Comments on: Finding Your Own Way Home

By: KrazyFace

KrazyFace — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:56:30 +0000

Heh heh, A) Calvin and Hobbes rule. B) Home is NOT a game!!! LOL!

Sorry, I had to say it. It really gets under my skin when people run around saying what they damn well please to anyone, only to brush off any responsibility by saying “Hey, calm down, it’s just a game” after a deluge of insults. Olivia, you’re 100% right, Home is a social network *with* games to play within it. But I won’t argue with your metaphor Seal, and I did enjoy reading the article -- even agreed with the majority of it.

The original question though -- why does Home have such a bad rep in the world of “real gamers” is still a slippery, unanswered one though. To be honest, I laugh at the stipulation of what constitutes as a “real gamer” since so many males in gaming think that playing CoD obsessively for 5 years running is enough to call yourself that. IMO, it’s the total opposite. If the only food you could make was ( I dunno…) let’s say, pizza, would go around calling yourself a Chef!? If the one thing you could draw well was Garfeild the cat, would you call yourself an artist? Seeing my point here yet?

A gamer -- a REAL gamer -- is someone who knows the industry well, someone who will enjoy destroying Gannon *AGAIN!* as much as they will enjoy kicking ass in Tekken and won’t be a stranger to a bit of Peggle while waiting for a train. A proper gamer can ( and will) look at the mechanics of ANY game, regardless of how “cute” or “childish” it might look. Being a gamer is about having an open mind, a curious mind, an emotional mind, for these are the things that make up the essence of our entertainment. Anyone that instantly scoffs at you for using -and enjoying- Home is NOT a proper gamer. There is SO much more to our wonderful world of gaming, and dont let any damn CoD Monkey try to tell you otherwise.

*ahem*

/End Rant.

By: SealWyf_

SealWyf_ — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:12:23 +0000

Those of us who loved the “Calvin and Hobbes” comic strip will understand what I mean when I say that Home is Sony’s version of Calvinball. For those of you who didn’t follow the strip, the only rules in Calvinball were that the players made up the rules as he went along, but the game could not be played the same way twice. More info here:

Calvinball article, Calvin and Hobbes Wiki>

So the philosophical question here is: “Is Calvinball a game?” Can something be a game if the rules keep changing? Or is the changeability of the rules a rule in itself, making the activity a game? It is no coincidence that “Calvin and Hobbes” was named after two philosophers.

Here is Calvin’s song about his game. Most of it could applied equally to Home:

Other kids’ games are all such a bore!
They’ve gotta have rules and they gotta keep score!
Calvinball is better by far!
It’s never the same! It’s always bizarre!
You don’t need a team or a referee!
You know that it’s great, ’cause it’s named after me!

By: Burbie52

Burbie52 — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:15:40 +0000

If everyone who treat new people like the fragile babies that they are and help them discover Home for what it truly is, I think that we would gain new citizens every day and good ones at that. I always ask people in default clothing if they are new and try to help them understand things. I don’t assume they don’t know, I ask if they would like some help with anything they are confused about. I have found that many are just that, confused, as there are many choices and little direction in Home. I know that I was the first time I came here and there is much more here now than three years ago.
Great article Seal, I hope that people take the time to think through your points and I think that the sentiment, Home is what you make it, sums it up quite well.

By: Olivia_Allin

Olivia_Allin — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:00:11 +0000

If Sealwyf’s words smell a bit like Black eyed peas, German sausage and saute mushrooms with a hint of Crown Black and Coke is because she took those words right out of my mouth! Except the part about Home being a game… I have snapped into action to correct people that I was “unintentionally” lurking around and some of their conversation spilled on me. “Home is not a game” I would slowly type with dyslexic unease. “home is a social platform with games in it”… because I, as a veteran of Home would know best… Is 4 dozen eggs on my face good for my pours?
After reading this epic… and I don’t use that word lightly like I do with the word “helium”… EPIC article I am now tasked with rethinking my stance on the whole “is Home a fricken game” thing. I tent to have to agree now that it is a game… a game we make up as we go. Maybe more than just a game, but a game non the less. Maybe it’s a game Sony is playing using us as their pawns… maybe we are the quintessential (thank you spellcheck)digital ant farm for Sony.
maybe were re each other’s ant farm. Maybe the are no ants and no farms and Soylent Green is made of people… “People…they are eating people”… i digress. What ever it is and how ever long it takes to learn or however long it last or how ever run on this sentence might be… I love Home and the life and/or game it has given me. Sadly, those that don’t get it, it’s a lost they will never understand how great! I now return you back to your less rambling comments already in progress.

P.S. the egg on my face is attracting the ants from the farm.

P.S.S. mmmmm eggs on soylent green = people and liquid chicken snacks