Is there no middle ground with Home?
The sharp responses from both sides of the spectrum to my written experiences in Home have suggested this. Either you understand Home or you don't. Either you spend a lengthy amount of time within Home or you don't use it at all.
For more than a year, I was on the latter side. My Life In Home is about trying to understand what makes Home tick with the users who defend it. If I'm not a Home devotee by the end of this (whenever that is), that's not a big deal. I want to understand why other people are so into it.
Home does inspire devotion in some users. In some cases, it's a slavish attention to detail when it comes to costume manipulation. In others, it's about constructing a nearly 80-page online magazine dedicated to covering the cultural side of Home and the people driving its creation.
No, I'm not kidding.
HomeStyle Magazine, currently on its 78-page second issue, is a virtual publication launched last October by user NJRAMAL. The magazine promises "engaging, entertaining and comprehensive articles that cover all aspects of PlayStation Home through insider insights, fashion tips for our avatars and user reviews." Based on my perusal of the latest issue, HomeStyle Magazine provides keen insight into what Home users are actually doing with their time in Home. For a service that's been maligned by most of my peers, it's fairly shocking.
Who knew there were DJ competitions (with PSN card prizes), friendly rivalries over having the best "Home crib," fashion shows between community members, and controversies over glitch removals?
"Sony cant [sic] keep a good glitcher down, as the 1.3 update ended many of the old glitches that some of the Home community enjoyed," reads a section about the known glitches in Home, followed by an interview with a so-called leader of the glitchers, Elite_Shadow_AC. "Although the community adapted found [sic] new ways and glitched on. Glitching was not dead as so many had feared."
According to Elite_Shadow_AC, there's an "art of glitching" that's learned by observing the ability for others to find themselves doing things within Home that shouldn't be allowed (i.e. popping up on the roofs of buildings, standing on benches, etc.). Elite_Shadow_AC's online name is actually related to his glitching hobbies within Home, too. "Elite Shadow" refers to a specific group of glitchers. "Gods of Glitching" and "Exodus" are apparently two other organizations within Home dedicated to glitching.
There are even temporary "jail cells" that Home moderators can dump glitchers into, which Elite_Shadow_AC dismissed as a lost cause, as the user is only detained for 20-30 seconds.
If you're interested in learning more, HomeStyle Magazine includes several essays outlining the recent patch's effects on glitchers in the latest issue, each penned by a known glitcher in the community.
"After the 1.3 update hit the glitching community we knew it was the end of glitches as we knew it," wrote Home community member kev99gh in one commentary, "and a new way of glitching was born."
HomeStyle Magazine also includes humorous advertisements for the wares Sony's sells in their stores.
If I've learned anything the last few weeks, just wandering around Home doesn't appear to do the service justice. That's Sony's fault. The amount of effort spent producing HomeStyle Magazine highlights a selection of users expanding what's capable of Home, even if Sony doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot to encourage or highlight it. If users will do it for them, however, maybe that's the point. But if you, like me, wondered what going on beneath the surface in Home, this is your answer.
You can keep up with HomeStyle Magazine through the official website.
- My Life In Home, Vol. 1 -- Coming Back After A Year Away From Home
- My Life In Home, Vol. 2 -- The Chat Room Theory
Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter.
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Comments
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Elite_Shadow_FEC
I believe according to my article on glitching featured in HOMEstyle MAGAZINE# 2.That glitching is a BIG part of the PlayStation HOME community.It's something that fasinate's many"NEW HOME USERS."Seeing people climb on rails or benches or stuff out of the ordinary opens a whole new world of adventure and exploration for the "NEW" user.Glitching is best described as an "Art" as mentioned in my article.When i first became a PlayStation Network User about a year ago i was intrigued by "Glitchers." Wanting to learn more about glitching, I started observing others glitchers and my passion for glitching began to grow and i went from there.Sure there's mini games and gaming spaces, but i beleive if you enjoy glitching...It is a good way to meet new friends that enjoy it also.Besides glitching, theres so many other things you can enjoy doing as our HOMEstyle Magazine mentions. From Night Life to Dance party's and Live Dj'ng, from Fashion Tips to glitching. HOME is and exciting expirience if you take the time to learn your way around.
As Patrick Klepek mentions"Either your into HOME or your NOT. I honestly believe in order to have an opinion of HOME life you really have to get involved.Introduce self, meet new people,ask questions get to know HOME and the users. Visit the forums on www.playstationblog.com if you want an deeper insight.Wandering about home won't get you no where. You have to get involved within the HOME community.PS HOME has come a long way from "Open Beta Status" and HOMEstyle MAGAZINE is gaurenteed to "Cover" all aspects of home.To find out and get involved more in the HOME community you can also visit sights like www.playatstationhometoday.com Make new friends and find out whats going on within the home community.Look me up if your a "New HOME User" Ill give you a real tour of home.Dont forget to keep reading HOMEstyle Magazine and check out our latest issue of HSM#3 online now.http://homestlyesmagazine. com I want to give a special shout out to the "Elite Shadows" i love you guys. and to ALL the HSM staff for doin a great job! and a special thanks to NJRAMAL and Misscooco_909 for all thier hard work and dedication, and thanks to our loyal readers of HOMEstyle MAGAZINE. Without you we are nothing! Thanks for your support dont forget to leave your feedback and comments on our latest issue of HSM#3.
KentuckyRanger
Home reminds me of Second Life.
Both take up more HDD space than it's worth.
I'd rather use my HDD space for Mods and Demos.
I guess I'm not one of those that "get it"...
ed123456
what is this magizene about?
cardinalsfan1122
I think you either love it or hate it. But it definately has potential to be a powerhouse social networking device. If sony keeps adding more and more i think it will just increase in popularity and appeal to more audiences as a place were you can go hang out with friends on your ps3 when you might not be able to do it in real life.
Wolfknuck
wow
PYDAMAN
for me in a nutshell home i fun..you can go socialize with a bunch of people or argue with a troll or my personal fav watch guys get rejected trying to talk to girls LMAO one time a goup of girls were dancing and a uy ran up to them and one of the girls instantly typed NO and he left lol he didnt even get to say anything. But i like meeting new people home is entertaining when ur bored a home on the weekends with no money to go out you'll find some freinds on home...
Elite_Shadow_JQ
wow.yea what Elite_Shadow_MB said.thats just the way it is.and of coarse socializing with the best family around home,ELITE,got to love them all
Elite_Shadow_MB
wow, i had a very good paragraph i had wrote for this...but it didn`t stick so i`ll just say this. Yes we play mini games too and glitch. Minigames are fun with unlockables and great party entertainers. Glitching is most what we do when in Home so don`t get us wrong. We just like glitching it better for most our time online in home.
Elite_Shadow_MB
Glitching is part of what we do in Home. Yes we play the mini games because they are fun and we get unlockables (item or clothes) with some. The challenge is to get the unlockables and have fun doing it as well with glitching. Knowing we can get across the fence or out the map is other peoples fun. testing the boundaries within the limits or outside the box. Some don`t like to be caged in. lol
NJRAMAL
Thank you for choosing to feature our magazine. None of us are professionals and we are learning as we go. Our goal at HOMEstyle MAGAZINE is to provide a place where people can come to find out about things in PS HOME that they may not have known otherwise. We have a brand new website that I would like for you guys to check out.
For me HOME is a place where I have made real friends. It has also been a creative outlet for me as I have been creating and promoting events, activities, and projects since I first came there. I love HOME and offer to show any of you my reasons for faithfully returning since 08. Feel free to shoot me a message on the psn to NJRAMAL and we can hit a nightclub or two with live DJ's!
talonk451
At some point I would like to own a PS3, so learning about the experience of someone else getting to know home is very helpful. It sounds like something I would like to explore and try out, though I don't know in the end how often I would get to use it, but it's still another thing I would like to experience.
I for one enjoy reading your articles, and hope you continue. Thank you for allowing me to live vicariously through you.
tsep23
TangoAlphaLima,
Home is not a game. There are games within Home (poker, racing, guitar hero, air racing, chess, driving range, sodium, ext.) but Home itself is not a game. I go on Home to talk to other folks about games and to meet people to play games. Finding folks for the spec ops in MW2 has been one of the things I've used it for. I like going on there and exploring the worlds too. As for the glitches, I haven't messed around with them much but some of them are actually pretty fun.
angrycowtipper
Is this the final installment? I'm crossing my fingers
vinny87
I honestly thought that Home was doomed to failure thanks to you naysayers in the game media. You called it stupid, a ripoff of Nintendo's Mii thing and you said that the only thing you can do is buy stupid clothes and stupid virtual goods for your Avatar. Well Patrick I agreed with everything. I went in during the Beta, (Isn't it still technically in Beta?) and found it to be a complete waste of time. It did expand a lot since I last checked it out but it's still surprising people actually use it in numbers. I guess we should have realized that people liked it when third parties were jumping at the chance to put Rooms there.
Adampro123
Whenever i went on home i couldn't play any of the games because others were playing it and i couldn't get anyone to talk to me.also i didn't have a keybord or mic so it wasn't too great though i think its a nice little feature.
Oddreign
Home is gonna stay. I doubt that Sony would just scrap it on a whim especially after developing it this much.
What they should have scrapped was the PSP Go. They should have listened to what the people wanted and gave them the second analog stick.
Sony tradition is held bent on innovation no matter how drastic. In true fashion I believe that PSN Home will be a mainstay of the console and might only be shut down years after the PS3 is obsolete. Sort of like Phantasy Star Servers for the Dreamcast which shut down long after the Dreamcast died.
Neverrain
Damn, I didn't even know there was a Home Online Magazine. This 'My Life With Home' piece is revealing a lot of different things to me. I go in Home, but I guess I am not active in Home.......I think if Home hasn't blew up already, I think the "pilot to bombardier" "pilot to bombardier" "bombs away!" single will be called very soon.
SirCitadel
Well, i dont think there is anything to 'get.' if its not for you, its not for you. its not for me, so i stay off it. have you guys seen that terrible movie 'gamer' ??? that creepy 'society' place was pretty much home in real life. people took jobs as OTHER people's avatars. it was a place where people could do/say whatever they wanted without sacrificing their anonymity.
honestly pat, you are starting to sound like the crocodile hunter... "Oi! here i am in the dense playstation intawebs, and ive come across a pack of wild home users. oh boy, look at this beaut! lets go in for a betta look, i really want to see what makes em' tick!"
try not to get stabbed. ...oh, was that too soon? :)
ADAMPwns
I'd like to note that AC is a her, not a him.
incredibilistic
Good article. Magazine was interesting. Could use a few layout tweaks but otherwise it's well done.
Still, I think the idea of Home should be scraped and Sony replace those dead-eyed mannequins with Sackboys. I think more people would actually be interested and actually care about their online avatar. I think the reason MS is successful is because the avatars weren't meant to look EXACTLY like you but more of a characiture of yourself. Those creepy, stiff walking avatars in Home just don't look like fun.
If they replaced them with Sackboys and make the environments you traverse more fun than realistic I think Home could be a commercial success. As it stands it's basically just a waste of time and resources.
Sorry Home fans. By the way I'm a devout PS3 owner.
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