by Jin Lovelace, HSM team writer & filmmaker

After my hangout at the Music Unlimited Club, a user from the space suggested that we log into DC Universe Online — a game that I haven’t touched in a couple of months. We agreed on this and we all chimed in on where we would meet.

What came next from her chat bubble was a throwback to me: she suggested that we game launch. 

Huh?!

Remember that feature that was “awesome” back when it was cool to hang with the Home Community Volunteers on Sundays and launch into your favorite games? Those days may be gone, lost in a sea of trolling and grief, but they were good times.

How about those neat spaces such as Street Fighter IV and the Tekken Zaibatsu Theatre: two of the most popular fighting game spaces at the time where it acted as a live game lobby? Well, that is now long gone, since the Street Fighter IV series went into its Ultra chapter and Tekken 6 has moved on to a Tag sequel.

The good ol’ days where the Home Theatre Complex was the spot to catch community shows from the likes of Hip Hop Gamer is now taken over by developer PSTalent, and the Central Plaza is now only a Home denizen’s dream; the Hub turned off a lot of users of old and new.

Nothing is the same any more; of course, nothing is new under the sun, either.

Taking a look back, Home had its rough beginnings and some problems that called for some controversial topics. Aside from the quality of players logging in and the many trolls that plagued it, some topics were silly (big ruckus over nDreams Barbarian/Amazonian costumes, Hellfire Dancers) while others raised a lot of awareness (the infamous Community Activity Board, x7 Club exclusivity, becoming a gaming network, freezers/glitchers/ISE hackers) that have been dampening the spectrum for a while, to the point where some have left the community altogether or just given up overall.

But what makes Home unique is, of course, what we make of it. Sure, we’ve met some special people in our lives (best friends, lovers, haters, real life celebrities) that have changed our perspective, but you also have organizations that have build fansites to house information for Home users from across the world and transitioned over to having careers in the industry.

We’ve all desired more features, more dances, more options to better our experience in this virtual world. We suggested, wrote articles, produced films to expand our creativity and imaginations in this exuberant world constructed by…well, us. From fashion to exploring the whimsical ways of music and dance, Home has been an integral part of our lives.

This is what compensates us for our time and money in Home, which was the purpose the whole entire time: connect with others from across the globe, form cliques, gamer buddies, spark and ignite interests to others, the list goes on. What we feel, what we think, who runs around in our minds, this application has taught us one thing: that escapism can go far beyond our wildest imaginations.

As we’re heading into the summer season, expectations have risen about what to expect with Home this year — but yet SCEA comes with no announcement regarding Home’s future. Sure, we can worry; and yes, we can create more articles and videos about the “inevitable” that could happen — but why? The point here is we have the content that we desired. Our experiences have been enhanced, we’re leading wonderful lives with people whom we’ve met and cherished through this application, more jobs have been made, imaginations been tapped into, and developers have been recognized.

I personally don’t feel this isn’t over yet. I don’t feel at all Home will be whisked away into some forgotten realm and we have only to cherish the memories that we’ve created.

Where does Home go from here? That’s for us to decide.

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2 Responses to “Where Does Home Go From Here?”

1. Gary160974 says:

   June 17, 2014 at 6:50 am

   Home isn’t just made by the users, it’s also made by the experience of the surroundings. I wouldn’t have a picnic in a park that was full of gangs, vandalised and the owners didn’t really care about it. I’ve spent far less time on home this year because I suppose me and my friends list have outgrown home and what home has to offer. The updates are cutting edge for home but aren’t really cutting edge outside of home. Certainly now more than ever it seems that psn users can form friendships etc without home. The choice for a good time has increased so much with some AAA games being released and some older AAA games being cheaper to buy than a personal space on homes that home has to up its game massively to entice users in. Ultimately home is a business and we as consumers have a choice, that choice shouldn’t be one made of charity or loyality, it should be a choice of that’s where I want to go and spent my time and money. Homes offering isn’t going to win it loads of new loyal users currently.

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2. Danger_Dad says:

   June 18, 2014 at 12:52 am

   ;^) I see Home as very much an epic sandbox, with bells and whistles. Some people require more structure. Others see too much structure as limiting, and relish the freedom to create their own playtime, instead.

   Home thrives on novelty. New toys appear in the sandbox every week, to spark our imaginations anew.

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