Compensation…For What?
by Phoenix, HSM team writer
If you frequent a gym, or a dance studio, or even an online site and games — and they shut down or simply go out of business — do they owe you compensation for being there regularly?
Do they owe you for spending your money on the things you wanted for three years or more? Or would you just let it go and find a new habit to grind?
If we go back to closed beta, PlayStation Home has been online for at least seven years. That’s a long time. Particularly given just how much has changed in that time.
So we all have heard that Home will one day end, and when it does, what will we have? All will be gone. Not just the whales will be without the hundreds of items; Home will be gone for everyone. So the idea that it’s just not fair has arisen. The idea is that it’s “not fair” because we were loyal to Sony every day, when the rest of the gaming universe wrote off this idea, and we were in Home, using the application, spending, spending, spending…
Well, granted, “I’ve spent [INSERT RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF MONEY HERE] stories are laughable excuses in self-aggrandizement much of the time,” but the question has come to mind: does Sony owe any of us anything by way of compensation for shutting down and taking away Home?
For some, this question is tied to emotions: the emotions of loss and regret. We don’t want to see Home go, but go it will. But try to look at it without emotion if you are one of those with emotion tied to it. If you can do that you will come to the conclusion that I did.
Sony owes us nothing by way of compensation. Being in Home required no membership; it required no contract of time and expiration. There was no set amount of days or years for Home to exist, or required amount of time for us to spend in Home. Sony is not reneging on a promise or agreement with us, the end-users. You wouldn’t get compensated if a game you purchased stopped being produced. You wouldn’t expect to receive compensation at the end of your time in a chat room, or any other social site that closed, if you didn’t have any membership fees. What makes Home’s situation different?
Emotion. Once again, emotion steps in and confuses Home residents. Because Home, to some of us, is more than just a social platform to hang out in; it feels like a betrayal that Home will shut down at some point. Because of these emotions, people want something to have to validate their experience in Home, since they (in their minds) so ardently defended it and put time into it when everyone else laughed and moved on. So the idea is for Sony to give them something to have as a keepsake, a souvenir, a 
validation that they were somehow important to Sony in the grand scheme of things.
Say Sony did feel there was something owed to you and I. For all the time and (dare I say it, because some are thinking it) the money we’ve spent in Home, what would you expect them to do about it? What would be fair compensation? Think about that for a moment and really look at that idea. What would even make sense as a souvenir? Should it be a virtual something-or-other? Where would we use it? Should it be a game? How would you justify a single game when contrasted to years of Home use? What about a real-world item — even a ubiquitous t-shirt? It could read, “Home shut down and all I got was this t-shirt.” Would a t shirt be enough if they agreed to it?
For me, the answer is that I don’t need anything. I don’t think they owe us anything. It’s like when Home went offline: when it came back and Sony gave all those items and games out, how many still play them? How many even remember what Home items they got? I sure don’t remember them all.
If we are honest with ourselves and think without emotion we know we aren’t owed anything for our choice to use Home. Let’s be honest about it, shall we?
June 8th, 2014 by Phoenix | 12 comments
Phoenix writes poetry and is a photography enthusiast, along with writing for HomeStation Magazine. She is currently studying for a BFA in Creative Writing and BA with concentration in Photography. psn ID phoenixstorm21
youtube.com/user/phoenixstorm21
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I have made so many friends and had so much fun. I have been compensated
I know Jersquall… I won the loto thanks to Sony
When you sit back and assess what this whole Playstation Home experience has been, it really depends on who you’re talking to. Are you talking to someone who saw the application to its potential or someone who was just there wandering about for years listlessly. Take HSM for example. Something created due to the potential saw in Home and deemed worthy continuing with throughout. And on the more creative side, Homelings have exhibited such lore found in major Blockbuster video games. Difference being each individual offering their personality as characters within the lore. It’s both fascinating and incredibly creative and this is what Home offered. It offered creativity for those developing for Home and offered it for Home users in a parallel fashion. And we ask, compensation for the time and money spent, how moreso can one be compensated than the opportunity to experience being your own main character in a collaborative video game. Not only that but within this creative sphere has also been such opportunity for counseling and helping people through tough situations by providing a ear, a shoulder to cry on an offering applicable life lessons. While doing so developing leadership qualities and a plethora of life skills very applicable in one’s own personal lives. Skills such as confidence, believing in ones self, learning how to be a critical thinker and a problem solver. Learning to communicate and of course, how to type better and explain yourself through words. Home has not been fully realized as to its potential and most indeed do use it as another avenue for the mundane and banal. But those who use it for it’s unusual application do indeed have much compensation. Unusual application itself being creativity. Unto this I say, Much thanks, Playstation Home, you were not in vain.
Right on! 8)
Well said! Just like Home meant something different to each of us, you get out what you put in in the end. That’s your compensation, the compensation that counts.
Change is always uncomfortable. For many people Home ending is the emotional equivalent of losing their job. Steve Jobs said that he did not like the idea of off, which is why he did not put an off switch on Macs. Let’s just remind ourselves that it is on right now and ask ourselves what do we want to do while it is on.
Steve Jobs has put an “off switch” on my older but perfectly functioning hardware and Apple peripherals though John ;P
Its getting that failed business feel about it now. It’s like a diner that’s on its last legs, you go there and half the stuff you wanted isn’t available. Firstly I’m a consumer and just because I’ve ate at that diner for 5 years, I’m not going to continue eating there if there’s nothing I want. That’s where home is for me currently.
You must be a free player to say you don’t need anything and you ask what would be a fair compensation.. lets think humm.. how about money credited back ti my ps wallet for money spent
Easily the most ridiculous comment I’ve seen on this site all year.
Next.
I was thinking they could refund the whole of everything I’ve bought on my sega mega drive as the mega cd only had few games released. Perhaps a free ps4 for homes users would be good aswell lol sorry next
Home has been giving out plenty of compensation. Play the Challenges and you get a free space, free clothes and free furniture every 10 weeks.
If you played Quest for Greatness when it first came out, you’ve got 4 PSOne games, including Twisted Metal and Resident Evil. Those are some pretty nice parting gifts.
Everything else was bought (or should have been) with the knowledge that Home was temporary, just like any downloadable game that you won’t have access to when you sell your PS3, or when Sony eventually shuts the PS3 portion of the PlayStation Network down. Those are the terms of the agreement.
What cannot be compensated for is the Home experience, which ends when the last server goes online. That’s what I’ll miss, and I’d really like to have a souvenir of that experience. To that end, I think a final gesture of goodwill would be to create PS4 versions of some of Home’s standalone games, such as Cabin Boy in Trout Trouble, Ice Breakers and Scribble Shooter, and give current Home users some way to claim vouchers to get them for free. Maybe tie it to what will likely be the final Christmas events this year.
Home users will get something to take with them, and maybe some incentive to buy a PS4.