Digital Addiction
by SealWyf, HSM team writer
It’s the second night without the PSN, and I’m going ever so slightly nuts.
Perhaps by the time this appears, the PlayStation Network will be restored. I certainly hope so. Perhaps it will even be up by the time I hit the “Submit” button. I’m tempted keep checking, just in case. Perhaps it’s up already.
But I won’t check. It’s a writer’s duty to explore their personal pain. To delve into the deepest regions of the human soul, reach shoulder-deep into the muck and pull out a pearl. Or so I keep telling myself. Anything to get my mind off the console in the next room, which, tonight, is useless for anything except playing Blu-Ray discs and old, pre-network games.
Which used to be enough. My first gaming console was a PS1 (or, as we used to call it, a PlayStation.) My first game was Spyro the Dragon. I still have that disc — I could slip it in and spend the evening charging into sheep and flaming blocky polygonal wizards. I used to love that game. So why does it seem lame and pointless?
Let’s face it — I have my jones on. And so do you, most likely, if you are reading this magazine. We are all of us PS3 junkies. And, more specifically, we are addicted to Home. Which means we need our network, the way a crack addict needs a dealer. Even more. If your dealer doesn’t show, you can always find another. If the PSN is down, there’s no backup. We might as well read a book.
Or, we can go on the Internet, since our ISPs are still working. As a member in good standing of the Homeling Collective, I can log into the chat room of the Fluidic Space website, and talk to the same people I would normally be meeting in-world.
I log in now. There are eight people online, an enormous number for what would normally be Home prime-time.
I ask the chat-room occupants to make statements about the network outage and how it’s affecting them.
“I’m bored,” says one. “That’s my statement.”
“Chinese food is delicious,” volunteers another. I believe this is what is known as “random”.
“Wish Sony was more up front about what happened and what’s being done or some clarification,” states a Homeling General.
Another adds, “PSN is my world away from real life drama. A place to relax, but it’s sad people take it away from ones that enjoy Home.”
There seems to be a general consensus that the Anonymous hackers are in some way to blame, despite that group’s denials. I have no way of knowing, of course, but the timing seems suspicious. And the Anonymous group is not monolithic — individual members might well do things that the central leadership did not request.
But I also recognize that there’s a psychological need for a scapegoat — for someone to blame. A random glitch, a programmer’s error, a hardware malfunction could happen again, leaving us bereft. It’s easier to believe in a grand conspiracy.
As a computer professional, my take on it is that it seems to be a problem with the authentication server. If you can’t authenticate your credentials on the network, you can’t log in. And, from the looks of it, there was one central authentication server for the PSN, and it’s in Japan.
Single point failure. That’s always a design flaw. But this is the first time it’s reared up and bitten us. Something happened. But, what?
They’re not telling us.
I remember the last time my employer, a museum complex with dozens of buildings, lost network connectivity. Redundancy had been built in; multiple wire paths led from the bureaus to the suburban data center.
What the network designers hadn’t realized was that, at one point, all those redundant wires led through the same basement. And that was the space that flooded, when the storm of the century dumped several inches of rain on Washington, DC. It was… interesting. We spent several days limited to the contents of our local drives.
Since then, the wires were moved. So it won’t happen again. Or, when it happens again, it will be a different failure. That’s all you can do, in the real world. Plan, guess, and hope for the best.
Is that what happened in Japan — the single-point failure nobody was expecting? And, if so, was it a random glitch, or sabotage? I check the PlayStation Blog. No updates. It’s going to be a very long weekend.
It’s not like I’m helpless. I have an apartment full of books. I have games and DVDs and music. I have crafts projects I haven’t touched in ages, and a novel to write.
I live in one of the great tourist cities of the world, a short Metro ride away from iconic monuments. I live next door to the National Zoo, for cripe’s sake! We have seven baby lions. They’re playful and adorable. I know — I’ve seen them on the Internet.
I look at what I’ve written, and feel deeply ashamed. When did the real world become something I know only by rumor and other people’s Facebook posts?
When did my social life become a series of encounters in Central Plaza?
When did who I am become defined by my roles in Home — Homeling Commander, HomeStation team writer, and one of the founders of Imagine?
When did going out to dinner with friends become a hardship, because I might miss a Command Central meeting?
Outside my window, Washington is awash in flowers. The cherry blossoms are in their second wave. The tulips look like colored eggs on stalks. Dogwood blossoms are pushing out into the sun like fireworks in slow motion. Tonight is Good Friday. The maker of the universe lies dormant, gathering strength to burst into life and glory on Sunday morning. All around me, the world is being reborn.
And I sit in a darkened room, staring at an error message, feeling angry, and lost, and bereft. As if the world, with all its light and promise, were a closed brick box without windows, because I can’t reach that other world across the network.
Tell me, please — how on Earth did this happen?
April 23rd, 2011 by SealWyf | 29 comments
SealWyf is a museum database programmer by day, and an officer in the Homeling Collective by night. She has been active in online communities since before the Internet, and in console gaming since the PS1. In games, she prefers the beautiful and quirky, and anything with a strong storyline. She is utterly addicted to PlayStation Home.
I stated earlier.. I saw a big shiny thing in the sky and I had to buy something called.. Sun glasses?
>.> I’ll be fine.. and if god loved liars he would hug me to def.
I hope PSN is up soon too.. I worry this may last all weekend but SONY (in the past) have proven they work fast and non-stop for their community -- I can’t wait!
SealWyf wrote, “It’s a writer’s duty to explore their personal pain. To delve into the deepest regions of the human soul, reach shoulder-deep into the muck and pull out a pearl. Or so I keep telling myself.”
I respond with you have a better chance of keeping your sanity if you explore other people’s personal pain. There’s muck and pearls there also. [insert the madness of a scream smiley here]
ha ha ha
I imagine it started as most addictions do,a little of the drug in the beginning seemed to make the world a better place,more alive,more colorful,more relaxing.Then it required more of the”fix”to achieve the same feelings so more time was invested.Eventually you found yourself in your present state,wondering just how the hell you got there,of feeling withdrawls when the supply was turned off.I know how it is,i’ve been addicted to many things before,the question every addict must face is”have i had enough?”.By that i mean enough of the negative side-effects,in this case the loss of real life pursuits and possibly friends and relationships.Some ppl are limited in real life as to what they can do as far as what i’d call social functions either from mental or physical handi-caps.These types of ppl,ppl termed damaged by”normal”ppl,can devote more time to their home addiction than most ppl can before the negative side-effects kick in.But eventually even we must ask ourselves if we’ve had enough,this downtime has allowed me to take a Dante-like trip through my addiction and ask myself the hard questions that i have been avoiding,in some cases for months now,and some of the answers are unpleasent at best.The truth is Reality can suck virtual reality sucks 85% less,estimated lol.
Seeing that this weekend is Easter, I don’t know how much will get done. Whatever happened, happened real
big. I’ve heard rumors and what not, but nothing solid.
Sony isn’t talking. Once again, they are leaving us
in the dark. Sony really needs to sit through Customer Relations 101. I did hear some rumors, just prior to
the shut down, that Anon was planning another attack,
a much bigger one, not a Ddos attack. Something more
severe. But that’s just hear-say.
Personally, I have an Xbox 360 and Wii to fall back on, as well as the PC. I just bought Portal 2 for the PS3, against my better judgment, (I wanted to buy it for the 360) guess co op will have to wait. What really bites is the lack of Netflix for the PS3 users. I still have it on my 360, as well as my Wii. But those of you with just a PS3 are paying for
a service you can not access now.
I’ve heard rumors that if you try netflix 2or3 times then hit circle you can get in without being in the psn network,idk if it works cause i don’t have netflix but no harm in trying it out if you do have it.
Yes I have been watching netflix and researching online to see if anyone has invented a PSN dermal patch like the ones smokers use when they have to wean them selfs off cigarettes.
yes u are right u can still watch netflix ive been watchin it since psn been down..thanks
oh just to let you know u can still watch netflix im watchin it right now…thanks
The middle of next month I will turn 28. Not a big mile stone. But with the exception of when I was an infant and a couple years in my early 20s, I have enjoyed the wonders of Spring’s glory first hand. As an almost 3 year vet of home and PSN, I even enjoyed Spring during that time span, but it was by choice. Not because the activity I would rather be doing was no longer an option. Though I know the flowers are still full of color, they almost seem monochromatic because my formula for dealing with real life is missing its main ingredient… my virtual life. If PSN wasn’t down right now I would still go out and enjoy my favorite time of year but only when my eye needed a break from not blinking while enjoying what ever once in a lifetime random conversation I would be having on home. I love fresh air and cool spring breezes and the smell of honeysuckle in bloom. The sound of crickets tuning up for their summer long concert. The smell of everyone in a five block radius trying to one up the next one with BBQ aromas. But I enjoy these things more when I get to choose to enjoy them. If it were the dead of winter or the dog days of summer it without a doubt would be worse. But no matter what season, when something you love is taken off your list of choices like PSN has, the other choices lose some value as well. For what ever reason PSN is down it does’t really matter to me in the long run. If Sony was more forthcoming about why, whether it be hackers, update glitches, sun spots, Somali pirates, killer bees, global warming, gas prices, Klingon Empire, Fox News, high sugar fructose, middle east dictators, Obama care or the fact that I don’t floss correctly or often enough, what ever the reason, it is the resolution and it’s time frame that I want to know. Knowing the cause is one thing, knowing the cure is what I am more interested in. Even if I was armed with the knowledge of why this was happening, unless the fix is to reboot the Sony main frame and no one else has thought of that, my input on the matter would be null and void. I think it was Mark Twain that once said… sorry, I have to stop writing now because I have to go try and log on again…that was me saying that, not my Twain quoit which was going to be great and wrap all of what I said into a meaningful, life changing statement but even though it was shorter then this explanation, like I said, I have to go try and log on….
Oh and sorry for my wordy, rambling rants. Normally I have a controller in my hand so I’m sitting in a different dimly lit room chatting with my fellow avatars. Again, my apologies. I now return you to your scrolling pass Olivia’s withdrawal reply rants already in progress
Sony has released more info… doesn’t answer the burning question but for those who want to know”whyyyyyyyy”, here is what they are saying…
“An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. In order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward, we turned off PlayStation Network & Qriocity services on the evening of Wednesday, April 20th. Providing quality entertainment services to our customers and partners is our utmost priority. We are doing all we can to resolve this situation quickly, and we once again thank you for your patience.”
I’m kinda surprised they’re even saying that much as it’s sort of an admission that their security was insufficient.Of course just because this is the stated reason doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the truth but if true hopefully will be quickly fixed. I’ve developed a mild twitch and can’t seem to sleep,early stage withdrawls,and hope it’s up and running before i’m curled up in the fetal position,drooling and repeating profanities to myself.Usually starts around day 4 so hurry please sony,ty.
I have ZERO SYMPATHY for whoever did this to us. Even if they were protesting global warming, white slavery and the abuse of helpless kittens. Give us back our Home, dammit!
WHOEVER DID THIS WILL PAY. *Grab pitchfork in preparation* Who’s with me?
*feeds cat, locks in bedroom. puts on rain boots, grabs plastic baseball bat with rubber nail in the end* lets do this! WOO HOO!
I have a better idea. Lets have a new game in Central Plaza where the people or person responsible has to be locked in stocks and we are able to throw garbage and rotten fruit at them and scores are given and you get a t-shirt that says I survived the great 2011 PSN bLackout!
So, do you have a problem when the first thing you do when you wake up, is jump right out of bed, run to the PS3 and see if its still “undergoing maintenance”? I need to find an AA meeting for the PSN junkie who is beginning to experience DT’s.
The understanding I have from a friend of mine and the forums is that this was an attack on the store part of the PSN. Some on the forum say it was through an Amazon cloud server (whatever that is) that is somehow connected to the PSN servers. Someone else told me that the store was hacked and that everything was free in there for a short period of time so they shut it all down to fix it. Also a few people I know said they couldn’t add funds to their accounts,( this was on Wednesday night) so this was probably a precursor to what happened later that day. I don’t know if any of this is true but if it is at least it is more of an explanation.
I don’t know if it’s related to an attack on Amazon. However, what Amazon.com does is rent out server space and they have had problems with their service. Whether this has anything to do with SONY, I don’t know. I haven’t seen any reference to Amazon and Sony being mentioned together.
http://www.mediabistro.com/ebooknewser/amazon-is-having-server-trouble_b9417
I think those are separate. The attack against Sony seems to have been by the government of China, because something they thought was dissident was posted on one of the sites hosted by Amazon.
It’s been a strange couple days with no PSN, that’s for certain.
Chances of the network being back up and running before Monday are slim to none, with the weekend being what it is.
Am somewhat freaking out… good thing stoopid real life is still online.
Dang… I traded in my “Real Life” disc at Game Stop for in store credit on pre-ordering Bad Company 3
ugh, and i was worked into a frenzy all ready to terrorize central plaza with my new hot dog costume too. ARGH. who WOULDNT want to talk to a giant weiner in a bun! ahhh, the endless enuendos abound.
Idk about the Amazon part being correct but not being able to add funds to our accounts wednesday night is certainly true.I was trying to add cash to buy the new personal space that night and couldn’t well before the network went down,about 4 hours or so.
Well, backarch, I find myself talking to little wienies all the time in CP so a big hot dog would be nothing new.
but this wiener has better legs.
Hehe its nice to see the brighter side of things, I have spent days offline as i pretty much stewed in my anger at the whole Outage incident and to be fair it has probably made people think twice about maybe buying the PS3 system from that old saying of ‘You get what you pay for’ in terms of paying to play online on Sonys Rival machine. But even the XBOX has it’s down days too. I read and im not sure if its rumour or hearsay, that the XBOX had a network outage that lasted 13 days? So us Playstation owners should count ourselves lucky somewhere. I have PSP or my PC to fall back on, though i need new games and a major overhaul on my PC as its getting old and cranky now..
As a subscriber to XBOX live for a few years, I can confirm that it was indeed up and down for about 14 days back in 2007 but it wasn’t system wide and it was mostly intermittent. I was offline for about 2 days.
The difference between Live 2007 and whats happening to PSN is totally different though. Live07 was simply due to servers being overloaded. With the huge success of COD:MW XBOX Live was swamped with over a million subscribers in mere hours. So they struggled to bring more servers online. Live wasn’t hacked, compromised or breached or whatever other spin we keep reading about with the PSN.