14 DAY TRIAL // LittleBigPlanet appears to be one of the most hyped up titles this holiday season as Sony promised that the puzzle platformer would give PlayStation 3 users the most numerous creativity options they could think of.
The game emphasized the fact that players, through their SackBoy or SackGirl characters, could create their own levels by using the tools the game put in their hands and then share their custom levels with friends via the PlayStation Network. A lot of people were eagerly anticipating this game so that they could showcase their level creating skills, but the harsh moderation policies employed by Sony resulted in a lot of user made content being deleted due to various problems.
From mature content to that promoting violence, the moderators’ decisions to delete them was pretty just, but the fact that tribute levels inspired by hit games like Mario were also retrieved made a lot of fans angry. Their hard work being destroyed in a few seconds made players assault the official forums of the game demanding that Sony made some changes.
The company issued a statement concerning the moderation policies a few days later, but it appears to emphasize the fact that these rules are improving every day, and that new features will be implemented. A post on the community blog made by a Sony executive revealed that the offensive material was the primary reason for the deletion of levels and that explanations were given to users regarding their creations being erased.
“The level moderation process is something we’re continually improving. The small percentage of levels moderated have been done so after the community has reported them using the Good Grief tool. We never moderate levels that have not been reported in this way. The vast majority of moderated levels were due to offensive material, however we are evolving the way moderation happens to ensure that creators are made aware of why their level was blocked.”
These are pretty interesting statements from the Sony representative. It's good to hear that the team behind this title doesn't want to limit players’ creativity, but this new statement probably comes to reassure users that the game isn't governed by unjust rules.