Home Rumors, Nessie, and Bigfoot
by ted2112, HSM team writer
In the absence of hard information, rumors and speculation will reign.
What’s sad, however, is the sheer willingness of people to fall for stories which are obvious nonsense. Case in point: an article that appeared last June, in “Play4Real” Magazine. The article, written by the publication’s editor-in-chief, has the startling headline: “Sony has announced that the PlayStation Home will be upgraded to a full-fledged service and come out of beta in the year 2016.”
Anyone with even the slightest amount of common sense could quickly deduce from the tone of the article and its writing that it was a parody; any doubt would be completely erased by simply checking the other articles on the site and quickly seeing the satirical nature of them. But this was largely overlooked, which is either a sad commentary on the general level of today’s reading comprehension, or an interesting insight into just how badly some Home users want their virtual world to somehow make that symbolic leap out of beta. Indeed, a representative for a Home developer publicly embarrassed himself on the SCEA forum by passing the story along and attempting to lend credence to it, hastily (and awkwardly) attempting to save face when it was pointed out that it’s probably not advisable for a developer rep to try to lend any credence, even in a softpedaled “decide for yourself” fashion, to a blatantly satirical story.
Reading comprehension. Reading comprehension. Reading comprehension.
Or, failing that, how about some basic common sense? If Sony as the platform provider is going to make any sort of announcement about Home’s development, they will use their own outlets as the first line of communication, followed by large gaming media sites. An “exclusive” that appears on a site you’ve never heard of is, rather obviously, not an exclusive at all.
So. Why the failure of common sense?
Part of it may stem from a general dissatisfaction with the level of explanation (or communication in general) about Home’s future from the platform providers. I am not part of the camp that thinks Sony “owes” us an explanation, but it’s frankly to be expected that when your consumer base is looking for answers on a particular topic — in this case, Home’s future — and no information is forthcoming, people will invariably not do the logical thing and simply stop their inquiry. As the saying goes, the Greeks invented logic, but they weren’t fooled by it. People are ruled by emotions, and emotions on this particular subject run high.
Why is it so bloody important for Home to emerge from beta? If Sony removed the “beta” tag right now, what would change?
Never question the validity of what you read. Or see.
The answer: nothing. But there’s perception, and then there’s reality. And when emotions run high, perception trumps reality. A smart business knows how to harness this to build its brand. The lack of any such brand-building efforts from Sony to continue to advertise to people outside of Home is, frankly, disquieting. Whether or not those efforts are successful is, to the people who use Home, irrelevant; it’s the perception of spending money to make such overt effort to attract more people to the platform that builds confidence in those who already use it.
Let’s finally call a spade a spade. Home may be special to us, but the gaming world at large, we who inhabit Home are frankly viewed as “special” in return. For all the stories of how Home helps people, the flipside of that is reflected to the outside world: that Home is a playground for damaged and socially maladjusted people who don’t fit in anywhere else (hence why Home tried to reinvent itself as a gaming platform to attract a wider audience). And, being decidedly uncool, Home is thus the bête noire of the Sony pantheon. Thus, when Sony itself turns all its marketing efforts inward, the fact that there are new features such as challenges and the News Reader falls on deaf ears; the perception is that Sony has given up on trying to bring new people to the platform, which signals a shift from a growth phase to a maturation phase.
Will this affect the confidence of Home’s monetizing whales? Only time will tell. Consider, though: while the vast majority of Home’s users aren’t power users scouring the internet for any new information, there are — documented and measured — hundreds of thousands of users who do. Couple that with curiosity about Home’s future now that the PS4 is out, and you have a statistically important chunk of monetizing consumers whose confidence may be shaken. That may not matter much to Sony’s future at large — most of these people are PlayStation consumers in general — but it does matter to Home’s future within Sony.
As for the satirical article in question? It’s not bad. It’ll make you laugh. My only objection is this: the best satire is something we can laugh with, not laugh at. I am, frankly, rather tired of Home being the convenient target when someone feels like kicking a dog. Home is far more than what the outside gaming world perceives it as, and it is shameful that very few people on the outside are willing to acknowledge this. There are a great many people who work hard, every day, for Home. Everyone from the Home Platform Group to the family of third-party developers, right on down to you and me in the community, all play a part in Home’s continued existence. When you undermine all this hard work, you are stealing. Flat-out stealing. And stealing ain’t funny.
(Want some legitimately laugh-out-loud satire? Try The Onion. You can laugh with the author without feeling like the joke’s on you.)
Here it is, six months later, and this fake article has done nothing but gain momentum, due to a combination of poor fact-checking and a malicious intent to play on peoples’ emotions. Thanks to social media internet rumors and the huge power of people wanting to believe in something, this article is now everywhere. If you read the article on their website, the comments are from Home users who, sadly, believe it — and are very happy and relived about the news. Playing on these peoples’ emotions is, in my view, wrong. I leave it to Play4Real for them to determine if their joke was worth it.
As a journalist for one of Home’s largest community media sites, I’ve been asked several times about this “story” and if I have any information. Well, I do have several close industry sources, and although I have no information about the end of Beta in 2016, I do have some very juicy stories. In light of this, I will share with the following:
It turns out that the Loch Ness monster is alive and well. Nessie has been seen in the Acorn Park lake. You know that part of the lake you can see but can’t get to? Well, that is for our own protection. Acorn Park is, after all, a VEEMEE creation, and VEEMEE is based in Scotland. Loch Ness is in Scotland. You draw the connection. Nessie was secretly moved from Scotland to Acorn Park by the Doctor Who TARDIS, and powered from the LOOT Space Station. Nessie will remain in Acorn Park while Loch Ness is cleaned.
Also, Bigfoot has been seen again in the Granzella Southern Island Hideaway. One Home user who witnessed the frequently-photographed legend described him as a “giant hulk of a shaggy man dress in a late 70’s crushed velvet tuxedo.” It turns out Bigfoot was there as part of a wedding ceremony where he married his beloved bride VICKIE from Sodium. All we can say to the happy couple is congratulations!
Next week, I’ll be reporting on an area in the waters just off the cost of the Adventure District some developers are calling “Home’s Bermuda Triangle.” Until then, remember: Home’s future on the PS4 — and the silence surrounding this issue — is a conspiracy propagated by the Illuminati.
December 23rd, 2013 by ted2112 | 7 comments
ted2112 is a writer and a Bass player that has been both inspired and takes to heart Kurt Vonnegut words...."we are here on planet Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone tell you different."
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Lol and I went to loch ness in July when I could if just gone on home. Well said though. Facts are currently no official announcements so everything else is just rumors, guessing or selling your soul for a few internet hits.
The illuminati are within Home!?
I KNEW IT!!!
Ahh, I wish you’d write more Ted, love your articles. Have a good Xmas everyone! And remember, Santa Clause is alive and well and living in Home too…
That was well said and fun to read as always Ted. People need to just put down their worries about Home and enjoy what they have right now, today is all we have and worrying about the future of anything, let alone Home, only causes stress and frustration. Live for each day and enjoy.
Common sense is a like a swear word on the InterWeBz!
D8 Great article, Ted.
Unfortunatly common sense is mis sold by using the word common, it should be rare sense lol
Good article,great read. During the ’70’s Bigfoot and nessie were everywhere. I think I saw them sharing a hot dog at the 7-11. As for the topic this brings to mind a scene from the Michael Douglas movie “The American President” where Michael J Fox says something to the effect that people are so desperate for information that they are like thirsy people in the desert that get to the point they will drink the sand. With the distinct lack of information we get, I think the home lovers can at times feel desperate enough to drink the sand of parody and rumor. That is clearly why we all need to proceed looking at facts and facts alone. As for me, I am waiting for an official statement, not some random article out there. Again great article and who knew Vader was real and that he met Elvis in the white house, wow.
Great article! Things can be very confusing in Home sometimes.Sony gives us more stuff every year, yet there is a feeling of doom and gloom sometimes.
What I would like to say to Sony is just let us know. We love Home and that’s that. It doesn’t matter what the format of the game is, we love the game and will stick with it, so just give us some info otherwise we will be seeing Big Foot and the Lock Ness monster in Home. (we already have UFO’s)