When I was posting and sharing CC of my own, I admit, I often kept my mouth shut and skirted the edges of conflict for my own preservation and peace. But the things I've seen just from a single scroll of my feed today are truly, truly awful.
AI generated CC previews, early access CC for Paralives (an indie game IN early access), and low/questionable quality CC for sale in the Sims marketplace.
What the fuck happened where folks think any of this is okay or normal?
If we don't speak up, hold people accountable, and examine why these things are harmful, it's only going to get worse. Keeping the peace is one thing, but staying silent in the wake of the pure bastardization and exploitation of art is another.
I wonder, did creators completely forget about donation/cup of coffee buttons? That is a legitimate way to support creators without all the bullshit and without any pressure or heavy incentivizing. I'm sure people will gladly donate because they are relieved to not having to deal with yet another Early Access or paywall. Every couple of years, I raise enough money to keep my website alive, it's just helping me cover the burden of that cost. I could absolutely use more money, but keeping my website up is all I am asking for. And my generous community has always come through for me in that regardπ Regarding those AI previews, these images are not an accurate representation of what the content will look in our life-simulation game it was made for. The AI edits and changes a lot of what is going into it. If you present those as your previews, you knowingly mislead your followers. That's scamming. We usually play our favorite life simulation game because we like how they look in our games. We refined and curated that aesthetic with CC, after all, that is why we look at your CC post! If we did not care about that, we could play any other game, or just watch images of 3d models on ArtStation. But no, we play our life-sim game for specific reasons, we want to tell stories, curate outfits, build dream houses, dress characters in appropriate clothing for certain occasions, be it for gameplay or storytelling. The specific aesthetic that a particular piece of CC brings adds to the joy we have playing this game.
People want to use your CC IN their games. They are not collecting your AI slop for pinterest pinboards, they want to use your CC in their games, and they expect the CC to look as advertised. Using AI does not help to "sell" the creations, they rather act as a deterrent, because people now think that the CC must be absolute crap because you do not even dare to show the real thing. Even worse, some people get baited thinking what they see is how it really looks in-game. Facilitating this is just extremely scummy behavior. Whatever comes out of the generative AI cannot be considered genuine game content anymore, it is AI slop, especially if you generate the 3d people (those are NOT Sims) inside the GenAI. Garments sit completely different on a model, they change entire body parts and the way the clothes sit on a body, they generally smooth away any resemblance of polygons, the lighting, shadows and colors may completely change. What comes out of a GenAI has NOTHING to do anymore with how a video game character is rendered inside its game. CC previews have a clear function: to show how a creation looks in the game, to act as a preview of the content you advertise and want users to download and install into their games. Users use the preview images to assess if they like your content and expect the content to look very similar in their games. Providing that reference is literally a preview image's main job. Your images should not mislead. Do not mistake preview images as edits/flavor images, in which generally creative freedom is acceptable and encouraged. The difference: An edit/flavor image does not advertise a product. It exists as art. Adding previews made inside the game that shows potential shortcomings in a realistic way lets users know that you care. It shows that you do not want to waste their time with downloading and installing something they will be disappointed with because it looks nothing like the advertised image. Providing accurate images is a sign of respect towards your users. If you actually do care about your users and want to portray your CC accurately, yet cannot live without a flavor image, then at least make sure you ALSO show images that show the creation inside the game, with in-game lighting, honestly showing potential flaws, along with your flavor image.
TL;DR: Fellow CC Creators, did you know that you can use a donate button instead of Early Access, and that your fans will still subscribe on Patreon if you release your CC completely for FREE, no hidden/paid posts, because they choose to do so without any incentives? It feels much better, anyway. Please do not butcher your life-simulation game characters with GenAI for your CC previews. Your CC preview images should be representative of how your CC looks in the game.
