Noby Noby's Takahashi: User-Generated Content Becoming 'Almost A Norm'

Author: by Staff

Noby Noby/Katamari creator Keita Takahashi has been discussing the rise of user-created content in games like LittleBigPlanet, praising it but cautioning on players' levels that copy other games as "not really... creation." The comments came as part of a wider Gamasutra interview in which the Namco Bandai designer discussed his work so far, aided by a packet of markers and a pad of drawing paper that we brought to the famously recalcitrant creator's interview to help inspire him. The particular user-generated content comments came as part of the following subsection of the interview: "Christian Nutt: A game like LittleBigPlanet that allows people to actually contribute back to the game -- is that something that you find interesting? Keita Takahashi: I find that somewhat interesting. Mathew Kumar: Do you think that would be something you'd want to do in the future -- give people the opportunity to create things for other people within the spaces you create in games? KT: User-created content is somewhat becoming almost a norm, so I do believe that's the direction that I would end up going. CN: Do you think that there's a different approach that could be taken towards it that's maybe not so... People in LittleBigPlanet are creating levels; it's involved. People can't all contribute; it limits the audience to an extent. Do you think there's a better way for fans to collaborate? KT: I do believe that contributing by creating levels is very challenging for many people, and I do believe, yes, that something that would be easier for people to collaborate and create fun together -- that's something that I definitely want. But a question to that question would be, how is that being accepted by the user community for LittleBigPlanet? CN: I think it's being accepted quite well, in terms of a lot of people contributing. MK: One of the things that I noticed about LittleBigPlanet is that most people want to remake other games' levels. Do you think that people within the games industry and also people that play games concentrate too much on games' histories rather than looking at films or art -- or parks, for example? KT: I can't quite put the thought together, but the thing that I don't like about how those games are is that you provide an environment where the players can create their own content, but at the end what do you get? You basically have people just copying what they saw on some other media, and that's something that you cannot really call creation. So that's what bothers me a bit." The full interview with Namco Bandai's Keita Takahashi is now available on Gamasutra, including lots more of his unorthodox thoughts on games, life, and creativity.