Where Everybody Knew Your Name
by Terra_Cide, HSM Managing Editor
Remember that very first time you moved away from your parents – be it going off to university or outright moving out of the house?
Remember the exhilaration you felt? The freedom?
Remember thinking for the first time that you could finally, finally do whatever you want, whenever you want, and the only rules you had to follow were your own?
Remember thinking for the first time, “Yes! I’m finally on my own!”
And then it hits you – I’m on my own.
Crap.
That first taste of freedom never quite tastes as sweet as we thought it would once reality comes crashing in. Adapting to a new set of obligations, and a whole new environment serves to only reinforce that sense of solitude. Just trying to keep up with all that needs to be done day-to-day leaves little time to recultivate the social life you left behind.
So what do you do? Where do you go?
You go to where people gather – the local watering hole.
Now I come from New England; having a pub or bar you can go to after work is just a natural thing for us. That said, this gathering place doesn’t have to be a bar, especially with the growing number of cafes found both in suburban and urban areas; just a place where people are prone to gather and socialize. The same is true in the virtual world.
Three plus years ago, when I first discovered Home, open beta was still pretty shiny and new. Xi had just launched, but other than that, there wasn’t much in terms of games to draw you in, unless you liked endless rounds of bowling, pool, Saucer Pop or Red Bull Air Race – and that doesn’t begin to cover the chess or the game cabinets tucked away. But what if all you wanted to do was interact with people? You could stay in Central Plaza, but as that was really just a dumping ground for every avatar that set digital foot into Home, finding a quality conversation was a crapshoot. You could go to the Mall, but – and this is one of those funny moments where the virtual world reflects the real world – never being a mallrat back in my adolescence nor now as an adult, I never found much in the way of stimulating discourse there either.
So I found myself at the one place – back then – that just seemed to be the natural choice for adults to gather: Sully’s Bar.
In those early days, Sully’s was Home for me, in the same manner some say Sodium or the old EA Poker rooms were Home for them. This is where I met all my oldest friends in Home, some who I am still friends with, and whose connections have transcended the virtual. Sure, Xi was there, but it was fleeting moment. Sully’s was more permanent. My first forays there would find me sitting on the stool, way back in the corner by the phone, just soaking it all it. I was still relatively new to Home (complete with default clothes and no keyboard), and taking a page from Jane Goodall, I wanted to observe this new society as best I could before diving in. A few curious people would swing by and chat me up for a few minutes, and more often than not, it was actually a conversation worth having. Back then, you could glitch the bar, too, which was also worth watching; I had observed the rail and waterfall glitchers in the mall, but the bar glitch just seemed more interesting to learn. And then the friends list started acquiring names, those friends knew other regulars and made introductions, and they in turn introduced the people they knew to us.
Soon, I was one of them. The moment one of us regulars showed up, it was like Norm Peterson had just walked into Cheers; the chatlog would light up with our respective names.
I don’t know if it’s because Home back then seemed to be a more organic reflection of the real world, or because there wasn’t nearly so much to do, or if it was just some mysterious “X” factor that only the universe understands, but the people I met were just like ones I would meet at a bar. Yeah, there were people there that were far more eccentric than what you’d find in the real world (and if you recall the username “KILLA_THAT_DUDE” you know exactly what I’m talking about), but that’s Home color for you. Some nights, the place was so jam-packed that you’d glitch to stand on the bar almost out of necessity, else you’d drown in chat bubbles. And sometimes even that was filled to beyond capacity, so dancing on top of the arcade machine beside the stairs would have to do. It was like Cheers meets Coyote Ugly meets Studio 54, and damn, was it one hell of an epic time.
Not nearly as full as it used to be.
And then, it just sort of ended.
There was no single factor that contributed to the downfall of Sully’s being one of the “it” places to be in Home’s social scene. Some would say that it was EA’s poker rooms and other emerging game spaces that killed it, others would argue that the core update that removed the glitch that enabled users to get up on the bar that removed their main reason for hanging out there. But speaking as someone who visited there morning, noon, and night daily for months, and who – in real-world vernacular – “closed” that bar down many a late night/early morning, the cause of Sullys’ fall lies with us, the patrons. We’re the ones who chose to turn our back on it, citing whatever reason that suited each individual: a new in-Home game just came out; a long-awaited disc-based game was just released; the bar was getting too boring or too “drama”-filled; Home wasn’t fun anymore since they took out the rail glitch that made sitting on the bar possible.
All these factors have little to do with the space itself, but much to do with the individual’s perspective. We live in a world where the Next Big Thing has a fifteen second shelf life before it’s replaced by the next Next Big Thing. Our attention spans have been trained to be short; this is especially true of us gamers. We want the change the Next Big Thing will bring us, and yet paradoxically, it’s the one thing we’re the most resistant towards. Which is why I get the hand-wringing and wailing over the impending removal of Sullys, but it doesn’t mean I’m one of them.
The reality is this – much like the oft-cited Benjamin Franklin quote, Sullys died a long time ago; they’re only just now getting around to burying the body.
June 18th, 2012 by Terra_Cide | 10 comments
Terra _Cide is the former Community Manager for Lockwood Publishing and Editor Emeritus for HomeStation Magazine.
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I made some great friends at this place. Friends that nicely taught me the fine art of the Home comeback. They are a great group of guys and a special gal. I am still their friends and that wont stop anytime soon (I hope) but that the bar itself is going is sad and yet there is a sense of “I’d rather see it go than sit as vacant and lonely as it’s been lately”. Please don’t mistake me, I am sad that it’s leaving, so here’s to you Sulley’s, and to my friends Nero, Duran and Silver G. Thanks for the fun there and I’ll see you someplace else. Cheers.
When I returned to Home after being PS3-less for seven months, I figured “what the hell” and decided to check out the old bar. It had been going downhill even before then, but even that knowledge didn’t prepare me for how empty Sully’s was when I checked it out. Three people were there, and no one was talking; every avatar there was in idle.
It is far more sad (for me) to see the space that was once so vibrant to be so empty than it is to know it’s going to be deleted. It’s not unlike watching a loved one waste away before death.
I never hung out at Sullys all that much. I have been there a few times, but it wasn’t a place I frequented regularly. I have met many people who did though, and I am sure that it will be a big loss for them. I hope that it remains on the servers even though it is off the grid like some spaces have, we can only hope.
Sully’s was always my haven in Home. I went there to be alone or to meet a like-minded user. I’m sad to see it go. I held a steampunkers ball at this space almost 2 years ago now (wow time flies).
Check it out here if you’re inclined. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezESo4C7syw&list=UU7WiQdHobjZYxvwvso0NZ0w&index=2&feature=plcp
I remember that party, it was a hoot!
Yea, it’s interesting how much fun Home was then… despite the lack of content.
Come on in Sully’s tonight for a final farewell. Hope to see you there.
Y’know, I never bothered with Sully’s bar. I was only in EU in those days and never really had anyone close enough in Home to stand and chat to. In fact finding anyone who spoke English was hard sometimes. But then Sodium came along, and that was my turning point in Home. That’s where I met all the friends I’d spend the next year with, I just didn’t see the drama coming, Home should have a label that reads
“OBJECTS ON YOUR TV MAY APPEAR CLOSER THAN THEY ARE”
Sorry about that wee outburst. I really, really liked that send off you just wrote for Sully’s Terra. You did it so much justice that I WISH I had my PS3 here at home right now so I can go there right now. Hey, maybe these condemned spaces just need someone passionate enough about them to talk them up! I know, I know! I’ll shurrup now.
Great article. I kept reading peoples feeling sad about that specific space removal. Now i understand why. It’s one thing to read: it was THE place back then. Another to feel you’ve been there.
(in my best Cliff Clavin voice) It’s a little known fact that in early mesapitania beer was invented at a bar called Sully’s.