EA clamps down on Sporn

Author: Harry Butler
Published: 1st August 2008

EA do not approve of such "juvenile" creations

When you give gamers the opportunity to create creatures of any shape and size, it was only inevitable that the juvenile teenager inside us all would rear his spotty head and start drawing knobs.

When the Spore Creature Creator first hit over a month ago, YouTube was soon flooded with penis, testicle and boob monsters and for a time it was funny, but then we all got bored of the joke and moved on to the next internet comedy masterpiece.

However, it now seems as though Spore publisher EA has finally decided to act against the (sadly still) growing army of phallic monstrosities, and are working with YouTube to begin removing the offensive beasties from the net.

"User-created content gives players total control over their game experience and empowers them to express their creativity in ways that they never thought possible," said Lucy Bradshaw, Spore's executive producer."[but] whether it's modelling clay, dolls or crayons, a small number of people can be counted on to use it for something vulgar."

Under the new system, players' YouTube and ingame Spore accounts will first be warned, then suspended and then finally removed if players continue to post offensive material to the video sharing website, and in anticipation for the galaxy full of "inappropriate" creations, EA have implemented the ability in Spore for you to chose what other creatures inhabit your in game universe, rather than sharing the universe with everyone elses creations, which was one of the great ideals behind the game in the first place.

Are EA right to censor users' Spore creations? Will a universe of penis monsters spoil the game? Can gamers be trusted with such a high degree of creative freedom? Let us know what you think in the forums.