWereAdopted]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was getting tired of sifting through 'pose packs', 'contacts', 'lipsticks', etc, that all look the same when looking for some new & unique, custom content.

I don't understand what is the most intriguing about contacts and lipsticks, considering they all wind up looking pretty much the same.

[Araenna]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was getting tired of sifting through 'pose packs', 'contacts', 'lipsticks', etc, that all look the same when looking for some new & unique, custom content.

I don't understand what is the most intriguing about contacts and lipsticks, considering they all wind up looking pretty much the same.

I admit I tend to go overboard on contacts. I rarely see them in game, but the customization part of the game is something I really enjoy. So I can see why some people like those things. However, I agree that, especially at this point, most of the make up being released (especially lipsticks!) are identical. I was actually just reflecting on that while looking at some CC earlier. At this point in the game, I feel like I have about as much variation make up wise as I'm going to get, and am more interested in mods that actually affect gameplay.

Also, am I the only one who can't tell what the heck some sliders are changing in some of the pictures? Like, all those lip and nose ones people keep making. I can barely, if ever, tell the difference it seems.

[tjstreak]

I am pretty sure that the moderators at MTS really do not look very closely at most of the submissions.  This becomes apparent every so often when a creator announces that they mistakenly uploaded the wrong item.  I mean, how could someone's mistaken upload make it past a moderator's all seeing eye if the moderator actually installed the item in the game to see how it works?

I also have found homes with chairs flying in the air outside of the home, trees in toilets, and double beds placed in bedrooms three squares wide, leving a half square on each side of the bed.  It's pretty clear that not only have these uploads not been playtested, but they have not even been looked at.

You gotta love the creator feedback forum where people grovel for feedback on rejected items, and receive all sorts of worthless advice.  It's worthless in the sense that if one follows the advice, it really does not seem to significantly improve the odds of having the creation approved.  On the other hand, perhaps it is unrealistic to expect a moderator to devote a lot of time to each upload.

As for poses, makeup, houses, worlds, etc., etc., there is a tremendous lack of creativity and originality in the sims creative community.  This is not a problem unique to the sims.  I call it the coffeeshop syndrome.  I live in a small town, where one day, someone decided to open a coffeeshop.  The next thing you know, there are a half dozen coffeeshops in town.  That is five copycats thought opening a coffesshop was a good idea for a business.  They could not think of something original.  Next thing you know, all six coffeeshops are going out of business because the town simply cannot support six coffeeshops.  No one is making any money.

I think this same phenomenon explains why we have countless poses no one wants, all sorts of makeup which cannot be seen in game. a gazillion set of jeans, a half million lots, and thousands of worlds.  Everything pretty much looks alike.  And when something truly exceptional is made, it gets lost in a sea of crap.

[kissing_toast]

I am pretty sure that the moderators at MTS really do not look very closely at most of the submissions.  This becomes apparent every so often when a creator announces that they mistakenly uploaded the wrong item.  I mean, how could someone's mistaken upload make it past a moderator's all seeing eye if the moderator actually installed the item in the game to see how it works?

I also have found homes with chairs flying in the air outside of the home, trees in toilets, and double beds placed in bedrooms three squares wide, leving a half square on each side of the bed.  It's pretty clear that not only have these uploads not been playtested, but they have not even been looked at.

You gotta love the creator feedback forum where people grovel for feedback on rejected items, and receive all sorts of worthless advice.  It's worthless in the sense that if one follows the advice, it really does not seem to significantly improve the odds of having the creation approved.  On the other hand, perhaps it is unrealistic to expect a moderator to devote a lot of time to each upload.

As for poses, makeup, houses, worlds, etc., etc., there is a tremendous lack of creativity and originality in the sims creative community.  This is not a problem unique to the sims.  I call it the coffeeshop syndrome.  I live in a small town, where one day, someone decided to open a coffeeshop.  The next thing you know, there are a half dozen coffeeshops in town.  That is five copycats thought opening a coffesshop was a good idea for a business.  They could not think of something original.  Next thing you know, all six coffeeshops are going out of business because the town simply cannot support six coffeeshops.  No one is making any money.

I think this same phenomenon explains why we have countless poses no one wants, all sorts of makeup which cannot be seen in game. a gazillion set of jeans, a half million lots, and thousands of worlds.  Everything pretty much looks alike.  And when something truly exceptional is made, it gets lost in a sea of crap.

While I don't agree with everything you're saying I will say this, I believe that the moderators do not ever install the submissions. That they only go by the information given in the post and the pictures. I would put money on this, there's no way they do. I could tell from responses I've gotten back on things I've submitted. I would like to see them put as much scrutiny and regulations on their lots as they do for Sims.

[jezzer]

At the very least, a (trumpet flourish) FEATURED ITEM should undergo a much heavier screening process, because they are essentially endorsing it as a product and telling people, "Hey, look!  Here is something you definitely want in your game!"  In the real world, endorsing a product without extensive testing can lead to embarrassment after an outbreak of FLIPPER BABBIES.

[uknortherner]

Having been away from TS3 for a while, it was disappointing to come back and see that little had changed on the modding front: There's still a gazillion retextures for crappy paysite hair; a million "contact lenses" for those players who like to view their sims' slightly different irises on 60" monitors; cosmetics that only really work with the appropriate skin packs and clothing items that appear to be minor tweaks of older clothing items that came before it with few of them working properly on fat morphs.

Virtually all of my downloads consist of bugfixes and enhancement scripts just to make the game vaguely playable seeing as EA never bothered fixing anything they broke in the first place (lighting, running bug, pathfinding, 4am club dancing-induced wake ups, nomadic ghosts - the list goes on and on...) whilst adding a load of online social crap nobody asked for or even wanted. A lot of those scripts from Buzzler, Twallan, Pescado et al also added the sort of stuff that EA simply can't be arsed to do whilst fixing much of the crap that the community have been screaming out for since 2009. Just a shame there's no light fix.

I think what makes the situation worse these days is that there isn't really a cohesive community as such anymore. Many established modders have either left the scene altogether or set up tumblr accounts (or "simblrs" as some in the community embarrassingly call them) with no real way of tracking new mods unless you create an account yourself and seeing as the whole tumblr thing seems to be more about 12ish drama and popularity contests, I'm not even remotely interested.

Add to that a flood of people who fawn over Peggy's latest abomination or squee at the latest bit of TSR tat, or more alarmingly, a rising number of people I've come across who flat out refuse to use mods at all because they believe they are "illegal" (WTF?) and that only Store items produced by EA are legitimate, then things start looking pretty grim. Of course, it doesn't help that EA themselves back in 2009 tried their best to lock out the modding community by deliberately placing their own microtransactions-based crap front and centre whilst forcing the modding community to find inventive ways of actually getting mods into the game itself. Whereas TS2 was mod-friendly from the start, TS3 was very much about the $$$ through microtransactions and over-priced and considerably empty (and broken) expansion packs. It's EA's actions that have created a new fanbase consisting of whiny 12s who love Peggy hair and Twilight and who bitch at each other over at Sim Secret (surprised that's still going!) over 12ish crap that no self-respecting human could possibly give a shit about.

I'm sure there was a point to this post somewhere, but I have appeared to rambled on instead.

[witch]

The point is that EAxis basically undermined and systematically blocked talented and passionate fans from hands-on involvement with the game. We are left with a few stand out modders and a mass of dross. You covered the reasons why.

I spent a couple of days this week looking for decent sim clothing, it's sparse mate, it's sparse.

[kissing_toast]

More people need to want to actually start creating, if anything for themselves. It's not as hard as it used to be. One of the reasons I started creating was because as a male simmer, we have nothing. Zip. Ziltch. Nada. It's kinda frustrating at times.

[Rubyelf]

I made this:


I submitted it to MTS for upload and it was rejected, apparently it wasn't appealing enough or something, bland I believe their words were.
The next day I was browsing and saw a recent upload of a house, it was on a 2x2 lot and it looked like a glorified cardboard box, 0 imagination or thinking effort put into it.

[Naiad]

I made this:

pic

I submitted it to MTS for upload and it was rejected, apparently it wasn't appealing enough or something, bland I believe their words were.
The next day I was browsing and saw a recent upload of a house, it was on a 2x2 lot and it looked like a glorified cardboard box, 0 imagination or thinking effort put into it.

I want it, WCIF?

[Rubyelf]

I guess I can scrounge around my files and see if I still have it, pretty sure I do, I made it myself.

Edit: Found it, going to make a post for it in case others want it too, will have full screenshots.

[jezzer]

Here's another one where the object creator himself says you can't see anything unless you're zoomed in close.  So useful!

(In the interests of full disclosure, your humble jezzer can't tell a difference in the close-up shots either.)