Inside x7
by Estim20, HSM team writer
There’s a point in every avatar’s life-cycle when their brains are inadequately equipped to process Home’s weekly update. It’s a time when we all realize our first impression fails to fathom what in fact just happened, on such a level that it seems language fails to articulate it. We stare, mouths agape and eyes glistening with bewilderment, at a glass screen with the words ‘Welcome to Home’ broadcast to our precariously-twitching retinas.
It needn’t be permanent, just long enough for our mental state to shut down, reboot and respond with a WHAT so flat, the second dimension joins the fourth just to be able to bow in admiration. Naturally what causes this reaction can vary from person to person, given the way subjectivity loves to play with the human mind. Even two people who generally agree on most points can find different things shocking.
However, there is currently an issue that causes crude levels of disappointment to burble to the surface. Its geyser convinced numerous people to erupt not in applause, but in dismay. Texas tea it isn’t and Jed would sooner find a plug for it than harvest it for his personal gain. We find its existence utterly amusing at best, brimming with unfortunate implications at worst.
Its source: the evilly-cackling x7.
Not so evil: Tempest games in progress.
The fact it sounds like a automotive prototype aside, this place is quite the charmer, if we forgive a generously twisted misapplication of the word “charmer.” It overshadows the less-polarizing elements of its week’s update (Edo!), like a stunningly boastful evil mastermind laughing at the pitchforked mob below, asking for his head. Someone infested his mind with good ideas and he took them the only way he knew how: insanely.
It’s amazing, in a way, that any space, public or private, can cause such an outpouring of vitriol. x7 is nearly an effigy of good ideas gone wrong in the eyes of even concept advocates, let alone anyone else, just in the first week. The mob as mentioned above is at the huge front door, demanding retribution (and a little pitchforkery for good measure) and they aren’t likely to slow down before next Wednesday. They are mad and x7 is within arm’s reach; if anything is bound to burn, it’ll be x7 before the month is done.
But is it really as bad as it sounds? Can the mob be missing the entire appeal of this space? For those of us who aren’t able to enter (and rather avoid it altogether especially), what is actually behind the velvet rope and unmoving guardsmen? Is it, in the end, worth it all?
In effect, is the hornet’s nest Sony disturbed stinging the wrong issue?
Chapter 1: What x7 Means
In order to find out the answers to these questions, let’s first tackle what x7 actually is.
So you're telling me x7 is not a concept car?
As mentioned in Norse’s lovely article, x7 is a restricted-access space in the form of an exclusive club, where access is based on specific purchases. Anyone with one of a variety of specified items are allowed within the club’s private confines and can enjoy its numerous amenities. Failure to purchase said items and you can simply enjoy the comparatively small lobby on one side of a velvet rope.
It is a natural extension of the Mansion spaces, in the sense that for every two millionaire parents out there, according to Hollywood, there is one child, male or female, that enjoys a public life. Equally as naturally, not all millionaire babies can be Batman so they can vent daily frustrations at a dance floor, soaking in mixed drinks and beats until the glowsticks seem like peculiarly bright Mountain Dew bottles.
The space basically serves as an exclusive club with music where people can go to relax, dance and socialize without being bothered by unsolicited annoyances outside. It’s like a real club, at least in theory: only specific clientele may enter and enjoy benefits while everyone else can kindly mind their own business. If you want in, you need to know how to get in; otherwise, you would have to accept being blocked off.
The idea of a VIP space isn’t in and of itself a horrible idea. It can work and has worked in real life, so there’s nothing about virtual life that says it won’t. In fact, it worked before on Home, both purposefully and inadvertently: Sodium’s lounge and Singstar’s VIP room proved quite popular, particularly the latter even when you couldn’t access it normally. People do respond to VIP areas in a positive light, so long as they are handled effectively.
You may notice where this is going.
What You See, What You Get: The Good
Obviously given I am not a business-minded person, I won’t be analyzing it from a business perspective. I wouldn’t give it just, especially since Norse already covered those bases incredibly well. Instead, I’ll cover it as a user who wants to know if x7 is worth it for her. Would x7 actually hold anyone’s interest and stand out as worthwhile? To answer that question, let’s begin with what x7 manages to get right.
First of all, the fact Sony implemented a VIP area means they are, in fact, listening on some level. As mentioned, the idea itself isn’t bad and can definitely sell when appropriately utilized, a fact that will not escape Sony. If they can monetize exclusivity, they will – and they will with a vengeance. A red balance sheet won’t do and they’ll take as many (guaranteed?) opportunities to make the ship float.
This benefits Sony largely via attracting attention to PlayStation Plus and the litany of “high society” items within Exclusives. Naturally these “high society” exclusives are the most expensive and to some extent, I don’t entirely fault Sony for chasing that cash. It wouldn’t take much to earn a profit from these higher-priced goods and if it generates what they need, more power to them. The core concept is thus in place and to some extent, it works. Of course this comes with a caveat, which will be explained in due time.
Secondly, let’s think for a moment why someone may want to entertain a VIP area, as opposed to using a personal space. The latter’s entirely private and entry is user-controlled while the former is up to Sony to decide, a semi-private haven that keeps users ‘away from’ only those who haven’t met the criteria to enter. The former allows close to three times as many users as the latter but at the expense of personal privacy.
You’d think personal spaces would be the go-to space for privacy. If that’s what you want, what can you find in a public space that a personal space simply cannot provide? Answer: new people, and plenty of them. Every day people log in in the thousands, attending to every possible diversion Home has to offer.
Beats drop like Nokia phones - much to the floor's dismay.
It thus reminds us what the real issue is: we don’t always want complete privacy. For the extroverts especially, there’s a charm to meeting new people, being around crowds and discovering new services previously unknown/unavailable. Of course, this sometimes (re: often) comes attached with the feeling that we rather not deal with the same insanity and stress that we experience everywhere else in life. Home is, and likely will continue to be, seen as a means of getting away from it all, not remind us that the one thing separating the outside world and an insane asylums feels like a padded wall sometimes.
To that extent, it’s difficult to truly run that feature aground. A VIP space is, ostensibly, a means of mingling with the exact environment one enjoys most without worrying about letting pervs, trolls and more ruin the experience. X7 succeeds at least partially in being such a space, as there will inevitably be users who enjoy the club scene. It caters madly to their tastebuds, if a bit like catering to a spicy food lover but setting their tastebuds literally on fire.
Finally, some of the features aren’t entirely unwarranted. It attempts to follow the PlayStation Plus model by offering exclusive offers, free items and early access, if limiting it to Home items instead of limiting it to PSN Store purchases. To its credit, there are no ‘trial offers’ for items, wherein you would have the clothes for a set period of time. That would probably be a fish-slap to the face to numerous people, even if they offered free permanent-to-own items alongside them. Although a dressing room set-up may be nice.
Beyond the offers, you are given a dance floor with (free!) music, a view of the city and, if you’re lucky enough to have certain combinations of items, hot tubs to soak your avatar’s body in. If you’re feeling flirty, feel free to play the oh-so-subtly named FLIRT mini-game and end the night with bed use that actually changes the laying position.
Even if it makes you think, “Draw me like one of your French girls.”
Oh, I was supposed to draw you in it?
Overall, yes, the x7 space does offer something to convince people to visit. It’s incredibly difficult to scrap the ability to chat with people completely and x7 manages to avoid disproving that. But clearly there is an unspoken “but” (excluding that first “but”), so let’s answer that unspoken but with:
What You See, What You Get: The Bad
Let’s tackle the most egregious: the means of entering x7.
Anyone can access the x7 entry space, free of charge. It gives you a perfect opportunity to gauge whether or not you actually want to continue, regardless of whether you fulfill the conditions to actually do so. You’re staring right at the club facade and two guards and a velvet rope block your path, permanently if you don’t own the right items. You will have a choice to make and naturally one will be curiosity.
Let’s assume you don’t own any of the prerequisites and you actually succumb to your curiosity. Never mind what it did to the cat, that itch needs to be scratched, and how. So you take a look at your available options, which in all but one case sends you to the PlayStation Mall. So far so good, it’s logical, so let’s start with the Mall options to see what we can do.
This first barrier unfortunately provides the first opportunity to facepalm. The basic idea is that x7 requires specific items, not amount spent regardless of what you actually purchased, to access the club. That alone would make people curious in regards to a non-game space.
Below water, he's a California raisin.
Restricting it to specific items rather than amount spent (and not caring how that amount was spent) means the club forces you to choose a line of items that cater to a specific taste. That someone will buy them even without a VIP room as incentive is not at issue; someone will purchase these items even if zombies threaten their fleshy integrity. It’s such an accepted truth that it’s silent, unspoken. If someone needs to mention it, it feels awkward doing so.
The issue is four-fold. First, it raises an unfortunate dichotomy: someone can spend $4000 on Home and never gain access while someone may spend $15 and can keep walking in until time stops (or Duke Nukem gets another sequel, whichever comes first). It boils down to personal taste and one that unfortunately has a history of negative feedback. While it makes sense which items they used (the club is a natural extention of the mentality behind the Mansion), given the flak in the past regarding Mansion-ownership bonuses, it is no surprise x7 received its fair share of criticism for picking the wrong train to board.
Secondly, and what makes it worse, is that it doesn’t have the fallback of being a game-space or a third party to explain its choices. To explain what this means, here’s a comparison: Sodium1 also contains a VIP room. It’s a game-space owned and operated by Lockwood and it has no misapprehensions about it. It isn’t tied to Sony or the core spaces, it’s Lockwood in the eyes of most users. When they see the VIP room, they expect Lockwood items (specifically Sodium items) to grant access and they are not surprised to discover that’s accurate. I have yet to see anyone complain about that set-up, and I highly doubt we will.
That’s what distinguishes Sodium1 from x7: people perceive Sodium1’s VIP room as a VIP lounge for Sodium players. X7, on the other hand, is perceived as an exclusive club for Home users in general. It’s advertised as such so people expect it (and access to it) to reflect a more general cross-section of the userbase. Imagine their surprise when x7 instead falls back on, “you must look this rich to enter.”
Again, it’s not like it completely lacks sense; it looks like what the clubbing offspring of millionaires (and we know they’re rich from the exclusivity of the club) would enjoy perusing. However, that is not what they based this space entirely around. There is that nagging thought that it is meant to be a general user exclusive, something we’ve clamored for since time immemorial, not a haven for the rich.
It only acts rich, much like how any random user can act.
The Loneliest Chippendale
Thirdly, it gives the wrong impression of what people think Home’s about. It requires a financial obstacle exclusively that doesn’t even function as we would expect it and it assumes (that generally) we are gaudy socialites with more money than common sense. There are people whose spending habits sit in line with this type of environment; tastes are funny like that and no one is saying users can’t enjoy the mansion or the gold suit if that’s what they sincerely enjoy. People find everything attractive and they aren’t what x7’s video advertisement makes them out to be.
The problem is precisely what x7 assumes about our behavior as a whole – and, by extent, why we bought the Mansion in the first place, assuming we even have. The video, for example, makes x7 come across as a largely negative stereotype of the club scene, with rap, waitresses/dancers that far outnumber the shirtless men and a deeply-ingrained conviction that there is no such thing as “too much gold.” It might as well misspell “ogle” as “Au-ggle,” if you catch my drift.
What follows does not help matters (and what does help isn’t enough). Even if you don’t own any of the required items and you don’t buy into the whole Exclusive scene, your best bet is still buying them. Second place is PlayStation Plus, but I wouldn’t waste a subscription service for this place.
Finally, we have a tie between the 7-day and 30-day passes, if solely because if you find that you actually do enjoy the club, the prices are the worst to maintain. A weekly pass is $5 and a monthly pass is $15. Once they’re done, you’ll need to buy them again to stay. By comparison: PlayStation Plus is $20 for three months and the first Mansion space purchased is $15, unless you got the garage for free (in which case the next one is $10 – and you can’t use the garage as a means of entry). The latter even grants permanent access, so if you have enough for it, don’t bother with a monthly pass if you’re interested.
About the only saving graces are the deals (lowered price or free) and early access opportunities. The FLIRT mini-game is not nearly enough of a draw on its own: you may get a crown if you are the top scorer and the game itself isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Unless you enjoy being a flirt, though it seems putting a prize inside that box isn’t even all that important for pick-up-line artists.
The items available now as part of early access are a double-edged sword – and a weak sword at that, even if it wasn’t double-edge. One is a gold suit that offers 25% more Nebulon in Novus Prime. This may appease hardcore Novus Prime fans, but the bonus isn’t worth it. Unless you’re a Bond villain, spring for the gloves that offer an XP bonus instead and spare yourself from this much gold. The rest are okay at best, though the huge morningstar will turn a few heads, and give far greater reactions than the gold suit.
Go figure the free drink tray isn't allowed to get anyone drunk.
In Summation: What Could Go Right
If it is possible for a social network to experience acid reflux, Home certainly is doing that now.
x7 embodies the Good Idea Gone Wrong. There are a number of decent ideas floating around here that deserve better implementation. It would be remiss not to adjust them, to suit the general user base. However, due to the poor application and the obstinate history of the Exclusives being used as requirements for bonuses, user reactions have been, charitably speaking, swift.
Effectively what did x7 in is Sony’s subtle-to-explicit insistence that this is what they feel the general audience would appreciate most. Again, they aren’t entirely incorrect; we did ask for something like this and the Mansion must’ve sold enough to justify the level of ubiquity it enjoys. However, while we asked for something like this, doesn’t mean we meant this specifically.
Here’s what I would recommend if we could reboot the entire idea. Don’t use the Mansion or its higher-end brethren as requirements for entry if you’re going to persist with making a Home VIP space. I’m not against the idea of a VIP space, far from in fact. The idea has potential and can be utilized effectively – if we adjust entry to match.
It isn’t a case of the Mansion (and its relatives) violating everyone’s palette; someone will enjoy them and they are free to do so. However, you are giving the impression that you view all of Home as this contingent that buys everything to look rich – and they aren’t reasonable about it. We know some users enjoy living la vida rico, even if it is fictional, but even this push for the Mansion misses the point.
There are numerous ways to “look rich” even if we assume that’s what people are doing, and we can’t assume that. The outside world will think it’s a Rich Boys club, especially after watching that advertisement, all because x7 missed a huge opportunity to aim for a broader target. It limits its scope tremendously because it assumed perhaps too much about its audience.
Instead, get the community involved. Maybe include the amount of quests completed to ensure there’s a means of getting in while still requring some work from users. If money’s an issue (and it likely never won’t be), rather than requesting specific items, let entry be based on amount spent. That way people may customize their experience and not feel like they’re being penalized for picking “the wrong one.”
Above all else, Home is about community involvement and socialization, not image. People are free to dress and decorate as they please, certainly, and chances are no one will stop them. However, when it comes time to decide what the general userbase desires, go for as broad a swath as possible. Certainly not everyone will be pleased, subjectivity being what it is, but after such a history of Sony liberally applying the Mansion Flavor, we’re about ready to take some Tums to settle the pain.
- - Actually gets the point of exclusive spaces in some fashion.
- - If you like this lifestyle, you will be in techno-heaven.
- - Has good ideas, like free items and early access.
- - Advertises itself as a exclusive space for Home as a whole, requires owning the most expensive items to get in (there's a meme in there, right?)
- - First early access items are gaudy, gold and don't offer the best bonus for Novus Prime.
- - FLIRT. Really?
- - If the dancers were aliens in disguise in Men in Black, no one would be convinced they were actually from this planet.
April 17th, 2012 by Estim20 | 10 comments
I haven’t even ventured as far as the velvet rope. I’d probably delete it from my navigator if I could. Blech.
LOL Estim, I knew you would do this place the justice it deserves. Great job explaining what the space is lacking, but also talking about what it has going right, though it isn’t much. The more that Sony pushes these “exclusive” expensive gaudy things at me the more I run in the opposite direction. There is nothing in this space that will convince me to buy any of those things and I agree it would be better based upon user loyalty and money spent in Home than specific items. PS plus members should be included, that is going in the right direction too, but having to purchase something that is truly not your style or taste for an exorbitant amount of money to gain access to this space is not. Great read Estim, I look forward to your next one.
Thanks Burbie, I definitely had fun writing this one. lol
I agree Playstation Plus as a means of entry isn’t a bad idea and they seem to take a few cues from its model for offering amenities in x7. The idea can work, though they didn’t exactly implement it in the best possible fashion.
I interviewed SanFranDrescher who gave me some very succinct and insightful answers. Here is her take on the X-7 Club:
1. I like the outside. I feel like it gives people who do not have the things needed to enter the club, a space to stay and chat. I think that the papparazzi was a very nice touch. As one who has entrance to the club, I sometimes like to just stand on the red carpet. People may think this is a marketing ploy by Sony, but the people who make it a marketing ploy are the ones who feed into it, and buy something. I know many people who like the red carpet, and will never buy something from exclusives.
2. I don’t like it that they carry around gold bars, and diamonds. It seems a little fake. Of course, Home isn’t supposed to be so real-life.
3. The flirt game is well-done, sort of. I like all of the flirts and the replies, they’re funny. However as people have pointed out, the bugs do over-whelm the game. The only way I got my tiara, is by having someone who understood the game, stand with me alone near the pool for 15 minutes.
4. The music seems like it’s something normal compared to the mall. However, there is the spin on it that keeps it like a club feel.
5. Someone had once described the waitresses as “****”. Through the promotional video, it did make them look like some prostitutes of a sort. I mean, there’s a part where it shows the womans behind, shaking in the camera while a guy watches.
6. It looks nice on the inside, however the ceiling with the lights is a little weird. I like how the dancefloor lights up, however many people have had to clear their cache because there have been problems with the dancefloor. I like some of the separate areas on the balconies, although no one ever uses them.
7. The discounted items from week one, weren’t all that great. I do have faith that Sony will put up some things that people do like, to discount.
8. The bottle service reminds me of the bottles from the Dream Yacht. It was a nice gesture, but I would have liked some clothing, not just a T-shirt, or something that had X7 on it.
9. Me and a friend had run into each other outside the club, and it took us many times to get into the same server. I think that Sony will be able to fix this, all they have to do is screen people before they go to their friends, like the rope at the entrance. Or at the least, number the servers, like floors, so that someone will say, “I’m on floor 7″ and the friend can go to that floor, which is the same server.
10. You can never run away from trolls. A lot of the trolls who go into X7, are the ones who have PS+. I’ve only run into maybe 3 in my time there, and I’m sure it will increase, but it won’t be like the trolls out in public.
Thanks for the info, Darth! Very insightful indeed. A few comments of my own in response.
2. I’ll agree that Home needn’t be realistic. After all, it is partially about getting away from real life. Still, the dancer models seem a bit too cartoonish for my tastes, especially when coupled with the plates of gold bars that you wouldn’t find outside of fantasy. That and what, no male dancers?
3. I’m not particularly flirty but I do like the responses as well. I think it’s either you like it or you don’t. lol
4. The music is a welcome change of pace. If anything, they should keep it because it does fit with the environment and it’s danceable.
7. I agree here as well. I commented on this week’s early-access/discount items with some hope that they’ll offer more variety in the future.
9. This is the main objectionable consequence of making it exclusive in every sense. Even two people who own what’s required for entry can’t follow each other to x7. They must luck out on finding the right instance, which is doubly problematic if the person they’re following is already in the club.
10. So far, I’ve never experienced trolls in x7 and I hope the stiff financial barrier for entry discourages enough of the other ridiculous behavior that people who do enjoy x7 can relax/dance in peace. However, I can’t say much for the future obviously; I’m also guessing it’ll increase, though I hope it remains at a low level.
The X7 scene definitely isn’t for me, but that said, I did find some benefit from stopping in for a quick look.
The free champagne bottle reward was nice, although we got something nicer recently with the Luxury Yacht. But I was even happier with the discount bundle on offer -- 6 animated animals for $1.
I doubt Sony will ever change the membership requirements to a simple total spent -- the idea is to promote Sony-made products, not stuff from Loot, Lockwood or nDreams. I personally find that the cost of the Mansion spaces has been more than offset by the bundle savings I’ve received so far.
I rather be in SODIUM instead!
I must be one of the only ones who actually like this place. Its Awesome! It gets 5 bubble machines from me.
I’ve honestly enjoyed reading about both sides of the debate over the x7 club. I like looking at both sides of any situation and you’ve given a great opinion on what you see, including the Pro’s and Con’s. Love that!!
These have been my meager thoughts on this; I over-spend on PSN, but I do that on games AND in Home. I really appreciate that Sony is allowing my over-spending to gain some acknowledgement in Home and not just at the PS store. Sorry! I like that Sony is recogonizing those that purchased a Plus membership. I purchased the membership because I like playing games, but I also liked the idea of them giving me a “perk” in Home to go along with that; I mean, Home is a part of the PSN!
I really felt like this was Sony’s way of giving those that purchased a Plus membership something to enjoy in Home as a “perk,” but at the same time, not trying to exclude all those in Home that didn’t purchase a Plus membership. (Look at the fiasco and all the controversy over the Plus Membership club they opened in EU *I think that was EU*) They still wanted it to be exclusive…but they wanted those that are maybe more “social” and not so much big gamer’s…maybe…to feel a bit of the love too…just my opinion. I mean, Plus member’s can get in, people that aren’t Plus can get in if they are maybe in the financial bracket to be able to afford the more Exlusive items, or spaces. But, they also give those with not as much income the ability to at least see what it’s about and decide if they want to scrape up the money to get a permanent membership, in whichever way they would enjoy, by buying the passes for a “looksie.”
This is just how I’ve looked at the whole x7 debate… I didn’t, however, think about the whole having to buy clothing and/or Exclusive items that you might not actually LIKE in order to enjoy the x7 club, idea before. I did understand your point there. : P