Sam_Protagonist Response To The Moderation of LittleBigPlanet Levels

HisServant77 | November 10, 2008 | News | Playstation 3

Sam_Protagonist is the name of the voice for Media Molecule on the Playstation Underground Forums. He's the go-between for fans and the devs, and with the recent uproar, rumours, and news of Levels being deleted in LittleBigPlanet he has given an announcement about it, to shed some light on the issue.

Hit the link to view the whole discussion (current and future posts by Sam), or even take part in the discussion and get some answers from Sam.

We have been looking into the current issues surrounding the moderation of LittleBigPlanet levels, as it is clear that we're not currently going far enough to inform users who have had a creation moderated why the action was necessary. We are moving towards a system whereby rather than receiving a generic message any affected user will also receive an indication of what was found to be infringing on the EULA. We're additionally looking to provide clear, plain language directions on what is and is not acceptable to be published through the game.

Until these changes come in, my official recommendation is that any creations you publish do not infringe on any copyright or otherwise include language or imagery that is not suitable for an audience of all ages. We'll have more comprehensive guidelines soon, but for now the EULA states the following : . . . . . . .

News Story attached to:

LittleBigPlanet [PSP, PS3]

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Comments

0 thumbs!
Play ISDF | November 10, 2008

It still sounds totally crap to me. I mean seriously, it should be expected that fans of things would make stuff inspired by popular things. Now if they were actually making money off copyrighted stuff then I could definitely understand the reason for deleting things but people aren't. This also brings up a huge problem with ideas that might be original, but there's already something like it out there thus causing it to be deleted. The whole thing is rather flawed.
- 1 thumbs!
  Drogo Baggins | November 10, 2008
  
  I see what you're saying, Play ISDF, but there's sort of a loop hole.
  
  The people creating these levels aren't making money off of these levels based off of other things, but the developers of LBP technically are.
  
  These levels aren't technically made by the developers of LBP, but they are still a part of LBP, so it's sort of like the developers are making money off of these levels.
  
  I think that's the reason behind this. I could be wrong, though.
  - 1 thumbs!
    Onvacation | November 11, 2008
    
    exactly!
  - 1 thumbs!
    Final Blade | November 11, 2008
    
    _{Drogo Baggins stated everything that needs to be stated here.}
0 thumbs!
dwg14390 | November 10, 2008

Exactly why can't we make a full mario level or GoW level (for Christ sakes, were getting his costume!!)

And yet in Spore EXACT replica of Tie fighters, pokémon, populer monuments are being build. Why?? Because its fun and sometimes it can even be original trying your hardest to recreate something.

All in all, it's just for fun.

Speaking of which the commercials lied. LBP is not fun if we get our hard work deleted. Soo.....I don't know why bendy straws exist.
- 0 thumbs!
  Drogo Baggins | November 11, 2008
  
  You make a good point, dwg, by comparing this to Spore. But I think it could be one of a few things.
  
  1. The Spore developers haven't gotten around to "filtering" yet, but are planning to do so.
  2. The LBP developers are being extra careful with trying not to get into any legal trouble.
  3. The Spore developers are being extra risky(lazy) with trying to avoid legal trouble.
  
  My money's on number 2, personally.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Daigoji_Gai | November 11, 2008
    
    #2 is the issue. Look at it this way. As Nintendo, you sure may not want Mario running around endorsing LittleBigPlanet. Whether a fan did it or not, that would promt me to want to protect my IP (intellectual property) and maybe garner some attention file a lawsuit.
    
    The other thing is about "moderation". Look at the youtube model, they've avoided many legal issues by taking a hands off approach to moderation "if it is reported, we will take it down." By actively establishing you are filtering and providing moderation, you have greater liability risks.
3 thumbs!
HisServant77 | November 11, 2008

Droggo's got the idea there. MM is covering themselves from any legal issues.

Creating levels that are parodies of other games, causes those other games' devs to be able to say that Levels within LBP are "stealing" their stuff, and presenting a competition to them through using their own stuff.

Reading other responses from Sam leads me to believe most, if not all, of the levels taken down because of copyright, is because it copied a game which can then make LBP responsible for "competing" with that game by using that game's stuff.
0 thumbs!
Bale Fire | November 11, 2008

The problem is the system seems very inconstant at the moment. Halo, MGS and God of War levels are there in the dozens, the Mirror's Edge one is one of the most popular on there, yet none of them are getting deleted. Just odd ones here and there.

Beside its not like most can be proved as copyright violations, they aren't taking anything from those properties. Just representing them in a weird way.
- 0 thumbs!
  Ameer | November 11, 2008
  
  Just pointing out that while the Mirror's Edge-inspired level is called as such, there are no visual cues within the level itself that infringe on any copyright.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Daigoji_Gai | November 11, 2008
    
    That is the key thing Ameer, great point. If it doesn't contain images, sound/audio, or any copywritten or trademarked characters, simply "naming" something that won't bring on the wave of lawyers...
0 thumbs!
dwg14390 | November 11, 2008

This sucks, So we can't remake our favorite Contra levels and such??

Boy my hype for this game died quite a bit -_-
- 0 thumbs!
  Final Blade | November 12, 2008
  
  _{Oh no, you can, just not submit them online.}
  - 0 thumbs!
    Krunal | November 12, 2008
    
    Which pretty much diminishes the point of the game... I was never really interested in LittleBigPlanet and this just goes that extra bit to make me not interested in getting it...
  - 2 thumbs!
    HisServant77 | November 12, 2008
    
    That, or you can simply not name it contra, exclude any images that are specific to the game, any plot lines that are specific to the game, and so forth. You can recreate the levels but use imagination to create a slightly different story and look to it.
    
    I like new levels and storylines, not always the same ol' LBP version of every game known to man
    
    It's like I said in the source, surely people don't think that if you take away game levels, that there's no more creativity to explore, right? There's LOTS to do and have fun with.
    - 0 thumbs!
      Daigoji_Gai | November 12, 2008
      
      Well said Servant77... I would give you both my thumbs up if i could!
0 thumbs!
Ameer | November 13, 2008

As long as they don't take away Libidius.jp and Tetrin.jp I'll be alright.