A Day (and Night) at The Theater
by xx96791DEATHxx, HSM guest contributor & video archivist
It’s June 23, 2011, 5:00am on O’ahu. I’ve just poured my first cup of macadamia nut coffee. The roosters were crowing outside already. The birds were chirping their good mornings to each other. Today was my day.
I had been anticipating this day much like BZB anticipates becoming the dominant trophy master. The only other time that Home subjected me to this (almost pleasurable) demonic torture was when it posted its return to online date after the “Great Sony Takedown” of 2011. I even destroyed a class-M planet with a trilithium warhead, which created a time vortex, thus ensuring nothing would interfere with my day. No, really, I did.
Today was the day I – xx96791DEATHxx (but you can call me Sue) – was to appear on the “big screen” in Community Theater. Today was the day I was to be elevated to “Avastar” status.
I secured a small role in a made for Home video. I received my Red Carpet Premier ticket. I sent out enough messages to friends to ensure that I would be rolling in deep with a posse big enough that even the Hip Hop Gamer would say, “damn!”
Today was the day I was to earn enough Sodium Credits to pay the rent on my Harbor Studio.
And then come all the internal doubting and worry over minor details.
Did I even survive the cutting room floor? What am I going to wear? GlassWalls is supposed to be there (cue minor panic attack). I need to shop for shoes! Wait, it’s Thursday morning. Let me see if I survived another round of weekly maintenance. Maybe I can go and get an early peek.
Five minutes and a second cup of coffee later, and the nerves have more or less subsided. Gotta love caffeine.
Home is loading without any error codes – this is a good sign. I am reading the Message of the Day and see nothing about the upcoming event or notes about any new content in the Community Theater.
Odd, I am thinking. So I head into theater ten and saunter over to my normal “standing” location. I toss a coin; it’s tails. I pop into the elegant pose with the speed and grace of someone of my stature.
On the XMB, I make sure my status is set to busy, I have my game launch set to something obscure to ensure I don’t get any incoming random invites. But wait – I now look around; there is no one here. I am alone. This is epic! But it is showing the previous episode. Maybe this is how they lead into the upcoming one?
BRILLIANT!
Actually, not really. Apparently, Home hadn’t been updated yet. All that is playing is older stuff – humbug. So I thought to myself, well, you planned on being on Home all day.
I looked at my PDA to see who was where. One was at Sodium 2, and I knew why she was there. I took over the number one slot on the friends list the night before (2202mph). Another was at Central Plaza. Too early for trolls, I think to myself. So I tossed a coin – tails, again.
So I choose to spend the day in Home’s Community Theater — and yes, I will take extra butter on the Hurricane Popcorn, please.
I decided to stay for the rest of what was playing on the screen in theater ten. After watching all of the various Gamer Indepth videos, doing their name dropping segments, their “interesting” editing choices, Hip Hop Gamer, et al, I wanted to throw up my “fam” tag, bring out my newly acquired bling and do a double shaka, all while button smashing the commands “yawn-twirl-yeah.” 
Then the Novus Prime interview video appeared. What’s this? Someone other than PST is making avatar videos? I am intrigued – of course, it had to come from none other than Alphazone4 and Cubehouse. And then I see HearItWow’s segment. Is today the beginning of my dream? A place in Home to see quality videos acted out by avatars? I must go see what is playing in the other theaters.
I started at the first theater, which was playing the previews for Killzone. After the first minute it became clear this is going to be a long day. If time is supposed to fly when you’re having fun, well, let’s just say I was glad I had computer work to do for that duration. I saw no one except the four friends who came by to say aloha and offer their condolence/sympathy for my “theater quest.” I did enjoy the music though and after watching the video, I did want to grab my shotgun and blow up some people online with exploding headshots.
So onto theater two.
This was showing Filter. Well, that’s thirty-plus minutes of my life I wish I could get back. Oh and by the way – for those of you who keep note of these things – it was an empty theater. Not even a friend dropped by; I choose to believe they felt my pain while I was there. Next.
Theaters three, four, and five – another two hours of more gameplay videos and how to survive a online game. And, of course, GlassWalls did his cameo at E3, and that was cool to see. Two people popped in and out while I was there, and I was able to wash the floors in the condo as well.
Theater six – PlatinumD – I would have liked to see something like this done with avatars. I like the campy humor, it was cute and comical, but as a friend recently put it, “It is almost like watching the Disney Channel.”
This had a max of seven people during my stay, but I did pay attention to the screen. And giggled.
Theaters seven, eight and nine are just more game videos – or to be more eloquent, blah blah blah. The head count combined for those three theaters are two people, one friend and two loads of laundry.
Before returning to my starting place – theater ten – I came to the realization that most of my time was spent here watching game-related videos. I also realized that all the theaters were empty or less than a handful during my tour. I get it that the PS3 is a game platform, and I get that Home is viewed upon as a great tool for game developers to promote their upcoming titles. But I am at the Home Community Theater, and Home is a social network — a community of avatars.
So far, there has been almost nothing about Home; it has been all games or real people videos talking about games. I think there is a need for all this game info – some, like Urgent Fury, are as good as any of the professional game review videos out there – but does it really need to be here, in this particular part of the theater, and do all of these game and movie promos need to have their own individual rooms?
Yes, most of these videos are informative, and I loved the cover video from Camp-R-Us.
Yet as a member of the Nation of Avatars, I want more videos of avatars, for avatars, by avatars. It just isn’t a Home Community Theater without us, and we need more representation in our theater.
On to theater ten.
The time had arrived for the “Big Show.” I was waiting outside the theater and was talking to all my friends. The lobby was already maxing out; it was filling up faster than the Kiosk on a free giveaway. You could almost feel the excitement in the air. My night had finally arrived! We all bum rushed the doors; you would have thought there was free pie and punch with a paper hat.
I had my best friends there for support as my “avastar” day happened.
Unfortunately, I made the cutting floor for this episode, but that is the nature of this business. I was able to watch the awesomeness of PSTalent and their ability to fill that void of avatar-based videos. Who needs Maxim Magazine or Spike TV when we have the 2011 Swimsuit Calander Video edition to watch? I even had flashbacks of Baywatch.
(May I also take this time to encourage you all to visit and support your local theater and arts council.)
However, my day here made me more enlightened for the need of more avatar-based videos about Home in the Community Theater, and more empowered to make a difference by stepping up and assisting others with the same goals and desires for the future success of Home. This place wouldn’t exist without us.
August 3rd, 2011 by Susan | 24 comments
Susan is a team writer for HomeStation Magazine, co-founder of the award winning media group-AvatardProductions, a PlayStation MVP and a Home Guide. PSNID SCEA/xx96791DEATHxx-SCEE/oXx_EnIgMa_xXo. An avid PlayStation Home user, she is most often found setting land speed records at the Sodium 2 velocity racetracks, sitting at the Pier Park or playing with the R/C vehicles at Acorn Meadows Park.
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AWESOME!!! Fun read! I know I am biased but I am also truthful! First of many I hope!
Well..ty for that..I don’t know about many..i work as an archivist in the bowels of HSM..so I don’t know when I;ll see the light of day next…
Well, Well, Well. Would you look at you!!! Talk about trophies, contracts, spotlights and creative writing! Who is your agent? Congrats! Loved reading your article and taking a peek at a few articles. I see Norse is romping about as well. So glad that you are having fun, bring your insight and talents where they are most needed!
Say halo to all, and YOU GO GIRL lol
OMFG…..I miss you so much you have no idea..and ty Theresa..I Wub to death…
AWWWWW I miss you so much!!!
And you tried to BS me into believing you are not a writer….
I never BS an “auntie”
Great idea for a story Sue. I think you have a great career ahead of you as an Avastar and and also as a videographer. I had a good time working with you on the last one you did. I agree with your assessment, there needs to be much more user created content in the theaters in Home. There are many people I know of personally who feel the same as we do. Home is for us so it should be about us, but i believe that Sony is slowly allowing us to head in that direction, the fact that DOD and PS Talent are now being featured is proof of that. Like any good thing worth waiting for, we just have to have patience and it will come. And like the famous movie line says, “build it and they will come!” I believe that as the content becomes more relevant the people who want to watch it will show up. The EVO showing this past week is proof of that. Good job on your first article!
Thank you Burbs…I had a blast working with you as well. I thought what we did came out nice. and Yes..build it and they will come…We are doing just that. HSM and PST are a testament to that. Thank you for your kind words/
Keep writing, your article was a fun read and i cant wait for your eventual Super Avastardom
Thank you Cheeky..when I do get there, I won’t forget you…
That was a fun read. I was hoping and awaiting to see that you were on the screen! I have had the fortune to be in a few HomeCast video’s.
I have also been known to make a few home video’s but nothing crazy awesome like DOD.
Sue, Great write up!
Thank you Jers.. I have seen some of your videos and you do a great job..I had a blast with you and all of the people as we paraded around all the Irem spaces.Amazing how fast you turned out your latest one.. Never need a reason to wear Kimono…
YAYS Sue! Great article! Was it me u was talkin bout bein at S2 while u was in the theatre? lol jk I hope ur videos with us, including the “not ready for primetime players” in it get shown in the theater one day, but until then we rockin it with PST. ^__^ Nice pic of us with GlassWalls (even tho he was afk lol) at the red carpet event for Spotlight ep 2. FFF FTW! Wow, ur a rly talented writer. I can’t believe this is ur 1st article? I hope u write more too. I hope one day I can write such great articles, but I definitely look forward to reading more from you! ^__^
Thank you Trisha….some day the FFF FTW will be spewing its awesomeness on the big screen…GlassWalls afk..go figure..Was that you I was referring about at S2…hmmmmmm…I’ll nevah tell……
What can I say that hasn’t been said already. Fantastic writing Sue, you kept me intrigued the whole time. When we get together Sunday afternoon, we will talk more about your cinema dreams.
Well back to work… hugs.
You are absolutely right about using that cinema for something other than boring advertising, game play walk through’s, and BLOPS clan kill updates about how BLOP-tastic they are. Yawn
Thank you Tony. keeping you intrigued says something in itself…
great article ^ ^ and i see a few more class M planets out there lol keep at it looking forward to another fun read ^^
Thank you GR…I am in the process of making more Trilithuim warheads…waiting for the Klingons to purchase more of the needed components..
An excellent read, Sue, and you bring up a good point about Home-based content. Personally, I love the diversity in the Community Theater. The variety of shows and personalities creates a very broad appeal, and it brings a lot of different parts of the community together. I’m a huge SOCAST fan, because those guys always make me laugh.
On many occasions, though, I’ve heard users say that they wanted to see more content about Home in the Theater. Right now, there are only 2 1/2 Home-specific shows: HomeCast Rewind, PSTalent’s Spotlight and GamerIndepth ShoutOuts, which only scores a 1/2 because they’re growing past their Home roots.
I’m hopeful that we’ll get to a point where there’s enough content produced within Home itself to allow for a dedicated theater. I’ve heard of some very interesting projects in the works, and I hope they come to fruition. Keeping up with a Community Theater production schedule is very demanding, but it’s also worth the effort for those who want to make a meaningful contribution to the Home community.
Thank you HIW..I do love the diversity as well. I just feel that there is an overload of game content and how it is spaced throughout the theaters.I do find the content informative and somethymes entertaining. I would love to see Homecast Rewind without having to wade through all the other stuff first. On Fridays,Rewind is usually the first thing I see, but then it gets shuffled down the loop.I am hoping this article will inspire others to create quality avatar based videos(such as yours) for review for the Comm. Theater. Until then, I will continue my campaign/quest for that which I am destined for..
…Wow. As much as i want to scream “GAME console” in random faces across the Home planet, i feel like i owe you a high-5. 10theaters and not 1 dedicated to the ppl who appreciate it n make it what it is. Do we really need all those hours of game previews, when we’re on home, clearly taking a break from the games? It DOES getting tiring watchn the same **** over n over. And thats why we continuously jump back on the social-home-wagon. Sometimes i’d rather look Death in the face, than play a game that leads me on an endless journey of steep levels n empty gold cups. I hope u execute ur goal, Death. I’ll be watching the screen, clapping like a monkey in the audience for more 8)
Thank you Clunkamunk…as my “original”friend on Home, you know the deal.I sure wish we had poker back…Thank you for your support.
Sue that was a great read! Can’t wait to read another article of yours!