News
LittleBigPlanet Levels Being Removed Without Warning
And Now, Ten Ways Not to Handle Moderation
by Coop
It’s no surprise that some of the best levels in LittleBigPlanet are inspired by games and movies. Even in beta, the God of War level was one of the best, bringing a platforming experience akin to the developer made singleplayer levels to the community, inspiring hope that amazing creations were to come. Well, no more. Media Molecule has taken to moderating (see: deleting) levels that are too similar to… well… anything.
First on the list is copyright infringement, so all of the mediocre Mario and Pac Man levels have been removed, as well as anything with a title similar to someone else’s intellectual property. One forum-goer complained that his level, “Failure to Launch,” was removed as well. The main problem is that MM isn’t actually explaining why these are being removed, and others are disappearing without explanation. There’s no option to republish the levels, even after edits, and there’s no appeal process. It can take many hours to create something unique in LittleBigPlanet and the results are usually worth the effort, but fear that it might be removed without any warning is a deterrent to be sure.
I’ve made a few levels, the most fun of which is called Classic DK and is a recreation of the original Jumpman arcade game. It hasn’t been remove yet, but I’m pretty sure it falls into the realm of “about to disappear” due to the illegal recreation. I understand that they can’t let anyone make anything for legal reasons, but an appeal process, warning system, or better guide might help fix the issue before it cripples the creative community.
Has anyone run into these issues, or are most of you exploring the LBP servers and working through the singleplayer before touching paint to canvas?
Comments
i have made a level though i am trying more to complete the single player all the way through and unlock everything so i have more at my disposal for the levels. Though if this is true it might shoot holes in me and my girlfriends Watchmen level we were going to make.
Though Media Molecule should have mentioned something about this possibility before the game released. I would be pissed if i spent hours on a level only to get it deleted without an explanation. Heck at least tell me whats wrong and let me fix it. They need to get this crap fixed.
Not yet, but will check it out tonight.
yeah, i've been tackling just the single-player levels so far. the game is big enough to keep me occupied for a while without venturing into creation territory.
that being said, this all seems a little silly to me. it's just a game, right? it's not like user-created levels are being resold, or charging for people to play them. it's like giving a kid an etch-a-sketch and then confiscating it because he draws the mona lisa. (um... most talented kid ever.)
I noticed that the God of War level (sadly) was gone yesterday, but Mirror's Edge and Little Big Ninja Warrior (thankfully) were still there. Still, this blows, big time.
This is quite lame.
Is this honestly infringing on copyrights? Or just fans paying homage to great properties?
well sony has come out and said they are looking at a fix to better this process but really this should have been an ironed out, good to go process before launch.
Sony needs to get this fixed up the right way or they could really piss off a good bit of its fanbase
To be honest I see nothing wrong with recreating fun levels from previous games and movies, but unfortunately thats ground for a lawsuit amongst many of those other game creators otherwise Sony wouldn't be pulling them off.
I guess the sad thing is that if a game like super mario was so popular that it touched all of us fans so much to create a level mimicking it in LBP, how could it possibly be that bad? I hope they dont start doing this in other games.
Could you imagine FarCry's people getting sued by the city Philadelphia, because I made a perfect recreation of Broad St?! Crazy times we live in.