by RadiumEyes, HSM team writer

The time: September 26, 2014, a few minutes after 7:30 EST.

The location: a rather cluttered desk, where a random assortment of items (ranging from music CDs to an empty bowl, which once contained ice cream) vying for space.

As many of us probably already know by now, Sony officially announced the imminent closure of Home itself, come 31 March of 2015, with a brief moratorium of developer releases in two months’ time; news like this takes a bit of accepting, even if you knew that it would eventually happen. The various Asian servers already received their notice, so right now, it only feels like a bit of hitsuzen (to take a term from xxxHolic, which refers to an event foreordained by a specific causality) for the other servers to follow suit.

As The Byrds once said, “to everything, turn, turn, turn,” and so on – it’ll be time to say our farewells to PlayStation Home before we know it, a bittersweet end to a social MMO that, for better or worse, really felt like a home to many of us. 31 March 2015 will be the final day that we can see Harbour Studio, the one Home constant that survived after so much changed.

Will all the melancholy attendant to such an announcement, however, comes a moment of self-reflection – no matter what happens to Home, we’ve all been through its ups and downs, and many of us can later reminisce on Home as being one of the greatest experiences we ever had on a console. The upcoming closure will not take away our good times; those live on as memories, nostalgic reminders of a community we loved.

As far as this goes, I had the initial reaction of dejection upon hearing the news – Home connected me to so many people, something I will forever hold dear. And yet, things don’t end with Home; the friends I made through it are still there, still actively participating in the gaming community as a whole, so I still have many friends I can communicate with once the “little social MMO that could” closes its doors. Hell, I connected with HomeStation Magazine and Twilight Touch through it – those alone count as great achievements in my book. More importantly, though, Home was the platform for forming bonds; I don’t recall my first time entering Home, but my time there was well spend among great company. Those who read my article on anxiety and depression can see what Home meant for me – an introverted man, I found my social voice through a digital landscape where I could have my avatar wear a wide variety of clothes. Admittedly, most of my wardrobe came from Granzella, with some Lockwood thrown into the mix; the more fanciful fare (especially the anime-related offerings) appealed to my fascination with Japanese culture, so I had an outlet to shine as an anime geek.

Nothing quite matches that sense of wonder at being able to dress your avatar as, say, a geisha or even Emeraldas (from the Harlock universe); part of me wishes other anime-specific releases made it stateside, but what can I do?

We will miss ya, Home.

In any event, I find myself accepting the inevitability of Home closing; being the first console-based social MMO (at least, the first I’m aware of, and that I engaged in), Home had a lot of life in it, and I will remember all the pleasant times I had while within it. It’s something to remember Home by – nothing quite tangible as a souvenir, of course, but really, the fun and community are more important here.

I remember going to Grey Gamer meetings, writing my first article for HomeStation Magazine, chatting it up with the numerous friends I made along the way, purchasing a slew of random outfits and personal spaces – really, all the fun things that made Home so endearing as a program. Whenever I felt a little depressed, I knew Home could cheer me up; whether I spoke with a friend, listened to RadioIO or watched the occasional movie, I had good company. That made Home so successful in my eyes – whatever happened, one could find a place to relax and avoid any sort of random drama that could develop in spaces.

With a definite closure in sight, approximately six months from now, it’s a great time to remind oneself that Home was, is and will eventually be remembered as one of those shared moments; even though we all have stories about trolls and general bad behavior, they do not detract from the genuinely positive moments we, as Home users, had during the MMO’s tenure on the PlayStation 3. And who can ask for more?

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