Week 7 – Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet

I found Grimes’ discussion of the LittleBigPlanet video game and its ability to generate a ‘cultural scene’ (Grimes Sara M., 2015, p.379) very intriguing. I previously knew that many video games and consoles themselves promote social interaction amongst users or players. However, the LittleBigPlanet game appears to cause this social engagement to rise to the next level through forums, sharing of user-generated content (UGC), persuading users to comment on and rate UGC, and influencing occurrences of social events or activities (Grimes Sara M., 2015, p.382). Something that I found even more interesting is how the Media Molecule company manipulates players and fans to effectively advertise the LittleBigPlanet game for them by providing players with a ‘Fansite Kit’ (Grimes Sara M., 2015, p.383), which is “brand-consistent” (Grimes Sara M., 2015, p.383). While the company exerts substantial control over players’ creations and players are unable to tinker with the code of the game, I agree with Westecott’s assertion that the game’s features are valuable for players as these features reflect “DIY and maker movements” (Grimes Sara M., 2015, p.384). I believe that the game’s ability to provide “empowerment” (Grimes Sara M., 2015, p.384) for players outweighs the level of control the company implements.   

References

Grimes, Sara M. (2015) Little Big Scene: Making and playing culture in Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet. Cultural Studies 29(3): 379-400.

- Alicja