Developer Maxis have given a go ahead to modders to start modding in SimCity. However the mods will be governed by various rules that were announced on the official website of the company.
The company is encouraging players to get creative and create and download mods for the game, but it has also set ground rules where it makes it clear that modders must not harm the safety and integrity of the game.
"Maxis and Electronic Arts ("EA") have a long tradition of supporting the creativity of our community," said SimCity Development Team. It says it is encouraging players and modders to "create, redistribute, and consume Mods for SimCity" but they will need to respect the rules. Mods include modifications or alterations, add-ons, new content, modified UI along with other SimCity updates that use its content.
The company has outlined that it will be giving any modder who has an authorized copy of the game "a personal, revocable, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-commercial license to use and display the SimCity Content" but no music files from the game can be added and the company has all the power to revoke the license any time it wants without giving any reason.
The company also said players can discuss about mods freely at their Forum pages. However, it also advised modders to attach a disclaimer warning other players about the risk involved in using it. The disclaimer will also have a statement from EA saying it does not pre-screen the mod.
Following are the rules that have to be enforced by any modder, according to Maxis:
1. There must be no harm to the integrity of the gameplay and mods affecting the multiplayer features like leaderboards or trading are not allowed.
2. There can be no mods that will infringe upon copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or other intellectual property right of any third party or include unlawful, tortuous, defamatory, obscene, privacy invasive content, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful and racist content. Mods must complay with the rating given to SimCity - ESRB Everyone 10+ and PEGI 7 and it cannot include content that undermines the ratings.
3. Mods may not modify any .com, .exe, .dll, .so or other executable files.
4. In the case where the terms and conditions of SimCity EULA and EA's Terms of Service conflict, the terms of this Policy shall supersede and govern the case.
5. EA reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to revoke permission to use, distribute or make Mods at any time, to disable any Mod within SimCity and to take disciplinary action against players who harm the experience of others.
The company also made clear while modders can distribute their work, they cannot sell it and mods will remain free of cost.
The game was launched in March 2013 and was bogged by several issues regarding its server and connections The company issued several patches to fix the issues and stabilize it.
