Entitlement
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
Recently, many of us here at the magazine held a great event that allowed users to come to our personal spaces made into Blueprint mazes, for free, and have fun running around during a scavenger hunt. There were some amazing prizes – sponsored by nDreams – up for grabs, and it was a great success. Though I filled nearly all of my slots for the various maze runs, a few remained open, which surprised me. The idea was too new, I guess; perhaps some didn’t believe it was true.
It was a lot of work for HSM to pull off this event – and a lot of fun too – and I think most of the people involved were happy just to do the mazes for fun alone, unconcerned about winning anything. But, unfortunately, this wasn’t true of others; for some reason, some people seem to believe that they are entitled to free rewards in Home.
What is it that makes people feel like they are so entitled?
Well, the onus may lie partially on the shoulders of the developers. I believe they have been too generous to us with free merchandise, and for years, Sony practically gave away the house to get people to stay in Home that people began to think that was how it would be forever. Those of us who were raised in a different era or by parents who made us work for our rewards don’t have this issue; no matter what happens, we understand that anything free should be looked at as a gift, not an entitlement. But it seems that some weren’t given this perspective in their lives, and because the developers in Home have been so generous, they have come to expect things for free.
“It’s my reward and I need it now!”
This attitude carries over into many other aspects of Home life as well; you only have to go to the forums for awhile to see it has leaked into the thinking there. It carries into the display of emotions when something isn’t working right in Home, like a reward isn’t given properly or there are loading issues or some other problem. They fuss like a three year old who didn’t get their candy at the grocery store, all the while forgetting that this entire Home platform is a free to play one, and no one is forcing you to even be a part of it.
“Patience is a virtue” is a very old saying, and one that seems to have been forgotten lately, especially within the Home community. While playing the closed beta for Mercia, which I considered to be a privilege, I saw many who displayed a lack of it and the ungratefulness to me was astounding. Here is a completely free to play game that has been given us that requires no purchase and has great rewards, yet people complained instead of just informing the developers when it had bugs and issues going on in its closed beta when that was the point of the whole thing.
Gimme, gimme, gimme!
Once again this feeling of entitlement reared its ugly head when the maze was being run by us. DarthGranny is one of the most giving and generous people I have ever met, and she gives a lot of her time to the Home community, both in Home and outside in various ways. The amount of time and work she had to put into organizing this event was enormous; people have no idea how hard this is. Yet when there was a misunderstanding of the prize rules by some of those who won the maze runs, she was inundated with emails demanding more than they had already received from their win. This amazes me, for here we all gave of our free time and energy to organize and pull this off, yet people complained once again.
Another trend I have seen demonstrated lately is the one where people play a game until it has given them all the rewards, then they never go back to it, even if they liked it. The Dolphy races at Hudson are one of the few I have seen used consistently even after all the rewards are obtained. I believe this might be because of the social aspects of the game. There are a lot of people who like to congregate there and talk. It has kind of replaced the old poker room from EA in that respect I think, yet there is another game that gives you a nice lobby to chat in, Cutthroats.
They have just done a complete revamping of the Cutthroats game in Home and the developers at Sony VASG have bent over backwards and spent a lot of money, time and energy on it to make it a fun experience, even given in game coins to buy upgrades. But many people have said that they won’t go back there because there are no more levels or rewards to be had in it. Entitlement has raised its head again. When I first started video gaming, there was no such thing as trophies or rewards other than the pure enjoyment of playing and beating the game or another player. That was enough for me, and it always will be. I think this new generation of gamers has lost sight of what games are for: having fun. If that isn’t your motivation anymore you should put down your controller and walk away and find something else to do for your leisure time that is fun.
Having fun trumps rewards any day.
Where does this end? Good question. Does it end with Sony and the developers ending their generosity? Perhaps if people were more grateful for what they have already, then this constant stream of rewarding wouldn’t be giving them the impression that they somehow deserve it because they simply show up in Home, as though their mere presence is somehow entitling them to free things.
There has to be a middle ground here. It is human nature to enjoy getting free things whether it is a reward from a game or a gift from the gift machine, but that doesn’t mean we should expect them. I am no different than you; I like free things in Home as well, but I don’t expect them at all, which to me makes it much nicer when I do get one.
What are we entitled to in Home? Good question. We are entitled to have fun; we are entitled to an environment of friendship and respect from those around us. We are entitled to receive the items we purchase from the stores in a timely fashion. But we are not entitled to free stuff. That is a gift that is given freely by another, be it a developer, a friend or another user, and should be treated with the thankfulness and respect it deserves. I believe Sony and the other developers have been more than generous with us, so the next time that you have something go wrong when you go into Home, think twice before screaming too loudly. Eventually they will tire of the noise and we will all be the worse for it.
September 9th, 2012 by Burbie52 | 21 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.
Burbie, I agree with you on this article in more ways than one. Entitlement rears its ugly head not only on Home but also within PSN, on iOS, Android and more. I absolutely hate it when people complain about free stuff. Whats even worse is when some random user looks at your trophies and then has the audacity to ask you to game share (AKA piracy). All I have to say to them is stop whinning and get a damn job. Just because we are in a bad economy doesn’t give anyone the rite to demand free stuff and steal. Free is free, demo, full version, beta or otherwise and no one owes these moochers anything.
I also grew up in a time where anything free was a gift. If I wanted to play a demo back then, PC or Console, you had to pay for a magazine to get it if you were not lucky enough to have an internet connection. This isn’t just an issue with Home. Its an issue that real people deal with every day because unfortunately, we have a lot of spoiled, rotten brats. Maybe its from bad parenting, giving kids stuff to shut them up rather than attention. As a result, this has turned some young adults into spoiled rotten kidults as well. Once again, to these Emmy Award Winners, Get a job and get a life.
Good read.
But in my case, I am hoping Sony shares contents across their regions, free or not.
Gifts from a friend id agree with it, rewards from home are just another sales technique, its partly our fault, because I could set up a completely empty room and tell people if they dance in this room for 2 hours changing they dance every 5 minutes they would get a reward of a jewel encrusted gold pile of manure for a limited time only. people would fall over themselves to get it. But theres usually a sales reason for giving it away. give away a neon flower and if you want the rest you have to play our game or get the rest paid for. give away a wall bracket but to use it you need to buy our biggest bundle, give away a theme you can only use in an apartment you buy. all sound sales techniques so developers encourage it because fall for it .
I agree that the reasoning behind it might be sales where the developers are concerned. But it is the attitude that the consumers have that is the issue here. Just because you got a reward from one thing in Home doesn’t mean that every thing you do has to give you one, and continually do so forever.
Yep agree with you there homes become too dependable on rewards the amount of users that needed help getting rewards when you had to do quest with a friend was an eye opener to just how many single players home has, that come on home to collect rewards only. But why play home games without a reward because playing a game within a game and all the limitations that brings, surely we are better playing a disc based game rather than a limited home game. So does it mean we have to be bribed to play games on home. Currently looks and feels that way.
I just read your article with great interest. While I agree with some aspects of your reasoning, some of it is so completely out there that I can’t believe that you feel this way about most people on PS Home. I wonder if this is the way you feel about your friends. I do know a lot of people feel “entitled” but most all people I know feel that when a reward is offered they should get it when they earn it. “Up for grabs” prizes for the mazes was implied but when the people who won were told to give them their 3 choices of which prize they wanted, that tells me to state whether you are male or female so the “prize” was appropriate for the person who won. Yes I agree that Darthgranny is a very kind and giving woman on Home and she should not be faulted for what she has accomplished, however I feel you have attacked this issue with the wrong attitude. Your judgement of people rather concerns me if that is how you look at most people. I do agree with you that there are a lot of players who do expect things but the bigger percentage are just players who are grateful for what they get as rewards because they earned them not because they expected them. I could go on and on about this, but it saddens me that you feel this way..People are not here to “get” free stuff we are here to “enjoy” ourselves and that is what, I guess, we do expect. Rewards are a bonus not expected.
it’s all about your experiences on home, everyone’s different, I’ve had people ask to add me so they can do a quest for a reward that you can’t get unless your with a friend because they have no friends on home I’ve had people add me to try and get rewards from a personal space I own, even been asked to log in as people so I could get reward for them. Because they couldn’t. That is it what rewards mean to a lot of users on home its why they come on home. If it didn’t work developers wouldnt put rewards in home
I never said that this was a majority Karen. It is really a minority of people who are like this I think. There are many people in Home who come to just have fun and converse with friends and the rewards to them are the icing on the cake. There are others who use reward hunting as a meta-game and that is fine too. I was addressing the people who come in and get the rewards then complain because they don’t have more and more coming in a constant stream or win a prize then say it isn’t good enough. Those are the people who need to understand and change their attitudes, and I have met a few recently so I felt that this was something that needed to be said. Most of my friends are older and wiser than that, you included.
I wasn’t attacking anyone, just putting it out there for others to give their opinions on something I felt needed to be said.
From the developer point of view: It is hard to know what the sales of an item or the play rate of a game is going to be. Even if we had great numbers for another game, our game is not the same game and our game is coming out at a different time.
My belief is that free rewards are there to beef up the value (aka the confidence level of the developer) so it will sell well. Sometimes it makes complete sense. Other times it just seems like they are doing it because others do it.
My experience is that the memorable rewards always marked some effort. Having had discussion with other developers, some think that the effort will make the reward something people never get. You will see this difference reflected in how rewards are given out.
My goal as a developer is to always reward people with something worthy of the effort. And to always make people feel like they are getting more than they paid for.
Does the fact that some people are only in it for the rewards play into our design? Absolutely. Will that make people think we are giving people more than they deserve? I hope so. Will people complain? Undoubtedly.
The goal is not to please everyone. The goal is to create the tools that make it so people can have the most fun. Then find monetization points that will make sure we are making enough that we get to do it again.
The thing to remember is that the age range for Home is 13-?. And the income level is $0-$?. And some number over 90% tend to never pay for anything. I believe Farmville only had 1.7% of their players actually spend money. I am sure Home’s rate is higher, but have no hard numbers.
So the developers are like the birds jumping out of the nest for the first time hoping we can fly. And rewards are the thing we use to increase the the chances in our minds.
Burbie52 -- Great article! I hope we hear from more people on this issue.
Definitely been seeing some people slamming Mercia over the bugs it has. I also saw what you’re referring to in the beta. I experienced the same problems everybody else had, but never felt a need to moan and groan about it. Sure the rewards are awesome, but it was also the sense of discovery and wanting to know what lay beyond that next door that kept me playing. I’ve been stuck at level 18 since Mercia went public, but I know Lockwood’s working on a fix for the major bugs, so I don’t mind waiting. It’s a shame others aren’t so patient.
I see the same problem with the Tekken x Street Fighter game space. I’ve been frequenting that place not because of the great rewards it gives but because I enjoy the game (I think it’s freaking genius) and strived to master it (#7 on the leaderboard woot). It annoys me to no end though when players will quit during a match all because they are trying to complete the 5 Wins Challenge for a reward. Sometimes I find myself having to offer people the chance to beat me 5 times in a row just so in return they will give me a serious fight without exiting the game if they lose. The recent Home update took TxSF off the featured games list, replacing it with Cutthroats, which saddens me because now even less people visit the space.
I tried out Cutthroats and I think it’s pretty cool what they’ve done. All the different types of weapons and things you can do really make it a great game. I can kind of understand why some people aren’t satisfied with the level cap not being raised as many gamers like to have a sense of progression (like what you see in RPGs), but complaining just because no extra rewards were added is silly. I know Norse Gamer mentioned there are future additions being planned, and I’m looking forward to what those might be. Dear god if it was a sword fighting mini game and it played like the Tekken x SF game I would go crazy and dominate everyone! FEAR MY INNER PIRATE! lol
I suppose the complaints may drop once the major bugs are eliminated. Something I cannot wait to launch in NA is the Peakvox Ninja game. I think it may very well be what Norse Gamer called Home’s “It” Game, although it has me slightly worried for Lockwood’s newly announced Uproar, as I can almost guarantee PVN will be a big hit.
I know where the entitlement comes from! I’ll use my daughter to explain.
Two years ago I signed her up for soccer, her team placed third for the year. They were going to give her a trophy, I was shocked. I asked before she got it, why is she getting the trophy, was it for her performance? Was she the best player on her team? I was told No, the whole team gets one so they don’t feel left out.
I said no, the team who won gets the trophy, everyone else get’s to try harder next year. I asked what kind of work ethic are you trying to portray to these kids? The winners trophies mean nothing because everyone got one. So where’s the incentive to work harder next year? When all they have to do is show up.
Do you think when my daughter is older and applies to a job she will get one just because she applied? No, she has to work for it, gain the knowledge in school and be the best she can be, not hugged and pampered and given a trophy until she feels better about loosing. It only creates the entitlement beast we are seeing now.
As for the Home rewards, I love them. I think I should get one just for logging in. It should be exclusive to me, perhaps a shirt that says Krinedawg logged into Home today, and every day it’s a different style and color. That way everyone know’s that I’m special. I mean I did pay for the PS3 and the Internet service to get there right?
In reality, I like to see other peoples rewards that I can no longer get, I like to have rewards that others can’t anymore. It’s almost like a years of patronage reward. The way I game is this. If I like the game, I will pay for the “special items to support the devs. I will play the game until I have mastered it. The rewards I get for playing the game are a bonus to me, I feel they didn’t have too, but thanks for saying good job you made it this far.
I like having the satisfaction of knowing I beat the game nothing more. If I don’t like the game I most likely won’t play or pay even though you could get a gold encrusted 750 double pumper Elderbrock high rise intake with an 1.8 multi-port chip leaf blower. I’m just glad I get to hang out with friends and relax, that’s reward enough. (does it come with sprinkles?)
Krine…can I ‘like’ this statement, and where do I get my “Fema logged in shirt”, after all cogito ergo gimme!
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As for the shirt, I’ll put a good word in at Lock’N’Dreams’Original, and see if they can start your production line.
I still would like the leaf blower though! I have all these free trees with falling leaves I need to clean up!
Burbie, I totally agree with you. The freebie barking is a sad sign of the way some people are here on home. Yes, the developers have been more than generous with us the users. Mercia (Lockwood) gave out some extraordinary freebies and all I had to do was play. I don’t get anything from the local 7-11 just for walking in. Jugernaut (probably spelled that wrong, sorry guys) gave out a whole arena space just for walking up to the kiosk. I walked on a Chevy lot and did not get a car for free. Let’s face it, the people on Home that gripe when they don’t get ahything are plain out bad attitude people that should just leave this great place to those that deserve it because we appreciate the effort that the developers put into it. In and article I wrote about the Bacon companion coming out from Lockwood, I vowed to buy that little guy, because Lockwood honored the voices of the masses enough to make it at the request of the fans. We, all of us, anybody that logs on to Home should stop and take a moment of quiet gratitude to thank the people that make this an environment that anyone can walk in with out spending a dime, and still have free, fun, cool stuf to enjoy. Oh yeah and great article Burbie, now I will get off my soapbox.
I dont think this is limited to home or online gaming. It’s all over the internet. For some obscure reason lot’s of people think. “If it’s on the net, it should be free”. The music industry was the first to be hit with the movie following close by. Now we are bombarded by publicity on the net and still no respect for intellectual property.
Here’s some entitlement talk for you…
http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-Home/Lockwood-please-don-t-give-out-the-portals/m-p/38256905#U38256905
Wow people have forgotten we are the consumers here and lockwood are the sellers. They are a business they have to make money, and if by giving out a virtual item they made, to more people, to bring more people to mercia, to ultimately make them more money, so they can bring out more content. Its up to them. can it be though, all this developers part of the community thing has that clouded it for people. shows community spirit, get invited to beta test and expect to be paid
That is a great example of the kind of thing I was talking about. Here we are given the ability to play a great game and have fun and have a direct chance to help and form a game within Home, yet people seem to think that this privilege we were given is making them “special”. I actually went to Lockwood’s site quite awhile ago and suggested they sell these portals as a way to make some money, the fact that they are giving them away shows what kind of generosity the company displays. I think they are awesome for doing this.
After reading that thread, I didn’t have a great feeling about the state of the Home community. The whole attitude was disappointing and I was surprised to see a number of people take the OP’s side.
Feeling entitled to win rewards through a game is one thing. These people are not complaining that they didn’t receive anything. They’re upset that others get to have the same item and it somehow diminishes the value of their item. Unbelievable, really. The only reason that they have the item in the first place is dumb luck for receiving a random email.
And this whole argument about payback for having their levels reset during beta-testing?!? You’d think that the opportunity to participate in the beta would be a reward in itself. Guess not.
Id beta test for nothing, but i wouldn’t drop my principles or integrity to do it. These are the sort of peoples that would kiss a developer’s rear end to beta test say how great the game is, then as soon as the developer does something that’s within they rights to do, it’s all don’t like them they don’t care about us users. Virtual items have no wealth attached to them. The only wealth in any virtual community is the person you become, and what you add while in that community. Next reward offered to some of these people should be, Delete 10 friends and get a gold framed mirror wall item with look at yourself engraved in it. Wonder how many would get it.
The only bright side is that the mindset of the forum, as much as they’d loathe to admit it, is not the mindset of the majority of Home users. The downside is that this mindset is very much like a bad virus, and can be seen in virtually any topic about Home that comes up.