by Estim20, HSM Editor

It’s a safe bet Home users are familiar with x7.

A summary is perchance unneeded, but for historical purposes: Sony attempted to reward Exclusives brand loyalty via numerous personal estate rewards and access that the exclusive x7 club. In effect, if you owned any of the original Mansion spaces (its younger brother Diamond Beach wasn’t released yet), you unlocked anything from a free, if unusable, chariot in the Mount Olympus personal space to unlimited club access. To say it met with mixed results is an understatement measured in units yet to be invented.

In essence, X7 attempted to reproduce PlayStation Plus’ model and restrict it to the confines of PlayStation Home. The concept wasn’t unsound – numerous people raised the thought of a Home loyalty program and how they would execute it. There’s nothing in and of itself suggesting it wouldn’t succeed; after all, it feeds into the very desire to feel rewarded for spending one’s time and money in a program such as this. With Home considered 15 degrees ‘uncool’ and off-mainstream for a considerable part of its life, sometimes having Sony acknowledge your continued interest with the occasional freebie or reward would be nice and dull the sting of mocking for being a statistical aberration.

On the other hand, x7 didn’t exactly convince anyone in every area. My scathing review of the space speaks volumes, though I would include the caveat that it still worked in some ways. The previews are indeed a welcome addition and a means of garnering interest (and cash) from the populace – and the selections offered for early access today are departures from the audaciously golden initial run. For those that enjoy its gaudy, gilded atmosphere, there is nothing else like it; the music applies here as well. Overall, one can argue its reputation has improved – even if it went from ‘generally despised’ to ‘willing to tolerate it for the previews’ for many users.

My review, nevertheless, expressed my opinions on the faults of x7. X7 is, for all intents and purposes, Sony’s first foray into providing Home users a loyalty program – and missed an opportunity to reward a broader swath of choices when it implemented the Exclusives line. The club’s design is of little surprise when you consider this fact (it looks like an exclusive club for people with more money than sense), but the consequence is it gives the impression it wants to reward tactless spending habits. The entry fees for it are comparatively staggering as individual items and the passes are rendered useless when you can simply take the plunge and purchase one mansion space (garage aside, perhaps in response to the Welcome Back package offering it for free).

That’s not even getting into the sub-bonus of a private area within the space for anyone brazen (foolhardy?) enough to purchase all Mansion spaces.

Between the curious entry requirements, gaudy aesthetics, and a mini-game that seems to appeal to people many veterans wish to avoid (Flirt? How subtle.), it’s clear it missed the mark partially. It still succeeded in some regards as people enjoy early access and bundles, but the free items can easily be hit-or-miss. Even the bundles can be a hard sell when you consider ‘more items’ isn’t always a good selling point in a system where ‘more’ makes you load slower.

So how exactly to you make a loyalty program work – and make people anticipate its release enthusiastically? It would require a company with enough clout and the right timing to pull off, which can be a tall order. So it makes sense that the company to retread that ground is Lockwood.

It would be remiss to avoid Lockwood’s own blurb about it: “Be rewarded just for living your life with Lockwood Life, the exciting new XP system from Lockwood. Head to the Dream Universe to start earning points straight away! Sitting in the Dream Central cinema, dancing on the Sunset Lounge dance floor, or relaxing in your Dream Yacht’s hot tub are just a few of the ways to earn XP. Earn enough XP and you’ll level up. Level up and that’s when the fun really begins! You’ll be awarded crowns to spend on rewards. The higher your level, the more rewards you’ll have to choose from.

To keep track of the rewards you’ve unlocked, visit the Reedeeminator (there’s an Active Object version you can place in your apartment, or one situated in Dream Central). The Redeeminator will also show you your current XP, level, the number of crowns you have and a handy map showing which scenes offer XP opportunities.

Live life the Lockwood way and reap the rewards!”

Lockwood Life reinforces the fact that LKWD is no stranger to rewarding users for using its content. Sodium 1 rewards its players for completing objectives, ranging from stomping scorpions to serving drinks. Plenty of its personal spaces offer rewards to discover and place as you see fit. It’s a surprise it didn’t implement a ‘karma’ system in its gift machines first, but sometimes hindsight is 20/20.

The whole system revolves around making good use of existing spaces, with potential for future releases offering extra rewards. Anything you can find in a space to interact with, chances are it’ll offer XP towards unlocking rewards. Much like the challenge system implemented last year, the more you do, the more XP you earn, which translates into higher levels and greater goods via earning crowns, its currency.

It uses the Dream Universe as its backbone, so be prepared to invest heavily in the Dream line of personal spaces. You will be hot-tubbing and socializing your way to greater rewards before the end of 2014.

Expect it to hit the 19th!

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