I have that same deal with my new graphics card. I'm hoping Error Trap and Overwatch will keep the Graphics Card in good shape.
A mod is not going to do anything to protect your graphics card. All it could possibly do is prevent your hard drive from working harder than it needs to, and maybe not even that. The only thing you can do to extend the life of your card is to perform physical maintenance on it regularly: crack the case and remove the dust. There is no substitute for this...no shortcuts. You change the oil in your car regularly (at least I
hope you do lol) so there's no reason not to do what you need to do to keep your PC healthy.
Likewise, neither yours or Esther's computer was in any more danger playing the Sims than it would be watching streaming video. I have never heard, in my entire life, of software itself directly causing damage to computer components. If someone blows their video card, it's because it was faulty or old. Let's not start resorting to fear mongering.
There's been enough misinformation spread about mods (and I'm as guilty of it as anyone), but the solution to this is not to spread misinformation in the other direction. The whole point is to get the factual information out in the open and let people decide for themselves. And we can easily prevent this factual information without vilifying them and without deifying them.
Mods are not good. Mods are not bad. They are an option and nothing more. And that's the way it needs to
stay.
But on the other hand, what one person defines as an advantage can be different.
ad·van·tage /ədˈvantij/: Noun; A condition or circumstance that puts one in a favorable or superior position.
That is the English language definition. No other definition matters.
A person using mods does not have to deal with bugs that a person not using them, for whatever reason, would have to deal with. This would give the person using the mods a
distinct, clear-cut advantage. No amount of debate or creative wording will ever make this anything other than an undeniable fact. There are no ambiguities.
But all of this is academic. A ruling has already long since been made on this. And that is, as they say,
that.
I'm glad I didn't come off that way. The last thing I've ever wanted to do is make someone ashamed of using mods.
It wasn't you specifically. It wasn't me specifically. Nobody can be blamed specifically for this...although we've all done our part to create it. It was the culture that we built that is fully responsible, and any of us are only responsible in that we helped create the culture. But the fact of the matter is that we didn't create it with the
intent of this outcome. We did what we did with the best intentions, only things didn't turn out the way we expected them to...and we didn't even
know how it turned out until a couple days ago.
Thus, we have nothing to feel particularly guilty for. While what we did was not accidental, the actual product
was an accident.