Media Molecule and Sony, you’ve lost a customer. The game, as we all know, is
LittleBigPlanet. It’s a game that Chuck really loves in his
review and one that I was going to pick up after spending some time with it over at his house. I’m not a big fan of side scrolling jumping games but LittleBigPlanet has potential and I love games with potential. It lets you let loose with your creativity and design levels for all to play with its ease of sharing capabilities. Well, so I thought.
As
reported earlier, some levels were being moderated or removed without having the ability to get it back. While I can understand some things being removed such as for offensive content and infringing on other people’s intellectual properties, there are many instances where the user’s levels were removed without any indication why. Sony has
issued a statement saying they are looking to improve communication and also give a reason as to why they are moderating the level. So far their efforts have been just as before with
another group of levels being moderated without cause. I’ve seen some of the videos of some of the levels being removed and I really can’t see any reason as to why they would be in line to be moderated.
Worse yet, there hasn’t been any communication as to why the level’s being moderated. There’s a system you guys developed Sony whereby you can leave messages in the person’s inbox on your PlayStation 3. You know that little envelope where messages appear from friends and so forth? You might consider using that online feature to let the person know that 1) the level in question is being reviewed for a specific reason and 2) your level was moderated because it contains the following items.
As good as LittleBigPlanet is, I can’t find myself spending my hard earned money on a game where there’s creativity being stifled and no communication between the creators and users on issues that the company might have with the content generated. I’m not going to spend many hours trying to create a fun level for others to enjoy only to have a chance for it to be moderated without any warning. It would be a very frustrating experience and I feel for the folks that this has happened to. Sony, you guys have perhaps started a new trend with user generated content on your system to increase the value and replay ability of a console game. It’s too bad your handling these issues in such a poor manner and with that you’re losing at least one sale from me and I wouldn’t be surprised if many more were lost from those reading about your actions.
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