HSM and Lockwood Present: Write VICKIE’s Origin Story!
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief, with information provided by Megan Egglesden, Lockwood Product Manager
In December of 2009, when Lockwood introduced the Sodium Hub into PlayStation Home, it was a revelation. Here was a self-contained world, with its own currency, various jobs, and SodiumOne — which still stands today as one of Home’s greatest games.
And at the center of the Sodium Hub, welcoming visitors with enigmatic beauty, was VICKIE — the Sodium A.I. information android that gives you objectives to complete and tracks how many Sodium credits you’ve earned.
There are tantalizing glimpses of the Sodium universe that hint at a deeper story. The mysterious bunker in the desert. The Rylee Corporation. The odd house at the Blaster’s Paradise, just beyond reach. The glowing balloons that float over the Silicon Lounge. But nothing is more puzzling than what stares every Sodium visitor right in the face: VICKIE herself.
Why is she there? Who left an android in the desert to serve as a guide? Where did she come from? Who built her, and for what purpose? What knowledge does she carry, locked away inside her circuits, and how does she manage to keep track of every single person who visits Sodium? If she is so important, what happened to her leg?
These are questions that might never have been answered. Or, perhaps, some generic and vague answer would have been given. But Lockwood understands that while half the fun of a gaming universe are the games, the other half of the fun is the experience of the universe itself. And where PlayStation Home shines, in contrast to a traditional game, is that it is a universe in which the players themselves create much of the story.
It is in that vein that HomeStation Magazine, in coordination with Lockwood Publishing, reveal what has got to be one of the coolest community contests ever assembled: a chance to write VICKIE’s backstory.
Yup. That’s right. Lockwood wants to see what you can come up with.
VICKIE is such a fixture of the Hub that it’s hard to imagine Sodium without her. She’s the friendly face who provides newbies with objectives and rewards. She has over three-thousand Facebook friends, and has inspired Valentine’s poems and cards, fan art and fan fiction. So the community fascination is already there; now it’s time to see what people can truly come up with.
There are indications that VICKIE was originally intended to have a more human appearance, with synthetic flesh and eyes chosen for aesthetics over function. Early sketches also imply that her interface could have been far more pristine and ergonomically designed, but it’s likely the realities of the materials on hand and the difficulties of desert construction made this impossible.
But why now? Why, after so many years, does Lockwood want you to write VICKIE’s backstory?
It’s because VICKIE has evolved from a simple user interface to a firm fan favorite, and now it’s time for her to take that next step. VICKIE is breaking her programming and escaping the Sodium Hub — and she needs your help to explore the rest of Home. VICKIE has created thousands of replica units you can wear, and using her multi-link neural net, she can experience all the sights, sounds and fun Home has to offer while her central processor remains safely running the show at the Sodium Hub.
Leaving the Sodium Hub, even in a virtual sense, is going to be quite nerve-wracking for VICKIE. The Sodium Hub is all she’s known for a very long time now. So, to add a little moral support, Sodium’s scientists have created a couple of plucky little robot companions to keep VICKIE company. Sijed the Cobra looks fierce enough to keep Vickie safe, and Bijel the Jerboa is so bouncy and friendly, he’s sure to keep her spirits up as she battles to comprehend a new data stream.
But just as VICKIE learns more about the outside world, it’s time for us to learn more about her. And that’s where you come in.
HomeStation Magazine has run community writing contests in the past — but this is the first time that we’ve ever partnered with a Home developer to bring you this sort of opportunity.
Here’s how this is going to work:
Click on the “Forum” tab on the HSM website. In our Main Forum, you will see the VICKIE Origin Stories submissions thread. Submit your contest entry to that thread. Contest entries must be written in English, suitable for all audiences, and between 1,500 to 4,000 words in length, outlining a fictional origin story for VICKIE which is consistent with what is established in the Sodium universe. If you need a refresher on some of the various aspects of the Sodium universe, we recommend visiting Lockwood’s official Sodium universe website.
Submissions are limited to SCEA Home and SCEE Home accounts. Entries must be submitted by midnight GMT, August 4th, 2012. The HSM editors (who are ineligible for this contest) will examine all entries and pick three finalists to submit to Lockwood. The three finalists will all receive a new VICKIE bodysuit, the new Sijed and Bijel companions, and a Sodium2 starter pack. The grand prize winner will receive the VICKIE bodysuit, Sijed and Bijel companions, the Sodium2 starter pack, a choice of either a Silicon Lounge or Blaster’s Paradise personal estate, publication of their story as a web article in HSM, and publication of their story in the Lockwood Gift Machine! The three finalists (including the grand prize winner) will be announced on August 8th.
Please note: While this competition is supported by Lockwood and the prizes are provided by Lockwood, HomeStation Magazine acknowledges responsibility for the competition in its entirety. This is an HSM contest which Lockwood has graciously agreed to sponsor.
Consider how exciting this is! User-generated content in Home is still extremely rare, and this is the first time a major Home developer has challenged the audience to write the backstory to an extremely important element of its universe. Who knows, if they’re sufficiently impressed with your story, it might just end up as part of the official Lockwood canon…
Think you can impress VICKIE’s actual creators with your literary chops? Then here’s your chance. Submit your VICKIE origin story to HSM, and your story could be the one that ends up in front of countless numbers of people in Home itself!
About Lockwood Publishing Ltd: based in Nottingham, UK, Lockwood Publishing is a highly successful online publishing studio specialising in social games, virtual worlds and desirable virtual items. They have assembled a world-class team with an unblemished track record for creativity, innovation and delivery of high quality content.
About HomeStation Magazine: based in Kauai, Hawaii, HSM is the literary journal nonpareil for PlayStation Home, specializing in examining Home and PlayStation Digital Platforms from a sociological and business standpoint. Their team of contributors and editors spans from Polynesia to Europe, and in partnership with AlphaZone4 and the HomeCast they provide the finest Home community news entertainment in the world to the PlayStation user base.
July 25th, 2012 by NorseGamer | 49 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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OMG MY HEAD JUST EXPLODED!!!!!!
Bon where is your piece. I am looking for it to read and don’t see it. Tweet me please. Thank you.
Awesome! Love the idea!
Now just to cut MY ideas down to just one… that’s the hard part.
Contestants are welcome to submit multiple entries.
Dude!! What are you doing to me? I am not officially stuck indoors for the next 10 days working on this!
OH NO! *looks at life and waves goodbye* LOL.
BONZO, you’re lucky, all the rest of me super kerploded! This is cool!
Woohooo!!! Just finished a rough first draft. I thought it was going to be too long, but was so glad to find that it is only 1100 words so far.
This is so much fun!
Thanks HSM and Lockwood.
They might’ve given the contestants a little more than just 4,000 words max…
good point. I’m going to really have to edit myself here. :/
Keep in mind that the official SodiumOne backstory — http://sodiumuniverse.com/guide/sodiumone/backstory/ — is less than eight-hundred words.
Granted, the HSM team and its readership is a pretty literary group, but sometimes it’s important to have a maximum word count, not just a minimum. For one thing, most real-world commercial publications have maximum word counts as well, and besides…the HSM editors have to read everything that comes in, while still keeping the publication itself up and running!
I actually think 4K words are a bit much. With 4K words one could expand the sodium universe itself and I’m not sure how much creative license Lockwood would be cool with. Also, think about this thing being ON Home…. How many people are seriously going to read 4K words on Home?
I can speak from personal experience that if it’s interesting enough, people will read it, regardless of length.
Hmm, good point both of you (Gid & Terra).
Yea… so… My submission is just over 3,500 words. Now I’m thankful for the high cap. lol! I bow my head to the editors foresight.
Bahh you can do it. Most of your post are under 4000 words already
LOL, but this is giving us a shot at exploring fiction. That can turn into a serious monster of a project. You really have to reign yourself in before it gets out of hand. I’m looking forward to reading what people come up with.
I really like the old-school Sci-fi vibe of your story. I flew through the words… it seems like the beginning of something deeper- does the Scorpion virus come back? What did the Scorpion virus really do to Vicki? Who is the man and why does he care so much about Vicki? Who planted the virus? Why was Vicki attacked? What if the virus actually added something to Vicki’s capacity instead of just taking away? It is an interesting beginning to a possibly much more in-depth story. I can almost see the faint shadow of Philip K. Dick in your work -Ridley Scott’s dark rendition of “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” comes to mind. Like many good fictional works it leaves the reader with questions that they must use their own imagination to fill. (eg Moby Dick’s White Whale, or Herman Hesse’s Glass Bead Game).
The idea of the virus came from the mini game of scorpion stomping really, and Sodiums idea of technology on the sub-atomic level. If you read some of their site, they talk about people already having tiny robots on a molecular scale that repair you from the inside. I just wondered what might happen if they went rouge really. As for your other questions well, I think it’s best when you leave something to the imagination.. ; )
I totally worked with the nanotech. I tried to wedge as much of the sodium mythos into my story as possible.
Will this costume also be available to purchase in the store? o.O I’m pretty sure alot of people want to buy this
Yes
Oh wow thanks how much will it be available for? and will it have any special actions?
VICKIE’s replica units will not have any special actions. Her primary intention for them was information gathering and discovery, rather than jollity.
As her AI develops, she may discover she has some buried human emotions, including jollity. At that point, watch out!
Indeed Seal. I just sent in my idea, wasn’t gonna at first but I had some unwavering confidence from a friend. You know who you are, so thank you for the encouragement! Oh, and good luck to everyone who enters!
O.o then you best not read my entry….
I loved your entry Keara! Loved the humour as always and it was really good to see what you can do creatively. You should be proud.
Ooh. that could TOTALLY work with my submission… just WHAT is she looking for???
When you say midnight August 4th, do you mean August 4th at 12:00 AM, or a minute after August 4th at 11:59 PM?
I’m guessing the latter, but want to be sure.
Midnight would be GMT, so if you’re on the east coast of the US, that would be 7PM 4th Aug.
Ok, so it would actually be 12:00 AM August 5 GMT then. Thanks.
I’ve never been good at writing long essays, actually ADHD made this really hard to do. But I’m a Sodium Head and Sodium is always on my mind. So it wasn’t as hard as something like a school report. I could only do about 1600 words tho. If you would suggest I do 500 more words of pure extra useless detail (ex. -- The man had a green leather jacket and blue jeans with a tear in the leg.) I would happily do it if it means Id be increasing my chances by a lot
I love the stories I have read so far. I do not know much about Sodium but this is a great introduction as to the “why” of Vickie who I thought was an extremely interesting character -which made the post-apocalyptic environment seem strangely more inviting and engaging.
I agree with Terra when she says that a length of a work does not seem to matter at all if it is well written and worth reading. I think that Lockwood is giving our writers a great opportunity here. It is nice to be able to write something that is not expository for a change -and it is nice to read it as well.
Thank you Lockwood for providing this group with this awesome opportunity
I should have read the back story…
I absolutely loved your submission Austria! I found it funny as My submission and yours could ALMOST work together! lol!
Personally Gideon, I liked yours and KrazyFace over the others. Cant wait to see what else comes in ^_^
Like Austria, I should have read the back story a bit more carefully… Hindsight bites.
Remember, you can always submit more than one entry…
I plan to. Already wrote a second story, but I want to make it longer before submission as I am not satisfied yet.
I also so where Gideon came up with thee character “Vickors” and am now tempted to put it in my story, but then fear I would be seen as ripping off his story slightly (Just because of the name inclusion)… Bleh plagiarism! Hate when it can be construed as that. I’ll figure something out that is tasteful and fits into the sodium world well, just you wait ^_^
Classical music have been doing such things now for centuries. They call it “variations”.
Provided you acknowledge the source, it’s usually acceptable.
Indeed, and I’ll think you’ll find VICKTORS in my story too, you just gotta know Sodium well enough to know how to see it
Yeah, I just got to make it my own thing (Which I did, and I may now soon exceed 3000 words O_O). My first story was my short and sweet story, and I think my newer one is trying to match the Sodium continuum without fault (which is a bit impossible with word limitations and is proving very difficult).
But then, I always do make things harder for myself than need be sometimes. Things turn out better ^_^
There are so many secrets within the HUB alone, and when you are done with a part in the story you realize “Oh god I forgot this!” Makes things fun and it slaps you with a bit of hindsight; I love it!
I’ve just read all the posts. Nice work everyone. I don’t envy the judges.
If we notice glaring errors in our submission, are we allowed to edit it? I noticed a couple of small things I would like to reword, and some grammar errors.
Ooops…hit the wrong reply button. sorry
Editing for grammar, syntax, punctuation and structure is allowed. We knew that by going with public submission on our forum, contestants would probably want to make such minor tweaks to their work, and that’s fine.
The only thing that’s verboten, of course, are substantial changes to the copy itself — which is why we’re allowing for multiple contest entries per writer. But we’re totally cool with minor fixes to clean up existing copy.
After debating all day whether to post my story, or keep revising, I bit the bullet and posted.
Now I can finally go and read what everyone else has written
Good luck everyone!
I have read and enjoyed every submission, they are all very good in their own unique way, that being said I really love how many of the stories independently of each other have hit on similar themes. This has been a wonderful success and I think a fiction writing segment would make a killer addition to HSM issues!
Gideon I really am impressed by your second entry. I think it takes all the random free-floating data about Sodium and jells in nicely into a plausibly cohesive format. Beyond giving VICKI an origin it could make an interesting back story for future gaming in that space. I think people forget just how important a story is in the context of gaming. Here is the thing, you go to see a movie and you are done in two hours and you are a voyer being let in to observe… The thing that gaming has over movies is that you are in he movie and you get to be there for a relatively long time, but without a story you are just what I call “stamp collecting.” Well played mate. Let me know when you first Sci-fi novel comes out -if this is any indication I will buy it and track you down to sign it -Heh.
Ooh tommorows the day we get the results in, may i just say may the odds be forever in your favour , happy hunger games umm i mean vickie backstory writting