The End of the Beginning
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
Everything has a beginning and an end in this life.
We go through a lot of them as we mature and become adults, and so we go on through life and never really give a lot of this much thought — because these instances are so common to all of us. The end of going to school, the end of a job, the end of a form of entertainment…all of these things come and go in our lives. At the time of these occurrences, they may seem important, but almost as soon as they have passed we move on to other concerns or new interests.
Sony finally announced the official closure of PlayStation Home: March 31, 2015. Deep in our bones, we had to have seen it coming, even though we wished it to be different.
Home played an important role in my life for many reasons. It opened up a whole new form of entertainment to me. It opened up the use of the internet to meet and come to love new people in my life. It gave me new opportunities for writing in a totally new genre, here in this magazine. If you had told me that would happen when I first entered Home, I would have told you that you were crazy.
Home is where Burbie52 was born. It’s where I created an avatar for the first time in my life. It is where I started a wonderful club of older gamers. It is where I met people who have had a major influence in my life for the past five years.
As I write this I can honestly say I have not been in PlayStation Home for over ten days straight. There was a time, after I first dove into Home, when that would have been impossible for me to contemplate, let alone do. Now it seems I don’t need Home that much anymore, though I was still running a club meeting most Fridays (until recently anyway) and went in to look at the updates on Wednesdays. That was pretty much all I was doing there, at the end. I have gone to a few games my friends and fellow club mates have invited me to, but all in all, the time I spend in Home has dwindled down to almost nothing.
Why the change?
Uncertainty certainly played a part in it. Sony’s silence about Home’s future was deafening, and it had deafened many ears in Home to any progress made lately, closing many pocketbooks as well. I was still buying things I liked when I saw them, but my spending definitely declined (a lot), though more for financial reasons as I now play Final Fantasy XIV and it has taken some of my resources to do so. I have also become totally immersed in that game; it has many things that have stolen my heart and mind and taken me away from Home.
Another reason is time. I’ve had less of it as I became involved in both Final Fantasy and some things that have happened in real life as well. The older I get, the faster it seems that time runs away from me. I wish I had more of it, but I have to deal with what is, not what I wish could be.
I have been writing for HomeStation since the very beginning. Four years of articles that poured out of the love of both video gaming and PlayStation Home. In the course of those four years I have met many wonderful people: fellow writers and developers alike. I’ve also learned a great deal from the experience. Having great editors helped me immensely as a writer, especially in a genre I had no experience with before I started it here.
I have published 222 articles here since I started my run. This will be my 223rd, and my last.
Where is all of this going? I wanted to talk about things that are happening to me and to this magazine, because just like my Home life has changed, so is HomeStation. We are evolving into something else; we are moving on to bigger and better things. The title I gave this piece says it all: Home is closing, and with it goes the end of the beginning of Burbie52, and the emergence of Linda Burbank, the person behind the avatar. It is with this name I will go forward into our new endeavor at LOOT.
I am not sure where this new opportunity will take me or my writing yet. I am sure I will continue to write about Final Fantasy XIV, and perhaps as Home reaches its final days a few nostalgic pieces will arise within me. I truly don’t know what the future holds for me in the community pages of LOOT’s new website. But I am looking forward to the effort and most of all the writing, as that is where my heart lies anyway. This is an all-volunteer group of writers with a passion for the art itself. I simply love what I do, and so I will continue to do it as long as there is one person out there interested in what I have to say.
I want to thank those of you who have been along for this wild ride during the past four years. I hope you will all join me as I jump on the next ride as well; it promises to be a fun one.
October 12th, 2014 by Burbie52 | 2 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
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:^/ It was great fun reading the articles here over the weeks and months and years. Time flies when you’re having fun, and HomeStation Magazine has been fun, indeed.
Looking forward….
Well Burbie, it has been a great run and I have enjoyed all your articles and having you keep us up to date on PlayStation Network info.
As with time, modern technology is progressing and everyone seems to be moving on over…. mostly to the PS4.
We can only hope there will be a social network over there where we can all again… hang out. (But nothing could ever replace PS HOME). Until then, I guess all we have is the online gaming. Which is fine with me except the fact that… everyone is spread out playing different games. Everyone seems to be in the (in-between) stages of the cross over. Some are still on PS3, some on computer, some on PS4, etc. We can only hope that we can all be together once again within’ the same social network.
Thanks again Burbie for keeping HSM alive!
River.