Last month, Jude Fiorillo wrote about a new video game called Spore. Spore was created by EA and is unique because it lets gamers participate in the design process of the game. Users get to create their own detailed characters from scratch. As mentioned in Jude’s blog, this feature was pre-released to give gamers a sneak peak of the game and to get some early feedback. In addition to creating new characters, users are encouraged to share their new creations via YouTube.

An article on CNN.com today announced some recent developments in this story. There has been widespread participation in the game’s pre-release. This comes with an interesting twist though: Along with the normal characters created and shared on YouTube, many people have created pornographic characters also known as “sporn”. For a more detailed (and vulgar) description of the “sporn,” see the CNN article. YouTube and EA have already removed most of the pornographic content from YouTube. This was achieved with the help of the YouTube community, which has the ability to flag content that they feel is inappropriate.

Whenever users are given the freedom to create what ever they want, it is clear that they will do just that. This is always a risk when initiating an open source project. Luckily an open source community is just that: a community. Community members monitor the content, and keep the environment enjoyable for all. This is why Wikipedia and YouTube have been so successful. Administrators are necessary to have the final say in what content stays and what goes, but it is largely a community affair, which is nice to see.

It is upsetting that a few perverted minds have tried to ruin the fun for all, but it is great to see the greater open source community triumph over the few social deviants.