Custom content:Pay sites: Difference between revisions

Subscription models typically locked most or all of the site content behind a pay wall. The player was required to sign in to the custom content web site to access the content. Often both a free membership and a paid membership were offered. The free membership would have metered downloads requiring a wait, and/or a limited custom content selection. The paid membership would offer things like unmetered downloads, the ability to download larger archives or complete sets instead of individual files, banner ad removal, access to forums, access to exclusive email lists, groups, and so on.

The most well-known subscription model sites currently are The Sims Resource, and Patreon. Patreon is a third party subscription hosting site that became available during the development of [[The Sims 3]]. Due to the way Patreon works, most Patreon content is linked to from the content creator's separate blog or public posts. Creators typically set up subscription levels on Patreon for their fans, including a free/public level. Posts and privileges are restricted by tier level. For instance, a public post might show a picture of an upcoming set, but the download link is in another linked post that is pay tier restricted. Other Patreon privileges frequently given to subscribers are Discord invite links, Discord roles, fan polls, exclusive cloud drive folder links, and exclusive YouTube videos.

Historically, Mall of the Sims, SliceSimsSlice, the Well-Dressed Sim, Pandora Sims, and the Eighth Deadly Sim, and Sexy Sims were all subscription sites. Some pay sites began as subscription sites due to mature content. Others started with a free model, then went pay when they attracted enough players to put a strain on server bandwidth from all the downloads. TS1 sites often attracted lots of players when object mods were available on the site, so new object mods were typically locked behind the pay wall.