by FEMAELSTROM, HSM team writer

So, in case you’ve been wondering where I’ve been: it’s a place you can go to and have fun as well, because Lockwood has completely sucked me in with LKWD Life. The points system they instituted earlier this year was a brilliant stroke of …well, brilliance.

Other developers have valiantly tried to install leveling systems and structures that push for repeat visits from customers, but what Lockwood did was a pure bullseye. Other systems had one failing that was their undoing: their systems could be maxed out very quickly.

Developers seem to underestimate just how fast determined gamers can achieve something. The Old Republic was supposed to take months to max out, Hideo Kojima thought it would take weeks for people to reach the end of P.T., and even in Home it doesn’t take long to complete any of the major time sinks that are designed to bring people back.

Juggernaut’s Bramblenook Farm, for instance, was a great idea — and to this day I love it — but the ability to achieve a maximum goal was reached, and then — as with all spaces — interest waned. For this user, the maximum level was achieved too soon and should have been drawn out a little longer to make repeat visits and interest last longer.

VEEMEE had the exercise machines that encouraged users to come back and level up day after day, with a penalty that if you did not play for a few days you had to restart the current segment again. The failing here is that the timeline to completion could be well calculated, and again it still didn’t take all that long to max everything out.

There are other Skinner boxes in Home, but Lockwood seems to have pegged this one perfectly. Granted, their system mostly benefits those that own the Dream estates, like the Luxury and Arctic Yachts. These places, as well as a few others, grant you access to the Lockwood Sunset Lounge. All these places offer little tasks to do that then give the user points, and those points level you up. Eventually, with the said points and level, one can buy stuff from a special store given out for free from Lockwood, called the “Redeeminator”.

Clever. Very clever, actually.

The grind tasks include things like finding the iguana, or gecko, or jellyfish in a particular scene, as well as other tasks like entering the Lockwood store, dancing under the stars, or changing the time of day in suites equipped with the appropriate diurnal controls.

The holy grail for Home developers is simply this: make the user buy their items and drum up interest in their estates and commodities over a long timeframe. The angle from a marketing standpoint is simply to keep the brand name fresh in the user’s dialog and mind — and, importantly, buying thoughts. This system does that perfectly. It encourages the user to travel to certain Lockwood spaces on a daily basis, thus keeping them fresh in mind.

I’ve said this next part a thousand times in the past, and it does seem a proper place to repeat it: these are private industries and companies. They are out to make money, and there is no fault or evil in this. Home and its developers are not non-profit entities. They have a need to keep in the black, as it were, and this is their revenue stream. It is basic commerce, and in that, there is a fight among them for your PSN dollars and cents. We are fortunate that so many developers make so many free things, and that we are gifted so very much in this place we love so much. This is one of the best thought-out devices I have seen in a while that promotes the user to return over and over.

Back to Lockwood.

Loyalty programs at their finest

What Lockwood did was to make all the users want to be in a Lockwood estate, and ideally buy one (or more). I know from seeing my friends list that many of my friends are visiting their Lockwood estates, and even going to the once ghost town of the Sunset Lounge. Lockwood made Home itself into a game. And, to be fair, it probably required re-publishing a ton of their content to accommodate the new functionality. So it sure as hell wasn’t cheap to pull off.

The prizes one can win are actually pretty cool, too. Among them are some gems. Some of the early items were clothing articles like jackets and shoes for both genders. Then there were items like planters, seats, and food/plate items. There are companions and an LMO, but the diamond in the pile is certainly the private estate that one gets for 500 points, named the LKWD Life Lakeside Oasis. This is a truly beautiful place, and I am glad that I came to own it.

One other angle I think that Lockwood really scored a hit with is this: for those that have a lot of spaces, the Redeeminator allows one to travel to personal spaces and public spaces from the kiosk, not needing to look through perhaps a long list of properties, making jumping from estate to estate a much easier endeavor. This is often a problem in our regular walk through Home. The idea that to visit an estate that was bought early in one’s arrival here in Home, we have to travel far down a list of places — and for those that have a lot of estates, that can be tiring to have to go place to place. Lockwood solved that with their Redeeminator kiosk. Enter it and jump point to point from the kiosk. The only drawback is that it will not allow you to travel to clubs; those have to be accessed by way of the Home navigator.

Praise needs balance. So, what are the drawbacks, then? Sometimes the tasks are lagged or don’t register. It would help if Lockwood let everyone know when the game resets. One does have to own a “Dream” property (or go to someone that does) to get the points or access to the “Sunset Lounge” (the lounge is owner only). There are two tasks that anyone can do in the “Dream Central” public space, but that would be a mere 20 points towards some items that 200-500 points; granted, many items are simply 30 points, but it does take leveling up, and at 20 points per visit to Dream Central, that is a long trek, which is again the idea that if you buy a space, you can level up faster. Can’t fault Lockwood for wanting to achieve the core purpose of this loyalty program: to get people to spend money.

So Lockwood wanted us to visit their spaces? They got it. They wanted to be at the helm of the next good move? They are. They want people thinking about them when they log into Home? They are. Good shot, Lockwood, the people are reacting in a very good way. This is fun to do if you can, so I say get into it and enjoy. There may be some issues, but in the end, it’s free (of sorts) and it’s fun. PlayStation itself for some bizarre reason never thought to institute a loyalty program up until Home Challenges, but Lockwood picked up the slack and took home the gold as a result.

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