We have been looking into the current issues surrounding the moderation of LittleBigPlanet levels, as it is clear that we're not currently going far enough to inform users who have had a creation moderated why the action was necessary. We are moving towards a system whereby rather than receiving a generic message any affected user will also receive an indication of what was found to be infringing on the EULA. We're additionally looking to provide clear, plain language directions on what is and is not acceptable to be published through the game.

Until these changes come in, my official recommendation is that any creations you publish do not infringe on any copyright or otherwise include language or imagery that is not suitable for an audience of all ages. We'll have more comprehensive guidelines soon, but for now the EULA states the following :

You agree that you will not create, transfer, share, send, submit or upload any User Generated Content that:
(a) is protected by copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret or otherwise subject to third-party proprietary rights, including but not limited to rights of privacy and publicity (unless you are or have permission from the rightful owner);
(b) contains fraudulent statements or misrepresentations that could damage SCE or any third party;
(c) contains any statements or materials that disparage, ridicule or scorn SCE or any third party;
(d) is obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, predatory, pornographic, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would violate any law or is otherwise inappropriate;  
(e) is an advertisement or solicitation of business;
(f) is an impersonation of another person; or        
(g) violates any of the rules of Online Conduct, other terms of this Agreement, terms of the PSN Terms of Service and Usage Agreement or any other terms related to this game

Update 28th November
A small update for you, and thanks for all your questions and feedback about moderation. We hope to have some specific moderation information to share with you in the near future. In the meantime, we'd like to remind everyone of some suggestions to minimise the chance of your level being moderated:

Ensure that the content you share with other users is suitable for all ages - everybody has access to your level if you publish it. Please respect other people's intellectual property rights. For example, don't use images, brands or logos that you're not entitled to use. If you come across any content that you feel the need to report, then please do it responsibly. Hoax reports will be considered inappropriate behaviour.

We appreciate any frustration this may be causing at the moment but we hope to have improvements in place very soon.

So I assume you'll be "moderating" the official LittleBigWorkshop web page found here:

http://www.littlebigworkshop.com/en-us/Tools

This page abounds with Trademarked characters.

Thanks for the announcement

Can I ask, would we be ok making levels which are similar to existing copyrights but are sufficiently different? I mean would it be ok to make a level which is recognisable as MGS4 (for a popular example) but does not use any names or brandings from the game and has a name such as "LittleBigSolid".

As I understand copyright and parody this should be permisable under the laws and is how other games likeBurnout or Pro Evo can make cars/players which are clealy meant to be real ones but with different names etc.

This is ridiculously stupid. The winner of the design contest is shadow of the little big collosus. Talk about sending the wrong message. My friends level was deleted and it referenced absolutely nothing.

I assured him it was a mistake, but no, it seems like it was quite intentional. So then it must have not been suitable for all ages? Granted it was a hard level. Some of the jumps were difficult, but it was a nice change from all those free trophy and rocket car levels that clog the front page, which offends me. Can we have those deleted as well? It seems like they are taking the best aspect of this game, online sharing, and completely destroying it. Suitable for all ages? How does that saying go about pleasing everyone?

I too have a few questions regarding what is and what isn't appropriate.

(a) is a parody or user-made representation of a character any more or less appropriate than an image appropriated using the PS3 camera?

(b) is an "impersonation of another person" meant in terms of representing ourselves as someone else or rather having any character or image in the game that portrays someone else in a fictional light?

(c) do scenes from the story mode serve as an example of what "obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, predatory, pornographic, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would violate any law or is otherwise inappropriate" ARE allowed in the game?

(d) is there any plan to incorporate a system that allows the creator of moderated levels a chance to edit their levels for resubmission?

Any clarification would be helpful, as I'd like to be sure of myself before publishing a level.

Redesigned by zim1985

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Sam_Protagonist wrote:

You agree that you will not create, transfer, share, send, submit or upload any User Generated Content that:

 

(a) is protected by copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret or otherwise subject to third-party proprietary rights, including but not limited to rights of privacy and publicity (unless you are or have permission from the rightful owner);

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So... that means that from now on I won't be able to play and create levels related to games, movies or persons I know and love.

.... wow ...

I suppose UT3 might be after all a better game to Create and Share...

The homages to games and copyright material were the best of LBP, we could identify musics, scenarios and mechanics related to the IP it was related to, that was the magic.

I don't see why would the  "rightful owners" be upset about anything, it was an HONOR to be reproduced by fans in the game, not a reason to process Sony, MM or the creator.

I hope you revise these measures soon...

LittleBigPlanet: Play, Create, (Censured).

What is clear to me from this message is that the EULA limits players way beyond what is required by law.  So yes, according to this EULA, which we all "read" before playing the game, most levels that people have been complaining about should have been moderated. 

However, the methods that they've been using to moderate thus far have been incredibly intrusive and backhanded.  I mean, how do they know that I don't own the Batman trademark before they shutdown my level?  Or who are they to say that I didn't get permission from Apple to put an iPOD sticker in my level?  There's been absolutely no communication involved in these moderations so far and no option to republish after the 'offensive' material is removed. 

In some cases the problem seems to be as small as giving away a prize at the end of a level that was copyright material.  I mean, why don't the mods just remove the offending item, and send a message to the player stating that?  Obviously they're not gonna fix levels that are entirely problematic, but is it really so hard to take away one prize bubble instead of shutting down and locking out a level?

My final problem with the stated EULA is that it says in addition to not being allowed to share, upload or publish anything that violates the EULA, I'm not even allowed to CREATE something that violates the EULA.  That means I am not allowed to make a level with an impersonation of my friend that I snapped with my PS Eye and then invite him over to my house to play the level offline.  They are trying to police things that they have absolutely no control over!  Talk about putting the "F-U" in F-U-N. 

The moderation process certainly needs review, and in my opinion the entire EULA does as well.

I also want clarification on some stuff....

If you sell a Motor-storm costume than why can we not make a Motor-storm scene/level for that character?

If you give away MGS characters than why can't we put them in MGS styled levels/scenes?

Same with God Of War and any future Disney Costumes or Characters etc you may be planning.

YOU are giving out mixed messages... here's a god of war character but do not make a level to go with it.... I mean seriously **bleep**?

It is YOU profiting from other copyrighted material and selling it on to us.... we creating a themed level around such stuff you are selling is not an infringement.

How is OUR representation of characters copyright infringements?

If I was to paint a picture of Mario or make a drawing, take a photo of it and upload it to for example to the Deviant art website (like thousands do every day), then I am not breaching any copyright laws whatsoever.

It is my own rendition,version,it's more a characterture drawing (FAN ART)!!!

So how come if I create my own version of a character in-game and upload it... how is that any different whatsoever? 

No way in LPB can you make any accurate representations to fool anyone of anything copyrighted to make them think that yours is the real deal. Also there is no way we can actually profit from such creations or take away any profit away from the copyright holders (so no infringement).

The only infringements I can see is the names of the levels taking a trademark name. Not actually anything to do with the content within a said level (so make a name filter to dis-allow these level names).

Lastly forums all over the Internet use avatars, including this one, you see how many copyright infringements I see looking at the avatars of other game characters here (which are not representations as in LBP, but actually copy and pasted original artwork from other game designers.... not home made renditions.... so lets take down all the avatars all over the Internet)!

All these previous competitions too across the net, all with copyrighted ideas....nothing said until AFTER everyone buys the game.

I could go on LBP now and use the good grief on probably 85% of all the levels just for pointing out copyright infringements.... if everyone did this you wouldn't have very few levels left.

We should be allowed to parody anything we like with the game, we thought that was a known intention.#

P.S. If we get a Mario or God Of War or any other similar level taken down than should we search for everyone else who has made a similar level and report them all to you? Is that what you want? So everyone is reporting all there rivals back to get there's taken down as well?