Overkill
by FEMAELSTROM, HSM team writer
I can’t get to sleep,
I think about the implications,
Of diving in too deep,
And possibly the complications…
Alone between the sheets,
Only brings exasperation,
It’s time to walk the streets
–Men at Work, “Overkill”
As I listened to the 80’s song by Men at Work, Overkill (the reworked acoustic version), I got to thinking about walking the streets of Home when I’m alone. I have my special lady, and we are having a great time being special to each other, but there is one factor, that in the best of times is still like that car with the alarm going off in the parking lot at 3 a.m. She is on the east coast and I am on the west coast. That is a three hour time difference. When my night is mid-swing at 8 p.m., hers is starting to wind down at 11 p.m. So when we say our goodbyes, and the night is done for her, I still have a few hours to tinker with.
I’m on the west and she is on the east, so far and yet so close.
After that sad moment when the PSN confirms that she has logged off, and I take a moment to think on what I am going to do with the rest of my time, I do my dailies. Run Orbs at Aurora, go the the Casino, play Lock-a-Doodle and the occasional splattering of Cutthroats that can make an evening pass nicely.
After these things are done, though, I sometimes wander through Home to see what is happening. I will simply stroll through various places and watch people and how they interact with each other. I did master the art of walking slow and taking my time, so I am like a vapor that just moves from scene to scene, not impacting but instead just passing through. In my wanderings, I’ve seen trolls shut down by savvy Homebodies who wont take the abuse. I have seen Guides at work, and dance floors alive with the pop-up bubbles of a million conversations from a million dancers, some laden and heavy with obscenity and insult, while are fellow people just talking and sharing. There are the solo people who sit, and the inevitable solo guy who runs up to solitary ladies and asks questions ranging from the respectable “Hello” to the irritating, “Want a boyfriend beautiful?” And of course, the guys whose chat is all asterisks.
There are always people writing in that graffiti-esque style that promotes “fams”. I see the divas who stand among a field of panting boys, each one waiting for so much as a nod from their new queen bee. Inevitably there is the PM. Someone will send me one every so often because of my name, FEMAELSTROM, thinking that I am the girl to the left or right and assuming that my name indicates my gender. This PM has been as kind as to ask where I got a certain piece of clothing, and other times a straight out request to chat or video chat. My rule is, if I don’t know the person, I don’t take the request.
I will stroll through places that once meant something to me. The first place is the Lucas Arts Creature Cantina. There was a day that this place meant a lot to me, because the people there were all familiar and in the end, friends or not, we all knew each other’s names. The Cantina is now not so full of people, and few if any people I knew ever go there any more. There is a small part of me that is sad for this, and does long for the old days there.
I like to see the collections of people as they mass. Often I look at the names. It may seem funny to some that I will walk up to somebody real close or take a moment to walk out of the way to see a person, but I do have a (maybe bad) habit of wanting to see avatar’s names. In my walk, I see a lot of “Swag”, “Demon” and “Boi” and the numbers “666” and “69” for the cheap giggles that they give. There are a lot of names devoted to game characters like “Snake” from Metal Gear, “John Marston” from “Red Dead Redemption” , “Kratos” from “God of War” and even a few nods to the game “Myst“. I do have to hand it to a few people out there who have really creative names. I just love to see a well-made name.
What do you see, when you people watch?
I sometimes will stand and watch as new arrivals turn from ghosts into people, just to watch the clothes they spawn in. Though not a science, it is still fun to guess at who the person thinks they are in this new virtual persona. You see some avatar with slung low pants and a white mask spamming some talk of “fams”, and you can see the “gangsta” oozing from them. Then there are the occasional female avatars (who could actually be males) who dress skimpy or big chested and dance, acting offended by the people who come around and ask questions that many times end in ‘*****’. I always think, if this person is really offended and wanted to dance in skimpy clothes, why not do so in private? But I fear sounding too judgmental, so let’s leave that alone for now.
One set of people that I always have to sit and watch are the avatars, usually wearing girls’ clothes, with the “…is feeling sad” emote, who are lamenting that they want or need a PSN card because someone hacked their account or because it is their birthday. On a few occasions, I have seen guys receptive to this lament. Other times they are met with great skepticism and rebuked for their very attempt. Most people I know would view this as a ploy to get free codes by way of trickery. And for those that are genuine, it’s a bad and suspicious approach, thus the lack of friendly responses.
The other night I saw a bunch of my friends all around the landscape of Home, and the funny thing is that when I jumped to each of them, each one read, “…Back soon”. I guess it was a quiet night on the range for some. I would have left a PM to my friends, but the nearby person spamming “hello” a trillion times meant that they would have never seen the message. On this night, I had very few friends online to begin with, but of the twelve or so online, only three or four were in Home.
Nothing was happening, so what to do next?
I decided to turn to an old favorite, which is decorating a personal space. After a few tinkered items were strewn about my place, I felt that I wanted to be out again, and headed to yet another place that I wanted to see. This time the lack of interaction was too heavy, so I hit my Home button on the controller and selected “Turn off the System”, shut off the TV, and rolled over to go to bed. It was a quiet night on Home. Time for bed.
So what is the point to this whole exercise? Why recount the tale of being bored and maybe even lonely after my east coast friends have gone to bed and their gamer tags read that they have been off for a couple hours? Maybe it’s for those who think there’s nothing to do on Home, there really is. It just has to be found, and sometimes we have to go looking for it. Maybe it’s that some times, even Home slows down a little bit and is like a really cool store that is near closing time. It just starts to get quiet. I know this night it was. Maybe it is to remind people that even if your friends are off, in reality, there are things to do like people-watch and decorate because (with the exception of maintenance) Home never closes, and this is a huge plus. Maybe it is to dig out the message that even though there seemed to be nothing to do, the people-watching turned out to be the thing I did. Maybe it’s for those who feel alone sometimes, for them to know that it happens to everyone, no matter what size your friends list.
How do you hold out your hand?
The people I spoke of are not bad, they are just people. Like you and me, searching for an identity in a large world that lets us change ours on a minute to minute basis. We all approach this place in our own way, with our real personality at the core of how we act.
In the end, most of us want the same thing: human contact. It is in how we put out our hand that defines us.
How do you define yourself when you are alone and wandering through Home solo?
June 19th, 2013 by FEMAELSTROM | 4 comments
FEMAELSTROM came to Home in June 2011 and never wanted to leave, even at weekly maintenance when he usually gets booted. The sand box environment appeals to the explorer in him and often is out and about as he ‘geeks’ out dressed like some sort of sci-fi character, while he people watches in popular public spaces. An artist and writer, FEMAELSTROM loves making friends and meeting people. He loves sci-fi and decorating Home estates and loves to respond “here” when people ask “where are you from?” in public places.
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Though I have a full friends list, I find myself in Home alone quite often. Usually it is because my friends are playing a new game or busy with other things like club meets and such. I do much the same when this happens, I do my Lock a doodles and go to the casino, I redecorate a space with some of the new furniture I got, and once in awhile I go into public and watch people.
The biggest issue there for me is the pm messages and stuff I get from “boys”. They have to be kids mostly because no real man would say these types of things to someone. I usually ignore them and continue doing what I am, but occasionally you have to report because they won’t let up.
Great read as always Strom. People watching can be fun, and occasionally I do meet someone who needs help because they are stand there like a deer caught in the headlights without a clue what to do.
You just described my general Home experience, minus the “special lady” part, heh. Quite often I just float around Home, reading what the people say, only after my usual Home-runs of course and those are quick -- Orbs then a pull at the casino bandit. No, Ive never won it yet!
Bit I’ve always liked watching how people react to each other, and the freedom of Home assures people that they can say what they like, take as much rope asthey please. An undiluted, unfettered honesty of character. It’s fun to watch.
And I don’t mind being alone either, I’ve always quite liked my own company -- it takes a special person to ‘get’ half my thought process anyway lol.
I really enjoyed this article, a musing on nothing in particular. Nice one.
I love my time with my friends but I also love my solo time. I to like to lurk and see how people communicate with each other.
I have had many trolls tell me they were trolling because they were bored. I ask how can they be bored? Then I give them examples of all the different things they could be doing. Some say they are bored with everything. I sometimes suggest they do what I do in my solo time. I love to help people. Its very hit or miss but when you really help someone or just make their Home experience better, it very rewarding. It in its self can be addictive.
I meet so many cool people this way and have some amazing conversations.
When I suggest helping others to a troll and they show any interest, I have them stand with me while I help someone… without fail the join into the helping process and offer their advice. Mind you this isnt a high percentage that I get to this point but its always interesting when it happens.
Bored? Don’t know what to do? Go to the Hub and find a avatar in default clothes, sitting by themselves or getting shot down by people that dont have time for them. Reach out to them. The understanding you share with them can help you down the road by hopefully leading by example and thus one less troll is created. very cool article Sir. Strom
I enjoy the familiar faces in familiar spaces. Maybe it’s because I’m older and motherly instincts are trying to kick in, but I have a special place in my heart for defending other ladies in Home when they are pestered by trolls, rude noobs or fams. I also help out new people that come into a space full of naivety when they start to feel overwhelmed by trolling. If all else fails, I try to interject humor and wit wherever I can in people’s conversations, because ultimately, everyone is in Home for the interaction.