Will Clubs in Home Ever Evolve?
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
I have a large group in Home called the Grey Gamers. We are a club, though it is a loose-knit one with little or no hierarchy or rules. I like to keep it simple, and it works, as our weekly public gatherings are always busy and new people are coming all of the time.
I love the fact that Sony put this amazing social feature within the confines of Home. It was obviously meant to have people of like interests gather together in groups of thirty-two avatars and strengthen the bonds between them, no matter what the club is based upon. I’ve been a part of several clubs in Home that have had a wide variety of mutual interests. Everything from fashion to gaming, from video production to wedding chapels, or even age to music, and those don’t count the one I belong to as a part of this magazine.
This is where I run into trouble; I have too many clubs I wish to belong to, and not enough slots to cover them.
Wedding Chapel
When Home first started it was intended as a place where gamers could meet and get to know each other outside of the PlayStation Network online playing they were doing. It has succeeded very well in this. I know that I played my very first online game, Red Dead Redemption, because I met people here in Home and they talked me into trying it with them. I am glad I did; I loved the game and being able to play with friends. So whether you already had the game and were looking for players, or (if you’re like me) didn’t and were turned on to a game and joined in, Sony has accomplished what was intended, they have increased their sales through this tactic.
Clubs were probably intended for use in the same fashion. Groups of people with the same games could gather and discuss what was going on in their playing, help each other with game difficulties or strategies, and thereby have more fun and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. But clubs as well as the rest of Home have gone way beyond the original idea that Sony had, and though they have given us a few recent club upgrades by way of new skins to add, there is still a great deal I think could be done to expand upon this social aspect of Home. Some of these things would probably be very simple to implement, while others might not be possible or at least be more difficult to do.
Grey Gamers
The first thing that needs to change to make clubs a bigger part of Home is the lifting of how many clubhouses you can belong to. Either they need to double the amount to ten, or just allow us to belong to as many as we like. I don’t know if there is a reason they have limited us to five, but many people I have spoken to agree that five isn’t enough by a long shot. I myself have five that I attend: one that I own and four that are associated with the various functions I get involved with in Home. I am constantly having to juggle who and what I belong to in order to cover all of the groups who I want to be involved with.
This is true of many of my friends and associates in Home as well. I can’t count the times I have heard them ask why there is a limitation. This goes along the same lines as why there is a limit to only a hundred people on your friends list. We all want that to change as well, but there has never been an explanation why it can’t be.
Another thing to change would be the ability to actually own more than one club per account. I don’t know why they limit this at all, to
A beautiful addition
tell you the truth. It’s like they are shooting themselves in the foot, because large clubs like the Homeling Collective, my own Grey Gamers and others would all buy more clubhouses and increase revenues accordingly if this limit were lifted. This alone, combined with the ability to own or belong to more clubs would contribute not only to Sony’s or other developers coffers, but also the the cohesiveness of the groups involved.
Other changes have to do with functionality. The ability to message all the members at the same time would be first in my book. It is one I have heard several owners wish was possible. It would also be nice if we could have more members in the clubs. While thirty-two is half a server (and probably why it is this way), it would be very nice to have the full server complement of sixty-four. Long ago, I took my club out of the clubhouse environment for this very reason; we simply outgrew the clubhouse. Because of that fact, I rarely use it anymore, and I have to constantly juggle the membership to allow people access for special occasions when I do want to use it.
Another nice skin, but no added functionality
The only way I can even do these special occasions now is by throwing out an RSVP for it, then clearing the member list and adding those who respond to it until it reaches capacity. I feel this is unfair to those who wish to come but are left out because of the lack of room. So an expanded membership would be a welcome change to clubs for all involved.
I am sure there are many people who own clubs out there who have many more things they would love to see happen with them. As Home has grown, the clubs have basically stayed the same. This needs to change. Clubs need to evolve right along with the rest of Home if they are to remain a fun and functional part of things.
May 20th, 2012 by Burbie52 | 6 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.
True, so true… The members limit give me headaches every weeks. My wish list would include a permenent message board and a war room wich you can teleport to your favorite space from
Well said Burbie, I’ve held back from investing in a club for years because of the limitations placed on them, and their lack of functionality. I’ve also found myself refusing to join clubs because it would mean insulting another group or person due to the tight limitations. In fact, I’ve kinda just given up on them and ignore their existence now.
Again, I’m sure that’s not what Phil Harriso… (oops, silly me) I mean, Sony had in mind.
The Homelings, with 34 MotherShips and several social/meeting clubs, are acutely aware of the clubhouse limitations. Even something simple like being able to send an XMB message to all members of a club would be a tremendous help. We really, REALLY need to be able to join more than five clubs, and own more than one. A super-club, with a membership of 64, would also be most useful. Or a club with a much larger total membership (say, 256 or 512), of which only 64 can be in the club space at any given time. That would eliminate the constant purge-and-reinvite cycle of the social/meeting clubs.
I have a club, and it’s small, I mean real small, but I’ve been asked to a few clubs and even the invites are higher than the 5 we are allowed, I see this realm in this light, it’s a place of infinite posibility and potential. Devs have to see it a little more technical, and it’s here that they can make all the changes. It’s up to them to make those changes and hear the voices of the users. From their end they have limitations but much like the items values in the home spaces counter, sometimes they can be reviewed and maybe modified. I hope somebody in the right places has heard the voices. Great article Burbie and the Gray Gamers are a great bunch of people, glad to be one.
I believe that the problem you are talking about will be addressed. How, when and who? I don’t know. But a problem this big will get attention eventually. Just remember how long it took to fix Active Items -- 2 years. Maybe we will have something sooner from a developer. I think in this case it may be possible for a developer to make a fix. But everything takes time.
I think as HOME “evolves” we may see more functionality. Thats why they have the suggestion section in the scea.com web site. They need to fix other things first for everything to mesh. Every Wed when they update it seems something is not working or has effected something else. I heard a rumor that Loot was going to offer a portable tv that streams movies etc. We shall see.