At the Game Developer’s Conference way back in 2007 Sony announced an upcoming service called Home. There were some features that were touted at GDC of that year, and some statements made that made fans speculate on other features. Home has been with us for a while now, starting with an open beta, and now an actual release. I got into the closed beta, socialized all through the open beta, so why is it that I could care less now?
When I was in college in 1997 – you know, way back when chat rooms were HUGE – Juno had this nifty little program in which you could create a comic book avatar of yourself, join a chat, and you and your chat partner could talk your way through various comic panels. I loved it, and I always wanted a huge 3D world in which to chat and socialize.
Second Life came along, and I loved the idea, but I could not, and still cannot, get past the poor graphics in some parts and the lag. When Home was announced, I was sure that it was finally going to happen. Technically, Home exceeds all of my desires from 1997. However, in the decade between college and Home, my expectations in technology have changed. So, what does Home have, and what is it missing?
- Good – Home is graphically beautiful. Because everything is so tightly controlled by Sony, there are really no issues with graphics and lag. It works quite well.
- Good – Sony is trying to roll out good content as quickly as possible. We get new spaces and games on a fairly consistent basis, and they even hosted a alternate-reality game last year that went quite well.
- Bad – Where’s the user content? Sony’s announcement at GDC ’07 promised user-created content. I understand the need to keep a tight grip on the servers, but there are ways to control content, yet still allow it. In Second Life, table-top gamers are hosting entire Dungeons and Dragons sessions in game. The most I can get out of Home is to go and see how my virtual friend decorated his house.
- Bad – Why so many sponsorship spaces? I’m sure that most gamers get excited just hear the words “red bull,” but I’m not so certain that we want to see an entire space in Home for it, before we get other cool spaces – say a Silent Hill one…
- Ugly – Is the Home network so clogged, that the mini-games only have a small amount of playable slots? This it the honest-to-God truth:the Siren space released in early May of 2009. Since the release day of that space, I have tried almost daily (up until about two months ago) to get into the Ward of Despair mini-game, without success. There is a line of people waiting to get in.
- Ugly – Where’s all the media that we were expecting? Why can I not go to the theatre in Home and rent a movie? That was an early promise of the service.
Home has a lot of potential. I know that Sony wants to make sure that things are done right, but gamers will not wait around forever for you to get it right (unless you are Duke Nukem, apparently). I want to like Home. I want to use it. However, when I log in, I get so bored that the most exciting thing to do is share the same spot with female avatar and start one of the dance types. It totally looks like you’re humping them. There, I’ve admitted it. I have resorted to virtual, unwanted, humping because Home bores the crap out of me.
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