by NorseGamer, HSM Publisher

Five years. Nearly five years I’ve been in Home. And if you’d told me back in 2009 that I was going to upend my entire life, move away from a tropical island, embark on a completely different career and end up working at a major movie studio, I would’ve marked you down as a born-again liar.

But it happened. And Home was that gateway.

For whatever reason, I’ve been feeling nostalgic as of late. Not sure why. Perhaps it’s simply something that happens with the passage of time. I mean, jeezus, five years. I got two college degrees in less time than that. But it got me to thinking: just as there are fond memories I cherish from each stage of my life, what will I cherish from my time in Home?

Thomas Wolfe once famously wrote, “You can’t go home again.”

So after Home’s gone — whenever that is — what will I personally miss?

Before we begin: this is in no particular order, by the way. Most of the time, when I write an article here, it’s already written in my head and the fingers just need to pound the keys. In this instance, I actually have no idea what’s going to come next. So, hey, let’s dive in.

In the days after Home, I will miss…

…the excitement of being part of something bleeding-edge. Though it seems Home may not be much more than a footnote in the PlayStation pantheon these days, let’s rewind to the dawn of the previous console generation: Home was touted as a major feature for the PS3. The sheer excitement over Home’s proof-of-concept was staggering. Although I personally feel that Home was conceptually at least one full console generation ahead of its time in order to realize its maximum potential (and frankly some of that early stuff was simply head-in-the-clouds wishlisting), it nonetheless remains one of the most unique social gaming experiments I’ve ever seen. There was a very palpable air of excitement: being part of something that no one had ever really tried for a console before — that wonderful combination of lots of money and attention invested, with no clear roadmap as to what would happen next, providing a sense that your actions as a member of the community mattered — and such frontiers are growing ever more rare.

…the long chats with friends. Even today, when I look at my PSN friends list, it’s practically all Home users, or in some way related to Home. And each name on that list instantly brings to mind a dozen memories of conversations, from the profound to the silly. You get out of Home what you put into Home — this digital world is a mirror held up to your personality — and Home gave me exactly what I was looking for, above all else: a good conversation. Truth be told, there are people on my friends list, whom I’ve met because of Home, that I would actually invite into my house as welcomed guests. Same goes for a lot of the folks from Home’s developer community, whom I’ve gotten to know — either via e-mail or in person — over the years. I can’t even tell you how much fun it’s been to hang out with these people. They’ve enriched my life, and I’m grateful for them. Hopefully, I’ve helped them in some way to achieve their respective goals.

…the thrill of winning. HomeStation, as a Home media site which started on 28 October 2010, was frankly a bit late to the game; at that point, most of the major community players were already established, and Home wasn’t exactly new any more. There were, quite candidly, a lot of doors slammed shut in our faces and a lot of people dead-set against us succeeding. But we had a driving belief that there was an audience and a pent-up demand for a Home literary journal, which could consistently produce compelling and well-reasoned critical feedback for developer and consumer alike, and we were willing to work harder and longer than anyone else to produce more sheer product than anyone else could match. And it worked. Because, to borrow from Joe Straczynski, what is built — and loved — endures. It’s been an absolutely thrilling journey to victory over these years, and I can honestly say that HSM has nothing left to prove. Best of all, like Frankie said…we did it our way.

…the virtual date nights with Melissa. I think we can all agree that Home isn’t a place where someone should deliberately go looking for a relationship, or some sort of virtual affair; that’s a recipe for disaster. But it’s also true that we live in a country where one out of every five couples has met online, and there are some genuine love stories which blossomed because two people met each other via Home. Lord knows, I’m certainly proof of that. I discovered Home shortly after going through a divorce, and the last thing I wanted was another relationship. But it’s thanks to Home that Melissa and I found each other, and we’ve had enormous fun going out on virtual date nights over the years. Only in Home can you quickly and seamlessly waltz from one fantastic setting into a completely different setting, and it’s been a hell of a lot of fun to spend many a weekend evening doing just that.

…the joy of helping others grow. HomeStation boasts a lot of the community’s top-notch writing talent, but what’s been really fun is helping people to grow and develop their skills over the years. Do you know what a thrill it is to open up HSM’s queue of pending articles and read the really awesome material that’s in there?  There are far, far better published articles on this site than anything I’ve ever been able to write. Helping others feature their work, especially inside PlayStation Home itself, is a privilege I’ve cherished over these years. Frankly, no one will ever know how much work is required to keep everything running — HomeStation’s been a second full-time job since 2010 for me — but it’s been worth every single day and night.

…the fun of being a Home producer. I’m the guy who went from Home fan to Home developer. There are only a handful of people from the Home community who ever made that leap, and it’s an exceedingly small fraternity that I never would’ve guessed I’d be a part of. Granted, today I produce full-blown PS4 games and PlayStation applications, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty with the HDK. Writing content descriptions, setting prices, filming promo videos, taking care of the paperwork…it’s every bit as much fun as you think it is. And even after you’ve peeked behind the curtain and seen how everything works in the dev environment, it really doesn’t take away from the magic of the final experience in the live environment. A lot of people worked their asses off (and still do) to make Home an awesome, compelling playground for all of us to continue to enjoy for years on end, and it’s been particularly thrilling to be able to be a small part of that.

Well, now. Wasn’t really expecting to write all that. But the truth is that this merely grazes the tip of the iceberg, in terms of the last five years.

I’ll miss Home when it’s gone. But that’s tomorrow. Today, I’ll enjoy it while it’s here.

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