what's the big deal around EA's new policy?

People never bother to read the license agreement of the game they create content for, violate the rules and then play a victim.
From the very beginning EA established that all content created for TS4 must be accessible to everybody, no permanent paywalls have ever been allowed. EA reserves all the rights to any game file, meaning one must abide by whatever rules they establish. They should be grateful EA ignores patreon exclusive despite constant complains from players instead of slapping them with takedowns.

There is no big deal, except a bunch of people decided to make a living off of creating cc for the game and are now mad that their income source is gone. Which is just dumb. They were never hired by EA to create custom content. They never had a right to profit off of EA's game. It was a privilege granted to them by EA, and EA had every right to take that privilege away when people started majorly abusing it.

EA needs custom content creators. That's a big reason why they are so lenient with them. EA knows as well as we do that the content they release is.... an incomplete mess most of the time. I question if they've ever tested any of their content for so much as five minutes... It's been years, and EA is still giving us updates with things that should have been in the base game. For many people, custom content is what keeps them playing for years and years and buying the new packs. Allowing cc creators to make a little bit of spare cash is only fair for making them clean up the game, and it helps attract more creators.

A lot of people think EA's dependence on them means they should be put on a throne, but the dependence goes both ways. Creators wouldn't have anything to create for if EA didn't make the game and continue updating and adding content for it. They wouldn't be able to create if EA hit them with a lawsuit every time they did. They need EA as much as EA needs them.

There's several creators claiming the new policy disrespects them as creators. The frequency of disrespect for creators in every creative field is partially to blame. It's so common, that creators get used to being the victims and have a hard time realizing when they aren't. It's common. But the policy doesn't disrespect them. Again, their ability to get paid for content they create for the sims 4 was a PRIVLEGE, not a RIGHT. They weren't hired by EA, so they have no right to profit off of EA's hard work (no matter how messy it is). In this case, it's the creators employed by EA that are the victims. It's easy to forget that the creators working for EA are just like the rest of us. They're taken advantage of by big companies, trying to pay their bills, working overtime in bad conditions, and trying to live a decent life. They are creators too. And when someone goes against this policy, claiming to be a victim, they are disrespecting creators. They are disrespecting the creators that made the sims 4. (Which is why some in the community are disrespecting the cc creators because, really, if they can't follow someone else's TOU, why should anyone follow theirs)

Many creators believe making their own mesh and textures from scratch means their custom content is entirely theirs. The mesh and texture are theirs, not the sims 4 package they are making money off of. They are free to upload their mesh and texture on a 3d model site or their own website and profit off of it. It's completely legal. But that's not what they are selling us. They are selling us a sims 4 package which includes the work of the sims 4 creators. All the code that makes the cc exist and work in the game was created by someone at EA. It legally belongs to EA.

Custom content creators are also using the sims 4 brand image to advertise their work. EA legally owns the sims 4 brand image. Any use of their brand image must follow their rules. If they say you can't profit off of it or can only profit off of it under certain conditions, that's backed by the law. And, seeing how the sims 4 brand is more of a household name than some creators twitter name... it's easy to argue the sims 4 brand contributes more to the creators profit than their own name. Which I'm going to take a wild guess and say these creators didn't officially register their business and the name they are using, so they don't even own their name in the eyes of the law. And their "business" isn't a legitimate business. Which, I should point out, EA's policy is a legal document and entirely legitimate in the eyes of the law. A TOU on a social media profile or a website.... more debatable. Also, EA has more lawyers, grunts, and influence. If you're going to take on a big company, you better be standing on some real solid ground, and this ain't it. This is sand. Loose sand.

Unfortunately, the creators making a fuss don't seem to understand this is a legal matter with serious consequences. On the other hand, many creators obeying the policy, and many community members, DO understand the legal aspects and are annoyed and angry with those that don't.

Many community members are also frustrated by the permanent paywalls. The official content is already sucking hundreds of dollars from players wallets. Then these custom content creators want more. And it's not the creators charge $3 or $5 dollars a month for access to all their content that are the problem. It's the creators that want $25 a month, which all of their content might be worth that, but if you only want one set or a couple of objects, you're getting ripped off. It's the creators charging $10 or $15 for a folder of this months cc, and asking for $30 or more for access to the past folders... when you only want one set from a year ago. EA only charges like $40 for an expansion with a bunch of items and gameplay stuff that's actually meant to be in the game and won't become unusable because of an update and the creator disappearing from the community. A lot of people are fed up, and have been fed up for a long time. EA is finally clarifying their policies and tackling the issue, and these problematic creators are just... ignoring it and claiming to be the victims. It makes people angry. Some are fighting back by leaking paid for cc to the public or hassling the creators, which may be deserved, but does mean more fighting. Also, it's likely some people felt validated by EA addressing the abuses of privilege and were more confident in speaking out against the problematic creators.

There's also the issue of how the policy was originally worded and given to the public (and the lack of clarity in the original policy). EA gives us content with major bugs that could have been found within ten or twenty minutes of playing the game all the time. The release of a new policy isn't going to be error free and perfectly clear LMAO. Just give them a few days... they'll fix it eventually. Unfortunately, this is one of the few things they really should have gotten right on the first try. Originally it wasn't clear whether pre-release, temporary paywalls, commissions, and donations would be allowed under the new policy. It was later fixed, but people were already furious and panicked. Some creators had already lost fans by lashing out at the new policy or choosing to wait until the issue was clarified before taking any action. Fans were already attacking creators. The fighting within the community had already soured relationships and experiences. Top that off with the new update breaking beds, super aging sims, and uh... unintentionally adding incest into the game.... and it was like pouring gasoline on a fire. At this point, it's not just a fight over the policy. It's a fight over a lot of problems that have been building up in the background. And it's a little bit of a battle of egos and pride.



tl;dr: The big deal mostly comes down to a bunch of creators who thought they could create custom content for the sims 4 as a business and main source of income, and have adopted a victim mindset in response to being told the big, terrible N word: No. Many creators thought it was their right to profit off of someone else's hard work, instead of a privilege. They're scared of losing their "job" and they want to blame anyone but themselves. And they've decide they can ignore the policy because they disagree with it, disrespecting the creators of the sims 4, all while claiming they're the real victims. Meanwhile, members of the community that have been fed up with the bad creators have been validated by EA and many are speaking up. They are calling out the creators and some are treating them the same way the creators are treating EA: ignoring their TOU's. Whether that's fair or not, I can't say, but it is a consequence of their own bad choices. They're playing innocent victim that's been wronged by the big fish, but that's not reality. And all of this has triggered a lot of fighting and fractures within the community and brought up problems that have been building for a lot time.

Which I guess you can boil all of that down to human nature. The problem is human nature and bad decisions, which is part of being human.