Cade
by Jersquall, HSM Editor Emeritus
June 5th, 2013, was GlassWalls’ last day as a Digital Platforms Community Manager.
It was 5:05 PM on a Wednesday afternoon when my phone rang. Checked the caller ID: it was GlassWalls. Which isn’t too surprising, because he would call me from time to time and we would sometimes talk while he drove home. After some chitchat, he mentioned, “I no longer work at Sony.”
There was nothing negative about the discussion, nor was any sensitive information shared. It may be hard for us to understand on the outside, because the community manager becomes the de facto “face” of the product to a lot of consumers, but we have to remember that it ultimately *is* a job, and people do change jobs. He was very clear that everything was good, and we talked about his future plans — which, naturally, included traveling! That part was not a surprise; if you’ve kept up with the “Where in the world is GlassWalls adventures” over the years, then you know that he gets around more than Carmen Sandiego.
I want to take this time here now with all of you to focus not on his first day or his last day with Sony, but more importantly the in-between times. The fun times.
As the lead moderator for Home, his reputation grew amongst the community, as he often roamed many Home spaces and became more than just a ‘mod.’ This guy was very well-liked: friendly and kind, yet always taking his responsibility as a moderator seriously. He was often called Angel, Glass or GW — which, by the way, he didn’t care for “GW,” but you didn’t know that, and he was classy enough to simply let it slide.
He must have heard his calling, because he was already community building — which was his specialty — specifically directed toward fostering the Home community. As time went on, he became a Home Community Manager and could be seen posting in the Home forums; from there it was not much longer until he took over the Home Community Volunteer program. He made sure HCVs had a fundamental vision: community first, but with the constant perspective of having fun and enjoying ourselves as well.
GlassWalls brought a spirit of life into the HCV program for those in the first wave selected, and for the many that followed. He spent many days and nights designing events and collaborating with HCVs to help them bring community events to the Home users. Do you recall a public event in the theater, or the old Central Plaza? Maybe a flash mob or some other Home function? GlassWalls made sure that these went as smoothly as possible. And when those events didn’t run smoothly, those were learning experiences and tools for future events. When guests would come to visit Home, he made sure everything was ready for the events that followed. We have had some pretty great guests and events in Home and some of us had a chance to see how much work went into these events. From the top Sony brass down to the Home Community Volunteers, Cade was always the guy in the middle who made sure it went right as rain.
Being around GlassWalls gave others a sense of belonging, and that was contagious for me. Being yourself and being authentic is a must when communicating with the community. He had a way about him that you inherently trusted, because you knew that what you saw was what you got. He was like family.
GlassWalls had the ability to organize people in what others would consider a hostile environment: to bring together others — often from disparate and perhaps conflicting backgrounds — not just to party, but to have a social experience. Working alongside him over the years, I can say that he did it right. It is a testimony to his superb people skills that a decentralized world like Home had a cohesive sense of community, and that is due in no small part to his work behind the scenes which few ever saw.
He had the pulse of the community as well. Always actively engaged in Home media sites. If you had a Home media site, you were read by GlassWalls. He was always on the lookout, checking tweets about Home, reading Home forum threads, watching Home videos on YouTube. Often our conversations bent towards him asking me If I had read articles on what he had seen or asking what I thought about a new item, estate or public area in Home. What I thought was just a conversation was actually consumer feedback; he used this ability to lead and direct other people while using social media to create and foster even more for the community.
For the longest time we only knew him as GlassWalls. It was at E3 that the Home community not only heard his voice but saw him in all his nervousness being interviewed about PlayStation Home. It was also a surprise to many that he had a name.
Cade. Cade Peterson.
Personally I could go on about all my Home stories with Cade, but this is his time. So you get one short story for now:
It’s funny thinking back to Cade on the Home Theater stage, trying to answer as many questions as he could about The Tester, season one. The questions were suppose to be about The Tester, and the Home crowd had questions about *him.* Keep in mind that some not-so-nice questions filled the chat log, as this is PlayStation Home, after all, where not everyone plays nice. But he handled those with poise, and his professionalism got things back on track quickly. I should mention he was also the fastest typist I’ve ever seen!
Point being: he knew how to manage community very well. I also know I would have mucked it up something fierce in his place. It takes a unique skill set to be a community manager, particularly for a crowd as lovably ornery as Home!
I know that many, many times he went above and beyond to pull for all of you when it came to PlayStation Home. Those situations are like tears in a rainstorm: they happened, but you will never hear about them.
He loved the community and made countless friends in and around Home. The talks we had were always ninety-percent Home related. Talking community. There was nothing better to discuss. See, it was not just a job to him, because most times once your job day is done you do not continue to talk about it for the rest of the day. Cade did. And that says a lot about the man.
If you have followed Cade ”GlassWalls” Peterson on Twitter you would know that he loves to travel. He will take some time to vacation soon — of this I am sure — and then the world is his map.
Please take the time to wish him well and perhaps post some pictures of past GlassWalls memories or share a story. If you choose to, feel free to thank him for all the good times and fun memories. He will be checking in on the thread from time to time, and appreciates all the support over the years.
Please keep in mind two things:
1. Let’s refrain from asking about his departure. You know as well as I do that people change jobs (particularly in the gaming industry), and no corporate entity ever comments on internal personnel changes. Please respect that and appreciate the privacy of both parties.
2. Cade no longer being with Sony should not cause speculation or rumors to surface regarding Home’s future. This is one of the reasons why I’m writing this article. There are legitimate questions and concerns about Home’s future in the coming years, but let’s please not read conspiracy theories and wild speculations about all of SCEA/SCEE/SCEJ/SCEAsia Home into a personnel change. Home’s had community managers leave in the past, and rumors flew from north to south regarding their departure. Cade Peterson deserves a better send-off than that.
A community finds itself — or finds itself lacking — when tested. Home has given us a wonderful platform to enjoy over the years. It’s up to us, now, to create the kind of community that we want to be a part of. If we wish to honor the memory of Cade’s work, then it is up to us to continue to build the Home community. Let’s not pay lip service to this; let’s actually *do* it.
What’s your favorite GlassWalls story? Share it here. Let’s revel in the memories of good times past and keep our eyes pointed towards building Home’s horizon.
(Editor’s note: Cade responded to this article when it was originally posted on the SCEA Home forum. Reprinted below in its entirety is that response.)
Hello everyone! It’s me, Cade, AKA GlassWalls on my personal account. Yes, I’ve lived a double life all these years, but this explains why poor Glass only had a handful of trophies, hahaha…
Wow, I am so overwhelmed from your sweet posts, sharing little tidbits of history here and there, plus all the kind wishes. I’ve been trying to read through the tons of posts, and I’m still not quite done yet!
First off—it’s been such a pleasure having had this opportunity to work with and for you all these years (almost half a decade!). I’ve seen Home grow up right before my eyes, from a humble beginning in the closed beta days through many platform updates and even more content updates, it’s become this vast, rich world, full of the most amazing people, content and games. There really is no other place like Home.
I dug up my original blog icon to share if anyone wants to see it blown up:
If you have any more pics or video, please continue to share those here as I really love seeing them too. It’s amazing the content that is readily available to us these days. Also, if anyone can find the original link, my favorite tune that reminds me of Home is the original trailer for it.
As for my silence over the past week, the timing of me leaving was not ideal (pre-E3 and all), but do know this—it has nothing to do with PS4, PS Home or PS3 concerns at all. It’s just ill-timed, and you’ll have to trust me on that. My last special act was posting this year’s Virtual E3 booth announcement, and talk about a high note to go out on! I hope you all have jumped into the booth and had a great time. The production team really knocked it out of the park this year, and it shows. It’s really a special year for PlayStation.
Meanwhile, if anyone does throw any fun parties, I fully expect pink hair to be rocked and bunny ears if you got ‘em! PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN (please share them in here!).
Finally, if you want to keep up on my new adventures, I have a few public accounts you can check out:
Ok, that’s about it! I’ll keep an eye on ya, though not in any official capacity anymore. Please continue to be good to each other, and thank you for having been with me on this journey. It’s been a very special part of my life, and I am so grateful to have been here. This community and it’s overall unique “personality,” if you will, is a very vibrant and special one that I’m proud to have helped manage all these years. You guys are the best one out there, so supportive and helpful, playful and creative. And you can always kick my butt in any game I’ve ever played, srsly!. 
But I’m always going to keep playing with you anyway.
I’ve had such a great time with you and with PlayStation. I am not good with goodbyes, so let’s just say it’s more of a, “See you later!” as I’ll pop into Home from time to time.
June 15th, 2013 by Jersquall | 7 comments
Jersquall is a retired Home Community Volunteer, co-founder of Club HOMEinformer, and podcast commentator for HomeStation Magazine. His views expressed in HSM are his own.
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The end of an age. The beginning of a new age. Fire arms may now be required when entering the forums.
I never enter anything HOME related without packing heat…I wish you the best est in your en devours Mr. Peterson.. This loss I compare to the demise of BZB…Thank You for your constant public support Cade, of PlayStation Home and of the gaming industry in General in ways a lot of people are not aware of.
Thank you to Jersquall for this article.
Everyday is a new rainbow…*Sue
It was always fun times with GlassWalls you changed Home for what it is today. We all thank you for your time and effort it wouldn’t of been possible without your help and focus Good luck on where ever your mind leads you and remember you made a bunch of friends that will always be there for you!
I have only met you a few times over the years, but each time you were always a gentleman, even in the face of the crazy maelstrom of questions that seemed to follow you everywhere you went in Home. You have the patience of a saint, and I want to thank you for all the years of dedicated service to this community that I love. I wish we could have gotten to know each other better and I wish you the best in all of your endeavors wherever they might take you. For now, enjoy your traveling and take some time for yourself, you deserve it Cade.
Be blessed, Glass. Thank you for your years of service to us Home inhabitants.
As a card carrying Home aholic, it has always been on my bucket list to have some one on one face time with Mr. Walls. We did cross paths a few times but I really didn’t get to interact with him because of the rock star status that seemed to follow him. The first time I ever saw him was at the opening night of Platinum D. A mosh pit of avatars enveloped him as he stood in front of the stage in the old theater. Then, with the help of some volunteer security people, the crowd did something I haven’t seen to often. i truly believe that out of respect for the man. This swarming mob formed a line and with uncharacteristic grace, took their turn taking a picture with what I can only compare to the President of Home. I waited in line with 3 other dear friends for over an hour for our chance. It was then that I realized that anyone that could draw such a response in Home was someone I wanted to meet and get to know. Sadly I never really got the chance. I did however did cross paths with him a few more times. Being one that loves to flash a joke and make people laugh, one of my proud moments was making Cade lol. I was a beta tester for the Hub and all the new spaces that were coming to Home. As a person like many others that missed poker after EA left, I spent much of that Beta time in Home Holdem. They had ask for as many of us as possible to come play poker so they could stress test the space. I gladly joined in. I found my way to a table and low and behold Cade was there. He wasn’t playing but was kind of watching the test. I sat down and started playing. fighting the urge to be like so many others that saw the opportunity to bombard him with questions and suggestions. I respectfully just started playing, and by playing I mean I started dispensing my chips to all the other players as fast as I could. Cade walked up behind me and was watching. I jokingly said… “I’m not nervous at all with Mr. Wall looking over my shoulder.” He LOLed and then poofed. Doesn’t seem like that big of a deal as I read back over the words used to relive that moment. But, to this day I hold on to that moment because it was the only time I got to entertain the man that did so much to make Home my home. Getting to spend some time with the Community Manager was never on my bucket list, getting to spend time with Glasswalls was. Not because of his “fame” or power but because the people in Home that I respect respected him and to me that speaks to his honor. while writing this wordy post I realize that I don’t have to erase that from the top of my list. He may not wear the title anymore but to me still holds the respect and that is the person I want to meet. Cade, or Mr. Wall as I like to call you, I truly hope that we cross paths again and I can cross visiting with you off my list many times over. Thank you from my heart of hearts for the work you have done and the grace in which you did it. And thank you Jers for such a well done tribute.
Sorry for the late reply, but thank you very much for posting this very well done tribute Jers!
I just replied to your thread on the forums and it turned out to be a lengthy one (imagine that for me lol). http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-Home/Tribute-Glasswalls-Cade-replies-166/m-p/40766375/highlight/true#M1253430
But again, I want to thank Cade for all he has done for the PlayStation Home Community and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors, wherever they may take him. I know we will continue to play “Where in the World is Cade” and I look forward to sharing in his many more world-wide adventures! ^__^