Gallery misconduct

[KSsDesign]

For quite some time now, many gallery members have been watching a cheat problem with the number of downloads on individual creations. Those who cheat do so in order to increase their popularity to the detriment of others. They do this by exploiting a design error hidden in the gallery game coding. In a matter of a few minutes a simmer doing this can give themselves many fake downloads. We are really dismayed to see this cheat problem affecting so many creators at this time. Many of us have reported this problem as directed to do so in the rules, but we find that the problem is still there. We would like this problem to be fixed so that the fair play, honesty and the positive atmosphere can come back to the gallery. Thank you for your attention, respectfully, Kass

[GillR52]

Thank you for bringing up this problem, Kass. Many Gallery members have been dismayed to see the cheating going on in the Gallery, both by members who increase their own numbers, but also members who tamper with other members' DL numbers (yes, EA, both are possible). In fact, in the last month or so, the Gallery has lost several prominent creators who were fed up with the cheating and the environment of mistrust and dishonesty that has informed the Gallery. I will add that some of the cheaters actually publish the fact that they cheat online, and taunt the other gallery members whom they impact with their behaviour. I understand that people take advantage of their relative anonymity online to do all sorts of things they perhaps wouldn't do in person. But that does not mean that those acts don't affect others and, in this case, diminish the pleasure in Gallery activities.

Also dismaying is the (lack of) response by EA. We are customers, after all, and we consistently pay for the packs etc that accompany the game. But just as it is easy for a Gallery member not to respect others they never meet in person, it is easy for EA to ignore or downplay the dissatisfaction of Gallery members who feel taken advantage of--after all EA representatives will never meet us face to face, either. We know how quickly EA responded when threatened by Disney to sort out game problems with Battlefront 2--virtually overnight. However the invisible customers who populate the Gallery don't have the power of Disney to put pressure on people like EA CEO Andrew Wilson. I wonder if EA reps actually appreciate the wide range of participants in the Gallery? Yes, it is "just a game," but many Gallery members who enjoy creating to relax spend their working days as busy professionals in media, health, education and business, amongst other areas. These are your customers, EA. I know we would all greatly appreciate at least an update as to EA's progress in closing this Gallery loophole. I also know we would appreciate a definitive statement that EA cares about cheating in the Gallery it created as part of the Sims 4 experience. 

[doraibi]

For me is also so hard to see that so many people are only trying to get popular in the community without respect and fair play against the other people here. I know it from my own how hard it is to get a few followers and favs but it can't be that some people are thinking they are clever and using only theirs time for downloading and downloading again always theirs one creations.This is nothing else like fraud and makes other creators sad and angry. Why i should work so hard for what? Should i do the same? Who have the fastest fingers? I think creators here help EA always to sell your games and we love this game. Please help us too that the community doesn't get in a platform for liars and cheaters. I really beg you do something. Greetings from Germany doraibi 

[pololotrololo]

I don't quite understand what cheating in the gallery and how some people do it. But I know that it is a disease of the gallery that needs to be cured. Gallery is good, which is infected with a virus "evil". Gallery invented for people to share their creativity. To show just what he can do in this wonderful and beautiful game. For some, the Sims 4 more than just a game. For whom the Sims is a way to develop their talents. For some, it is a small world in which they retire from life's problems. They do, create something unique and want to share with other people. Their work begin to assess begin to support, and it brings great joy and begin to improve your creative abilities, gaining popularity. It's honest work. But there are those who insult the gallery and these artists. Liars, cheaters and thieves... They bring to the gallery one negative. They are like criminals. In real life, these criminals punished by law. Gallery is suffering because of fraud, they need to be punished. I want to support all the true artists of the gallery. All those for whom the Sims more than a game. We need to get rid of the debris that litters the gallery. In our world, so much injustice, problems and evil. We should at least try to save the gallery from this evil. Because the Sims in our lives is a big place, it's our little world that we love and appreciate. Justice must prevail.

[spenndragin]

The previous comments have sincerely addressed the issues that the Download loophole causes. I would simply like to reiterate that one of the most troubling aspects of this loophole is that it can be used as a form of abuse toward other players. Any player can privately exploit the download loophole to grossly balloon the download numbers of another player. The very possible painful consequence being that the player whose creation was intentionally violated by this loophole, now faces potentially being perceived and treated as a pariah. The existence of this loophole is causing real anguish for people. The issue persists and diminishes the joy of The Sims 4. I love this game and the gallery. You all have created something beautiful with so many facets to enjoy. Please consider making the gallery a safer place for players to come together and share their creations.

[Lordkiribati]

This problem should be solved because it promotes cheating and dishonesty! The Gallery should be a fun and friendly place for the community to share its creations... We already have so many problems like the constant re-uploading, although I understand it's hard to solve this problem. However, this downloads cheating issue can actually be solved so please we're counting on you! Thank you Kass and EA  

[sirhanni21]

Cheating occurs in every game you can possibly think of. People look for different ways to manipulate the system, cheat to get and advantage,  to make themselves look "THE BEST" and or just plain dishonest.  The people who cheat know who they are and should be ashamed of them selves for finding a loophole and or glitch.  EA it is your responcablity to patch these glitches. You can patch everything else when you put out a new pack, there is NO reason why you cant fix this issue. I download per person!!! simple.

  You have many honest people here in the gallery, many loyal people (simmers) who spend a lot of hard earned money to make you rich..All we want is the game patched to stop the download cheat

Thanks so much!!

[iizardboii]

It's really hard to see this still happening in the Gallery!! EA really needs to make a way to stop this, somehow. Some people could say reporting does something, but it really doesn't. Think about it. That person could just post the stolen sim again that YOU reported. It's awesome to see so many people getting EA involved in this issue. If anyone reads this (which I doubt) please don't support cheaters and stealers. Thank you Kass for this message. 

Sarah

[Elocine54]

I agree with everything that has been said by my fellow simmers, like Kass and Gill etc... I would like the gallery to be a fair play zone and would be glad to see that cheating issue fixed. As stated we are customers and entitled to be heard and respected . EA please stop the cheating! Merci

[SWSRogueLeader]

Our support for each other in the Sims community has remained strong through the fun times as well as the difficult ones.  The Sims 4 has been an amazing game and the hard-workers at Maxis deserve a lot of credit for sticking with this game and continuing to work tirelessly on it.  We in the user community are also aware that many of our frustrations just can't be easily fixed despite the problems being real.

But download and favorite count manipulation seems like something Maxis should be concerned about.  I agree with the other posters (led by KassSimsDesign) that it is problem and it is not new.  People with bad intentions will always find a new way to break into code and cause trouble unfortunately.  But it would really be wonderful to see a strong effort to stand against this in some way.  When you're dealing with software development life cycles, the Requirements, Design, Implementation and Testing understandably take a huge amount of resources and are pivotal to the future success of the game.  But Production Data still is of vital importance and it is seems to be compromised more than you would expect over the years. 

Perhaps Maxis is working on hard on it and we just don't know.  It wouldn't be the first time that an issue was being addressed in secret and was later significantly improved.  Maxis middle managers, please consider looking into this issue and re-allocating some project funding to address this in 2018.  Thanks for listening to our concerns.

-SWSRogueLeader (aka StarWarsSims)