by Burbie52, HSM team writer

What has Home done for each of us as a person? What do we “get” from this online social experiment that Sony created and subsequently released five years ago into open Beta? What is the allure that a virtual reality has for so many people in this world? Is it escapism, or is it something much more?

It’s hard for me to believe that I have been a part of this place for four years now; it seems like only yesterday I stepped into my bare Harbour Apartment, then out into the Central Plaza. I was like a deer frozen in the headlights for a few minutes. I had never seen anything like Home before, nor participated in any other online community until I came here in December of 2009. I was a total “noob” and lost as to what to do next.

Where it all began

I stood there for quite a while, then started wandering around listening to others chat with one another about a myriad of different subjects, many of which I hadn’t a clue about. Anyone that knows me will tell you that I am far from a shy person — in fact I’m quite the opposite and indeed very extroverted. Yet I was at a loss as to where to go next.

One of the things I am most grateful for in Home is good people. I was standing in the Plaza a couple of days later and someone asked me if I was new. My reply brought me my first friend. His name was Sal, and he was from Central America. He introduced me to a few of his other friends, and they took me under their wings and showed me how to get around in Home. It was through this tight-knit group I of friends that I was able to experience the best of Home, true friendship and a lot of laughter.

That is what Home is to me, really: a place to laugh and meet new people from all over the planet. A place to find true friends who will help you through the rough patches and stand by you when you need a shoulder to cry on. Home encompasses all of the emotions of the people who inhabit it. It isn’t a game, though you can play games within its structure if you want to.

Some of the Grey Gamers — great friends.

Home has been a lifesaver to me at times. It has changed my life immeasurably over the past four years, through the connections I have made here. I’ve not only made a wealth of friends, but I found a voice in this magazine. Writing has been a part of me since I can remember — I started to write poetry in the second grade and never stopped. I have written plays, short stories, a children’s book and a book of spiritual poetry, but none of them have given me the satisfaction I’ve gotten here through writing about something that is real to me, even though it is virtual.

That’s the thing about Home: even though it isn’t something you can literally put your finger on — which for many people is the definition of reality — it is still a very real place. The people who have never been here, or in any other virtual world, have a very hard time understanding what we find in Home. My own brothers, who both love gaming as much as I do, think I am nuts. But no matter how many times I have tried to make them understand the allure this place has for me, they will never “get” it — because in order to understand, you have to experience Home.

For that is what Home is: a series of experiences brought to us by the games and the spaces we can both inhabit and visit. We buy homes and decorate them in a way that would never be possible in real life for most of us. We dress like models and can live the kind of lives we would never be capable of otherwise. Even though these things are not things we can touch they are still inspiring and they touch our creative side, as is evident in all of the fashion and decorating clubs that have popped up in the past several years. My club, the Grey Gamers, has meant the world to me, because the people I have come to know through it have enriched my experience in Home — and also outside of it.

Writing: a huge part of my life in Home.

I am grateful for Home because it tapped into that side of me in ways I’d never imagined possible before I came here, and has given me friends that will endure long after Home has gone. Some might say you can’t have a true friend unless you meet them face to face at some point, but long before computers were invented, people from all over the world made friends as pen-pals. Knowing they might never meet, they poured out their hearts and lives to each other.

Home does the same for many of us.

So, yes, I consider the people I know here to be true friends — people I would hope to meet in real life some day. But even if that never happened, they are still my friends.

Home is and always will be a part of my life through these connections. If you come to Home for other reasons than mine, that is good too; to each their own. Having a grateful heart, whatever the reason, will make your journey in life easier and make your journey here in Home easier as well.

May God Bless all of you this Christmas and New Years; I know He has blessed me with all of you.

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One Response to “A Grateful Heart”

1. Jayson says:

   December 27, 2013 at 2:44 pm

   Not looking forward to it. Asia PlayStation Home will not be receiving any more stuff which is outright unfair. I’ve been a devoted supporter for my region and even being devoted to my oath never to step into another region’s server. For all that and all yet my region gets the boot for no reason at all.

   What are we punished for? And never will we accept the reason that it’s a ‘business decision’ because I’ve been hearing that too many times and seeing all my posts here erased.

   A small pint of hope that Sony will reconsider their decision and continue the Asian support but all hope is fading and there’s no chance that we’ll ever see PlayStation Home release for PS4.

   (Editor’s note: if your posts are being deleted, take that as a suggestion to make less inflammatory comments.)

   Reply