Home: I$ It Worth It?
by BONZO, HSM guest contributor
PlayStation Home is a free to play massive multiplayer online social role-playing game. So how has a game — that comes prepackaged into PlayStation 3 and is free to play — become thus far the most expensive game I have ever purchased?
The game itself is free to play and an open beta; when I began playing it there was little involved and little to do. The best thing I found to play in it – at least in my opinion – was SodiumOne Salt Shooter, but so far I have spent more than two-hundred dollars. How has this happened?
There are plenty of giveaways and freebies to scavenge, so you can play the game like many others do and not spend a dime. As a friend finished playing Island Defense in my Aurora Island personal space, he asked me how much it cost. He seemed surprised that I would pay approximately five dollars for a space — or, as he put it, a virtual item.
Consider that for a minute, though. How much do we spend on virtual items? Movies, music, images, software, as well as video games?
A new game is about sixty dollars, but are you paying for anything tangible? A disc that is – without the correct console to play it on – essentially useless. The only thing that gives it worth is the content it holds, which is nothing but virtual items. The rights to be a part of the world of those characters, and those stories in the virtual world they were developed to occupy. What gives these virtual items their worth? Simple – it’s the entertainment value.
I was once like my friend, had the same notions that he expressed, that it was foolish to spend real money on virtual items, on a virtual space, on clothing for an avatar, or décor for a virtual apartment, or a virtual pet. I realized after my first purchase though how much my experience is augmented in Home with the items you pay real money for.
There is entertainment value of sharing a space with friends and having a companion follow you around. Some of the spaces come with games, which allow you to earn further rewards, like the Loco Roco Island, Aurora Island Defense, Tron Space, Pirate Ship, and many others.
I have often gone to a movie (::cough:: Transformers ::cough::) and walked out wanting my money back, feeling ripped off and like I wasted two hours of my life. I didn’t find the entertainment value in a ticket that cost me thirteen dollars just to sit in a crowded theater with rude people to watch a two hour movie I didn’t enjoy.
I have purchased many games through the years roughly since I was ten, with the first game system I ever owned being a Sega Genesis. Since then I have had six different video game systems, and I’ve lost count of how many games I have bought. Some were good, some were really bad, and some I have completely forgotten. When I say bought, I mean bought, not asked for, as my mother was very hesitant to buy me video games, and I think in my whole life she only ever bought me three.
Every game I ever bought myself came from countless hours of chores, odd jobs around the house and my neighborhood, birthday and Christmas money saved up, and whatever other cons I could come up with to make extra money. Even now as an adult there are other things that demand the almighty dollar more than video games. So I am no stranger to the value of a dollar and I am careful about how I spend it.
My current game collection is no more than eight select disc-based games, and some downloadable games. So why has Home demanded so much more of my money? Because for the same thirteen dollars I spent at a bad – and I mean bad – movie that only lasted two hours, I have found days of entertainment value with in Home hanging with friends spending time, and interacting.
It is that entertainment experience and the value of the time spent that has made it worth it for me. Home may be a free game, but it is easily the one game I have spent the most time playing, but the little things you spend money on add up. Personal spaces running at an average of $4.99 and most virtual items running .99 cents, companions running between $1.99-2.99 can quickly add up to a substantial amount. It’s no wonder Home is Sony’s silent moneymaker; but is it worth it?
Consider why other MMO RPGs that cost about 120-180 dollars a year are worth it to millions of other players, or to Xbox Live users who pay between $60-100 for their Xbox live subscription to play Call Of Duty online? It is the most important reason that MMOs are so popular. It’s their social aspect. That’s what makes the entertainment value worth it. Playing with others, and socializing with friends from Home when you can’t be together in real life.
Whether you play well with others or don’t, it is still playing with a live person and not a computer generated preprogrammed virtual being that makes it worth spending the time and adds value to the entertainment of a multiplayer game. What makes Home differ is that it is not a game filled with unnecessary tasks and doesn’t pit one player against the other, you don’t have to do any of the mini games, or tasks, you can just log in to meet other players and interact with friends.
It is that very reason that Home doesn’t appeal to gamers that need a constant challenge or task to keep them entertained, and the same reason why many gamers often complain that there is nothing to do in Home. Home may not offer what all gamers need, but it offers all gamers the chance to meet and socialize. You don’t have to spend a cent to do this, but it is the extras you can buy – call them the add-ons – that augment the experience in Home.
What we find entertaining is subjective. What we find value in is also subjective. I am still careful about what I spend money on in Home and in real life, but I no longer judge others for what they spend money on. The question therefore is, when it comes to Home, is it worth it to you?
September 27th, 2011 by BONZO | 4 comments
BONZO is an editor and artist for HomeStation Magazine.
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Yes it IS worth it for me! Nuff said!
Talk about buyers remorse,waaaay back in the old days(I’m talking Atari 2600 days here) there was no way to know if a game was “good” or not before you bought it other than knowing someone that already had the game,this led to many regrettable purchases.I too once thought buying virtual items a jk,until I made a few friends that wanted to hang-out daily.At that point buying a personal space started making sense as a way for us to have new places to explore while hanging out.Now I find many different items enhance the experience so I purchase anything I find that appears to have a way to do that.Home is 1 of those things that at 1st glance to many seems to be a waste of space,however if given a chance it will “grow on you” if you like meeting interesting ppl.The best thing about Home is also the worst thing about Home,the interaction with REAL ppl.So “Is it worth it?”,more often than not it is.It offers much better odds of giving you enjoyment than randomly buying Atari games I can tell you.
Coming into Home was, for me, the first time I had ever “played” in an online game. At that time I had never played RDR online or any other video game in my life. It opened up a whole new world and new ideas and concepts that were totally foreign to me. Buying virtual anything being one of them. At first I swore I would never buy anything in Home. Then, like cthulu, I made some good friends and my whole mind set changed. I am still picky what I buy, probably always will be, but for me it is quality not quantity that counts. Do I think it is worth the probable hundreds of dollars I have spent at this time on Home? Yes it is undoubtedly. I have many wonderful friends from all over the world who I would have never had the opportunity to know if it weren’t for Home, and that is worth every penny!
Absolutley Burbie, you hit the nail on the head there. It’s the friendships that you make that give Home it’s true value, and while the “virtual fluff” (as some call it) enhance that experience it really still comes down to human interaction.
I was once told by a friend of mine that watching me at parties was like keeping your eye on a humming bird, that I was this place one second and there the next. I guess the saying “scocial butterfly” fits, but it’s also one of the reasons I love Home so much, because it gives me a place to do this. And to me, THAT is it’s value.