The problem with giving powerful tools to people is that some people are… well, let’s not sugar coat it… some people are asshats. When you give a typical person the tools available in LittleBigPlanet, you might get a recreation of a classic Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog level, but now that people have had the LBP beta in their hands for a while and gotten used to the tools, the attention seekers out there are having a harder and harder time fulfilling their “Look at me!!!” needs. Thus, we have the “9/11 Simulator” level for LittleBigPlanet where Sackboy flies a jet into a skyscraper and blows it up.
Is this what we really need? (Video after jump…)
This is what some would do with one of the cutest games ever released…
We have to remember that LittleBigPlanet has built-in ranking and reporting tools for “offensive” content. I think I was (as most of you probably were) primarily concerned with the inevitable “LittleBigPenis” levels that will be (and have been) created, but levels like “9/11 Simulator” point out that there can be many more types of “offensive” content than simply inappropriate sexual material.
Another thing that surprised me is that the level actually had people that “hearted” it. The level is pretty much just “shock value” if you ask me and the person that made it (and those hearting it) are likely not putting any serious thought into the fact that 9/11 was such a tragic event for our country. I have no idea if the level’s creator even lives in the United States, but I can assure you that Media Molecule didn’t have this sort of level in mind when developing their tools. That said, offering a truly open toolset understandably opens up the possibility for levels of this sort just like handing someone pen and paper can lead to a beautiful poem or hateful bigotry.
I want to make one thing clear, I’m not writing about this to have you watch the YouTube video (I honestly hope it gets yanked, along with the LBP level) but instead to preemtively discuss and point out the fact that LBP has content reporting features in place and you don’t need to see a giant penis with flying sperm (yes, I’ve seen that level too) to use it. The level rankings and content reporting only work if we use them. The community can make a difference here.
If someone in the mainstream media catch wind of levels like the 9/11simulator as well as the buzz the game is currently riding on, I could easily see this being plastered on the evening news. As a huge LBP fan, I feel it’s my duty to preemptively educate anyone I can about their options within the game… if you see something offensive, report it. If enough people report the content, it goes away. It’s as simple as that. LBP is looking to be one of the few rare games that exceeds even the exceptional amount of hype it’s generating, don’t let something like a few “bad” levels tarnish this game in anyone’s eyes.
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if this does get pulled does it mean it gets deleted from his harddrive? because if me and my friends want to make a map that isn’t suitable for other people i wouldn’t want it deleted because it was plugged into the internet. and also couldn’t they just involve a rating system rather than getting rid of what you make in a game that’s whole point is complete creativity and freedom.
I think offensive or inflamatory content like the “9/11 Simulator” should be moderated through some means.
But mature or adult type content that may be created should have a way to be marked as such. Kind of like a Molecule Media ESRB.
@Mizzl FashizzL
You’re right, and unfortunately it is tricky to know where to draw the line. I would say common sense is a pretty good start, but even that’s hard for some.
@Drauglim: It’s my impression that private “invite only” stuff won’t be moderated like the public stuff will. I’m betting they may still offering some “reporting” feature, but I highly doubt one report will lead to a level getting yanked… so if you keep inviting people who object to your private level, it may eventually get yanked, but if you keep inviting people and they report it, maybe it NEEDS to be yanked.
Just because you *can* say something, doesn’t mean you *should*. Try saying whatever you want to your wife/gf, teacher, priest, boss, and see how that works.
Freedom of speech is something special and important in the US, however, freedom of speech neither means freedom FROM speech, nor that there can be speech with no consequences. It simply means there is no federal law abridging freedom of speech, unless seditious or treasonous.
If Sony or whoever decides to pull the level or block the level from being transmitted, they are well within their rights to do so.
I think the level is an abomination, but I also think it’s probably some dumbsmurf kid trying to be attention-getting by referring to a tragedy that affected people worldwide. Trolling, basically. Anyway, I think the best reaction would be to vote it down, report it to Sony if it truly offends you, then ignore it and any other levels created by Mr. AttentionSeeker.
@dtcarson: I have to say, reading your very well written comment and finding “dumbsmurf” in the middle of it made my night! Thank you!
wow 56 coments! never seen that meny before! only at kotaku but that website is like 99% biger than sarcasticgamer xD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiRgYBHoAoU&eurl=http://kotaku.com/index.php?refId=5059835 ps this is best ever :O
I’m sorry but the hypocrisy here is astounding.
Don’t you all play games every day which are set against a backdrop of other countries war and suffering?
What makes America so special that your pain is somehow greater than anyone else’s?
Of course 9/11 was a terrible inexcusable affront to humanity but it’s also an historical event that is no more free from being interpreted and used than any other event.
If you want to tell me that you don’t play Call Of Duty or any other games that uses past or present terrible events as a backdrop then fair enough but the truth is that most of you do it every day.
i cros my finger for this game to bee good and i hope things like this dont hapends becose when some smurf think they can gt a lot of atensjon we shud not give it tho dem, becose if we do even more of this is going to hapend
@Cruithne
Sure, I’d be willing to bet that close to everyone here at one point or another has played a war-based game like Battlefield 2 or Call of Duty which are set up against a back-drop of a war typically based around some triggering event. However, none of these ever actually have you playing that event itself. You only take the role of the “good guys” fighting off the “bad guys” after they’ve done something awful, such as a massive terrorist attack. People are used to playing a games where they fight terrorists to free hostages, but you almost never see it the other way around (the only example I could think of was Counterstrike, and even then the scoring is set so that killing the hostages is in fact “bad” for the terrorists). Also, even in cases where the setting is particularly brutal, it is always between people with guns. You’re never running around killing civilians. There are hundreds of simulators for D-Day, which was a particularly brutal event, but it was still essentially two groups of people shooting each other.
Although war games can be exceedingly violent, their is a line that they don’t cross. A 9/11 simulator is crossing that line.
“9/11 was a tragic event but unless your relatives were directly invloved in it then why does it make you so angry?”
9/11 was not a “tragic event”, it was a vicious attack on non-combatants by a group whose stated purpose is the utter subjugation of the western world and the destruction of America. Considering the goals of Al Qaeda, any attack should make all americans not simply angry. Those who have thrived, and continue to thrive, under the protective blanket that America has provided should be equally angered by it.
Hurricanes, earthquakes, automotive accidents et. al. are tragic events. 9/11 was a vicious attack and an act of war.
Kalroy
@ entropyAEGIS
OK, you raised fair points in your post but I have to tell you that as someone who grew up in Northern Ireland I have seen may American movies where the terrorists who often tried to kill me and my family were treated as heroes.
And for the record as a Brit, our single biggest loss of life due to a terrorist attack was also 9/11 so it’s not as if I don’t understand why this hurts.
I don’t want to sound as if I’m being deliberately offensive to people just because they’re Americans and not my nationality but I still think we have to understand that whilst America may be the world’s superpower, you do not have a monopoly on pain and suffering, nor the right to dictate what is and isn’t acceptable.
Ultimately, if you don’t like this type of reaction to an event which happened a few years ago, and I think it iss in poor taste, then you have the option to ignore it.
omg that’s horrible!
who cares it hardly depicts 9/11
Holoyopo… as an American Teen let me say this… from the very bottom of my heart….
I hope you get AIDS… and die… slowly…