“N+,” the game that produced Multiplayer’s first Enemy of the Week, was always intended to let players upload custom levels for anyone to download, but Microsoft nixed the feature at the last second.
The decision was so last second, in fact, the version of “N+” available on Partnernet, a test version of Xbox Live that publishers and select media can access, actually includes this feature. We wondered why a small studio like Metanet Software would bother investing in such an ambitious feature if they had any suspicions it wouldn’t make the cut.
They told us that up until a few months ago, they had every belief it would. We asked Microsoft to explain the late change, and they released this statement over email:
“We do not discuss our contracts with partners. Game development is a complex business; however, we work closely with developers and publishing partners on solutions for any development issues. Microsoft is committed to bringing the best games to Xbox 360.”
The games developers, however, were willing to provide some details. “We were devastated to learn we couldn’t include that functionality,” said Metanet co-founder (and, thus, co-creator of the original “N”) Mare Sheppard to us over e-mail. “It’s a huge disappointment, and we had to settle for at least some level-sharing while we wait. We hoped fans could deal with creating and sharing levels only with friends until we get to re-enable the full level sharing functionality, someday.”
Custom levels are currently shared by joining a multiplayer session and downloading from the host. There’s nothing preventing users from creating an offensive level design (i.e. obligatory genital references, swastikas, etc.), but the current restrictions effectively limits distribution to private games. This presents enormous obstacles for gamers serious about developing new content for “N+,” as there’s almost no way to release it without relying on word-of-mouth.
Couldn’t Microsoft just hire a few moderators to police content? Read on to find out why Metanet discovered it’s a little more complicated than that.
At Microsoft’s developer-oriented Gamefest last August, I realized how much confusion user-generated content is causing at Microsoft. It almost stopped fellow XBL Arcade title “Band of Bugs” from having a level editor. Monitoring community content using “Forza Motorsport 2″’s car editing features has given Turn 10 headaches. And there’s a good chance “Unreal Tournament III” will arrive on Xbox 360 sans freely downloadable user-generated content, due to Microsoft’s reluctance to loosen the reigns.
On a technical level, Microsoft doesn’t have an easy way to remove individual bits of content. As Sheppard understands it, if a user produces content that’s deemed inappropriate, the only way to fully remove it from the community is by deleting (or temporarily banning, as is usually the case) the actual user. The “Forza Motorsport 2″ team admitted at Gamefest that they faced this issue all the time, but the benefits outweighed frustration.
“If you invest in your community, you community will invest in your game. If you give people the capacity to innovate, they will,” said Turn 10’s Brian Spanton.
At first, Microsoft requested that Metanet and collaborator Slick Entertainment try including restrictions in “N+”’s level editor that would automatically censor offensive content. “We’d been arguing back and forth on that,” she said. “It was requested that we try to restrict our level editor so it was impossible for users to write swear words or draw, say, penises. Fortunately, we were able to explain that it was impossible to do that without crippling the editor to the point of uselessness.”
Sticking to their guns, however, ultimately backfired. Late last fall, as Metanet approached the finish line with “N+,” Microsoft told Sheppard to remove the ability to freely upload custom levels into a communal space. It was the first time Sheppard became fully aware of Microsoft’s tepidness to user generated content, but she was told that Microsoft does have a team actively working on a toolset that would allow games — down the line, anyway — to incorporate more user generated content.
Sheppard hopes Metanet can eventually release a title update for “N+” that enables online sharing.
“I really hope that team [at Microsoft] figures everything out, soon — it’s such a blow to ‘N+,’ and no doubt tons of other games,” said Sheppard. Her team has been told the tools should be finished sometime late this year, but nothing’s set in stone.
Microsoft has also said Community Games, their XNA-powered attempt to create a YouTube for games, is slated for later this year.
Readers, do you want to create? After all, these hotly debated points of contention are all about one person: you.
Have a hot tip? Is there a topic that Multiplayer should be covering and isn’t? Maybe you just want to swap online war stories. Either way, drop me an e-mail.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
This is very disappointing. As a strong 360 supporter the more I hear about how MS is handling this user generated content is really turning me off the system. The canned PR response was enough to make me want to vomit!
Sony is going in the opposite direction and actually delivering all the “openness” that MS promised at it’s launch. I hope Sony continues this because it is enough to convert a one console owner like myself from the 360 to PS3.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:03 am
This whole controversy over user-generated content really confuses me, because the solution seems so simple in my mind. How is this any different than, say, YouTube?
If something is inappropriate, you should have the ability to flag it as such. Flagged items get reviewed and pulled if necessary. If something is flagged enough times by different people, it’s pulled automatically. If a particular user has their content pulled enough times, they get the same treatment as if they were violating the Terms of Use, which they are. Temporary ban, longer temporary ban, etc.
What about the kids, you ask? You have the ability to block friends requests, messages, voice chat and pictures/video on a child’s account, right? Add the option to block user-generated content. Done.
I don’t understand why this is so difficult…
March 1st, 2008 at 6:15 am
To Shafnitz:
I totally agree with you.
I think the “youtube-way” is a good and almost democratic way to
handle inappropriate content - and furthermore, regarding the size and success of youtube, it IS obviously working!
Given the size and experience of MS one can only wonder why they have such a problem with this subject…
Finally I think this is a very sensible and most important subject in the future: to control any contribution in any virtual surrounding without jeopardizing the personal freedom .
We will see how they/we manage…
March 1st, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I’m sorry, maybe I missed it, but how exactly do you share N+ levels with friends? I tried starting a co-op game with the custom level, but that didn’t make the level save to my friend’s box. Did I just overlook a step of this process? Any help would be appreciated!
March 1st, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Comments on this here are dead on, in my opinion.
Some of the quotes here, particularly about Forza 2, seem to imply that portions of LIVE were simply not created to properly accomodate this. I really hope this is something they fix SOON. It would be awesome if Metanet was given an opportunity to simply patch it back into the game.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:09 pm
As a software system designer, sounds to me the reason they don’t allow it is pretty simple. MS is probably missing a few things in the system and I’m guessing they are frantically trying to address this quickly. They are missing a way to uniquely identify content and a way to mark content as inappropriate (which in essence would shutdown all uses of that content). I’m guessing they just hadn’t thought of it in the latest iterations of Live. Fro managability issues this has to be a Live wide system, not per game. Otherwise that is just too much work for both MS and/or the game makers (e.g. Turn 10).
This isn’t the same as, say, YouTube videos. Microsoft CAN uniquely identify and pull down games (say bad demo, or so)…that is more like YouTube. User generated content in game is different. What MS will do is create some libraries that all games with user generated content MUST implement. That library will properly wrap the user generated content with unique identifies and ability to pull (maybe even allow gamers to rate the appropriateness of the content).
SO, I don’t believe MS is trying to prevent anything, they just need to build the system and tools for it. What is more curious is why they aren’t talking about the issue and letting people know more openly that the issue is in fact being addressed.
And let’s be clear, as much as everyone says the PS3 is more open, there are more games on the 360 that allow for user generated content than on the PS3. Yes, it is more restricted (ie no Unreal 3 mods), but MS DOES want it, they are just figured it out. Which brings me to Halo 3 and the Forge…remember MS has commonly used Halo as the game to test new Live features. Expect their learnings from Halo 3 (and Forza 2), to be strong learning/starting points.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Very interesting points Joe, thanks. Makes me wonder though, if it’s the case, why Microsoft doesn’t admit this and save themselves a PR headache.