Central Plaza Returns
by FEMAELSTROM, HSM team writer
After a long period of rather vocal lamentations from the SCEA Home user base, some good news has finally been announced: the long-mourned Central Plaza is coming back.
That’s right. The old Central Plaza, that so many of us older Home users miss so dearly, is finally coming back — and this time, it’s the 2.0 version.
Let’s go over what the new and improved Central Plaza will hold in store for us. Before we begin, though: some of this information is preliminary, and pieces of it are not even supposed to be revealed — but I was given access to the alpha, and thought I would share this breaking news with everybody. Just once, forget the NDA.
Central Plaza 2.0 is laid out the exact same way as the previous Central Plaza (or CP, as it’s commonly abbreviated). There is a theatre and access to the bowling lanes and the classic mall. There is the famous entry point from the Harbour Studio into the CP, and of course the famous water fountain returns. This new and improved CP has it all — and so much more. Let’s talk about the more, because it’s really cool.
Whereas the original CP was a bright and open place that had the feeling of a beautiful, sunny summer day, this one is set towards the tail end of dusk, hiding so many surprises in all the nooks and crannies of this improved place.
One element that has been added is the element of danger. This comes in the form of non playable characters (NPCs) that look and feel exactly like other avatars from actual users. The element of danger comes in the form of the denizens here, as they are programmed to approach you and ‘troll’ you, even to the point of forcing you to want to block the avatars or report them (though you cannot because they are NPCs). There are creepy avatars that follow you, and walk up with out warning and simply troll the phrases that annoy all of us in the public spaces, like “Follow Me” or “Hello”. This is programmed to be the bad element so that the good activities of all the real users have some contrast. Since everyone always acts so decent and proper, this is used to galvanize and bring together the people in the scene, fostering community unity.
The next advance is a feature which is limited solely to the new Plaza, and it’s sure to get people talking. There is a new feature coming out that allows others to inspect your avatar and see some private information about you – chiefly your e-mail address, birthdate, actual gender and so forth. This is meant to better foster feelings of community and openness among the users. The thought is that if you can see a person’s information and birthday, you may be inclined to send a birthday wish or friendly greeting.
Another great idea Sony had is a step aside from the Central Plaza, but is worth mentioning nonetheless: the radical and new “no doorbell” policy. Currently the rule is that only friends can request an invitation to visit your private estate. That will be no more. Your friends will be able to pop by any time, unannounced. This design is made to emulate what is experienced by the residents of so many sitcoms, where the friendly neighbors simply walk in and engage in fun.
Anyways. Back to the Plaza.
Somehow, enough memory has been freed up that the new CP boasts a capacity that doubles the limit in current public spaces, allowing some 120+ people — and Sony guarantees that the speed and performance of the space will not suffer from lag. Further, in what is a vast improvement over the current system, you will be able to read the chatter from across the whole length of the space. Again, this is designed to make Home a more social place that will bring us all together as a large, unified group. Imagine being able to read someone’s chatter from that far away — especially if you can share in a friend’s chat from across the space!
The last big thing is that Sony has figured out how to make everyone’s voice chat available for all to hear, in hopes of making the scene more like one big coffee house where there is the sound of everyone’s chatter, as it would be in a real public place. Closed Beta users will undoubtedly remember how wonderful this feature was, and we have been assured that there will actually be moderators present — visibly present — to deal with any user malfeasance.
I think that Sony came up with some great ideas, and I can’t wait to see them implemented. I’m sure that everyone will have fun and do all the right things to make Home better for themselves and others. I cannot wait to see this go live!
April 1st, 2014 by FEMAELSTROM | 5 comments
FEMAELSTROM came to Home in June 2011 and never wanted to leave, even at weekly maintenance when he usually gets booted. The sand box environment appeals to the explorer in him and often is out and about as he ‘geeks’ out dressed like some sort of sci-fi character, while he people watches in popular public spaces. An artist and writer, FEMAELSTROM loves making friends and meeting people. He loves sci-fi and decorating Home estates and loves to respond “here” when people ask “where are you from?” in public places.
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WOOO! GO CP!!!
Can’t wait for this!
I hope they’ve kept in that handy function where starting a cam-chat with total strangers is as easy as just asking randoms
“WANNA CAM!?”
Also, I believe the scenery is now destructible?
Nice April fools joke! Almost had me there.
;^) Heh. Would be fun, if true….
“Sony guarantees speed and performance”
You pushed your ruse a little too far, I’d say.
Just as I suspected, Home is turning into Westworld! At first I thought the problems were all non-related. Hold-Em going down, being booted out of lines, being frozen in relocates and Wardrobe more and more. Problems, some old, some new, but now I see the complete and utter breakdown of Home is inevitable with the final death throes coming when the NPC’s start killing our avatars. First it will be an “accidental” drowning at the Hideaway. Then a couple of cases of poisoning by the food vendors at Acorn Meadows Park. Finally an all out killing spree on the DL casino floor. You may scoff now, but the signs are all there…