Advertising, Advocacy, call it what you want but the motive is clearly to use public in-game channels to spread a marketing buzz. Note the posts edited or deleted that tried to describe how to remove the mazzlegasm. That wasn't just flavor it was a requirement to using the compilation. That some feel this is a good thing demonstrates how dangerous it is. Humans being what they are--with usually good intentions--want to advocate.
If forced advocacy became an acceptable price to using a compilation or mod, it would not be long before a good chunk of spam in cities would be advertisements. This is not acceptable.
We shouldn't cut a little slack for people who put a lot of time and effort into something. It's a pretty safe bet that I spent more time on some of the mods formerly in this compilation than Mazzlefizz and Tigerheart combined. I don't recall being asked if they could be included and it didn't need asking. Almost all mods posted by anyone are made public out of the altruistic culture of the internet.
When they become a little more than public, to the point of making some people yell things they don't want to yell, all slack should be revoked and the motives and ethics carefully questioned.
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Cairenn, sorry to hear about your accident and I hope you are doing okay. Additionally, thanks for the new thread and hopefully I can respond to the above without overstepping the boundaries. If not, I'm sure you will let me know.
Okay, I'll give you that technically it is advertising/advocating of the product and marketing is the selling of a product so I guess the price would be putting up with this as you stated.
As for it being an acceptable price, obviously to many, it is not and they aren't forced to accept it. As with anything with a price, if you don't like that price, don't buy it. Those that find it acceptable are free to do so. To borrow your phrase - humans being what they are have differing opinions and are willing to pay different prices for different things.
I’m not asking that programmers be given slack because they put a lot of time and effort into something. I’m saying as consumers of the product we have no right to complain since we didn’t pay anything for it in the first place. If I bought something and it didn’t work properly I should complain. If someone gave me something and I accepted it for free and it doesn’t do exactly what they said or does something I didn’t expect, as long as it doesn’t physically harm me or someone else, what do I care, I got it for free. As for you time spent on these mods and them being made public altruistically, I’m glad you mentioned that. Generosity should not be responded to with complaints on how it should have been done in the first place or should be done in the future. If I give you something helpful, money, mods, etc., I don’t expect to be criticized for it and shouldn’t have to put up with it.
There are plenty of things in the world I find unethical and I choose to stay away from them. This is no different; if you find that a program goes beyond your ethical boundaries, don’t use it. However, I’m not sure that ethics even fits into this; it is just a game after all.
If you take any of this to be a personal flame, it was not meant that way and I apologize in advance. As you and I both stated, people tend to have differing opinions on matters but unfortunately we tend to be unable to express ourselves without pointing fingers or letting our egos get in the way.