HomeStation Presents: The Upload, Episode #19
by Jersquall, HSM Podcast Editor
In the real world, we learned as children what the basic social mores are in our culture. We know what’s appropriate and what’s inappropriate. We know what the penalties are for breaking these rules.
Virtual reality, on the other hand, is a wildly different experience. It’s a society with no visible police presence, no major risk of ostracism or other such repercussions, and no limit as to what you can portray yourself as. And thus it poses a fascinating question: what do we choose to be when we are safely anonymous, and what are the boundaries that we collectively agree to abide by for public decorum?
In real life, an adult would not wear a diaper in public — for risk of social outcry, arrest for indecent exposure, and loss of status amongst peers. In real life, a man who chooses to cross-dress as a woman and wear provocative attire is a highly unusual sight (outside of certain specialized areas and events). In Home, however, both such examples take place with some regularity. Is this appropriate? Indeed, how do you define “appropriate” in a virtual society?
Home is a thirteen-and-up environment. Yet if we look at what the MPAA considers to be appropriate content for a PG-13 movie, we see that it’s considerably more graphic than what Home allows. And yet Home is far more than a movie; it’s an environment in which we must interact. Our real-world societies don’t give us much programming to deal with these sorts of situations.
It is thus that we take a look, with this latest episode of The Upload, at Mass Media’s Weird Wear.
The Weird Wear sparked a furious debate within the Home community upon its release. On one end of the spectrum, you had people saying it was no big deal at all; on the other end of the spectrum, there were charges as outrageous as Sony “peddling sex.”
The truth is usually somewhere in the middle, and this is certainly no exception. Does Mass Media indulge in virtual commodities and marketing practices which are more overtly suggestive? Absolutely. No, they’re not selling sex — but it’s also certainly “no big deal,” as it blatantly pushes a societal boundary in Home. And when you push, people are bound to push back.
This, of course, is very useful. Even though tempers flare and discussions devolve into arguments because people want to win their points, the insights gleaned from the calmer and more rational voices involved in the conversation help us all, community and developer alike, to determine what we’re willing to accept.
So, now that things have cooled down a little bit and we have fewer knee-jerk reactions taking place, The Upload team decided to take a look at Mass Media and the Weird Wear. Specifically, was it appropriate for Sony to sell such content in Home, given its stated parameters for what it deems to be acceptable? We at HSM certainly make no claim as to being the sole arbiters of what constitutes good taste, but that’s a separate matter entirely from whether or not it’s allowable. Ultimately the community decides whether or not it will be successful by voting with their wallets, so we looked at whether or not it should have even made it into Home to begin with.
Play that funky music, white boy!
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November 16th, 2011 by Jersquall | 5 comments
Jersquall is a retired Home Community Volunteer, co-founder of Club HOMEinformer, and podcast commentator for HomeStation Magazine. His views expressed in HSM are his own.
While I really don’t want a return of the Victorian age where even table legs were covered and referred to as “limbs”… if at all, I think Mass Media goes too far for a community which is supposed to be family oriented. I don’t go to Midway II because of the game names and I no longer purchase anything from Mass Media since the advent of Weird Wear. I don’t know how anyone can say that depicting a schoolgirl with large breasts and an open shirt is NOT salacious and it seems to cater to pedophiles. This is not the Home that I knew 15 months ago and felt at home in.
For the most part, I agree; Mass Media likes to go for shock effect with their marketing and product lineup, and I personally think it’s crass and in poor taste. I don’t play any Midway 2 games, and I think that stuff like the diaper and the monkey-love butt are remarkably crude.
That said, I think a distinction needs to be made between Home being a “family” environment and Home being a thirteen-and-up environment. The two are *not* the same thing. In my personal view, Home is hardly a family environment; though it’s far more of a controlled atmosphere than other virtual realities such as Second Life, Sony isn’t — as far as I can tell — making any overt pretense of catering to families with Home. They’re catering to gamers, teenage and up. And that’s a huge difference in target demographic.
A schoolgirl with large breasts and an open shirt is unquestionably salacious, in much the same way that Britney Spears’ “Hit Me Baby One More Time” video was salacious. Both easily meet the requirements for a PG-13 rating (heck, both meet the requirements for a PG rating). Can both examples cater to ephebophiles? Sure, absolutely. But as Gideon pointed out in his fetish article, it’s virtually impossible to block every possible fetish indulgence someone might have in Home.
Home, to me, has never been a “family” environment. I discovered that within the first five minutes of watching all the horrid misbehavior that took place throughout the old Central Plaza. It’s simply a thirteen-and-up environment, and it’s the same sort of behavior (and a lot of the same clothing) that you’d see in most any public high school across the country.
Does that mean that I support Mass Media’s marketing tactics and product lineup? Hell no. But within the parameters of what Home actually *is* (versus the perception of perhaps what it ought to be), I have to conclude that it’s acceptable for sale in Home.
Even if it is ridiculous and tasteless.
Great job as always guys. I think that when it comes to wearing anything in Home, it is really to each their own, and though you won’t catch me buying anything like these weird wear items ever, the same is true for a lot of other clothing and costume items in Home. The diaper was a bit over the top though, and unless they intended it for a Halloween baby costume, something I have actually seen in real life, then I don’t really see what purpose it served.
This past weekend, we went walking around the mall here. In our journeys, we passed the Victoria’s Secret shop. There, in the front window, in big, all-capital neon letter were the words: “PANTY RAID” as a way to promote their current sale. Just then, a child -- I’d say no more than four or five -- went jogging right past the scantily clad mannequins.
Now this mall -- well, any mall, really -- is a family-friendly environment. The center atrium was already decorated for Christmas and for photos with Santa, there are children’s shops all about; there’s even a carousel near the food court. And that has a Spencer’s Gifts right across the way (if you’ve ever been in one, that is most assuredly not a family-friendly store).
The bottom line is this: no matter where you are -- be it Home or in the real world -- no one is going to do all the work for you when it comes to controlling what you want or do not want to see. Same thing goes for your kids. And if they inquire about it, you explain to them in a way that is age appropriate.
Is Mass Media’s marketing strategy egregiously crass? Absolutely. But it’s no less crass (and in some cases a lot less crass) than what children as young as my own son get exposed to on a trip to the mall to get photos taken with Santa.
You can argue all you want about how Home “should” be different from real life, but what other road map do we have? We each make our Home experience unique to ourselves, and that freedom I think far outweighs some one-size-doesn’t-necessarily-fit-all blanket edict cast upon us from on high.
Hi Guys….Great Show….I really need to revisit the archives and check out the past shows and issues…I used to be on Home and left a little after the Hacking in April…It’s been too long and so I decided to journey back…Wow! what a redesign!….Anyway I believe what is acceptable to ANY SOCIETY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER as it such as it is…No Home is not a “FAMILY FRIENDLY” Society…Virtual as it is…It is a society…and We as denizens of said society have to shoulder the responsibilities of making our own conclusions on what is acceptable…Now who of us Ten years ago as Britney Spears debuted her Schoolgirl look who are males did not go “Wow! now that’s a hot look?” …To say Mass Media has no clue about demographics would be wrong…They KNOW THEIR TARGET AUDIENCES with that stuff…Now the baboon butt and diaper ??? ehhhh not so much!….BUT that’s not to say that works for All Hallows Eve!!! would I allow my kid to use Home?..Sure! It’s a great SOCIAL AND GAMING venue…but I would also discuss with him/her the DANGERS of said environments!…That’s not to say that ANY chat room online is any safer…But again…I am making the point that ANY ONLINE ACTIVITY HAS IT’S DANGERS!…I would want my kids to have to knowledge of what to do in those times…but I will not stand over them looking at their every move !..But I will discuss with them at length if need be the RESPONSIBILITIES of being online!….
Once again…Great show everybody…Terra…YOU NEED TO WORK IN RADIO!…I could imagine you hosting a Morning show in some market