Little Big Planet's Gameplay
Monday, September 14, 2009 by Anonymous
“Since its launch last October, LittleBigPlanet has been widely praised and critically acclaimed with more than 80 industry awards worldwide, 15 of which have been for Game of the Year categories, with awards ranging from the top gaming critics to prestigious organizations such as the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) and The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)” (Reuters Tue Sep 8, 2009) http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS196458+08-Sep-2009+PRN20090908
The success of LittleBigPlanet comes from the outstanding game design that elevates the level of interactivity with local and online game play, the realistic “textile” feel of the 3D graphics, and most importantly as I argue, the encouragement of cross-gender competition.
I think LittleBigPlanet distances itself from the negative factors that Tilo Hartmann and Christoph Klitmmt had found, which deters females from certain games. These factors include the negative representations of females in games, which is stereotypical and sexually objectifying, violence in games, lack of social interaction in “action” games and the competitive nature of many games.
LittleBigPlanet give players the flexibility to decorate their own characters, therefore all characters are personalized to the players own taste, avoiding possible offensive stereotypes. Since players compete through a series of “puzzles”, violence (compared to action games) is at a negligible level. Social interaction plays an important part in LittleBigPlanet, players must work together on certain tasks in order to level, and one’s game play will have a dramatic supporting or opposing effect on the other player(s).