A look at how the industry is handling user-created content (hint: poorly)

By Jeremy Yerby | December 16, 2008

I recall someone from Sony saying that this generation of gaming would be known as “Gaming 2.0″ – an homage at the evolution of websites being more user-centric in their content being referred to as Web 2.0. I also remember J Allard speaking on the unveiling of the Xbox 360 about how users would have vast opportunities to create, share, and sell their own content. While not an exact quote, he said gamers would be able to “create their own t-shirts, create their own skateparks….” and so forth.

So how does it feel to be part of this wonderful world? Well, most of us don’t know because user-created content is still in its infancy, at least on the consoles. Most companies are afraid to open it up to the masses. There are some legit concerns here, such as the recreation of obscene or copyrighted material. However, most games that utilize user-created content either do it in a way that is too restricting to matter or are too heavily moderated. Games such as Guitar Hero World Tour, Spore, and Little Big Planet have all been recent examples of games featuring user-created content. So how has that turned out?

An editorial written yesterday on Co-Optimus gives us the grim truth:

Now, imagine that you have put many, many hours into a level for LittleBigPlanet. You’ve tweaked it like crazy, getting all the little details just as you want them. You can’t wait to show it off to your friends in co-op, and others seem to be enjoying your creation, earning it lots of hearts. One morning, you wake up and discover that your level is gone. Vanished. It simply doesn’t exist anymore. Here’s just one example, which we covered previously. Bad as this is, even worse is the fact that once one of your levels has been pulled, you lose the ability to upload any new creations. “Play. Create. Share.” becomes “Play.” While LBP has a surprisingly deep and enjoyable story mode, it’s the creation aspects that most players looked forward to. Losing the ability to share your creations robs the player of the most fulfilling aspects of the game.

Sony and MediaMolecule are hardly alone on this. Activision has been pulling user created content too. Upon Guitar Hero World Tour’s launch, almost immediately, folks started creating and sharing their music. If you had browsed the most popular songs on GHTunes that first week, you would have seen some familiar faces. Songs based on the tunes from the Zelda and Mario series, for example, even a Halo inspired track. These were not to last long, and were pulled from GHTunes soon after, as we told you here.

So what do we think? Should these companies be so heavy-handed with the restrictions of user-created content? Can we ever truly reach “gaming 2.0″?

Read the rest of this editorial here. Its a good read!