PlayStation Home-less

In September it was confirmed that Sony would make the much maligned “PlayStation Home” well evicted and as of November 2014 they ceased publishing any new content for their “unique” social gaming platform. It’s fair to say that upon the announcement, in an emotive state of *cough* debilitating grief, I may have appraised its demise with remiss discourtesy, much to no ones chagrin or surprise. My diminished bereavement manifested as unsympathetic nonchalance and I was just as underwhelmed by its cessation as I was by the liberal deterioration of Adam Sandler’s career. By my own admission I didn’t conduct my acquittal with a great deal of sensitivity or sincerity, as to my consternation this is still a modestly popular visitation for gamers! So as I stare out into the horizon watching the generated sun cascading off the reflective modesty of the sea, idly receptive to a man garbed in a vibrant throng of studded crystals, braced on the back of a Velociraptor and another encompassing the beach exposing his foetus torso, I ruminate just how enamoured this vestigial residence was.

Any time exhausted in this artificial forum is largely spent jarred by the delirious resonance of the environment and conversations that emit as colour coordinated speech bubbles. It’s like attending a party hosted by Russell Brand, while the suppository of attendees interact in the most arbitrary fashion. Communicating via interpretative dance, or any of the other variant gestures, interspersed with introverted conversations that extend to little more than “Hello”, “Do you like games?” “I like Games” which is still such a repellent notion to me. The ambiguity of the communal society kind of defined the way other collaborators perceived you too, and in turn how they responded, confined by the inefficient keyboard attenuated by a control pad that lacked the immediate response you’d expect from a conversation. You were reduced to simple brevity of connectivity, with the most nuanced diplomacy consisting of regulated courtesies, abbreviated context, gestural verbalization’s and moreover, male gamers flirting unsuccessfully with female depicted characters, that were invariably men. There was always the option of purchasing peripheral devices or headsets to communicate efficiently, but why bother when money could be spent on games?

“If Home didn’t nothing else, it at least rendered resplendent vistas.”

There was an absence in levity as it felt predominately like negotiating through giant billboard that lavished praise on everything Sony. It was rather exciting to own an apartment that I could decorate to my taste, furnishing it with all the frivolity of eccentricity. I’m still incredibly infused about my ornate popcorn machine! But it felt negated by premium content and micro transactions. I’m not going to spend real money on fictional extravagances to decorate a faux residence for a spurious character that resembles my foot more than me! I’m a valid consumer! I’ve already purchased your console and software, there’s no need to grapple me and shack more loose change out of my pockets! From my specious examination, the numerable community that still populate these facilities didn’t want to purchase additional clothing or play mini games that looked as though they had been rendered by a bored librarian, they wanted to discuss games. Their accomplishments, their failings, their experiences. Home kind of became a domesticated habitation of absurd subservience, populated by only the most dedicated gamers providing a contrasting, less aggressive citizenship than more contemporary interactivity. And to a degree Home’s overture in retaining a sustainable and more importantly lucrative community, that was prepared to engage with one another, while permitting certain micro transactions along the way, was largely a successful venture and certainly not the failure it has been presented as. It is after all the most popularised MMO on any console!

“The truth is, most gamers had said goodbye some time ago.”

Time surveying the innumerable ancillaries of Home, in a minor capacity granted, my opinion on its origins differs greatly from some annalists, though I’m certain I’m not the first to of made the distinction. People (those guys again!) claim that PlayStation Home was a “social experiment”, whatever that means. Personally, I don’t think they knew what they were doing. Maybe they peered over the fabricated partitions in the industry and saw the success of “Second Life” thinking “Yeah, let’s do that!”. But more than likely Sony observed the potential in a sustainable source of equity, thereby commissioning Home to generate subsidised affluence to a company at that time, high on its own prosperity. And with productivity reaching triple figures to meekly imply that Home was merely a derisive, analytical observation of human interaction rather mitigates its impact. But for most, myself included, it never elevated beyond a curiosity. Development was negligible, arrested by a total latency in directory organisation. Conceptually it had no idea what it was trying to exert? Was it a communal interpretation of social communication? Meditative collusion between Sony’s ambitious provocations and hubris? Or simply a bulbous commercial for Sony? *Shrugs shoulders*

What can be derived from this mesh of rambling conjecture is that Home was a surreptitious triumph, if an elaborate service that lacked the conviction of its capricious flights of whimsy. It was an experimentation that verged on the crevice of contemporary success, but never discovered permanent momentum to tilt it into mainstream commercialism. Perhaps the advent of smartphones and the sovereignty of mobility could have provided immediate accessibility to gamers cursory fleets of socialism, hopefully not hampered by the pronounced loading times that afflicted the main utility. Perhaps its a construct that will be imitated in years to come, owing cordial commemoration to the methane laced narcotic that was Home; boring yet compelling. There is no affectionate way for me to end this article, Home was a subordinate burden that failed to replicate the expeditious rhythm you’d expect from conversing. A forgotten relic of the PS3, Home will forever be remembered as, Um? Actually, it won’t!

What did you think of PlayStation Home?