Rock and Roll and the Virtual Spacetime Continuum
by ted2112, HSM team writer
Albert Einstein figured out that time is relative, and I think that’s especially true in rock and roll as well as virtual worlds.
Think of the Beatles and all the amazing music they created. In fact, their span of albums was about seven years. That’s it: seven years. The MMO Free Realms lasted a mere four years, and that’s about average.
For a moment, let’s ponder virtual time. Every game is different: here in Home, the time only changes if we want it to. Are you sick of boring old day in the Dream Yacht? No problem. Make your way topside and switch to night. Looking for some relief from the southern California sun in your Hollywood House? Simply hit the transporter by the door and watch the planes with their landing lights on lining up on final approach to LAX in the nighttime version of the space.
My favorite, however, is Grand Theft Auto. A minute equals an hour. This seems about right to me. If the Beatles did all they did in under a decade it seems to me that virtual space life span must be about the same. The virtual doors of Home have been open now for a little over five years. So, Home is about up to Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and that’s a good place to be.
I often think of virtual time as an accumulation of everyone’s time combined. If this is true, then Home is older that the Roman Empire. I have this funny image of servers all bloated and stretching their rack spaces with all the accumulated experiences they provided. Truth be told, it’s really the server between our ears that provides the experience, but it’s a funny thought.
I have listened to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon countless times, yet time has no hold on this epic music experience. Many times I feel it’s like listening in wonder, like I did the first time I heard it. Think of all the people all over the world who have been transported along the analog wave of this masterpiece.
Pink Floyd only released fourteen albums.
There is a great scene in the movie Always, when Sofia Loren’s character sums up the mysteries of time to Richard Dreyfuss with the simple statement, “Time is funny stuff.” Indeed, time is funny stuff; our day here in the SCEA Home region is nighttime in the SCEE region. Many spaces in Home have no passing of time at all. It is always a nice, sunny afternoon over the Harbour Studio.
Time, whether virtual or not, is not something that can be measured well. It is our passing through this time, however that is relevant. This experience can be measured statically — minutes equal hours — yet it is what we take from this time that holds meaning. Home will not last forever, just like the Beatles and Pink Floyd. The Rolling Stones are a different argument altogether, but our experiences serve no time and are forever.
When the Great PSN Outage happened a few years ago, Home did not stop; it merely went to other places like various fansites such as HSM. The collection of users who define a game are the servers, and each of us have our own version of time. When Home re-opened 
twenty-four days later, that virtual second hand finally clicked to the next. Oh, and I’m sure even in the outage it was still a nice sunny afternoon above the Harbour Studio.
Some day, Home will have an end date on the Wikipedia page, but who’s to say what that time really adds up to? If Home is like the Beatles, then we have many amazing albums ahead of us — in fact, some of the best. Remember what Albert Einstein said: that time is relative and depends on your point of view. Or, further, what Pink Floyd said — ticking away the moments that make up a dull day. Rock and roll and virtual time: kindred spirits in the sense that they depend on us to make them real.
February 9th, 2014 by ted2112 | 2 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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Good article Ted. I have often thought Home needed it’s own time zone.
Although I enjoyed having all the clocks telling me what time it was at my Home.
I often wondered what it would have been like for everyone to get around in Home’s own time zone.
The Beatles could of continued if the Lennon hadn’t wanted to leave. Plus the Beatles went from one top ten hit to the next. Home isn’t any where near that influential to a ps3 user and goes from one top 100 hit to the next and that’s being kind. Social MMOs can last second life and imvu are about 10 years old. Both have had they issues some worse than home and they still do. Home will ultimately fail because it’s developers and development have failed. Not because of its time is up or its fans. People you meet in all these sites adore home but we have access to so much now. Homes not going to keep people interested with its long load times and releasing a few suits each week.