HomeStation Magazine Presents: PlayStation Home Beautiful Decorating Contest!
by Terra_Cide, HSM Editor-in-Chief
Those that have discovered how to get the most out of Home will all tell you the same thing – Home is what you make of it, and you have to know how to create your own fun. There is no hand-holding in this metaverse; no program that tells you to accomplish task A or go to checkout point X in order to continue. There is no Konami code that gets you everything. And that’s very difficult for some of those in the modern generation of gamers to grasp.
But for those who need only their imagination and a few tools to bring their visions to life, Home is a virtually unlimited sandbox.
One of the biggest meta games in Home is of course interior decorating. In the survey we conducted on Home last year, it was the third most performed activity amongst those that took it. With dozens of various personal spaces and a selection of furniture items too numerous to count, it’s a guarantee that no two spaces are ever alike. And it’s not just restricted to those who have the money to spend freely. There’s plenty of free furniture items available if you know where to go. Most important of all, everyone upon entering Home for the first time receives that ultimate blank canvass – the Harbour Studio.
The Harbour Studio is without question the mainstay of the Home experience. The variety of layouts one can see in that simple space staggers the mind. Many go the traditional route and decorate it as what it is, a studio apartment, but there have been those who have created diners and dance floors. Some decorate around a single color theme. Others focus on a specific style of furniture. Each one representing their owner’s aesthetic preferences. There truly is no shortage of talented people on Home; we at HSM are lucky to have a good number of those individuals on our team.
It is because every member of the Home community has a Harbour Studio that when guest contributor riffraffse7en approached HSM with the idea of an interior decorating contest that we were readily on board with it. Both she and long-time reader jellia are dedicated to the interior design meta game in Home (jellia even has real-world credentials in the field of interior design), and they’re fantastic at it. Personally, I admire those with such abilities; having a very busy real-world life and very active five-year-old means my house – at its neatest – looks like organized chaos.
These two ladies and our very own Art Director, MJG74, who also has some pretty massive design chops, will be heading up the judging for this contest – where two winners will be eligible each for a $20 PSN card, plus a chance for their space to be featured on HSM’s EOD channel!
How will this contest work?
Entrants can submit up to four (4) images of their Harbour Studio for consideration. Only one (1) layout design per entrant. To keep the playing field as level as possible, photos must be taken with the in-Home camera only. Entries must be submitted to the appropriately marked thread in the HSM website forum; no other entries will be considered. The judges (and myself) are excluded from entering. All entries will be on public display for all to see; there is a very key reason to that, which will be explained shortly. The submissions window closes at midnight GMT, February 28. Judges will have until March 14 to look at and deliberate over the finalists’ entries, and will be announced in HSM.
The three judges will select the finalists who will then be eligible for one of the two awards. Now this is where things get interesting, because one of these winners will be voted upon by you, the community, as there will be a Judges’ Choice Award, and a Community Choice Award. All finalists will have their Harbour Studios visited by the judges, so that they can get an in-world feel for the layout. For the sake of fairness, winning both awards will not be permitted.
What will the judges be looking for?
- Uniqueness of Layout – how the space is divided;
- Use of Color;
- Functionality – this has to do with actually being able to sit where people are supposed to be able to sit (if this was a real place) and not getting trapped in the space;
- Continuity of design – repetition of forms and flow;
What’s in it for you?
Anyone who dedicates serious quantities of time to decorating personal spaces will tell you it’s no mean feat, financially speaking. Show me a dedicated Home user who couldn’t use an extra $20 to buy items. Not only that, but think about how cool it would be to point out to your friends watching the HSM EOD channel that it’s your space being shown up there for everyone in Home to see.
Think your Harbour Studio has what it takes to win a $20 PSN card and a chance to be featured in its own machinima video on our EOD channel? Now is your chance to show us – and the community – your talents!
February 6th, 2013 by Terra_Cide | 16 comments
Terra _Cide is the former Community Manager for Lockwood Publishing and Editor Emeritus for HomeStation Magazine.
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A special thanks goes out to Jin and GodzPrototype for donating their time and talents to this cause as well. I am lucky to be blessed with the friendship of some very talented people… Yourself included Terra_Cide.
I am so looking forward to seeing what the talented designers in PHS bring to us during this contest. Best of luck to you all.
Riff.
I do like my interior designing and have personally spent forever on some of my spaces. Most recently I finally feel finished with my Paris Clock Tower. Using the default space will ensure you guys see nothing but the imagination in use, cant wait to see some of the entries!
Interesting contest.My very first set up in Harbour was a kind of torture chamber,then it was a cafe and then it was…well never mind what it was next.Currently it’s a random mish mash of rewards and purchased items.Thankfully there is some time to dream up a new plan.Not exactly sure what to make.Gonna think on it some more…cool contest though,especially the part about the winners possibly being featured on HSN ^_^ Exciting stuff!
Can there be floating items?With out getting in trouble by sony?
This is not a Sony-operated or sponsored contest. The judges will decide if the floating items compliment the overall setting.
EXCELLENT. MY ENTRIES WILL BE POSTED SOON BEFORE THE CLOSING DATE. YAY. GREAT IDEA.
Hmm.. currently my Harbor is housing about 90 of my Southern Hideaway fossils.. I spent a lot of time organizing them by their types and then putting in alphabetical order. At least there is plenty of time to decide if $20 is worth doing all that over again :] Interested to see what people display.
I was going to do this, but after the massive failure in the 1.75 patch that scrambles my furniture and ornament items at every log in, you guys would have to extend this great idea till, like next new year, unless I can win for having the most eclectic and jumbled decor in Home. Sad, I really wanted to enter, but the patch is too big a road block right now as I have way too much stuff to sort through and not enough time in the work day to go fishing every day through the virtual mound in my virtual garage.
It’s tempting to have a contest requiring you to decorate with whatever the inventory bug left out of storage. The more eclectic, the better. (Now, what CAN I do with weathervanes, helium balloons and soda cans?)
As Facebook says…”LIKE”
If nothing else, I think there’s an article in it…
There’s always an article in everything. I’d be left with a gold bar, and action figure and a headstone, let’s see where that puts me, would I win?
Ive finally had a flash of inspiration,now to put it together to my satisfaction in time,all the details are not yet clear but I believe I’m on to something.The furniture browser doesn’t help
,hope that’s fixed soon.Good luck to everyone!
Wow 5 pages of amazing designs!Good luck folks!
The judges are going to have their work cut out for them… some truly great masterpieces. Well done everyone!