More Pay, More Play
by SealWyf, HSM editor
I felt a twinge of despair as I entered the Casino last week and found a message announcing the new rewards. The levels for all nine Casino games had expanded from six tiers to seven. The horizon of mastery had just receded.
After months of concentrated effort, I had nearly reached Tier 6 in every Casino game, and with it that coveted Paradise Springs reward, the Elephant Suit. Which would give me, not so much the suit itself — it’s a silly thing that I would probably never wear — but the warm-and-fuzzy satisfaction of knowing I had finally earned the highest reward on offer in the Casino except the leaderboard-topper jackets, which I know I’ll never earn.
My Blackjack and Video Poker winnings are already far above any target the Casino is likely to set, and I don’t mind spending more time on Poker, or even Craps and Roulette. But now that the top level has been raised, and I’ll have to return to the boring, lossy games as well — Keno and Casino War and Bingo and the Big Six Wheel — games which I had slowly ground up to Tier 6, just so I could win the Elephant. I’ll have to play them all again — if not for the immediate prizes, then for the over-all Tier 7 reward that will inevitably follow, when Digital Leisure gets around to it. Whatever it is, I’ll want it. Just because it’s there.
Digital Leisure rewards can be awesome
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Digital Leisure has this reward thing down to a science.
The Casino is not the only Home space offering more rewards these days. nDreams’ Aurora has just raised its top level from 100 to 120, with four additional prizes to earn. The final reward is rumored to be another personal space. Considering how excellent the level 100 Aurora Champions Apartment is, that level 120 space should be something to covet, even if it were not also the new ultimate status marker for Aurora.
nDreams has also revamped the Orb Runner game, and added new power-up items for purchase. These power-ups are why Orb Runner is a freemium game. You can play the game without them, but the power-ups transform it from a boring grind to an enjoyable pastime, and ensure rapid progress up the ranks. After considering my options, I bit the financial bullet and bought all the upgrades I had not yet acquired, a $16 purchase. Fortunately, I already had some of the upgrades — buying them all from scratch would have cost considerably more.
It was a definite gulp paying that much, but I figured I was buying the experience as much as anything else — a Home adventure I could write about, as well as the chance to put out early reviews of the four new level rewards. I’m now at level 106, and climbing steadily. I already have the level 105 reward, and it’s a very pretty color-changing lamp, which looks great in any dimly-lit space. I should be able to report on the ultimate apartment by May.
Aurora’s Level 105 reward — the Mood Light
I may have been after rewards and glory, but the first thing I noticed was that the combination of all the upgrades makes the game intensely, unexpectedly fun.
Orb Runner has always been a bit of a grind — the ultimate casual Home mini-game. There was really no reason to keep playing it after you won all the rewards. But the new upgrades have made it fun again. There is something about being surrounded by a swarm of little brightly-colored balloons, which look a lot like Easter eggs attached to packing cases, and having them converge on you and explode in a crackle of bubble-wrap pops, interspersed with musical chimes as you sweep up the bonus orbs — well, all I can say is you find yourself grinning, and when you’re done, you turn around and play the game again, because it’s just so darned enjoyable.
There is also one new orb, the “Diamond Orb”, which looks like a blackened ostrich egg. It’s so rare it’s almost mythical, and it rewards an astounding 200 points. Spotting one of those across the crowded dance-floor brings a definite thrill, as does the symphonic chord it emits when you catch it.
So I’m glad I spent a chunk of change on upgrades, because you don’t get quite the same thrill if you aren’t using Double Vision to multiply the number of orbs, and the Orb Attractor to send them rushing in your direction, along with the Harmful Orb Anti-Attractor to neutralize the attraction of the orbs you really don’t want converging on you — the Freeze Orb, the Vengeance Orb and the Teleport Orb. The latter is not really harmful — it can be useful when you are done with an area. But it’s definitely annoying if you hit it too soon.
But there’s a downside to all of this, which is that once again I’m annoyed at myself for falling for the freemium snake-oil and the psychology of Home rewards, which keeps you playing as long as there’s something to be won and the goal is just beyond your grasp.
The Tacky Bride outfit, the new Tier 7 reward for slots and video poker
I’m not motivated by the leaderboards, in either Aurora or the Casino. I know I’ll never get there, so I don’t worry about them. But the “you’re almost at the top” lure has me in its hooks. It’s so darned close — how can I not go for it?
Especially when the reward is something desirable. Although I confess I would still be jonesing for it if it were another tee shirt, as long as everyone who saw me wearing it knew that I had scrambled to the top of the heap to score the silly thing, and would be all admiring and jealous and stuff. That’s how it works — and it works even when you know it’s a ridiculous reward, and the whole thing is sort of a trick.
But, in a way, I’m glad these tricks work. Because if they work on me, they’ll work on many of Home’s denizens. We’ll all be out there grinding up Keno and running after orbs. And that will bring good money to the developers and, just possibly, give Home the edge it needs to survive the console crunch ahead.
In the meantime, I’ve gotten a lot of pleasure for my investments, and I’ll soon have more fairly exclusive virtual content to show for it. Along with the less-tangible bragging rights these items confer — that elusive quality of self-esteem and satisfaction that is really what drives us to excel as gamers, as well as in so much of what passes for real life.
So, kudos to Digital Leisure and nDreams for perfecting the Money Attractor™ — that invisible, magical object that pulls our gaming dollars toward them, where they bubble-burst in a cascade of pops and chimes, showering us with tinsel piñata-prizes.
Their glitter thrills us for a moment. But after the fairy-dust has settled and the ephemeral prizes have fled, there, nestled in the hollow shell of the piñata, we find the real, the coveted reward — the warm glow of pride, and gaming satisfaction.
April 9th, 2013 by SealWyf_ | 4 comments
SealWyf is a museum database programmer, who has been active in online communities since before the Internet, and in console gaming since the PS1. In games, she prefers the beautiful and quirky, and anything with a strong storyline. She is obsessed with creating new aesthetic experiences in PlayStation Home.
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I’m really, REALLY surprised that you didn’t mention the new power-up’s for Orb Runner are consumables. Your purchases are not done.
Some of them are, yes. But I got enough to take me through level 120. After that, I don’t really see needing more of them.
I will continue the slow grind myself. I am shooting for the Penthouse at the casino by years end and I am more than half there now. As for Aurora I have been slowly doing this for three years now and I am at level 62. I don’t care if it takes three more, I am in no hurry to get it done. Glad to see they upped the ante on the games though for those reward hunters and enthusiasts out there. Nice read Seal.
Ahh yes, the grind! Can’t say I’m a massive fan of it, in WoW we have gold-farmers to sidestep the grind, in Home we have the ISE hack to fast-track our way to these mythical items, but really, when you do it the “honest” way, regardless of what it is you will look upon your prize with awe and happiness of your efforts. Because in the end, that’s what the grind is all about; you set yourself a goal, and you do what it takes to reach it. The further away and higher that goal is, the more desirable that prize will seem. From penthouse suite to a pile of horse poo, the grind is the monotonous journey we all must take for those status symbols and secret satisfactions we as gamers crave!