There have been some concerns recently that LittleBigPlanet was not going to be the happy, user-centric, whimsical experience it was promised to be. Rumor had circulated that user-generated levels for the new title could possibly be pay-to-play, rather than the free download everyone had been expecting. Today Sony and Media Molecule took a moment to squash speculation... sort of.

The companies are promising that all user content will be free "at launch," meaning that while gamers won’t have to pay up front, Sony is leaving the door open to changes down the line. Said a Sony representative:

"We know how important that is to the LBP community and what we want most is for people to enjoy playing, creating and sharing their content... Any decisions that are taken to evolve LBP in the future, will include the community and focus purely on enhancing the user experience."

So from the looks of things, you don’t yet have to worry about yet another stream of downloadable content crippling your wallet like Rock Band’s weekly new music releases. While Sony has not ruled out the possibility of eventually charging for user-created content, at least now the game won’t be crippled by a lot of wannabe developers trying to put a price tag on their various efforts to make penis-shaped levels. I know, I know, there are going to be some genuinely great stages created for LittleBigPlanet, but you know how things like these go; we gamers are an immature lot.