Discovery
by Godzprototype, HSM filmmaker
Having said this before, I believe saying it again might help: perspective is a powerful thing. Some people come into Home, look at everything that isn’t there, and shout it to the top of their keyboards all over the forums and any other soapbox they can find. Ironically, if they bothered to see what Home does presently offer, they might stop long enough to have a good time.
Home, broken down to its most basic core element, is about discovery.
Socially — and I am not a very social creature — people get together and go hunting for new experiences. Looking for new objects to find comfort in sharing them in their respective places with other users. I enjoy a good imagination. Not always a politically correct imagination, but a pretty fun one at times. I have had the good fortune of meeting people with very vivid imaginations, unleashed with a huge menu of objects to help in their creations. Many good times have been had!
Even though some come into Home to use that imagination to look for everything that is wrong in Home, they are experiencing discovery just the same as someone using it to create an experience with the objects sold or given. That sort of creativity, so long as it doesn’t become hateful or harmful, is just as important. When the language becomes demanding and cruel, this form of creativity can become a trap that can be harmful not only to the people that have to bear it, but harmful to that person’s own psyche.
Discovery, for me, is the primary drive that keeps me coming back into Home. Even when interactive elements don’t quite make par. The belief that Home will continue to grow in every way, with many new discoveries, is why it continues to work so well. When the gaming markets are hurting, I still see people coming into Home, relating and creating.
Interestingly enough, people now have so much stuff in their wardrobe or storage, consideration for having a deletion option for some of these unused items has been circulating. George Carlin would have had a good time joking about this. If all of the developers did nothing else with Home — if it stopped and stayed just as it is right now — how long could it maintain any sort of audience? Bear in mind, that not every game or space in Home has been successful, and still we come back. Why?
Is it the social element? Is it the creative elements offered? Is it the memories shared with others?
I subscribe to all of the above. AND one more: the belief that everything previously mentioned can and will continue to make something interesting out of the experience that is Home. The hope that PlayStation Home and its developers will continue to contribute to its user base just as much creative imagination as is observed in the various media projects.
When I began filming in Home, it was like the next level of extreme creativity. Here was a method by which I could keep the memory fresh of some experiences that were created. It has been difficult in some respects, but ultimately, very satisfying. I would even have to go so far as to say it has helped me through what might have been the same-old same-old.
My Wishlist Saturday item, then, would have to be a monolith.
I really enjoy Stanley Kubrick films! He was making films on the edge of a generation. 2001: A Space Odyssey was all about discovery of an object that couldn’t be explained. Something that would bridge communication in a world full of rigid opinion. It had been there before, and witnessed early life. No one knew where it came from, but it shows up from time to time just to check on things. Maybe bring something wonderful to people.
So imagine a virtual monolith in Home, as a furniture item.
This object could be placed in just about any experience created. I have experimented with this in some of my recordings, and was very happy with the result!
The only thing stopping anyone from having a really good time in Home is probably the lack of imagination. Pick a scene from a famous movie you really enjoy and work towards recreating it. I promise: you will not grow bored. Given the content we all have, Home begs for such creations. Each of us has a billion ideas every time something is released in relation to these items.
While picking Home apart has its purpose, and being constructively critical is important, remembering why all of these things are created in the first place would certainly help new users to create new and exciting experiences to share with others.
Go into that extensive wardrobe. Google a favorite actor or actress. Create your own if you are so inclined. It isn’t always easy, but that is the fun in it. I have found going to a clubhouse is the best way to get several actors or actresses suited up. In all of it, just have fun. If nothing is ever actually achieved creating something with another, you will have still had yourself a genuine experience that will stay with you for a long time.
And just imagine how much fun a monolith could be.
August 25th, 2012 by Godzprototype | 8 comments
Godzprototype is learning the art of creating Machinima, and would like to share it with you. Hope you enjoy.
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Loved it! I love that film, when it came out at the theater many years ago it was one of the few I have ever paid to go see twice. The experience just wasn’t the same on a small screen at home.
Great homage and I can totally see people having fun with that.
NICE! Great job, I want this
I could think of so many things to do with a monolith.
Great homage. That movie is a mile stone as well in the specific genre but to movies itself.
Now how much am I willing to pay for a 1:4:9 featurless black slab? I better not say
Bravo! That’s why I come into HOME and I would buy one
You have inspired me to use LOOT’s blue screen as a “monolith” or, at least, as an anomalous object, in my spaces. I don’t know how I’ll use it but that will be the fun part, no? Discovery, yes?
Love the concept Proto. However, I think Home should have it’s own symbolic item and not the exact monolith found in Kubrick’s giant-baby cliffhanger. :p
I wonder if anyone would consider the Lockwood Horse a type of monolith for Home.
Well in this you get the point. I have some horse in one video. Just thinking more in geometric terms with this I guess.
That’s the great thing about the human mind, if you give 20 people a black slab and a camera,I can guarantee you wouldn’t see the same video twice.
I’m not sure how much I’d pay for a Kubrick monolith, but It’d make me smile just sitting in my space station. Maybe a stuffed ape to go with it would help! XD