Home Furnishings: Is Something Missing?
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
“I object to the beige.”
- James May, Top Gear
Thursday, December 8, 2011 will be a day I will always remember in Home. I woke up feeling like a kid on Christmas morning, full of energy and curiosity about what Home had to offer me today, knowing that something I wanted for a long time was waiting for me.
I love to decorate my homes within Home; this creative endeavor is second only to dressing my avatar, which I also enjoy immensely. With the new increased furniture allotment that recently occurred with the 1.6 core upgrade, I have been having a great time redoing and adding to all of my current homes, which number twenty-two at present. I have several friends who own almost every space in Home and who love to decorate them as much as I do, and they are all ecstatic about this new addition to our beloved Home. Merry Christmas from Sony!
In light of this new core update which allows us more latitude with our furniture, I thought it only fitting that I should touch base on what would enhance this incredible new development. Now that I have more to use in my spaces, I have been discovering a few holes in my inventory that are particularly hard – if not impossible – to fill. Those that have similar holes in their inventory will be a good thing for Sony and other developers, as they can now add to our choices and thereby add to their coffers.
Please sir, can I have some more?
The first thing that I found lacking was bedside tables. I found a couple here and there, but almost all of them come in a shade of brown, with very few available in any other color. Lockwood have created a black and antique white one, but that is pretty much it when it comes to colors. Having red cherry, black and antique whites to add to our inventories would sell quite well, in all varieties of tables. Even lacquered pieces in a variety of colors would be welcomed with open arms. This is the opposite of the problem with boots and shoes that I mentioned in my previous article about missing clothing; here I feel like I am living in a world of brown with no way out.
(NorseNote: Given the success with reskinning clothing in different colors, perhaps we may yet see the same thing with furniture.)
Veemee is the only company that has come out with more colorful pieces, including appliances like refrigerators, washers and toasters, but the tables look like they belong in a cafeteria and feel out of place in most of the private spaces. I have to give them credit though for at least realizing there is a total lack of colored furniture in Home.
A better variety of colors would also be welcomed in dressers and storage types of furniture as well. There are some good pieces to chose from, but they are all in shades of brown, except for the crystal furniture that Sony created a while back, or the gold stuff from the mansion. As I was trying to arrange things in my Tycoon Penthouse apartment, I began to see that there was little in the way of black or white furniture other than couches and chairs to use there. I found the Santorini dresser to be the darkest brown wood available, so I bought it and it ended up in my bedroom, but black would have been a better choice, or antique white. Give us variety and we will buy.
More variety in our storage units would also be welcomed. We have a few bookcases, some are even colorful, like the rainbow and the ones from mydeco.com, but how about bookcases and shelving with backs on them that we can still put ornaments in, preferably in colors like the ones mentioned above? Though whimsical places like Little Big Planet or the Dragon’s Lair might work well with brightly colored pieces such as these and the newer candy furniture, I can’t see using them in my Waterfall Terrace or Lakeside Luxury; after all, not every place can emulate Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.
Wow! A Bath and Kitchen!
Lately there has been a new trend toward furniture that caters to those who want to create kitchens and bathrooms in their homes. This is a welcome addition where those kinds of things can be used. I have created them both in my Harbour Studio and I have created a kitchen in my Waterfall as well. But in doing so I see where there are a few missing components; kitchen counters that don’t have a sink in them (other than the ones from Ghostbusters which don’t fit well everywhere), and bathroom counters that do. One thing I love about the new Cutteridge Estate is the the fact that it has a bathroom in it I can build, but there isn’t a single bathroom counter with sink available anywhere, though a counter with a washbowl and pitcher might be more appropriate there.
There is a wonderful kitchen counter with built-in sink that I found in mydeco and bought immediately, but it has one flaw – you can’t place anything on the counter portion; it has a barrier of some type. Being able to place flowers or other ornaments on the counters supplied would be a plus. There is also another big part of a kitchen that is sorely missing – stoves. The only one available is the one in the Ghostbusters bundle pack and it won’t quite work in all of my spaces. Supply all of these in the same variety of color for a decent price and watch the coins roll in like a virtual snowball down a hill.
Another bathroom type of piece that would sell is a one piece shower unit or bathtub/shower unit. If we could step into them it would be cool, but even without that having a cubicle style shower unit would help immensely when it comes to building a new bathroom.
Now that they are offering us these new possibilities, they should also keep these areas in mind when creating new personal spaces. Give us the rooms to use and build these types of areas within our homes now that we have some of the tools we need; add to the tools and we will buy the spaces that they fit into. For example: I love my Log Cabin for its great ambiance, but it gives me little in the way of creating a kitchen there or a bathroom. Even the Lakeside Luxury has a problem when it comes to a bathroom area being created there, as there’s no way to section it off: and this leads to the next suggestion.
LOOT has two large free-standing wall units which I love. One is a beautiful wood color that is found hidden within their stage flats (please make this one available separately) and the other is from the Ghostbusters space. I have used the Ghostbusters one a few times; I love the way it blends together perfectly when building walls, but it doesn’t work everywhere. For one thing, it is a bit too tall for many spaces, as it hits the ceiling and is unusable; the other drawback is the color. Blue. And only blue.
While LOOT also offers their flats to use, these are exactly what they say they are – flats – and therefore have little wooden pieces that hold them up, not appropriate for use in a home. Having a variety of freestanding walls without any adornment on them, such as the ledges in the Ghostbusters piece, in a variety of colors, would be a welcome addition — particularly if they fit together without a hole showing in the corners where they meet. If they are a little shorter so they fit within spaces with a lower ceiling, that helps, too.
And speaking of LOOT, I suspect many in the machinima community in Home would also welcome freestanding pieces with doorways built in that you could actually walk through. This small adaptation would greatly increase the reality factor of this growing industry within Home, and having a doorway would also be something that people could use a lot in their homes as well when creating rooms.
Another suggestion made by people I have spoken to is the ability to add ceiling fans or ceiling lights to our spaces. I don’t know if this is a possibility or not technologically, but it would be cool to be able to add these types of things in our personal spaces when we want, even it costs us the use of one of our picture frame slots to do so.
I hope that these constructive suggestions help to show the various opportunities to greatly increase not only the enjoyment factor but the individual creativity factor within Home for many of us who love to decorate. One of the things I treasure in Home is the ability to be creative with both my avatar and my personal spaces; it is what keeps me buying the new virtual items that appear. Build it and we will buy!
December 26th, 2011 by Burbie52 | 15 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.
Since writing this article mydeco has come out with one new curved counter top that compliments the sink they have, and you can put things on this one, but can’t stand behind it in the curved area, another barrier of some sort. It also has a simulated stove built in on top. This is a great addition, but we could still use more of them in a variety of colors.
I installed a full kitchen in my lakeside cabin near the entrance and would be happy to share photos or give a tour
Some people might question why we would want Bathrooms in Home,after all it’s not like our avatars need to take a shower or use the toilet,but these things can be used to make our personal spaces more like our real world surroundings.Personally I don’t think we can ever have too many options when it comes to items and hope some developer makes all these items you’ve suggested and many more.
I agree, they are already making most of these in some way, I don’t think we need more toilets, one of these is enough really, but the other accoutrements to add to those already made would be a smart move, and they also need to make our personal spaces more accepting of these things by giving us the areas in them to build. If we are never going to be able to create and share virtual items like they do in Second Life, at least add to our creative ability by these simple additions.
I don’t know,I think a half-moon outhouse would go well in the Midnight Glade,would blend right in with the outdoorsy theme.
Thanks for writing this article; I hope developers pay attention. I would also love to see more large rugs like the Paris classic for sale. It’s maddening to try and “fit” small rugs together evenly to cover a larger area.
I find this “dollhouse” aspect of Home very interesting. I don’t really get into it, I’ll throw some seats out to sit in if someones coming over but thats pretty much it. I think I might do more if there were more items that had interactivity to them. Like a grill where I can “grill”.
An interactive grill could probably be made into a mini-game.If you don’t flip your meats in time they get burnt,of course some ppl like burnt meat but that’s besides the point here.If you don’t turn a certain number of meats into charcoal you get an item,something like a Gold meat flipper that pops up in SpongeBob Squarepants every now and then.
The Loot free standing wall units you write of work out excellently in the Log Cabin for making a bedroom if one doesn’t mind using the Ghostbusters toilet wall also and throwing in a toilet and bathtub. (I’m still waiting for a bathroom sink, LOL).
The Loot wall also fits in the Paris tower in the upper section to put a bath tub.
I haven’t tried the Loot wall in other areas.
The new outhouse is one of the best additions in furniture although so far I have only used it in the Glade.
I would like to see so many different things, but table settings would be great. Flat plates, cutlery etc. That would make for a more realistic dinner experience. Also, a beer bottle ornament. That would help my spaces look more true to life
I agree about the table settings, if they could do a plate with fork, knife and spoon and a glass as a set that would be awesome, so we don’t have to use too many spots to do it. Great idea!
I would like to see Loot make automatic sliding doors for the Space apartment. This would only enhance the Trekky feel this place already has.
for a GREAT large kitchen floor that’s reflective as well, buy the life size chess set floor. its gigantic and can cover large areas in a short amount of time. i covered the whole floor of the old clubhouse one time and made a full size dinner, complete with cooking area, counter tops, seats, and a dance area. the stage at the back of the old clubhouse was the arcade setting. but it was the black and white tiled floor that really set it off.
SO glad that you brought up the bit about the doors not being usable in the flats -- I mean really what is the point of having a door in a piece of wall, if one can’t use it? lol I also can’t wait until we get more wall units that can take the place of the (ugly, imho) flats.
I also would like to see more floor lamps and large area rugs!!
Great read Burbie! Love the picture with the kitchen and bathroom settings, that’s just awesome!