If you thought The Sims 4's custom content folder was puny, now competitor Life By You is looking to attract even more mods to fill up your download folder. Unlike the tension that can exist between The Sims 4 and Patreon-funded modders, Life By You is "monetize as much as you want.

In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Life by You's Creative Director Rod Humble, formerly responsible for The Sims and Second Life, was completely open-minded about modding in general. He said, "Player creativity is good for us, because it's what we've created with our games. They were created using our game, even if we don't make a penny off of it." [If you make a YouTube series using Life By You, we want you to know: monetize it as much as you want. You don't owe us a dime. Similarly, if you make a mod and it gets downloaded by millions of people and you say, 'Actually, I'm going to take my mod to my website and start monetizing it: let the creators know. You don't need our permission."

Although he does not mention it by name, this is a much looser attitude than the current Sims modding policy set by EA, which allows ad-supported download sites and offers "early access incentives for a reasonable time" using Patreon, but permanently pays mods will not be offered. This policy clarification has been a source of tension within the Sims mod community for the past several years, more so when paid mods involve developers and storefronts.

The life-by-you approach seems to be to remove themselves from the equation as much as possible; modders can sell their work as they wish, and whether it is worth paying for is a matter for the modder and other player communities. [Humble believes that by working with Paradox Interactive, a strategy and simulation publisher, they are aligning their stance on modders. According to Humble, Paradox Interactive has its own Paradox mods site, which the studio is "really happy" to be a part of, and he thinks it will make things easier for Life by You modders, but he also believes that they "don't want someone to be locked into something," he also stated that they "don't want to lock anyone into anything.

Humble describes Life By You as if it were not a game, but rather an instrument for players to simulate the world they like. He said, "We don't want people who create content for our game to think that we matter. This is your game. It is your toolset. You can call the characters whatever you want. You don't represent our brand, you represent your brand. We want to empower our creators."

With or without modifications, Life by You aims to be a highly customizable experience. For example, players can zoom in on conversations between characters and edit them in-game as if they were building their own stage play. Humble envisions players sharing scenes with their audience everywhere from YouTube to Instagram.

"We hope Life By You will help creators of all kinds find their place. We want people to know that this is a tool they can rely on and use with confidence."

Regarding the coming tide of new sandbox life simulations in general, Humble said he believes the genre is growing because it is fundamentally "inclusive." Life By You will be available in Early Access on June 4.