Users who have put hours and days of work into creating LittleBigPlanet levels have reacted with fury to their “moderation” (read: deletion) by server administrators. Sony/ Media Molecule are apparently deleting user-created levels for their game not just on the basis of rude pictures or sticking a willy on their main character, but also for copyright infringement.
Users on the US PlayStation community forums are filling threads with details of levels that have been deleted because they used images, logos or characters from other videogame franchises. While many are left utterly bewildered about why their level was deleted at all, with some claiming to contain no copyright material and nothing their grandmother would find shocking. One fan claims their level, “Failure To Launch”, may have been deleted simply because it had the same name as a film.
The Senior Community Development Manager for the game on the forum has responded: “[If] someone plays the level and finds something they don’t think is appropriate, your level is placed into a moderation queue to be checked over. If the complaint is upheld, the level is removed from the shared part of the game.”
Users are upset that levels removed from the shared part of the game are also removed from users’ hard drives (unless, as one user has posted a guide on, you make a copy of the level first that’s kept offline). And that no reason is given for deletion, and no warning. The response? “We are working on a system whereby any level that is moderated will inform the creator of the level why the action was taken. In most innocent cases a simple tweak to the level may be required and that’s what we’re working on communicating.”
Out now | £45 | LittleBigPlanet
