LittleBigPlanet levels deleted over copyright issues

Would you still have your local copy of the level? Or is that somehow deleted too?

I can see a LBP black market cropping up

I’m very happy to see Sony removing content that infringes copyright!

There’s nothing more boring in LBP than seeing all these stupid kids reenacting other game-IPs. It’s not creative at all to build a “MGS” or “GTA” level, just copy-cat bullshit.

“There’s nothing more boring in LBP than seeing all these stupid kids reenacting other game-IPs. It’s not creative at all to build a “MGS” or “GTA” level, just copy-cat bullshit.”

So what your saying is

LBP create any level you want just not one that’s simaler to a past game……..

Come on you know that people would want to create levels from games they loved in the past.

Can’t blame them for deleting them. They could get themselves in all sorts of trouble if they didn’t.

I doubt they can moderate it effectively. Too many users submitting probably every day good luck with that one Sony. Maybe ask youtube for help lol’s

It doesn’t need to be moderated effectively.
Deleting these levels without warning will hopefully discourage people from posting them in the first place.

Quote: “So what your saying is … LBP create any level you want just not one that’s simaler to a past game …”

Yes, exactly. Be creative! Do your own thing!
You may get your inspiration from other games … no problem with that.
But try to create your own world or don’t create at all.

doubt very much it will discourage people if anything its going to encourage them to do it even more.

If your hard work gets deleted, I’m sure you think twice about creating it in the first place. And if they don’t delete these levels at all, the situation will get worse.

These copycat-levels not only hurt the owners of the respective IPs (which I couldn’t care less), they first and foremost hurt the image of LBP.

“PLAY, COPY, SHARE”

yet spore manages it just fine with all the spore based copyed characters from other games. Not one has been deleted I’ve got a yoshi on spore still up there and going strong.

I don’t see a problem with this at all in fact if anything it helps the respected IP’s its viral advertising. It can get people interested in possibly looking into the game the levels based on.

To each there own but this is just a case of big company’s crying over nothing.

Again, I couldn’t care less about the owners of the respective IPs. I agree with you on that one.
My point is that re-enacting the “look & feel” of other game IPs is an extremely poor and boring idea. If you can’t think of something unique, don’t even start to create in LBP!

Walk down this line and levels like the totally unique “Gradius” one get deleted too… is that really what we want?

@ Psychotext
I don’t know the “Gradius” level but I must admit you got a valid point there!

Here’s the Gradius level: http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/03/watch-gradius-gets-lbpd/

I played a Shadow Moses level, which was pretty funny.

A Hind D?!?

Thanks Psycho. Just watched the ‘gradius’. Not very creative but ok.
My advice: just change the name and the style of the aircraft.

@David

It’s not a question of creating something “similar” to older games, but using likenesses and intellectual property that is a clear rip-off is unacceptable. Sony is covering their own @sses in this case, as anybody seeking an infringement lawsuit is going to go after Sony, not the lame copycat that made it, Sony is hosting the infringing file and therefore would be held liable. The P2P aspect of this makes Sony the fall guy.

Avoiding lawsuits is much better than actually trying to fight them in court. Spore, while it was a successful launch has now become a red-headed step-child in the video game world. Much acclaim and hoopla over a very mediocre and poorly implemented game doesn’t usually attract as much attention as does a tier one company like Sony allowing for IP infringement. Nobody cares about Spore anymore and not too many companies are going to go after them for their user created content.

Basically, during the beta it suited Media Molecule to have their game spammed everywhere with Super Mario, Tetris, God Of War, Mirror’s Edge levels all over the place…but now it’s out there they’ve putting their foot down?

Yeah, there’s truth to that.

In the beta they needed as many levels as possible, with as many different variations as possible. There’s no point in them deleting levels from the beta when it’s just a beta, they couldn’t even get in to trouble for that. So for purposes of testing the game, yes it suited them. Now it’s in full swing and they can actually get in to trouble, then they have to get rid.

No point deleting them when it’s a beta, even though the levels were announced as carrying over to the full game?

Surely IP infringement is IP infringement no matter when it occurs?

The beta levels were going to be deleted, they didn’t announce they would carry over until they put it to a vote about 2 days before the beta closed.

As i said, IP infringement should IP infringement whatever time it occurs.

As i see it, it’s “Look at our game, we’ll let you build whatever you want, the possibilities are endless!”

The money’s there now and it’s “Ha, suckers!”

True. Youtube wouldn’t get away by saying “Don’t worry about it MGM, the clips from your latest Bond will be deleted in 2 weeks – your IP is just being included to test our new full movie streaming”.

Some good points here, but it’s a shame this industries creative freedom is hindered by the threat of lawsuits. unreal tournament has user created lego levels and such, but no one said nowt.

People should be able to create what they want, and it’s no coincidence that the mirrors edge level is one of the most played. i mean whats next, take away a kids crayons cos he drew a picture of mario and posted it on myspace?

Aren’t there a load of player skins for Master Chief and people like that on UE3? No one’s batted an eyelid.

Unless it’s another of those things that Media Molecule will do a u-turn on just to look like they’re listening to the community and get some positive press out of it? I for one never believed the whole “Shall we include the beta levels in the full game?” line anyway, they knew they’d always include them.

Actually Stu, there was some legal hulabaloo over the Master Chief skin in UT3, though in the end it turned out to pass, the same cant be said from some Halo ‘remake’ maps MS had taken off sites.

We contacted MediaMolecule about this last week after quite a few people complained their levels had gone missing. I lost one simply because it had a photograph of my Parappa the Rappa alarm clock in it and a photo grabbed from In the Night Garden. Slightly annoying that they’re THAT over-zealous with the mod stick, particularly given how flippin’ short the proper MediaMolecule-penned platform campaign is.

Ah well, time to start spoofing stuff I guess. Polystyrene Cog Liquid anyone?

Who’s “we”? Out of interest?

VG247 should offer prize to the first person who manages to sneak a picture of their arse past the censors!

Copyright is copyright. Also I’m sure there’s a whole fuckton of stuff mentioned in the game’s EULA and also those recently revised Sony PS3 terms and conditions that, in a legalese sort of way, cover all these deletions.

I’m sure nobody ever gives a shit about any of this until they believe they’ve been wronged (and still don’t read to the agreements they’ve already agreed to) and whine about it on messageboards.

With a title as high-profile as this and with IP being so important and with the internet ready to blame Sony for *any* misdemeanour that some 13 year old scrote might actually be responsible for, you can’t really blame them for being cautious on this.

If the opposite had happened and, say, there was some level made where you had to topple some twin towers then you’d get just as many internet reactionaries claiming that it’s a crime that such material wasn’t deleted.

That example is subjective, of course, where as copyright and IP material is far more clearly defined and restricted.

I bet the people copying IP/franchises are the same sort of people that moan of sequels and lack of original ideas in games too.

Shit. Speaking of competitions, I still haven’t sent Lovemoose his game.

hehe

Copyright or not, if they keep this up, it’s going to kill the game before its even has a chance to shine.

Take the popular Mirror’s Edge and Shadow of the Colossus levels. Both are extremely good examples of how you can use other people’s IPs creatively within LittleBigPlanet, and I imagine the creators would be quite honoured to see their creations coming to life in LBP.

I agree that there’s plenty of need for original ideas in there, but some already existing ideas have been really well applied.

Does MGM threaten to sue over every fan-review with a clip from their movie in it? No. Does Capcom sue over every bit of fanart with their character in it? No.

There’s a fairly broad between copyright infringement and paranoia. This seems to be leaning towards the later.

I don’t see how this is any different, to be honest. If they keep this up, the LittleBigPlanet will become quite uninhabited really soon.