Recently there have been discussions in several forums about custom content made using the Body Shop being 'stolen' (regularly parts or Sims are not or wrongly credited). Maxis is going to improve things for artists on that matter, mainly through an upgrade of the Body Shop which will be released together with the game. The upgraded version will support longer tooltips (40 characters instead of 16 - still not very long in my opinion). On the exchange (ShowCase), the separate custom parts of a Sim will be mentioned and credit will be given to the original author - at least the first person to upload the part unmodified to the ShowCase. Finally there will be updates just for the Body Shop and not so much for the Exchange, which will make it a more powerful tool. Expect a free camera mode, as well as the ability to change the background picture of the Body Shop (make it white if you want) in the next version of the Body Shop.

Since creators often aren't happy to see their creations taken by somebody else without the credit given back, it's always wise to give credit to those who made content you upload. Don't copy Sims to the ShowCase directly, or upload Sims from websites there, as in many cases the artists might not like that. The solutions provided by Maxis in the future will definitely be a step forward.

Attached to Lucy's mail were also three screenshots with a theft theme. The fourth picture shows the new exchange, but also what seems to be the design of the new official Sims 2 website (though that's unconfirmed). You can click the thumbnails below to see them in large. Go to the Read More part for the entire mail, which includes some more details about the upcoming improvements.

"Hi Everyone!

"This week, rather than extol another of the fun new features in The Sims 2 (which I could do at length!), I wanted to discuss the topic of integrity of custom content creations. Our goal, upon kicking off The Sims 2, was to further integrate the accessibility and ease of use of custom content so that it positively impacts more players of The Sims 2 than we were able to reach in the original The Sims. We are very keen on keeping The Sims and The Sims 2 community as vibrant as it can possibly be. We have, however, heard your concerns about how to better promote strong ethical standards within the community and to help the creators maintain their identity in connection with the assets they create. We've also taken in some really good feedback about The Sims 2 Body Shop that we have been able to act on to make it more usable as well. So, based on some of your direct feedback as well as via the forums you host on your sites, I wanted to give you some insights into steps we are taking to address some of your concerns.

"Here's some of the features that we plan for the full Exchange site which ties with our launch date...

1. "The shipping version of The Sims 2 Body Shop will support longer tool tips and we'll expose that information on The Sims 2 website. The tool tip character limit will be 40 characters (instead of the current 16 character limit) and will be associated with the custom part. It can include URLs that will appear as hot links on the website. So a player browsing the site could click on your tool tip and open a window to your website to see more. We hope that this addresses creator credit as well as leveraging the Exchange as a means to bring traffic to the community sites as well.
2. "We will indicate the parts of a Sim that are original to that uploaded Sim. For instance, if you create new eye shadow for your Sim and are the first to upload it to TheSims2.com, that new eye shadow will be acknowledged as the original eye shadow. Many of the complaints have been about users who just pull down a Sim and re-upload it as their own, so this should automatically credit the original part's creator, as long as the part is not modified.
3. "The creator's user name will appear next to any customized parts of the Sim. Please see the attached mock-up of a Sim detail page to get a basic idea of how this might look.
4. "We are also planning on offering the ability to upload screenshots which will allow the creator's to highlight their creations better. This may not be ready at launch, but is a planned feature that should roll out shortly after launch.

"And some specific enhancements to The Sims 2 Body Shop...

"We've added a "free camera" mode to The Body Shop which allows skinners to view their Sims from every angle and at every level of detail. This new functionality, combined with functions like the "bind pose" F6 key, or the F7/F8 zoom keys (all of which are already available in the current version of The Body Shop) makes The Body Shop the powerful customization tool that you, the user community, demanded it be. Also, just in case you've managed get tired of it, you'll be able to drop in your own images and replace The Body Shop backdrop with any picture you'd like.

"Check out the fun new screens and the details page mentioned above…

"Thanks for all of your feedback…keep it coming! Have a great weekend." Lucy B

"P.S. Thanks for all of your submissions in the Create A Lucy, Tim or Jonathan challenge. We'll be sharing the highlights with you next week."