Time for Celebration at Pier Park
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
The middle of the summer is eagerly awaited by kids of all ages. Fireworks are synonymous with the beginning of July, and most of us have probably been hearing firecrackers, and even larger pyrotechnics, around our real life homes this week. Fireworks are so popular that people spend hundreds of dollars, even driving to other states to buy them and use them illegally in their home state. They are so popular that Lockwood brought virtual fireworks to us last year, and provided a space to shoot them off in. And they are giving us even better ones this year!
When Sony revamped Home and removed Central Plaza, there was a huge uproar from people who didn’t like the new Hub. For all that the regulars had given the Plaza various not-so-nice nicknames because of the trolls who gathered there for public annoyance, they were up in arms about its loss.
Well, from what I have seen, the Hub isn’t Central Plaza’s replacement space — Pier Park is! It is here people gather to glitch the benches, and it is here you find the special events that the Home Community Management team puts together for our holiday celebrations. The first one was Thanksgiving last year, followed, of course, by Christmas. Now it is summer’s turn, for the Fourth of July and Canada Day are upon us. And the Home team hasn’t disappointed, though I find it odd they didn’t mention this upgrade in the message of the day.
(Editor’s note: It was, however, mentioned in the official blog.)
A couple of years back, there was a holiday game in Central Plaza that involved fireworks. It was fairly simple, and provided everyone with rewards to shoot for. This year, there is another fireworks game, called Fireworks Bonanza, but this one is a bit more difficult to master. It involves patriotic music from Canada and the USA, and mashing buttons to achieve a good fireworks display and score. There are three levels of difficulty: easy, medium and hard. Even the easy one takes a bit of practice. There are also three different music sets to choose from. This is a lot of fun, and I am sure many will win the rewards right away. So far, I have gotten a nice patriotic vest set for male and female, and it seems they are all there is to obtain. There is another part to the game that involves searching for firework crates, though I haven’t seen it give me any rewards yet. It seems to be similar to the assist modes in the Dead Island and Killzone TGI games.
Rewards from Fireworks Bonaza
When you first arrive at the Pier, you receive a set of three nice sparkler hand items — in red, white and blue, of course. The whole area has been transformed for the patriotic holidays, with streamers and firework displays shooting into the sky everywhere. The Ferris Wheel is adorned with lights and draped with decorations, and the dance floor and main area have flags prominently displayed. All of the light poles are wrapped in colored swirling paper and flag representations.There are even maple leaves and stars imprinted on the decking below your feet. There are also some very nice small touches that add to the realism, such as the flags blowing in a non-existent breeze. You will also find the ever-present Wardrobe Wars portal still spinning in the center, as well as the Midway 3 contest advertisement.
The thing about this that strikes me the most is the fact that Sony doesn’t have to do it at all. Think about that for a minute. Though SCEA is based in California, the parent company is Japanese. They don’t celebrate this holiday, nor do they celebrate Christmas or Labor Day or Easter, or many other North American holidays. I understand that we who do celebrate these things are their clients, so they have decided to cater to us. But if they had never started this in Home, would we have ever said anything about it? It has become something we expect now — free rewards during holidays, especially Christmas. They started this tradition, and have kept faithful to it, year after year. To me, it shows a great generosity of spirit that they are willing to give us these rewards several times a year, and provide us entertaining games to obtain them.
We sometimes seem to forget that, though companies have the obligation to provide services we have paid for, they are under no obligation to give us anything for free. Yet Sony and the other Home developers have done so for five years now. That speaks volumes to me. Though we chose to pay for things, we are under no compulsion to do so, and we can have a comfortable existence in Home without spending a dime. I still have my male account, which I created to show what could be found for free in Home in a week, and I have continued to add more freebies since then. I must say my male alternate self has amassed an impressive amount of clothing, companions and furniture for nothing at all.
Sony and Home’s developers have given us a great deal. And they continue to do so, at a significant cost to themselves and with no promise of profit other than the goodwill of us, their consumers. This new Pier Park holiday is just another proof that they have our best interests at heart, and that their business model includes large amounts of old-fashioned generosity.
June 28th, 2012 by Burbie52 | 8 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.
Agreed Burbie, the simple fact is that it is good will and generosity despite the complaints of those who would think otherwise. It is true that they do not have to do a single shred of any of this, and yet they do. I know some of my favorite possessions here in Home are actually free items. I think that for those who vocally rake Sony over coals, stop and think about the fun we have in Home and so much is well done and free. Thank you Sony and devs for the free fun and good times that sometimes, some people over look, and thank you Burbie for the good article.
I would go a step further to say that almost all of my favourite items on Home are freebies. Golden VICKIE, Aurora Champions apartment, old E3 nuggets, various trophies and other memorabilia. I will always treasure items that I had to earn or that I received through special limited-time events over items from the mall. The fact is that I could buy anything from the mall but I usually don’t bother. I do not prefer the rewards and other freebies out of frugality. Those are just the items that mean more to me than anything I would purchase. I’d take my E3 Sixaxis coffee table over some cheesy virtual mansion any day.
It’s no coincidence that my interest in Home has been steadily waning as more weekly updates have emphasized mall updates over new activities. I have very little interest in virtual real estate or avatar clothing items anymore.
Great article Burbie, and I agree completely about the free items. It is very generous when you consider all the stuff you can get for free through promotional items. Just look at the 4 suits from Even horizon. Which are pretty neat suits. Not to mention 2 thirds of my companions have been freebies. I have 40 at this point. and I’ve only paid for a third of them. There were 5 free companions at the E3 event alone.
I have at least 25 companions and ALL of them were free. I can’t imagine why I would ever want to buy a companion on Home.
Great article. Pier Park looks very festive. I love earning rewards and I am so happy about these new 4th of July items. I can’t wait to log on and get the sparklers. I hope I can figure out the games to win the rest, even if I can’t, it will be fun trying!
Great Article Burbie,
Pier Park looks great and it was a wonderful review, but I want to touch on a point you made about Sony not having to do this. You really hit the nail on the head with this. When you don’t really care about something, you kind of coast. I can think of several games out there that this is the case. When Sony is planning events and keeping home constantly changing and festive it really changes the gaming experience. Again, it’s not something they have to do at all, and I agree with you that it shows a generous spirit. Happy 4th and Canada day eh.
My one disappointment over the game…
Since I have to focus on hitting the song notes right, I miss seeing the fireworks.
I need to make sure to get over to pier park this weekend. Great write-up burbie, as always.
I do think this does serve their purposes though, it builds community and gets people involved in Home. While I DO agree they don’t have to do hold these events and that it is very nice of them to do so, I see it more publicity than generosity. Unlike holding… say… a Marvel event to celebrate the upcoming The Amazing Spiderman movie, holding an Independence/ Canada day event doesn’t come with royalties and contracts.
One more thing, Christmas is celebrated in Japan. Even Japan Home has Christmas events. It still surprises me that Easter is celebrated in Home because of its strong religious ties. It’s not even a federal holiday. Christmas, which is a federal holiday, should really be considered a secular event in this day and age.
I find myself wondering: what events do OTHER regions have that NA does not?