You're so right.
I'm torn because on the one hand, I get that people want to be compensated for their work/time/ideas. BUT in my experience, I used to pledge to some of these creators back when I first started playing, and the quality has decreased. You reach out and can't even hear back from them for issues; CC looks super different in the game vs as advertised; and there are so many various creators that it gets really expensive!
I know many won't agree with me, but I don't mind TSR- the VIP fee is always half off during the holidays, and you pay a one-time annual fee for access to so many creators. But the Patreon method forces you to make monthly pledges to several different creators, and it restricts access for so many people. I hate that. Us gamers and nerds were supposed to be different than that. But maybe that's a utopia that's always only existed in my head
for me its mostly that.
if you make a game, or something really new and all (wich is not possible much in the sims due to EA/Maxis didnt like people who broke their EULA (final license of the game), you cant build something very complicated...
but, myself, my own opinion, i always considered modding as a hobby. never as a job. imho if you want a job, go work.
like i say, i m okay with peoples doing crazy stuff that IS litteraly a work, like a real game or to give a nice exempl here on F95, someone who make a mod of a ren'py game that litteraly change the whole game into something different.
but modding like in the sims, for me, its modding.... not a work.
in my opinion, nobody asked them to do stuff for the sims, they do it themself because they want to. they dont build a game, they dont change the core of the game.
for me, work like WW deserve some money, because its big and complicated. but work like poses/animations, chars and outfits and stuff, that's modding and dont deserve money.
they are a big difference between the two. 1 litteraly change the game by adding porn interaction and stuff (that was absolutly not supposed to be in teh game one day ), the others create animations that use the first one (soo thanks to WW first) or outfits,chars and stuff that IS exactly what modding in the sims is suppsoed to be.
just my point of view. asking money for the second point is like asking money for filling a glass with some Cola, while the first point is to actually create the Cola and put it in the bottle. except that instead of working in a bar , you work at home with no timing to respect and you serve whatever drink you want to who you want, when you want and can even refuse to serve.