Living Off the Land — In Home
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
What do you do when you love Home, but have no way to enhance your experience because you don’t have the money to add anything?
I recently met a young man of fifteen in Home who had no way to add to his collection of Home virtual items because he has no access to money, either by PSN card or bank account. This got me thinking about the probable thousands of other people who are in the same boat – old and young alike – who for financial reasons or personal ones, have never spent any money in Home. So I created a new account and avatar to research this, and these are my results.
I got into Home as all new people do, then went through the short tutorial and proceeded straight to the store via my navigator. I did this in the comfort of my Harbour Studio Apartment, as the downloading is always much quicker there (new people, take note). One big difference from most new people, though, is that I went online with my computer and accessed AlphaZone4.com, where there are lists of all of the free stuff in Home – worldwide – and there are a lot in the stores alone to be found.
I then proceeded to get everything I could for my male avatar and my apartment, then used it to dress myself and to decorate the place. Most of these free clothes are found in Threads, with a few exceptions.
Another thing to do when you first come into Home – before getting any clothes – is take a little time personalizing your avatar. Even just a little goes a long way towards making it your own. This, combined with a little patience in the stores, and your avatar and apartment can look like it has been here for a while instead of looking like you are fresh off the boat, so to speak.
Free Sodium Space
Then I proceeded to start my rounds of the public spaces and get some rewards. Many times these are t-shirts, but in some cases, such as the Assassin’s Creed Abstergo Lab, there are pieces of furniture if you complete a simple mini-game there. There are also many free ornament pieces available throughout Home in places like Little Big Planet and the Hudson Dolphy races, where you have to play a more difficult set of games to win things.
All of these furniture pieces are very welcome additions to the sparse ones available to you in the furniture store.
The first place I went to was Sodium One, as the first few minutes there nets you a huge amount of free items. You receive shirts, furniture pieces and ornaments within minutes of arriving, without doing a thing there. There are also many mini games there – like the scorpion stomp and drinking game in the bar – to add to your stash, as well as a personal space, albeit one you can’t decorate.
The next place I went was Midway, as you not only get a free personal space, you also get free plays on Miz Fortune every five minutes and various other games also pop up free on occasion. If you have the time and patience, I know of a few people who have played Midway all the way through and won all of the prizes for free, though like my friend coboltcurse said, “I think they have a sleeping bag there somewhere.”
It does take a lot of time and dedication — more than I have, so I moved on after winning a few shirts.
I for one would like to see something besides shirts given out as a reward in Home. Many times I don’t play these games because I know I will just put the shirt into storage. Some different pants would be nice too as these are sorely lacking for those who haven’t got any money to spend.
Red Dead Redemption Reward
The next part was a bit more time consuming, but worth the effort. There are games you can play outside of Home that offer free avatar items. If you don’t own them, you can rent them or borrow from a friend. Red Dead Redemption will give you a free avatar suit for your male and a free dress and hat for your female if you play it online. This obtained for all PlayStation users by those of us who participated in a contest against xBox a while back and won!
Another thing to try when you have made a few friends in Home is getting invites to see the mansion pieces. Now, granted, a lot of the furniture there is gaudy, but it is free and to each their own. I just chose to get the swimming shorts for my male, along with the rug and desk — which aren’t too bad to look at, compared to the other pieces.
There is so much to do in the realm of reward hunting in Home that I didn’t have the time to pursue for this article. It boggles my mind. You can go to the Singstar space, and many, many more.
As I stated before, there is a full list of the available free items, and also where to get those rewards, at AlphaZone4.com. Even if you don’t have a PC, you can use the internet browser on your PS3 to look. Just try to explore Home and all of its possibilities. It is a huge place, and worthy of the effort, and I for one can’t see how anyone could get bored here. I was able to completely furnish my apartment and dress my avatar free in a about one week’s time. Here is a Free Stuff in Home video I asked my friend Susan to put together, which shows what is possible with a little effort and time.
Happy hunting!
August 19th, 2011 by Burbie52 | 22 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
This is a very useful guide for people who are incapable of paying for items to expand their experience in Home. It also provides the user a possible challenge and an objective each time they come into Home, which for the most part of the Home experience, doesn’t exist.
Good job!
Nice work!! One thing I would add is that the amount of free stuff, especially clothes, is much higher for European users, like me;) I really don’t understand why the difference between Home zones is so important, that’s a mystery… From my experience of different US users telling me about what they have in US, I feel like NA users are more “pushed” to purchase stuff.
There’s also cool doctor and nurse outfits in Siren Blood Curse game, the GoFish and Audi apartments, the robot companion from Virtua Tennis mini-game, a cool blue outfit in IceBreaker game, Aurora space etc.
However, as mentioned in the article, there are lots of cool stuff to win through the mini-games. I recently won the InFamous top, that was a real victory for me because I was so bad at this electric shooting game
I discovered Home in February and I became a real fan because there’s just so many rewards and stuff to get. My favourite reward? The golden Vickie of course xD You also meet lots of interesting people, and others, well, let’s say less interesting. But for me it is a globally really positive experience! One last thing I would like to say to the new comers in Home is that there are some games (especially through the Square) that are temporary. So be careful about that and enjoy!!
I agree. Same with Japan. My EU account is robust. Of course I HAVE purchased a couple UK PSN cards to buy Alien and Predator outfits (before they came to NA, I had to make sure I got those!) and the lobster game/outfit.
Thanks Terra. I had fun becoming a male foe once and doing this. I did it as a male because of the many young males I meet in here with no disposable income. I even have one friend who is older but has never spent a dime in Home for personal reasons though he could afford to if he chose. To each their own like I said.
Another outside game that gives you a free personal space in Home is Batman Arkham Asylum, I forgot to add that one to the mix. It gives you the Batcave for free just for downloading the game into your PS3
I have that personal space its pretty sweet; I mean your personal batcave can’t go wrong with that nice to know that batman likes to share too hahaha.
Awesome article…free is always good….cheap and easy is a great mantra. AvatardProductions is proud and honored to have the chance to work with you Burbie, Mahalo.
The ONLY problem with free is some of the Home ‘elite’ look down on free. It’s great that people have options and can enjoy Home without laying down a chunk of cash. A lot of times for those of us who buy items we end up not using the items or we are dissapointed. Like people who buy $10 transforming outfits that lack a normal “walk” animation.
*points at self*
The Namco Museum Essentials demo is a must-download for those who want free stuff. You can unlock five arcade cabinets for your apartment, a stool and a bunch of clothes. Plus you get to play some Dig Dug and Galaxian. What’s not to love?
I have them all..plus I wear the Pac-man t-shirt with pride..wanna play..I promise not to decimate you…..nom nom nom nom………
I would like to point out that the Aurora space by nDreams also gives u alot of rewards too if your willing to do a little bit of work to get them that is. Most of the rewards you can get at this space is furniture for your personal space with 2 of them being active items to get these rewards you’ll need to play the orbrunner game in the back to the space to level up. You will receive a new reward every five levels you reach most of them are really nice. If you happen to have a friend that has the Aurora island space you play the game there and level more faster as well. I play both games of Aurora everyday and level once a day at that its pretty fun in my opinion I’ve played so much I’ve now become a level 50 but its like I said if your willing to do the time in this space it will be worth it in the end and also the orbrunner game is free to play.
There are alot of spaces giving out free stuff.. Sit and watch Hip Hop Gamer in Community Theater and you get clothes that give you street cred at The Playground.. run over people at Central Plaza with a Scion and you were rewarded with a whole outfit..I know of some Home based organizations that go out of their way to show people were to acquire such goodies…BTW..This video was just a small demo of whats out there..I’m with Gideon…I love free stuff but also plunked down coinage for a black dress…But I draw the line at that Gold outfit….it would be nice if we had a Goodwill or something to return crap we don’t use..even if we got a quarter of the purchase price back….
This is a great article. A must read for anyone who ever said “Sony only uses Home to make money”. Home is truly for everyone, and it offers entertainment, fun and rewards for all who participate. Thank you Burbie52
As I always say..Home is what you make of it..for me it is a social environment rich in entertainment value..If this was a MMO to buy this would have been a stock purchase for me
oooo, another freebie. go rent tomb raider trilogy. install it, go into home, make sure you recieve an item, then return the game. you get a lara croft outfit for women and a large dead viking for the guys. WOOHOO!!
i too am a ‘freebie’ guy who really has learned how to ‘look for free things’ on Home .. one good strategy to know is that usually after a new video game comes out, theres a slim to good chance you can find a free tshirt in threads that refers to that game..i have spent long periods of time on threads on a monthly basis looking for free items ,and i must say that i have collected a considerable amount of clothes just by browsing and looking ..some items have 00.00 dollars on the basket amount if u look hard enough.
Yeah I’ve seen the freebies in threads but wouldn’t it be much easier to find the freebies if the prices were indicated as soon as you landed on the item?So that you wouldn’t need to open each items sub-screen up to see how much it costs,opening that menu adds alot of time if you are going through every item 1 at a time.The freebies would get a much better chance of being found that way and we wouldn’t have to spend that extra time ascertaining prices.
I agree cthulu it would be easier to have a free tab like they do in Asia and Japan but I think part of it is marketing strategy, because you have to look through all of the stuff to find what you are looking for. Perhaps they could have a free items listed under free but still keep a few gems hidden in the regular stuff?
Well if it’s a marketing strategy Burbie I’m not too sure it’s a successful 1.If I were able to see the prices faster I would end up looking at far more items than I currently do.As it is now I rarely go there to just check things out,I usually only go to the stores when there’s an item that I know I want.If the prices were in the place I indicated above it would save us time therefore possibly creating more sales to me.Maybe I’m just in too much of a hurry but I don’t find the time lost by having to go into each sub-screen to find a price very enjoyable.The extra time it takes to go through and check each price has probably stopped me from making more purchases than I have.For ppl like me sitting in a virtual mall while this takes place feels like going to the mall irl with a friend that wants to spend all day looking at stuff I have no interest in.Another words it feels like a big waste of my time from a purchasing perspective so I generally avoid browsing in the mall on Home.I fully understand that I probably miss out on freebies and items I’d normally buy but to me my time is valueable,I would not trade 60,45,or even 30 min. of time just to find a free shirt or an item I was only marginally interested in.This would in effect put my eyeballs on more products than they currently look at.
To put this another way,does Sony really want me thinking my intended purchase over in my mind as I take an extra min. or 2 to go between each sub-screen for each item?I’m not 100% sure about this but I think the less time there is between the time I’ve decided to make an impulse buy to the time it can be actually bought the more certain it will be that I’ll buy it.If I’m stuck in between sub-screens I might start thinking to myself”do I really want/need this?”or”is all this wasted time worth the joy I expect to get from the item/s I wish to purchase?” All I’m suggesting is a way for us to satisfy our impulse buying in a time conserving way.
another free item location sometime is the theater. once in a while watching movie trailers (besides the podcasts and such) will reward you with a free item. like the machete commercial that wielded a free vest for men and women with daggers on it. this is besides the fact that you get to view a movie you hadnt heard of and now may go see or rent. always a good thing
Always enjoy reading your stuff Burbie, This blog was wonderful! You really nailed the concept of just enjoying the game and the fun you can have simply hunting for free stuff vs. buying stuff. Nice!