LittleBigPlanet
Despite the charming campaigns that each LittleBigPlanet brought us, it was the creation tools that really built up the communities around each game. Each entry saw a ton of awesome paid for content, modelled after franchises such as Metal Gear Solid, Assassin’s Creed, and The Incredibles. While the costumes and stickers themselves weren’t all that special, what they meant for the user-created content certainly was.
Each new pack inspired hundreds of new themed user-created levels, breathing new life into the game. The Metal Gear Solid Pack, in particular, sparked a new emphasis on stealth-driven levels, something which, up to that point, had been largely a niche space within the community. Seeing the complex and increasingly convoluted narrative of Metal Gear condensed into a five-minute level built out of arts and crafts is a true joy to behold and shows that microtransactions can indeed give us something good.
