by Jin Lovelace, HSM team writer & filmmaker

As the song by the R&B group Earth Wind & Fire implied, the inquiry that I have is, how could you lead me on? 

Meaning: over the years, Home was the most anticipated application for me. From that moment of watching the initial vignette of Home’s announcement, to obtaining the beta key to begin my adventures into the virtual construct, it was magical.

From the onset, I knew of Home’s purpose: it’s a social network to connect with other gamers from around the globe. During the time when MySpace was the hottest social media site to go to, I envisioned Home as the next logical step, going a bit beyond the typical update posts to socially interacting with other players in a 3D environment. I had friends who followed the announcements get together with me to discuss and plan when we would get on, what to do, and the type of parties we would host for our gamer friends.

While the overall product and the outcome of Home meets my aesthetics, others felt it was underwhelming due to the lack of promised features that were announced, two of them being the ability to stream your music from your hard drive into Playstation Home, and the infamous Trophy Room space that never came into fruition.

This was the video that I remember like yesterday; I will never forget the moment when I heard that intoxicating voice providing an extensive overview on the expectation of the virtual social MMO — but to be met with the aforementioned holes in the wall that left me a bit empty.

As the chorus would suggest: how could you lead me on?

A lot would bash Sony — even to this day — due to the aforementioned promised features that didn’t make it into Home. Some users would make it a habit to log into the application each day to publicly announce their hatred for Sony and slam the MMO — not just once, but over the course of seven years of its open-beta existence.

I frankly find it idiotic to waste precious time out of a day to get on and spread vitriol. Heck, you can find most of that on the forums. But can you blame them? Yes, we’re bound by choice on the matter — and, if you ask me, we all have some form of freedom of speech — but to its merit, where are those promised features that Sony promised? And, moreso, would they make as much of a social impact as many would anticipate?

I honestly don’t think so at all. Trophy hunters have a website to show off their accolades, and if that Hall of Fame (known erroneously as the “trophy room”) were to be available tomorrow, how many users would use it to showcase their level-six collection? I can honestly tell you now: I have a few friends who are ashamed, yet thankful, for the privacy feature — due to not ever showcasing their platinum trophy for completing Hannah Montana.

LOOT also has the music streaming down pat, along with the Music Unlimited application available on nearly every Sony product including your PlayStation 3 and 4 consoles. Do we honestly feel the need to have something like this in Home? Nice feature, yes, but nothing to be angry about.

Perhaps, my bitterness comes from the overall lack of social interaction on Home. Let’s tell the truth: every week now it’s essentially about the items and the importance of your presence in Home, a la internet fame. It’s no longer about meeting up with friends in Central Plaza to listen to the goofy music by Sunny Levine, dancing to Chain Swing, exploiting the bench glitch, hanging around the old Mall with friends, or meeting with the members of the HCV program to participate in the weekly gaming meet ups. It’s not about that any more, to me.

I know everything changes in time. I get that. My love has gone because of what took place: the introduction of the Hub. In the back of my mind, I had an option to voice my opinion on this change; to keep Central Plaza and expand the space to make it more socially accessible. It is still one of the moments that I can’t ever get over and something I try to every day, but with the Hub, the business practice of making Home into a gaming platform, and the money and time lost from some of the potential developers, you have a great combination of a bitter taste that not even Scope could wash out.

So with all of this expressed, is there anything to defend here? I greatly believe so. There’s this thing called hope that I believe in, and it’s a word that many underestimate. After the love has gone, I still can say that Home has brought inspiration and creativity out of me, as much as what my articles here have purveyed. I was lead on with the possibilities of greater additions, but was given some of the greatest experiences that no trophy room or music streaming option could give. I expected nothing but the best from this revolutionary product.

And by damn, it went beyond that.

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