Walkabout
by NorseGamer, HSM Founder
One of the things I used to love doing, back in Home’s early days, was go on walkabout.
It’s simple, really: just pick a public space, go to it, and watch the people.
This is one of the reasons why I never completely understood the protest of, “There’s nothing to do in Home.” Oh yes, there is: you just have to know what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for AAA gaming experiences on a shoestring budget, then no, Home is not the right spot for you. But if you’re looking for the thrill of social interaction while living inside a video game world, then by god, it’s fun.
Sometimes you might have to wade through a lot of nonsense to find a decent chat; there’s no shortage of people running around Home who have underdeveloped social skills. As Jack Buser correctly pointed out, when you put a bunch of people in a virtual room and expect them to talk to each other, that isn’t necessarily what happens. And so Home was remade as a gaming platform, since games are the one common element which can serve as glue for all the users to enjoy.
And to an extent, it worked. Home may have no central definition of community, but does have mini-communities that have sprung up around its various hotspots. The catch, of course, is that games grow old; Home games have to be entertaining for years at a time, which requires a very different type of game design than a traditional gaming experience. And while there are some games which have shown tremendous resiliency in Home, there are others which lay derelict. One can only hope that the developers of those games made their investments back.
Which brings us to today. If Home 2012 was the Year of the Game, then are we finally at a point in 2013 where we start to look at monetizing the social side of Home? Because here’s something that’s staring everyone in the face: there’s a core group of Home consumers who, despite the fast-approaching next console generation and the prevailing consumer sentiment that Home has entered a maturation phase rather than a pure growth phase, continue to spend an inordinate amount of time and money on this one application.
They remain because they are motivated to have a good conversation. They remain because they are social gamers. And they remain because, quite simply, there’s nothing else like Home out there right now. For any of Home’s functional limitations as a true social network for gamers, it’s the only thing like it.
And so we stay.
This is the consumer mindset that will spend a couple of bucks to download a new virtual dance — something which a traditional gamer might find silly, despite their own DLC purchases — because what they’re buying is the experience that goes with it: the sense of having something new to enhance the social interaction. And thus locomotions have raced up the sales charts.
This is the consumer mindset that will buy their way to the top of a leaderboard or use economics to gain exclusivity. And thus gaming consumables have raced up the sales charts.
Most importantly, though, it’s a consumer that’s looking for two things: a purpose to this metaverse, and better means of communicating with each other.
This is why it’s so important to periodically go on walkabout in Home: because the mystery of why it holds such a strong grip on a select number of people, even when the rest of the gaming industry wrote it off years ago, can be somewhat deciphered by simply walking through Home and watching — or joining — various conversations.
Sometimes, you get lucky: you stumble upon a conversation with proper punctuation and grammar, discussing subject material that’s a bit deeper than the usual fare. It can be worth joining such conversations — and it’s of equal value to simply observe. Because why are these people here, driving up the average user session length and monetizing for years on end?
Even if we take the analysis out of this for a moment, let’s also just look at the fun of spending hours lost in conversation with people. When the hell do we do that any more? When you subtract out work hours, daily chores and weekly errands, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for socialization. And there’s something to be said for the comfort and time savings of socializing online, particularly in an environment with people of like mind and shared interests.
That’s my advice to anyone who cares: go on walkabout in Home. Go somewhere you’ve never been to before. Observe the people. Find a fun conversation and join in. You might find Home a far more interesting place.
April 24th, 2013 by NorseGamer | 1 comment
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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Nice to read you again Norse. Okay you got me, I’ll admit; I’m a nosey git in Home! I often find myself just wandering, looking for convos to eavesdrop into. I remember being at the old beach a while back (before GZ made their beaches) and I came across a man and a woman having a convo about how the both if them were doing. After 5 or 10mins it became obvious they were a divorced couple, and in her words I could see she still cared for him. The way he spoke to her the feeling seemed mutual but it seemed she’d done something pretty bad that broke them up…
Analyzing the use of words to find out what’s going on between the lines is a fun game to play -- I find. Maybe some would just say I’m a creepy barsteward that needs out more often LOL! But hey, I have the time for “walkabouts” now and then and I rather enjoy people-watching. Mannerisms, body language, the minute interactions that we have in real life are just as fascinating to deduce, but in Home where everyone talks in bubbles, how can you NOT eavesdrop!?