Essayness

Working on some titles, not sure which to use right now

Does LittleBigPlanet offer more than just recreational fun?
Can a video game offer more than just entertainment?
How can games become more than entertainment devices?

LittleBigPlanet is a puzzle/platform game for the PlayStation 3 that was created by Media Molecule and released in October 2008.

LittleBigPlanet's story is that one Creator of the said planet (known as The Collector) is kidnapping the other Creators and not sharing them with the world - sharing being a big point in LittleBigPlanet. The player then travels the world to aid the Creators and learn new skills, such as jumping and grabbing, to help take down the Collector and his minions. This ends when the player confronts him in his base in the Arctic, defeat him and is told he kidnapped the others due to being lonely and without friends. The Creators and the player offer to be friends, ending his evil.

Players collect bubbles for points with more bubbles collected in a row creating a multiply bonus, resulting in more points awarded. Big bubbles contain items such as clothing, stickers, music and items the player can use to create their own levels. These items can only be collected once however and remain empty afterwards, awarding only points upon repeated contact. With multiplayer, this gives the players a competitive edge to each level, with the winner being announced upon finishing each level.
Levels can be created by the Player and shared online for others to play. Players can also take pictures using the PlayStation Eye and place them as prize bubbles in their levels.

LittleBigPlanet 2 is the direct sequel to LittleBigPlanet and was released in January 2011.
Little Big Planet 2 carries on after the events of the first game, where a giant vacuum known as the Negativitron is sucking up all the inhabitants of Craftworld, the planet. The Player again travels the world to aid the remaining inhabitants, learning about new upgrades along the way such as the Grabinators which allow the player to pick up and throw objects (and each other as I found out with my roommate at one particularly enjoyable point) Upon battling and defeating the Negativitron, the inhabitants rejoice and all head home.

Old features such as the bubbles carry through to this game and new features are implemented. These features include the Hamster-2000 allowing you to dash in mid air, Bee 2.0 to fly, The Grappling Hook which does what it says really and others.

Again, levels can be created and shared via internet with more items to collect and costumes to wear. Updates and patches for both games are distributed by download.

This itself offers more than entertainment right off the bat - the game is about being creative and sharing ideas with the whole world.

"The more that we enable people to create stuff together the more kind of an explosion of creativity we get that we could never have anticipated"
(James FairBairn, Server Programmer/Media Molecule, Video: Playmakers LittleBigPlanet2: Creativity Unleashed, Dec 2012)

"Collaboration is so essential, you can create something really good by yourself in your cave but if you don't listen to any advice and any critics or you're like 'ha ha I don't care about those guys who don't like my levels' you will never learn, you will never progress" (Christophe Villedieu, Level Designer/Media Molecule, Video: Playmakers LittleBigPlanet2: Creativity Unleashed, Dec 2012)

What James FairBairn has stated here shows how creative people can be together, whether they're creating together or on their own but Christophe Villedieu proclaims how working with other people can benefit the Player, promoting teamwork and communication with others.
He also says how one should learn and progress with critique and advice, almost stating that one could always be better if they asked for a second opinion and further implementing how one can always ask for what can be improved, as to strive for something better.

"We realized it was that cycle of showing something off that really motivated and allowed people who didn't consider themselves creative to totally get motivated and make stuff" (Alex Evans, Technical Director/Media Molecule, Video: Playmakers LittleBigPlanet2: Creativity Unleashed, Dec 2012)

LittleBigPlanet is not just for those already creative - it teaches others to BE creative and encourages them to do so. The creative controls are the most basic things to get to grips with, thanks to the tutorials, and when used creatively, can create something marvelous in the Player's eyes.

"It doesn't make you sit on the sofa and watch it or interact with it, it actually takes you inside it and makes you contribute to it." (Kareem Ettouney, Art Director/Media Molecule, Video: Playmakers LittleBigPlanet2: Creativity Unleashed, Dec 2012)

Again, the player is not just creating something to share but to be a part of something far bigger than they anticipated. It's not a movie, it's not a program and it's not a game - it's an entire world getting bigger and bigger due to the contributing of Players all around the globe.

"If you can give somebody tools that make it feel like you're playing a game or that you're having fun then the learning is almost accidental" (Mark Healey, Creative Director/Media Molecule, Video: Playmakers LittleBigPlanet2: Creativity Unleashed, Dec 2012)

The learning is everything stated - it teaches the Player teamwork, co operation, creativity and contribution.

"It changes the console from being an entertainment device to an expressive tool" (Kareem Ettouney, Art Director/Media Molecule, Video: Playmakers LittleBigPlanet2: Creativity Unleashed, Dec 2012)

This could not have been stated in better words. LittleBigPlanet transforms a source of entertainment into a way Players can share their passion and ideas, transforming it into an art. It also points towards the fact that games have so much potential to be more than they are this day.

"...A computer can't say if art is amazing or not, only another human can" (John Beech, Level Designer/Media Molecule, Video: Playmakers LittleBigPlanet2: Creativity Unleashed, Dec 2012)

"All the LittleBigPlanet Community can be your friends! Get out there and be a part of it!"
(The King, LittleBigPlanet)

"...Everybody has a story to tell..."
(Kareem Ettouney, Art Director/Media Molecule, Video: Playmakers LittleBigPlanet2: Creativity Unleashed, Dec 2012)

More reasons to be  open about your creativity - Players can find other levels shared by the LittleBigPlanet Community, ones that appeal to them, and make friends that share similar ideas of being creative and even help give pointers and critique to others that can help them to improve and learn.


"They learn something and think 'this is amazing' and then just want to pass on that knowledge and I think that's something very inherently human really"
(Kengo Kurimoto, Level Design Lead/Media Molecule, Video: Playmakers LittleBigPlanet2: Creativity Unleashed, Dec 2012)


The game's main purpose strikes Players as sharing. This is big to the Player as the first LBP game's main enemy, The Collector, kidnapped the other Creators due to having no friends and ended up not sharing with the rest of Craftworld. Sharing has become a huge feature in the LBP series and, to younger players, influences them to be more open to sharing what they have with other people, and to also socialise with others.

I myself have played both LittleBigPlanet and LittleBigPlanet 2 and I have not just found an entertainment value from it - I found it more enjoyable to travel through these games with a companion, a second player. It helped us co operate and communicate to each other, something I would normally have trouble doing with other people. Although we aimed to get as many points as possible we would be teaming up together to complete the level, despite us battling against each other for the higher score.

Upon fighting against the Negativitron, we struggled on the second round for a good while but didn't stop. We had built up the will to try and try again, to pursue and push through to the end - to not give up. I believe that other players have also gained this motivation without realising it straight away, some maybe without realising it at all. We had also learnt from our previous failures and avoided repeating those actions when it became more clear to both of us, now using about trial and error more effectively to achieve our goal.

Building a level on one's own is not nearly as effective as building it with some one else - so my companion and I built one together. This meant that we could negotiate what to implement into the level, what would work well, what could be shifted and moved, what could be edited and what needed to be removed completely - we even got one of her friends to play through the level to see how effective it was upon completing it. The level worked well, for our first one, and even though we haven't picked up the game very recently we still intend to make something bigger and crazy.

LittleBigPlanet could also teach younger children about sharing, being creative, communicating and teamwork, because if late teen/early adult players could learn this by playing the game, why can't they? Children would find this very appealing as the game play is a simple side scroll that interacts with the foreground and background, it's colourful, humorous (facial expressions can also be performed upon the Player's character) and just imagine a group of young children working together to not only complete a level but to build one themselves.

In a very fitting final word, I will say that games can be used as more than entertainment and this was just by looking at the LittleBigPlanet series. Games have so much potential and only a few games, such as LBP, are scraping the surface of that something which could be the next big thing.