A cornerstone of PlayStation 3 platformer LittleBigPlanet is the powerful level-design tool that lets players create their own worlds and share them with friends, but early reports from users indicate Sony might be banning levels with "questionable" content.

Even worse, when Sony deletes a user-created level for copyright infringement or a similar infraction, they do so without warning. It's miffed more than a few LBP players, who have taken their complaints online at the game's official forums. Their number one complaint? That Sony eliminates the level outright, instead of allowing players to simply remove the portion of the level that is in violation of the rules

"If a level is found to be in violation of the EULA it will be moderated," said the game's senior community development via a forum response. "We're moving towards a system where additional information is given, however for the time being if you don't want your level moderating avoid anything unsuitable for users of all ages and copyright content."

If you are the target of an ban, your level will remain on the PS3 hard drive, but Sony will not allow you to upload the offending level again.

As Wired notes, many Sony partners are trying to get "official" characters and settings incorporated into the LBP universe, for a price, and this user-generated stuff is cutting into their business.

This is the second time controversy has visited the LittleBigPlanet world in the past three weeks. In late October, the game was pulled from store shelves in a massive worldwide recall, triggered by a musical track that featured passages from the Quran.