inquiry about EA service agreement

by Reitanna
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inquiry about EA service agreement

★★★ Apprentice

I wasn't sure where to ask this; I wanted to contact EA directly, but I couldn't figure out how. so this is about section 5, which reads:

 

"You are responsible for your UGC. You may not upload UGC that infringes a third party's intellectual property rights or that violates the law, this Agreement or a third party's right of privacy or right of publicity.

EA may, in its sole discretion, remove, edit or disable UGC for any reason, including if EA reasonably determines that UGC violates this Agreement. EA does not assume any responsibility or liability for UGC, for removing it, or not removing it or other Content. EA does not pre-screen all UGC and does not endorse or approve any UGC available on EA Services.

When you contribute UGC, you grant to EA, its licensors and licensees a non-exclusive, perpetual, transferable, worldwide, sublicensable license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works, publicly perform, publicly display or otherwise transmit and communicate the UGC, or any portion thereof, in any manner or form and in any medium or forum, whether now known or hereafter devised, without notice, payment or attribution of any kind to you or any third party. You also grant all other users who can access and use your UGC on an EA Service the right to use, copy, modify, display, perform, create derivative works from, and otherwise communicate and distribute your UGC on or through the relevant EA Service without further notice, attribution or compensation to you."

 

UGC is user-generated content, which the sims community calls CC, or custom content. so what I'm getting from this is that EA basically owns all CC, and no one else can claim copyright of it. then to my understanding, it says you may not make money off of CC. finally, when it says, "You also grant all other users who can access and use your UGC on an EA Service the right to use, copy, modify, display, perform, create derivative works from, and otherwise communicate and distribute your UGC on or through the relevant EA Service without further notice, attribution or compensation to you," my understanding is that, if you recolor or modify someone's CC, you're not required to credit them, and you are indeed allowed to upload their content to websites as long as it's free.

 

if my understanding is correct, it makes sense to me, but I've recently had a problem where an admin on a forum threatened to ban me for spreading "misinformation" and "trolling." it concerns me greatly, because I want to know if I actually AM misunderstanding this. if someone from EA could clarify this for me, I would be very grateful.

Message 1 of 20 (7,841 Views)

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Re: inquiry about EA service agreement

EA app Team

Hi @Reitanna,

 

Let me try to answer then Standard smile


@Reitanna wrote:

when you say creators cannot accept payment unless it is also available for free, does this include patreon exclusive content?


I'll quote SimGuruDrake's post on this one:


@SimGuruDrake wrote:

As long as the content is still made available FOR FREE we do not mind these types of pages. Folks who have a Patreon page are welcome to provide folks with "early access" incentives for their content but it should be made available to the general public within 2-3 weeks of it being given to folks early.


Every content released early exclusively for patrons should be available for free for everyone withing 2-3 weeks. 

 

 


@Reitanna wrote:

are link shorteners in violation of this rule, like adf.ly?


As long as a payment from users is not required, link shorteners are not a violation of the rule.

 

However, as some link shorteners are more trustworthy than others, and again as common courtesy, you may want to consider to which point you want to put your users at risk when choosing where to link them.

 

-Mai

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Message 11 of 20 (11,021 Views)

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Re: inquiry about EA service agreement

Hero

Hi @Reitanna

 

I'm not going to go into details what you can't or can do from EA's point of view cause I simply don't know

 

I do know that it's frowned upon though if you upload/recolor other people's stuff without crediting the original creator. It's simply NOT a nice thing to do. I guess EA is simply saying, they are not responsible and will not take any actions if you do but generally, don't do it. There's people that put a lot of work in their mods and cc and if you re-upload, the community as a whole will not be appreciative towards it. 

 

It's probably a legal vs. decent human behavior kinda thing. 

 

That's just my point of you, someone from EA can give you a clearer answer.

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



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Message 2 of 20 (7,777 Views)

Re: inquiry about EA service agreement

★★★ Apprentice

I'm not looking for opinions or points of view, I'm looking for the straight up facts.

Message 3 of 20 (7,766 Views)

Re: inquiry about EA service agreement

[ Edited ]
Hero

Just thought I'd help out while you wait for EA to give you an answer.

 

Facts: 

 

Did some research and found you're a creator yourself ? Are you feeling stepped on your own toes ?

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



Important Threads


Message 4 of 20 (7,760 Views)

Re: inquiry about EA service agreement

[ Edited ]
EA app Team

Hi @Reitanna,

 

crinrict is right, so I'm just posting to confirm what has been said so far.

 

As per the User Agreement, all user generated content (UGC) cannot be restricted by the creator if they use EA game assets. UGC includes not only CC or mods, UGC can also be screenshots from the game, videos, or content you upload to the Gallery.

By restricting we mean the following:

  • Requires payment
  • Requires creator permission

However, even if not required, it is considered common courtesy to credit a creator if you re-use and slightly modify their created content.

 

For queries like this, Answers HQ or forums.thesims.com are actually the best place to ask.

If you wish to contact our support team via phone call or chat, you can go to EA Help. You will find a detailed explanation on how to contact them if you need it here.

 

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask Standard smile

-Mai

 

 

Message 5 of 20 (7,738 Views)

Re: inquiry about EA service agreement

★★★ Apprentice

I'm not sure what you mean by "stepped on your own toes."

Message 6 of 20 (7,702 Views)

Re: inquiry about EA service agreement

★★★ Apprentice

Yes, EA_Mai, that was very helpful. I have a follow-up question; when you say creators cannot accept payment unless it is also available for free, does this include patreon exclusive content? (my brain is telling me, "duh," but I just wanted to double check.) also, are link shorteners in violation of this rule, like adf.ly?

Message 7 of 20 (7,700 Views)

Re: inquiry about EA service agreement

[ Edited ]
Hero

@Reitanna wrote:

I'm not sure what you mean by "stepped on your own toes."


Just wondering if someone recolored your stuff without credits and you're wondering if you can actually put a up a clause like the one you have on your page or not.

 

But I guess that doesn't really matter. 

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



Important Threads


Message 8 of 20 (7,674 Views)

Re: inquiry about EA service agreement

★★★ Apprentice

@crinrict wrote:

@Reitanna wrote:

I'm not sure what you mean by "stepped on your own toes."


Just wondering if someone recolored your stuff without credits and you're wondering if you can actually put a up a clause like the one you have on your page or not.

 

But I guess that doesn't really matter. 


what? no no, the stuff I post follows EA's agreement. I specify that anyone may use my content however they want as long as they don't ask payment for it. credit to me is appreciated, but optional. I wanted clarification so I could help inform other creators of the issues at hand.

Message 9 of 20 (7,647 Views)

Re: inquiry about EA service agreement

Hero

Was referring to your old ones, see you've changed them now.

 

I'll make sure Mai sees your further questions

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



Important Threads


Message 10 of 20 (7,635 Views)