Oh well, I’ll take the trophies anyway!!

“Last Call” -- Be logged into Home at the moment it’s taken offline for the final time.

The two comments were, in fact, intriguing.

As a Trophy Hunter, it would be a slap in the face for me because I don’t see Home as an “ended product” to complete. While it’s just a hobby for me (personal goal, if you will), I do like challenges that most of my gaming collection gives me.

Home isn’t a challenge at all, aside from the social point of view but that’s just me.

I can say, however, the Trophy list did enhance my experience. It depends on the person with creative thought but for the average user, it’s just another trophy collected.

I’m not a trophy hunter myself, as I’ve said quite a few times here but I do believe trophies in Home are a good thing. The irony here however is that (in my mind anyway) the items obtained in Home via other games on PS3 were supposed to be Sony’s answer to Microsoft’s Achievements. But rather than just being a pointless little icon, you got actual, bragging-right rewards (in Home) for meeting certain requirements in other games;

“Cool outfit man! Where’d you get it?”

“You gotta finish AC3 to 100%”

Rather than just oh, I like his jeans, I’ll go buy some too, y’know.

Granted, I’m not a trophy hunter. I get the appeal of it, and it’s smart for driving user engagement, but it doesn’t do anything for me personally. So someone who is a trophy hunter will probably react differently.

All of the current crop of trophies are limited to first-party activities which can be done for free. It’s the easiest way to get them implemented, with the least amount of metadata alteration and commerce republishing.

What would the criteria for a Home platinum be, anyway? To me, it relates to user-generated content; becoming a Home developer would be too restrictive a goal (only six users in all of Home would qualify), but since Home’s original FAQ mentions eventual support for UGC, that seems like a logical choice for a platinum — or, certainly, a gold. Granted, that’s sentimentality talking, since the behind-the-scenes logistics required to pull something like that off aren’t easy.

In the back of my mind, I’ve had a pet theory that trophy introduction isn’t just to give Home a shot-in-the-arm appeal to lure gamers back in, but also to introduce Home’s more insular gamers to the appeal of trophies outside of Home. For years, my trophy level hovered at three, simply because all I played on the PS3 was Home (aside from Valkyria Chronicles, which also doesn’t have trophies). That’s since changed, but if trophies can help lure Home whales and their dollars to non-Home experiences, then perhaps it serves a dual purpose.

My take on it is that Home trophies don’t necessarily enhance the Home user experience, but they certainly don’t detract, either. Anything that encourages people to enjoy Home — and keeps a percentage of them coming back — is a good thing.