I was in Home, chatting to some people I'd never met and I thought "where have I spoken to people I don't know through the Internet before?"

I pondered it for a while and then I remembered; I regularly speak to people I don't know on Internet message boards. Sometimes I defend the fact there's no point in Home on Internet message boards. Other times I chat with strangers about how there's nothing to do in Home on Internet message boards.

Then I figured something out, commanded my Home avatar to shake his head and went and played a few rounds of bowling with my new digital friends.

Now who's up for some Internet message board bowling while we chat?

Oh... I see.

I was in Home, chatting to some people I'd never met and I thought "where have I spoken to people I don't know through the Internet before?"

I pondered it for a while and then I remembered; I regularly speak to people I don't know on Internet message boards. Sometimes I defend the fact there's no point in Home on Internet message boards. Other times I chat with strangers about how there's nothing to do in Home on Internet message boards.

Then I figured something out, commanded my Home avatar to shake his head and went and played a few rounds of bowling with my new digital friends.

Now who's up for some Internet message board bowling while we chat?

Oh... I see.

Eh. :)

Did you get orally raped?  That's what home is all about and David Jaffe is 100% behind it.

Message boards have a log that we can look things up and have individual threads for discussion. HOME just seems like a big chat room.

"Message boards have a log that we can look things up and have individual threads for discussion. HOME just seems like a big chat room."

I think that in essence home is what sony wanted it to be or the foundation is there for it to be that, i just got caught up in wanting it to impliment all the conveniences that xbox live had as far as quick joining games from friends lists without aready being in the game, out of game chats while your playing games and what not. I guess i was also disapointed that the game party system doesnt even project over to the xmb so yeah, what do you want from me sony.

Yesterday I found some football fans discussing the playoffs and upcoming games. I walked up and eased my way into their conversation. At the mall one time, I found this dude preaching political propaganda. I stood there and listened to the guy for a bit. It felt like a political rally, it was immersive and interesting. People gathered around and jumped at the chance to agree and disagree. So used intelligently, Home is a pretty sweet source of information as well.

I like the forums more than the chat room style because I can easily scroll up in each individual thread and see how the discussion started and evolved as people talked and shared ideas. There are simple buttons to quote people and edit or own post, so that everybody is up to date the discussion even if we are late in reading the thread.

I mostly use aim or msn for friends I know and not random strangers.

Still overall, I like Home even in its chat room based format it has now. However the state that its in right now seems like a party where the host just provided a big room for people to hang out, but not much activities. Like Ryan said on the Podcast, waiting in line to play a game of bowling shouldn't be happening. At least let me have a friggin stereo or TV in my HOME apartment so there is something for me to do besides watch ads and try to get my charactor to perform oral on others.

And because of the chatroom based format, it seems like a party atmosphere where you can have some good conversations if you are there to start them. However just like a party atmosphere, you only get a snippet of the overall conversation when you join in on other conversations already taking place (that dont happen in forums).

listening to random dudes preach propaganda is entertainment?  ROFL talk about being desperate for something

Glad that a virtual bowling alley helps you figure things out in life. lol

"listening to random dudes preach propaganda is entertainment?  ROFL talk about being desperate for something"

It IS fucking pointless.

I spend maybe 10 minutes on giantbomb reading posts just to get caught up with news of the world and shit.
And on MSN or facebook I'm talking to PEOPLE I KNOW, who I have shit to settle with. There is shit to be done on these sites/applications. I don't go fiddly fucking around on facebook talking to people I don't know, or adding people to MSN I don't know and talking to them. That would be pointless. Like home. Complete waste of time. It's just Habbo Hotel but worse.

The problem is the spectrum of people you ge. Arkthemaniac is complaining about nothing compared to some people you get in home!

"Hexpane said:

"listening to random dudes preach propaganda is entertainment?  ROFL talk about being desperate for something"

Listening to random dudes talk about their gaming experiences for entertainment? Uh yea tell me what's worse. I consider everyone on here to be random as well. And don't try to explain "Oh but hey they're on my friends list!" Unless you know the person in real life, there is no diifference. It's about random experiences in Home that keep me coming back.

*edit* It's the same way to talk about whatever you want. The only difference is the medium it goes through. I could pull up Off-Topic and find a thread where people are talking about useless things. I could sign into Home and find a group of people chatting about useless things. To tell me that it's desperate to listen to new things, and keep an open mind is completetly mind-boggling. But that is my view on this subject as it will probably differ to many, many, others.

"

"The problem is the spectrum of people you ge. Arkthemaniac is complaining about nothing compared to some people you get in home!"

"tekmojo said:

"Hexpane said:

"listening to random dudes preach propaganda is entertainment?  ROFL talk about being desperate for something"

Listening to random dudes talk about their gaming experiences for entertainment? Uh yea tell me what's worse. I consider everyone on here to be random as well. And don't try to explain "Oh but hey they're on my friends list!" Unless you know the person in real life, there is no diifference. It's about random experiences in Home that keep me coming back.

*edit* It's the same way to talk about whatever you want. The only difference is the medium it goes through. I could pull up Off-Topic and find a thread where people are talking about useless things. I could sign into Home and find a group of people chatting about useless things. To tell me that it's desperate to listen to new things, and keep an open mind is completetly mind-boggling. But that is my view on this subject as it will probably differ to many, many, others.

"

Hey if you like it good for you,  msg boards are all about information and opinions.  I've been on home, there is very little information, and lots of oral rape and creepy stalker behaviour.

I've never been orally raped on Giantbomb so Giantbomb msg boards >>>>> home!"

"tekmojo said:

"Hexpane said:

"listening to random dudes preach propaganda is entertainment?  ROFL talk about being desperate for something"

Listening to random dudes talk about their gaming experiences for entertainment? Uh yea tell me what's worse. I consider everyone on here to be random as well. And don't try to explain "Oh but hey they're on my friends list!" Unless you know the person in real life, there is no diifference. It's about random experiences in Home that keep me coming back.

*edit* It's the same way to talk about whatever you want. The only difference is the medium it goes through. I could pull up Off-Topic and find a thread where people are talking about useless things. I could sign into Home and find a group of people chatting about useless things. To tell me that it's desperate to listen to new things, and keep an open mind is completetly mind-boggling. But that is my view on this subject as it will probably differ to many, many, others.

"

Hey if you like it good for you,  msg boards are all about information and opinions.  I've been on home, there is very little information, and lots of oral rape and creepy stalker behaviour.

I've never been orally raped on Giantbomb so Giantbomb msg boards >>>>> home!"

Sorry buddy, but you're really reaching here.
I loved how the latest Bombcast really hit the mark with their discussion about Home.

Sounds almost like your defending Home...Oh god...your defending Home

You sir, are sick

Oh no no. Not defending it by any means. Just perhaps suggesting that people are looking at Home in the wrong way. In essence it is MSN/GiantBomb/IRC chat/Facebook with more to do. I think it's hypocritical to run around screaming "there's nowt to do" when most of us here use similar technology in IRC, MSN and message boards but accept it for what it is.

This is Nintendo Wii, Wii Fit and Mirror's Edge all over again. People have such a set in stone view of what they should be doing when they turn on their games console that they can't comprehend something that maybe steps outside of the box and opens up the gaming experience to something slightly different. Of course there will flaws in it's design (much like Mirror's Edges level design and Wii's over focus on casual gaming) but Sony have put noted they are committed to the Home experience.

It took even a while for me, but I get it now. I understand Sony's projections for Home and sure, maybe people will never get them (and continue mouthing off in IRC rooms about "how there's nothing to do") but just like those designers trying to build games for the Wii with "waggle replacing buttons" you're all looking at it from the wrong stance.

I'm not going to blindly pretend Home is the second coming of Christ in it's current state. I just get it. And I now realise that like Wii Fit, like the Wii in general, Sony have something different in mind with Home.

Instead of blindly blasting what it is let's keep perception wide for a year and see how it grows? If Sony don't produce what I think they have in mind in the next year then I'll gladly raise my hands and allow you to tell me "told you so".

Of course you're entitled to disagree and not be attracted to it by any means. But I think the backlash (much like the Wii) has been harsh considering people are looking at it from the wrong angle.

Let me put this to you: would you expect the GiantBomb IRC (I think there's one) to do more than allow you to communicate with strangers? If not, why do you spend time in there? If you don't spend time in there, what are you complaining about?

Apply philosophy to Home which allows you to do more than "just chat with strangers".

True

Sony has temp removed VOICE CHAT from HOME.... IGN speculates it's because of the constant stream of griefers.

If there were ever a valid reason to use nuclear weapons, it would be to eliminate online griefers!

As much as I rag on home, in truth I *want* it to be good.  I *want* it to be this awesome Hub of all PS3 online games, allowing you to run around as your Everquest Online Adventures 2 character or your DC UNiverse character or your Vagrant Story ONline character... unfortunately those games do not yet exist an the functionality is not there

"Sony has temp removed VOICE CHAT from HOME.... IGN speculates it's because of the constant stream of griefers.

If there were ever a valid reason to use nuclear weapons, it would be to eliminate online griefers!"

"Hexpane said:

"Sony has temp removed VOICE CHAT from HOME.... IGN speculates it's because of the constant stream of griefers.

If there were ever a valid reason to use nuclear weapons, it would be to eliminate online griefers!"

From Sony's blog post, it sounds more like it was for bandwidth/stability reasons. I didn't use Home much, but is there a way to mute someone?"

Im interested in going back into Home now that we got our bluetooth keyboard to pair with the PS3, yay for fast typing!

Great points good sir. I too have Home installed, and while at the moment it is bare boned, the experienced it will give others is still to be decided.

"Hexpane said:

"Sony has temp removed VOICE CHAT from HOME.... IGN speculates it's because of the constant stream of griefers.

If there were ever a valid reason to use nuclear weapons, it would be to eliminate online griefers!"

From Sony's blog post, it sounds more like it was for bandwidth/stability reasons. I didn't use Home much, but is there a way to mute someone?"

"StaticFalconar said:

"Message boards have a log that we can look things up and have individual threads for discussion. HOME just seems like a big chat room."

 

There's nothing "wrong" with Home. 

There's something wrong with Sony spending two years and millions of dollars working on a chat room when they could have been improving PSN, working on PS2 emulation, and fixing a host of other issues.  Instead, we get a chat room with a ton of advertisements, arcade games that you have to stand in a virtual line for, and a company trying to get you to pay fifty cents for a cowboy hat.

And there's nothing hypocritical about it.  The point is there's a hundred other ways to socially network that aren't a drag on Sony's time, labor, and resources.  Home is a joke.  Will it become something fantastic?  It's possible I suppose, but they sure didn't start by putting their best foot forward."

I asked this is another thread too, but where do you get these numbers like "3 years and MILLIONS of dollar"? I wasn't aware they released that information. Also, 3 years doesn't even sound like enough time to make a killer MMORPG unless maybe they had some huge workforce.

"Reuptake said:

 

There's nothing "wrong" with Home. 

There's something wrong with Sony spending two years and millions of dollars working on a chat room when they could have been improving PSN, working on PS2 emulation, and fixing a host of other issues.  Instead, we get a chat room with a ton of advertisements, arcade games that you have to stand in a virtual line for, and a company trying to get you to pay fifty cents for a cowboy hat.

And there's nothing hypocritical about it.  The point is there's a hundred other ways to socially network that aren't a drag on Sony's time, labor, and resources.  Home is a joke.  Will it become something fantastic?  It's possible I suppose, but they sure didn't start by putting their best foot forward."

As the Talking Heads have stated, STOP MAKING SENSE.

SDF doesnt understand that 3 years and MILLIONS of dollars wasted on a 3D advert room could have been spent on a killer MMORPG or PS2 EMU etc... They don't understand it.  They think Sony is like Santa Claus and has unlimited resources.

Just look at the horrible graphics in The Agency and you can clearly see where the money SHOULD have gone.  HOME has decent graphics, but NO GAMEPLAY... what a waste"

"I asked this is another thread too, but where do you get these numbers like "3 years and MILLIONS of dollar"? I wasn't aware they released that information. Also, 3 years doesn't even sound like enough time to make a killer MMORPG unless maybe they had some huge workforce."

"Hexpane said:

"Reuptake said:

 

There's nothing "wrong" with Home. 

There's something wrong with Sony spending two years and millions of dollars working on a chat room when they could have been improving PSN, working on PS2 emulation, and fixing a host of other issues.  Instead, we get a chat room with a ton of advertisements, arcade games that you have to stand in a virtual line for, and a company trying to get you to pay fifty cents for a cowboy hat.

And there's nothing hypocritical about it.  The point is there's a hundred other ways to socially network that aren't a drag on Sony's time, labor, and resources.  Home is a joke.  Will it become something fantastic?  It's possible I suppose, but they sure didn't start by putting their best foot forward."

As the Talking Heads have stated, STOP MAKING SENSE.

SDF doesnt understand that 3 years and MILLIONS of dollars wasted on a 3D advert room could have been spent on a killer MMORPG or PS2 EMU etc... They don't understand it.  They think Sony is like Santa Claus and has unlimited resources.

Just look at the horrible graphics in The Agency and you can clearly see where the money SHOULD have gone.  HOME has decent graphics, but NO GAMEPLAY... what a waste"

Y'see I kinda agree with the points you made but it's all based blindly on speculation. If they hadn't worked on Home can you be absolutely sure they would have put something else out instead?

As for "they could have spent the time improving PSN" well as far as I'm aware the service took massive leaps in 2008.

But to some degree I do agree I'm just taking the "something is better than nothing" approach as we certainly can't be sure if there was no Home there'd be something else.

Perhaps they could have bought up Free Radical instead?"