Private Gallery in The Sims 4 and stolen creations

Here's my idea. When uploading anything to the gallery, have an option to make it private except to certain people. For example you could lock it to friends only, or have some sort of password lock so that the only ones that can download are those you share the password with. This way if you were trying to share your creations with specific people, you wouldn't have to worry about putting your stuff out there for everyone to see.

Personally I see nothing wrong with what @arumiarch is asking. To me it sounds like they want to share their creations with one specific person, and without others potentially using or stealing their creations. I could be wrong about this, but to my knowledge unless that specific person plays using the same account then they will have to use the gallery to share their creations. They could also potentially take the files straight from their computers and share them that way, but that's only if they play on a computer. So what about people on consoles? As a console player the only way for me to share anything with anyone is to upload it publicly to the gallery, but what if I don't want everyone to see what I've uploaded? Admittedly in my case that won't apply because I have zero friends, but I know it will apply to a lot of people out there that may not want to share their stuff with everyone.

When it comes to wanting to share with specific people and not everyone, then currently I just don't see any options that allow that on the gallery. So I don't think EA needs any sort of separate private gallery, just options to make uploads private.

@valohim666 

yes! that's it thank you for understanding me, i don't want nothing super elaborate, i just want to have more control with my creations

@arumiarch As I said I simply don't have friends or anyone to share things with privately, but I am very private about my stuff so I understand not wanting everyone to be able to see what you've done. I mean you're talking to the person that has all the sharing and public options on my Xbox disabled because I just like to be private with everything. Which is why I think having a simple restriction system in place for uploads would be useful for those that want to share their creations, though just not with everyone.

I mean all they have to do is add multiple upload options instead of just the one. One button could be called "Share Publicly", or they can just go with the current button to have things shared to everyone. There could be a button called "Share To Friends" which will only allow friends to see. For those that may just want to share to their followers, there could be a "Share To Followers" button. Maybe have one that combines friends and followers. Finally there could be one called "Password Locked", which when selected will prompt you to enter a password that people will need to download the upload. If you've already uploaded something to the gallery, these same options could be on that creation just in case you want to change things.

I'm not a smart person, but hey if I can come up with simple ideas like this then so can EA lol.

@arumiarch 

Have you ever worked for a publicly held company before? Generally speaking, they don’t make financial decisions based on “we’re rich and money is no object!” If you can provide a profit motive for doing this (monthly storage subscription fees?) then maybe, but no, they’re not going to do it out of the kindness of their hearts. That’s just not how publicly held corporations work. People would get fired.

P.S. There’s no call to be rude to people.

Perhaps, since this feature isn't available you could just save a more basic version of your builds to share with specific people and you/they can add any more personal touches after they have downloaded it from the public gallery. Yes others will be able to download it but it won't be as personal a design. I can't think of another way around it for now, but I'm on console.

I often send instructional screenshots and step by step tutorials by email to friends as well so that's a more time consuming option. When someone buys the Sims they get my Sim guides with houses I've shown them that they've liked and instructions on how to recreate them.

We're waiting for massive bug fixes and we're not getting them so I'm not sure I can see this feature being added. The focus seems to lie elsewhere with revenue generating additions.

Some people use gallery builds while they are learning the ropes with the game. It can be frustrating to start out if you're not a builder and don't know how to build a dream home for your Sim or it can teach you how to build. I am a builder, for 20 years plus but have friends who are just starting out and need that help otherwise they just want to give up. Years ago I was stuck with building on hills in Sims 4, which I did a lot in Sims 3 and I downloaded the LA Home to see how that was done. It looks nothing like the original now but I learned from the template. So looking at it another way, your builds may be out in the world but they will probably be helping another player and most likely they will have made their own extensive renovations. I personally suffer with vertigo and RSI and so sometimes used the shell of a build from the gallery even though I could do it myself, it's sometimes been helpful for me to do that. So your builds may have helped other players in ways you haven't realised. I'd take something from that if it were me. 

Spare a thought for a fellow player who accidentally uploaded themselves as a Sim without realising other players could upload them! Now that really would leave me shook!

I can completely understand that you want this. I only shared my creations once and removed my builds after a little while. I don’t like it if other player uses my builds, but not because of stealing, it … just don’t feel right for me.

I don’t mind if a user recreates the exact same building, I have also done this too, specially with houses which used heavy move objects. I liked the basic shell but not the things which as placed there.

As @xochiquetzl_xkvn says is not the single user which makes problems but if you have many users you need to make sure you have enough space to save all these things. Sims4 have over 10 million active players, so you need make sure you have at least enough space for all these players. Yeah... EA is huge and have much money but they money don’t came because of kindness. You want a service, a private gallery so you need to prove EA that they got more money if they give you this option. I think it would be nice if EA Play would get an addition feature of a private gallery if you were a subscribe there. (Specially most simmers don’t have any interest in any other games as sims)

@daikoyu 

I think it's cool if people use my builds or Sims, but I understand that not everyone feels that way! It's like published authors and fanfic, in a way: some like fanfic (and may even find it flattering) and others hate fanfic and hate the idea of other people playing with their characters. This is all personal preference and both opinions are valid.