Behind the Joke
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief
Sometimes only the court jester can say things that no one else can.
As you’ve doubtlessly realized by now, all of the stories published on April 1, 2011 were April Fools’ Day stories. All of them.
Consider, however, the source of that humor. Sometimes, the most effective way to make a point is to make someone laugh. This is why some of the best stand-up comedians have an uncanny knack for telling truths that no one else can tell: by wrapping a truth inside a joke, you give people permission to consider ideas they would normally bristle at.
Now, yes, some of the articles are pure joke pieces. LEGO Mortal Kombat is an example of this (although I must admit such a game would get my attention). A lot of the articles, though, touch on requests which have been repeated throughout the Home community for as long as I can remember.
Some items on the wishlist are impossible, of course, or too difficult to pull off. Others, however, could be much more easily achieved. As a writing team, we went after what the most heavily-requested features/services of Home are — enhanced blocking features, clubhouse functionality improvements and so forth — and used them for the basis of our stories. In so doing, we hoped to be, at least for a day, the court jester who could say things to the king that no one else dared to utter.
Admit it, though: if these articles came true…Home would be a rather interesting place, now wouldn’t it?
Don’t get us wrong — Home’s a fantastic service. It’s a great virtual reality to explore and enjoy. We at HSM are simply trying to make a point: that while Home is making great strides to improve its gaming experience, the real magic lies in improving its social experience.
Perhaps social enhancements aren’t as sexy. They probably cost more to develop, because they require core client updates. Their long-term revenue generation cannot be nearly so easily quantified and measured. And yet a compelling case can be made that retaining long-term users in Home — and their discretionary income — is far easier to do if the virtual reality experience itself is more and more immersive, not just the attractions within it.
Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with this sentiment, let’s take a moment and salute the HomeStation writing team. Not only did they develop those articles for one big avalanche of content, but do you know how hard it is to keep something like this quiet? They did such a good job of not letting the cat out of the bag that — when coupled with HSM’s reputation for delivering quality, intellectually-provocative journalism — they really did catch some people off-guard. As April Fools’ Day pranks go, that’s everything you can hope for.
The HSM group is a fantastic team to serve, and I can proudly point to them as the most talented collection of Home journalists out there. April Fools’ Day is the one day when we kinda get to loosen up the neckties and have a bit of fun with it all, and I personally think they all did a great job. Hopefully you had as much fun reading these stories as I did.
April 2nd, 2011 by NorseGamer | 6 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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these april fools make my day sunniest!^^
great thanks to all the contributors!
late, but this is my contribution!^^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0M30YnBhAw&feature=player_embedded
Kudos to all of the HSM team.
Grand reads, all of them
We had a blast with this! Thanks for the suggestion Norse and kudos to you too for coming up with it!.
I hope you realize
Thanks for letting me have a crack at it
Congrats everyone
Nice one. Great job by everyone. I enjoyed it. I was late for work reading them all.