Over the past weeks, we’ve been reading lots of forum posts, comments to blog posts and news posts and even heard questions coming into our consumer services hotlines. To better serve the community, we’ve decided to provide a weekly update on the hot topics and answer the burning questions you all have.
First off, wanted to introduce “Sam_Protagonist” to everyone. He’s our global community manager for LittleBigPlanet and our eyes and ears for all things community. You can find him interacting on the EU and US forums providing updates to the community. Keep a look out for his forum posts and occasional LBP News Site posts for the latest updates.
So for our first installment of ‘SACK IT TO ME’ – we’ve decided to summarize some of the major topics the community wants answered…
Moderation
The level moderation process is something we’re continually improving. The small percentage of levels moderated have been done so after the community has reported them using the Good Grief tool. We never moderate levels that have not been reported in this way. The vast majority of moderated levels were due to offensive material, however we are evolving the way moderation happens to ensure that creators are made aware of why their level was blocked. More to come shortly.
Servers
We hope you’ve noticed that over the past few weeks, we’ve been working away and our servers are now much improved – from the updated scoreboards to the connection speeds. Just know we’re constantly looking to improve the experience and your feedback has been very helpful. Additionally, below are a few online stats for your viewing pleasure:
- # of user generated (UG) levels = 177,657
- # of comments = 1,093,491
- # of times Story levels have been played online = 36,661,881
- # of times UG levels have been played online = 22,463,892
- # of levels played online = 59,125,403
Play Create Share stats & Search Functionality
Now that the servers are stable, we’ll continue to improve the “Share” experience. We’ve heard your requests to get better search functionality to find levels and getting the PLAY, CREATE, SHARE stats up and running on the Info Moon and have put this on the top of our list. So stay tuned for a few announcements
In the meantime, there are a few ‘other’ ways to find some cool levels:
- LBP Review League (US Forums)
- LittleBigPlanet Stages (an un-official list on Facebook)
- “10 LBP levels you have to play” (GamesRadar.com)
- “Top 50 User-Created LBP levels” (UGO.com)
- Search for LBC1 levels and help judge the first LittleBigChallenge: PS3 Second Anniversary
LittleBigChallenge: PS3 Second Anniversary Updates
We’ve been excited to see all the posted “LBC1” level submissions for our first in-game LittleBigChallenge, so much that we wanted to share a few of the ones that caught our eye. After reading the forums, looks like we struck a nerve with a few of you thinking these updates are unfair publicity to the selected. Wanted to re-assure you that our intention to highlight a few of these levels, is to celebrate the creation of a variety of levels from a variety of creators – NOT to indicate any frontrunners or winners. Judging is completely separate from these updates and the evaluation of these levels will take into consideration a creators creativity, game design, innovation, use of tools, etc – NOT just “hearts” and “plays”.
As an insight to the evaluation process, we plan to first collect the formal e-mail submissions, list out the levels w/ various stats (on the server side), then have our judges spend a few days to play thru and judge levels and award the top 5 creators for this challenge.
Also, check back on Friday where we’ll list out the submissions-to-date, so you can spend the weekend playing the Challenge levels.
Day 1 T-shirt
Finally, some of you are wondering what happened to the Day 1 T-Shirt mentioned in the past. This was available in other countries for (equivalent of) $4.99, but we decided to hold back its availability in North America as we evaluate if such a unique item (RARE + $4.99 + time-based) is appropriate for our PS Store. There may be other RARE items like this in the future, so check back on future DLC announcements.
… We hope this answers your current batch of questions. Comment away below and let us know what else questions you want answered for next weeks batch…
Hey….thanks for making such a great fun game. My wife loves it and we play it all the time. I thought she was gonna get tired of it like she did our Wii (sold it after a month) but she plays it more than I do. I can’t even get any quality time in with R2 or Bioshock. I might have to hide the disk this weekend so I can do my God of War fest in peace. I really wish I would’ve gotten to play that God of War level all the way through. It was sweet.
I love LBP… just love it..
Something I’ve noticed the other day..
Can you consider adding a way to go back and look at previously typed messages when playing online with people. If I’m typing a message and someone finishes theirs.. You don’t see theirs as mine would show up.
I would say add a chat box, but I like the message bubbles.. Maybe they can be handled like in Home with multiple bubbles on the screen a one time…
Thank you Thank you Thank you !! I love your game and thank you for unlocking voodoo !! I don’t know why someone griefed it but I am happy to have it back. It may not be much but I clocked in some hours making it. You Rock !! This is the first time I’ve commented on the PS blog and it is good to see you really read these. Have a wonderful evening =)
“The small percentage of levels moderated have been done so after the community has reported them using the Good Grief tool.”
Since when? Nobody I know ever used the Good Grief tool to report a Mario or Sonic homage level.
Let’s cut the double speak, shall we guys?
You are censoring, at random, for no good reason. I am *extremely* happy I canceled my pre-order for this game.
i really like this game but it does one glaring fault:there is no officialRatchet costume. Here me know sony, PLEASE MAKE A RATCHET COSTUME FOR THIS GAME!!!!!!!! i have spoken my peace.
PLEASE MAKE A RATCHET COSTUME FOR LITTLE BIG PLANET!!!!
As usual with my luck I was so happy for a brief moment I could at least access it on my moon and just as quickly it won’t load again. It is still missing in the world and I was going to republish it and to heck with the 9 hearts it had =( Please aid a LBPER I love your game and all I want is my voodoo unlocked =( It is a nice and simple level which shouldn’t offend anyone I even made the ghosts in it myself !! My first creature build, I won’t build another level until I am sure this is resolved who wants to spend hours making something just to have it yanked ans its spot on the moon inaccessable =(
Check again. Its 10:40PST and I just played your level.