Sony – It Only Does Social Networks?
by Johneboy1970, HSM guest contributor
For a few years now, Facebook has dominated the landscape of social media sites, holding firm against upstart competitors like Google and outright destroying old standards like MySpace. But a new kid has moved on to the block, hoping to take a piece of the action. That kid’s name is Sony.
According to Gamasutra, Sony Japan (SCEJ) has unveiled their new social network platform, called Play Community. While other social networking sites have made attempts to lure in any and every possible social demographic, Play Community (currently only available in Japan) is squarely aimed at the PlayStation community, offering up a variety of functions which should appeal to gamers on its platform. In other words, it’s most likely going to be the only social network platform that you won’t ever have to worry about your mother joining and spamming you with a million FarmVille invites daily.
According to initial reports, you need to sign in using your PlayStation Network ID. After doing so, you have the ability to set up a personal page from which you can find other gamers who share your interests, form groups, and send messages. And you don’t have to go scrounging around the site to find people on your friends list as reports indicate that you can import your PSN friends list directly to the social site.
While Play Community would be a welcome addition to PlayStation gamers (and Homers) in the US and EU, its unveiling also offers a great deal of speculation on how much Home integration it will have. With the recent push to re-invent Home into a focal point for the PlayStation community, it’s not too large a leap of faith to believe that some of the functions of the social network may eventually be aimed squarely in the direction of Home users. HomeStation readers may recall that team writer Gideon covered this aspect and how it could be a boon for Sony in an article of his (see Home’s Social Expansion, Issue 9, page 86) not too long ago.
Home integration would not only be a boon to people who utilize the service, but may also serve to pique the interest of those who have not journeyed into Home or didn’t ‘get it’ on a prior visit. Ideas for Home tie-ins would make for a long list.
It’s easy to imagine that one’s accomplishments (like Hub quest completions or high scores on the leader-boards of the games which have them) could be automatically updated to one’s personal page like trophies and Home/PSN purchases on Facebook. Perhaps one could take a peek at the events board from their page to see if there are any gatherings which may be of interest. Club owners may find it useful to have access to their club membership rolls or to send out invites for club events right from their Play Community page. The ability to issue challenges to those on your friends list to race in Sodium2 or shoot it out in Bootleggers would not only be fun from a community stand point, but would also allow for a mechanism to invite non-users into Home, and perhaps give them a reason to stay.
Currently there is no word as to when – or IF – Play Community will be available for US or EU users, nor whether there will be any in-Home functionality. But it seems obvious that it would be a great move on the part of Sony to expand Play Community westward…as well as include some level of integration with Home.
What is your take on the matter? State your thoughts in the comments below.
December 2nd, 2011 by johneboy1970 | 4 comments
Johneboy1970 is a guest contributor to HomeStation Magazine.
Thanks for the nod Johneboy and thanks for reporting on this service! I had not yet heard about it and I must say I am excited. I have never been one for social media networks (those of you who are friends with me on Facebook know the infrequency I use the service.) But I LOVE the idea of a PlayStation Community site. Even more so if its integrated into Home (please please have expanded club features)… even MORE so if its able to be linked with other sites. With the VIta around the corner and Homes re-designed facade this could be one of the pillars of Playstation. As there are with most of what Sony does… there’s massive potential here.
“In other words, it’s most likely going to be the only social network platform that you won’t ever have to worry about your mother joining and spamming you with a million FarmVille invites daily.”
Sign. Me. Up.
(Not that my mother even has Internet -- or a computer for that matter -- but a day that goes by without seeing a ridiculous amount of FarmVille invites is, to me, a good day.)
The single most feature that I would like is integration of PSN messages with email or at least a service that you can access on the internet and not just on your PS3. Increasing the size if the message would be nice too.
Thank you for reporting on this. I did not know about this service either.
I rather doubt SCE will implement such a feature. They want to give you a reason for using the PS3 -- not enable you too access its features elsewhere.
If you want an email service that you can use when not on your PS3 then I suggest you sign up for Hotmail or GMail. It’s too late for SONY to enter the free-webmail business.