Another Public Beach Bites the Dust

by BONZO, HSM team writer

Diesel Island has floated away.

We lost our popular Irem Beach when the company went bankrupt — but as a consolation prize, the company which formed from some of its employees, Granzella, gave us the Southern Island Hideaway. Then we sadly lost our Red Bull Beach, and its adjacent spaces. Now Diesel Island bites the dust, and has left us stranded and relatively beachless.

Does that mean a real world brand is also leaving us, though? No, the official statement is that though Diesel’s Island campaign — including their fashion line, the personal space and the Diesel Island public space — are gone, that campaign and Diesel as a brand will continue to be a part of Home.

Why do we find real-world brands so appealing as virtual commodities? Part of it has to do with another real-world element bringing Home – a virtual world – and our real world a little closer together. Seeing brands in Home also gives us the impression that there is real-world interest in Home, well-known brands are supporting development in it, and that Home isn’t really this very limited niche market that the gaming community seems to claim it is.

Whatever the case and whichever is true, the fact that we have real world brands like Billabong, Diesel, Ligne Roset, Adidas and now Wrangler in Europe Home also give us more opportunities to express our personalities with the real-world brand loyalties we often present in real life. The twist of that is that some developers in Home produce such amazing work that they have us wishing for a real-life brand to match the virtual world. Anyone else wish there was a real Drey line? Though often fashions in Home are reference or inspirations of real life designs, it often poses the question: is art imitating real life, or is real life imitating art?

Though I am glad Diesel is staying on as a brand and continuing its support with Home, I am sad to see the beach go. I didn’t spend much time there myself, and frankly didn’t find it to be as peaceful as the former Irem beach — it was often infested with loitering fams — but nevertheless I hate to see us lose any space in Home whether I personally visit it or not. It rather seems to shrink our virtual universe just a little bit more each time.

We are losing even more clothing options as well; whether they were your style or not, or whether you were willing to pay the price tag they carried, it is unfortunate to see them leave. The trouble with virtual fashions is that the fashion world moves at such a quick pace that by the time we see them in the virtual world, they are relatively passé. Also, although there are four regions, trying to emulate the fashion trends that are often cultural and national would be an undertaking that would probably financially cripple Home development, since it would further limit who is buying and what they are buying if we were bombarded with too many options. If fashion is such a concern for you, then you’ll likely see the virtual fashions as outdated, but another perspective on the issue would be to see the virtual world of Home to run on its own fashion timescale. The flow of virtual time doesn’t necessarily have to follow the real world. Home is occasionally decked out in holiday décor to help us celebrate, but it is fixed to whatever season it was designed in with very little exception. So at any given time of the year you can wear summer, fall, winter or spring fashions.

I love seeing real-world brands in Home, and hope we see many more of them in the future. These commodities often bring up the price point debate of virtual goods as well. I personally felt that Diesel’s $1.99 price tag standard was a bit high, considering that Lockwood produces competitive fashion goods for a more lenient $.99 average price tag. For the same $1.99 price for a single Diesel item you often get up to three Drey items in a bundle. However, it provided great fashion options if you can appreciate the style aesthetics of the variety. Diesel as a brand in the real world has an elevated price tag as well, but as with many debates over spending real money on virtual goods, when it is something tangible and a real-world product we are less hesitant to spend it even if the price point starts at four-thousand percent of what the virtual product is.

It contributes to another element for separation of social classes, or elitism, how ever you want to see it. However the optimistic point of view would be that they provide more expressive options to fit styles that would otherwise be limited by fewer development resources.

I look forward to seeing what Diesel brings next, however I am still sad to see the Diesel Island beach go. Though several beach or waterfront properties are still available as personal spaces, we are very limited on public hangouts with such a casual vibe as a beach. As aesthetically pleasing as the Southern Island Hideaway may be, its closed-off design isn’t very inviting — at least not for what I picture as a beach. I envision a long stretch of shoreline and huge enveloping skies, some wind, some waves and always a bright burning sun.

So we say goodbye to another public space: not for the first time, and undoubtedly not the last, but we wait expectantly to see what Diesel will provide us with next, and hopefully it sees much support to encourage them and other brands to continue on or join as part of the Home family.

April 28th, 2012 by | 4 comments
BONZO is an editor and artist for HomeStation Magazine.

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4 Responses to “Another Public Beach Bites the Dust”

  1. Burbie52 says:

    I have never bought anything from the Diesel line of clothing because of the prices, way too much and the style isn’t all that inviting for me to pay it. They have very rarely added new things to their clothing line either, the same stuff they were selling 2 years ago is still there and the variety of choices is bad too.
    The beach was a bust for me too, never went there at all when it was here after my first visit. I agree that the developers somewhere need to put together a beach area akin to the Irem one that was lost though. I have heard many people bemoan its passing. Whoever puts one of those out first will have an instant Hit on it’s hands. Nice read Bonzo.

  2. Jin Lovelace says:

    VERY good article. I hope to see another Becah on Home soon, as my beach items would be obsolete unless I traverse to my personal space to fill that void.

    Why I hate to see Diesel go in a sense, I’m glad the brand will continue their support on Home. Their fashions are truly peccable and I’m looking forward to their future projects. :)

  3. FEMAELSTROM says:

    Nice write Bonzo, and I agree: every company that comes here should stay and try their hand at the market place. This though is not a beach I will miss, and that is not a problem with the devs. They did a good job fo the most part. I have the private space and was sorely dissapointed, but my problem with the public space was simply (again no fault to the devs) that the trolls congealed there like a big pot of garbage. I would go to a well constructed beach and there was so much of that re-written profanity and call to ‘mic on’ from gangsta type gangs that it wasn’t family friendly. I realize that this isnt the devs fault, but that the trolls and punx gathered there made me never go and kept in on the list of places to avoid, so with that, I wasn’t crying too many tears. If anybody wants to go though, ask me, I have the private space , I’ll let you play in the sand. p.s I agree if we had a large beach like this again, akin to Irem, that would be really cool. All this of course is my opinion.

  4. az-sparky says:

    another good read….ill as a desert dweller i seem to enjoy water areas real or not and i will miss having another choice gone too.the ufc public space leaving made me the most angry because it left no way to redeem points i and friends earn at my personal space…again keep up the good work

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