The question for me is whether the trolling problem is getting better or worse. My impression from spending a few hours a week in public spaces in Home is that there is less trolling happening now. Of course in certain places and at certain times the trolls can totally overwhelm a public space and make it pretty much uninhabitable for anyone that just wants to relax and hang out.

I think that doing the Welcoming Committee events has helped me to better cope with trolling and I’m better able to deal with it.

Anyone have any ideas?

I never once for a minute thought changing central would change those in Home who are labeled “noobs” and “trolls”

I did notice that when you had that conversation, you sort of lead your results to an end. Your one word responses would have come across as crass and dismissive. How is someone asking about your experience in Home indicative of n00bery? I actually think this “n00b” did well with the conversation, especially considering the cold shoulder he was given. I mean, he asked you if you had been to the Cogs space, I think that’s a good thing to ask someone. It’s likely not everyone knows.

How are you supposed to make friends without making conversation? I know one of the major reasons I have spent less and less time in Home recently is that it seems like the community has become… closed off. Everyone is paranoid that everyone else is a n00b or a troll or some other meaningless label that the community uses to ostracize others that they are completely closed off to meeting someone new.

I think this “n00b” problem is just as much a problem with Home vets and snobs as it is with new members.

And god yes, Hudson. lol They touched on that element nicely -- your horse racing idea would work well I think.

It did this because, as you said, video games became boring, along with the shoddy porting of certain titles and quality issues in general. People distanced themselves from the video game market either way and Nintendo knew not to let people think ‘video games’ initially with the NES. And it worked in their favor.

Once it got into houses, Mario Bros. and other titles took over and truly sold the system. I kind of think Sony’s adopting a similar strategy here, as stated above, if for clearly distinct reasons.

As for whether the ‘Trojan horse’ plan would work, the basic idea was pointing out that people that use Home regularly versus those that don’t have starkly different opinions on whether Home can support such a program as Home. I could imagine Sony targeting gamers who don’t use Home in this manner because it’ll be easier to convince them (hopefully) it’s more than a game once they’re inside. Once the user base is in, it becomes a chance for them to really improve the social elements, though they’ll still improve it as they always have (for better or worse depending one’s opinion on the matter naturally).

So they won’t simply stop the social improvements. Ideally they won’t, anyway.

I kind of view society at large as dismissive of video game consoles encroaching on this territory for some time, because MMOs only really appeared on console last generation and Home is the first non-MMO virtual reality we seen. We have nothing to compare it to and we’ve never had that type of social expectation on our consoles.

Don’t get me wrong, socialization has been and will continue to be a prominent aspect of gaming -- it’s just that when plenty of people think of non-MMO virtual realities, they think of PCs. It’s this audience Home wants to attract, it seems.

Why? Maybe the current audience is reaching a plateau; we’re the ones that didn’t need much selling on the idea but maybe we’ve reach the largest we’ll ever get. If that’s so, and even if it isn’t, Sony’s tackling a huge challenge: telling people who need more convincing to give Home a chance.

But that’s my conjecture and it really is conjecture at this point. Sony’s treatment of the PS3 as a gaming platform, at least early on if not so much so now, is with some justification if the general audience doesn’t view it the same way we do -- which might be worth figuring out. Are we representative of all PS3 users or do most not feel Home is ‘good enough’ to fulfill social needs?

The people who run Home have to balance their requests against your criticism. There are people who are willing to pay almost anything for exclusive items. I have pitched items a lot more expensive than anything currently in Home and am hoping to create bundles that may end up in the triple figures. The question is not whether they will sell, but whether the community will rebel. It makes no sense, but it is a fact.

Someone has to pay for Home. If there is no revenue to support it, it goes away. When you say “for profit” that implies there is a profit. I have no knowledge that says there is.

Be happy that others will pay for items that you feel are not worth the price. They are paying so you get to play for less. The more they are influenced not to buy expensive items, the more Home will charge for the smaller items.

Sony has to get the money from somewhere. Start thanking the people who spend the money instead of trying to change them. It is in the best interest of Home in the long run.