Home’s Gated Communities

by SealWyf, HSM Editor

Lately, equality in Home has taken a downturn. And I’m a little worried about it.

Perhaps you have come to the same conclusion. But if you haven’t, and if you are re-reading the first sentence and wondering what the heck I’m talking about, let me explain.

It’s all about how we get things in Home. Specifically, how we get access to public spaces. For most of them, we just show up. Simply being on Home gives us full access. There are a few spaces, or sections of spaces, where access must be won — it’s limited to those who have reached a certain level in a game.

But lately, access is something you have to buy.

We are used to buying access to private spaces. Apartments are like any other kind of personal property in Home — sometimes free, occasionally received as a reward, sometimes sent as a gift, but usually acquired by outright purchase, with real-world dollars in our PSN accounts. What we are not used to is buying access to public spaces — the new gated communities. The key to the gate is some item in our personal inventory — purchase that, and you’ve bought access as well.

gated01The first limited-access area was the VIP lounge in Sodium Hub, a small area accessible to those who purchased the full Salt Shooter game. Access to the game is represented by having the Salt Shooter jacket (or any of its later variations) in your wardrobe. If the VIP lounge was designed to create a demand for the jacket, it was a failure. It’s a pleasant room, and it houses a useful leaderboard, but it’s usually completely empty.

The VIP Room and High Rollers Lounge in the Paradise Springs Casino are public spaces that are accessible to those who have won a certain amount in the casino games. The key item — a hat or a vest — is a reward for reaching that goal. They can also be purchased, but I doubt many people have done so. If you are willing to spend the amount required to gamble in the exclusive rooms, you have probably already earned your access. The high limit devotees are there at least in part to get away from the (in their opinion) rowdy lowlifes who patronize the regular poker and blackjack tables, and to hang out with their friends. It’s a small group, and if you visit these rooms you will start to recognize names.

gated04The most controversial limited-access space in Home to date is the x7 nightclub, for which the key items are certain high-value properties or outfits, or PS Plus membership. There was a lot of angst when this space was opened, because it created a definite class system in Home. The in-your-face sexual atmosphere and the tasteless nature of the required key items offended many, including this writer. It seemed to me that x7 was a cynical exploitation of a certain Home demographic, and a slap in the face to Home’s older, more discriminating consumers. I ended up purchasing the Diamond Suit to get access to x7 and its special sale items (this was before Plus membership was accepted as a key), but I have always resented it.

Lockwood got into the limited-access public space game with Horses of the Prairie, a modest outdoor space accessible only to those with Lockwood horse locomotions. I’ve heard a bit of kvetching in the holding pen about this requirement, but most people seem to accept it as reasonable. And, once you are inside, you can switch to a different locomotion, or just walk around on foot. It helps that one of the possible key items — the Unicorn — is available through the Gift Machine. Many people have friends who are willing to send them presents.

Now Lockwood has expanded its game with the Sunset Lounge, a public space accessible to those who own at least one of their Dream private spaces — the Dream Yacht (regular or Arctic varieties), the Dream Island, or the Dream Hideaway. The Arctic Yacht and the Hideaway are Gift Machine items, though fairly expensive ones. You’re not quite as likely to receive one from your friends as a limited-edition Unicorn.

gated07The Sunset Lounge is a truly lovely space, with a bar and lounge area, free-to-play blackjack tables, a very nice beach and an extensive swimming area in the beautifully-rendered ocean. Lockwood has learned much in the construction of its other Dream spaces, and the Sunset Lounge contains some nice little homages to the earlier creations, such as a telescope, a fish-feeding station, a lurking iguana and gecko, and animated marine life. The Dream Yacht and Dream Island are visible from the Lounge, enhancing the illusion that it’s a unified world.

In short, this is an attractive, highly desirable public space, and it will create a strong motive to acquire at least one of the Dream space key items. Judging by the Forum conversations, the space is stirring up some controversy — jealousy on one hand, and delight at escaping the “noobs” on the other. It would be interesting to know whether the Sunset Lounge actually boosts Dream estate sales, or whether that market was already saturated — that is, whether everyone who could afford one of the Dream estates had already acquired one.

Paid public space access is still unusual (and controversial) in Home, but in real world, limited access is common. It exists in any attraction with an admission fee, membership-only clubs and stores, and the gated communities of the title.

As an active user of real-world casinos, I’m quite familiar with privileged areas — the ones to which I have earned access, and those which I visit as the guest of an even more avid gambler. And so I’m used to thinking about how restricted access makes me feel, both in Home and in the real world.

It’s a two-edged sword. If you are inside the wall of privilege, you feel good about yourself, though you may be somewhat embarrassed by your perks. For instance, the highest tier in my favorite real-world casino has the privilege of cutting to the front of any line, which can lead to uncomfortable situations. On the other hand, if you are on the outside, you feel oppressed — especially if some top-tier member has just cut ahead of you in the buffet line.

gated06Unfortunately, one of the perks of the insiders is sneering at the outsiders. I don’t often see this in the real world (at least not out in the open), but it’s part of the nightly show at x7, where a crowd of avatars inside the velvet rope taunts the ones who can’t make it through. The same behavior has already started in the Sunset Lounge. And I have to ask myself — is this really good for Home? Will jealousy and ambition increase the sales of the key items, or will humiliation and disgust drive people off Home altogether?

Will Home become increasingly stratified into “haves” and “have-nots”, with more and more people caught outside the velvet ropes, and the most desirable activities only available inside? Will the taunting of the peasants become an acceptable form of entertainment? I certainly hope not. One thing I have liked about Home from the beginning is how egalitarian it is. True, it helps to have some money. But the amount of money required is remarkably small, compared to what one needs in the real world. With careful shopping, one can have a satisfying Home life on a very modest budget.

We also need to make newcomers feel welcome in Home. If the first thing they encounter is a “members only” sign, they may not give this place the chance it deserves.

The inverse of the gated community is the town square, which is open to all — a park surrounded by public buildings, such as the library, general stores and churches. We had this with the late, much-mourned Central Plaza. And we still have it (though in a less expansive form) in the Hub and the other core spaces.

But what the Hub doesn’t have, in any real sense of the word, is orientation. There are portals to new attractions, but no basic help kiosks. A slide show of popular Home locations would be nice. A simple “How do I…?” slide show would be most welcome. And the Home community could be included in the design and production of these features, through a series of contests for still images or short videos for the orientation screens. Seeing that actual Home users can help shape Home might inspire some of the newcomers to stay.

Orientation Island

Orientation Island

In Second Life, the popular PC-based virtual community, there is a whole area for newcomers — an Orientation Island packed with helpful tutorials. All new Second Life users are sent there automatically.

I wonder sometimes if it would be possible to make a Home space that is only accessible to new users. Limited access might keep out the fam recruiters, freezers, trolls and predators, as well as those who get their kicks in Home from taunting noobs.

Would this be a good thing? Would it even be possible? Perhaps not — anyone can create an alt account to become an “instant noob”, with access to the new users’ space. Those bent on causing problems could continue to cause them.

So perhaps an exclusive “Newcomer’s Island” is not very workable. But a non-exclusive space dedicated to orientation and tutorials might be. Seriously, if Home is to attract new users, I think we need more content for novices, and for those with tiny budgets —  not just those who can afford access to the gated communities.

May 6th, 2013 by | 9 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.

Share

9 Responses to “Home’s Gated Communities”

  1. KrazyFace says:

    I love your final idea! I dont see why it has to be a shared (read: online with others) experience, if you blocked off the avi from everyone else and just let them wander the island getting used to taking pics, browsing small shopping selections and using a keyboard etc, they might even buy some clothing that would instantly remove some of their “noobness” when they come into contact with the community proper. This way, fams couldn’t recruit and trolls would be oblivious to their existence until they were released from the island. I’m so impressed with this idea I’d like to use this as one of my monthly suggestions to the EU Home community, if that’s alright?

    Anyway, the meat n veg of your article here is a big one. For comment’s sake I’ll try to keep this short…

    I LIKE the way these things are going! Personally, I’d rather people could gain exclusive access via game score or achievement but realistically that’s open to corruption via the ISE hack. SO! Pay to access is about the only way really, and as long as there are options for it I dont see the problem really. If you’re a casual Home user and feel the money is wasted, dont buy into it -- simple. If you’re a regular (or even a daily) Homey then paying a one-time fee to severely reduce the troll-count is a pretty good deal I’d say. Not only this but you get the choice to buy (or play to win) rare items -- objects of no interest to trolls or casual users, but desirable to the core-Home users. All I see here is win/win!

    However, you do get those who feel the need to do that whole “naa na nana naaaaa” thing at the gates. Which, frankly, is just ridiculous. All that does is show their lack of maturity and (probably) how little they have in their actual lives. Pity them -- they’re obviously bad at RL, just look how they behave! And if you find that kind of taunting hurts you, maybe you need to look inside yourself as to why. (BTW, just for clarity -- I dont mean YOU personally Seal -- mean anyone reading this)

    • SealWyf_ says:

      Thanks for the comments, Krazy. And yes, go ahead and suggest the “noob island” idea elsewhere. After all, I blatantly stole the idea from Second Life. It’s not original to Seal.

      Frankly, I wonder why we have the “gate” areas at all. Couldn’t a space check that you were qualified to enter before you even spawned? Or is the idea to let people get a glimpse of what they might have if they just bought access? Perhaps there’s even the thought that being taunted by the “in crowd” will motivate people to buy into the space. I find the whole thing very odd.

  2. Jin Lovelace says:

    From a person who also has privileged access to a couple of Clubs and a much-frequented restaurant, I can agree to this article. Maybe it’s just me but I see a bit of an irony when it comes to the gated community between the real world versus virtual.

    Whereas from a psychological point-of-view, if anyone were to even taunt others at a Club due to gaining access to a VIP section could reap invaluable consequences. On Home, much would think it’s “safer” to taunt the others because they can’t spend the $9.99 for a Yacht or an Island.

    The only time I would ever visit the X7 is to access the fashions (Billabong, Wrangler, Lockwood). I tried to hang there; the atmosphere is literally the same if you were to, say, at the Playground or even the Hub. A few felt the same way they feel about the Sunset Lounge: it’s an escape from the “noobs” or the “pervs”, or the Fam activists.

    I maybe scattered on this comment because truthfully I’m very null on this limited-access thing that’s lain on Home. If I could sum it up into a few words on how I feel about this, it’s more along the lines of “I simply don’t care”.

    Because in the end, people want it and they will pay for it. If they wish to see a difference, they have to be the ones to make that stand.

    And that is the saddest thing of all.

  3. FEMAELSTROM says:

    I have a lot of stuff here in Home, I mean a lot, but most of the people around me have 2 or 3 times more. We are the people that can travel freely through the velvet ropes, but I do remember when I had nothing or little. I remember that I would see people who had so much and I thought it was great that the ‘rich’ and I were tossed into the same salad of Home. Now that I have more, I would never flaunt it and I think that is one of the evils of ever separating one group over another, in Home or the real world. I’m not one that believes that everybody needs to be equal. I accept that some have far more than me, that’s great. I just feel that in an environment like Home where so much can be so heavily controlled to not create these uneasy feelings between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, we could do such a better job of not alienating anybody. Point 2, I have seen many ‘noobs’, something we all were at least for a little, and I think that a ‘noob’ tutorial is a great idea. Maybe not even a public space. A private space that has NPC’s (non playable characters)that interact to show how to do things, like on theme park rides. Maybe even something that happens in our Harbor Studios.I know that I would have appreciated a tutorial when I first spawned into Harbor Studio and then (maybe too soon) into Central Plaza. It was all very overwhelming. In fact a little confession here. When I was first strolling the Central Plaza, I was not aware that the avatars were real people. It took me a while to realize that the typing I was reading was in fact that of real people (sorry if I offended anyone, be kind to my mistakes). A few rooms with a few interactions should do the trick. Just to show the new arrivals how to navigate, communicate, even purchase. Well I could go on and on, but who wants to hear me…LOL. Great article Seal, but what’s new.

    • SealWyf_ says:

      Of course we want to hear you, Strom. Would you be willing to write an article about your ideas? (not-so-subtle hint hint nudge nudge)

      • FEMAELSTROM says:

        Don’t let my boss know…but I’m doing that right now. :D

        • SealWyf_ says:

          Ha! For that matter, any of you out there reading HSM are welcome to submit guest articles. Click Submissions up there at the top of the page. I’m sure Terra won’t mind the extra workload. Nor will the copy editors. (I’m looking at you, KrazyFace.)

  4. ted2112 says:

    What a fantastic article seal. I totally agree with you. I have stated many time how much I hate the velvet rope concept. The problem I see here on Home is this. Sony isn’t doing much development anymore, it’s all on the 3rd party developers now, so we can see where this is going. It’s going to be very tempting for them to try and drum up sales this way. I just hope they realize the resentment factor that will also happen. It would be a shame for a good company like Lockwood to get a lot of bad feelings from Home users because they were snubbed at the velvet rope.

Leave a Reply to SealWyf_

Allowed tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>


8 + = seventeen