As the year 2011 comes to a close I was thinking about the future, my own in real life and also the future of Home. I love Home and all of it's many facets, the games, the social life and parties we have, all of these add up to a great experience for me, even with its many flaws.

I asked everyone on the magazine staff to give me some feed back on what they hope 2012 brings us in Home. Some of these may not be feasible, either because of technical or other issues, but I thought it can't hurt to dream about a better Home life for everyone this year. Looking back on this past one I can see a lot of improvements that have been made, yet also see some things that could get better as well so I will start with my ideas.

A gifting ability in all of the major stores that Sony has. Furniture, Threads and Sidekicks to name a few.

More color variety in both furniture and some of the clothing.

A larger friends list, two hundred at least.

More social emotes, like mutual holding of hands and hugging.

Different dance moves, like a mutual choice to slow dance together.

Now we go to Keara22HI (otherwise known as DarthGranny) for her ideas for the New Year.

Create a party space that will hold up to 64 people, and either rent it or sell it to anyone in Home who wants it for their group parties. Are you listening, developers? This has high profit potential.

Create a Sony Gift Store where every Sony personal space, furniture item, clothing, companion, etc. can be purchased to gift to a friend.

Keep up the new personal space trend with some more of these spectacular "themed" spaces. How about a Red Dead Redemption themed ranch house (as an example)?

Look at creating 'adults only' area of Home that can be accessed only by using a code from a card purchased like a PSN card - with ID required at point of purchase to verify age of eighteen or older.

Put user-created content about Home, using locations in Home, and done by Home residents into at least one of the theaters.
Also put content of this type into the Loot EOD system for viewing in personal spaces. Videos made in Home and about Home could be an interesting addition - and would encourage more active participation.

The next person to add to the discussion was Estim20.

Increase the limit of people allowed in a personal space that isn't a club. 11 total, including the owner, is a tad paltry (if still serviceable). I'm satisfied with seeing the limit raised to 32, akin to clubs.

Increase the friends list limit as well. This isn't Home-exclusive but it'll benefit tours tremendously. Plus, if you're helping new users out, you won't need to worry about space.

More customizable items, given they have created the customizable Christmas tree. Maybe companions with dress options? I'm not sure how feasible that is but it would only encourage more sales. Beyond that, allow more customizable furniture, especially when it comes to color scheme. Red and dark wood night stands, dang it.

More animations for avatars that don't require a full-body costume, dances or emotes in particular. Keep up the full-body costume trend, as well, on that note.

Is there a way to ensure multiple screens in the current EOD supported spaces may be used simultaneously? I imagine this will strain the server but if there's a way to make it happen without adding too much strain, people would invite others that much more often.

Everyone seems to want a gift store. Dear god, the gift machine proved how popular giving to other people is. We would be all over a gifting option for the store as a whole.

I'll also second user-generated content support. We are seeing Sony recognize community efforts with Theater 1. It would work wonders to include a means of uploading own content into Home - though with some policy and policing in place to weed out some questionable content.

Square Enix, if you're listening/reading, I have one thing to add: Final Fantasy 7 costumes. They would sell so well it borders on the obscene. It needn't be the whole cast, just Cloud and Sephiroth for men, Tifa and Aeris for women.

I can see a familiar thread of ideas here, many of us want some of the same things. Next we move on to CheekyGuy.

I would really like to be able to invite a friend from another 'region' account to explore MY 'HOME with me. (Invite only, same as inviting to private spaces currently) I personally don't like the region locking of territories as this does create a barrier that does not need to be there, I'm sure Sony has their reasons but it is an unnecessary one, as a Second Life user I had homes in SL Australia and loved the people and the cultures. There was a tourism thing going on over there, while I was 'dating' my SL wife, I took her to sample all of these places, from Italy to Greece and sit in a virtual restaurant in Norway or go to a fashion event in Spain. It was surreal but it felt like we were really traveling to places and why not see all of this on Home?.

I would like to see a Translator option on EU Home (again, this is the internet, we should still be breaking down cultural barriers).

I agree about the gifting option on items in store, the other thing I'd like to see with stores is the product itself. I want to see it displayed. This helps in so many ways, as the object's size and dimensions could prove useful in determining whether it is suitable for your Home space.

I'd like to see some customizable clothing. This could really make the users on home more individual. With changeable colors and clothing textures for your avatar. Also, this may not be possible right now, but I would like to have the option of 'selling' or 'giving away' a clothing or item. This can be good for the Home economy on so many levels. This option should be available over a small period of time; say a month or so from buying or using that item. People LOVE giving things, why not unwanted items stuck in storage that might be of some use to somebody else?

I absolutely love home, it has huge potential, both creatively and commercially. Invite brands such as Coca Cola or Virgin to trade in your world. Have that option for independent retailers to give us home users the option to order not only products for avatars, but real world items too. I see it as a baby that's growing all the time, and I know I say this from a Second Life users standpoint, but I do get frustrated, because there are so many things that SL has that 'Home' should have or should of had available from the beginning, and yes, I do recognize home as a completely different world, it is console based and should be based on gaming and console gamers in general. I do want us to do more, but as a user, I still feel a little restrained.

I would like very much to have more creative freedom.

Now we hear from our youngest member, Kassadee-Marie.

I believe we all dream of having everything for Home from Sony and the third party developers, I know I do.

I want weather in my spaces that matches the real weather here in Northern California. And I would love to see time of day and night cycles in all of them, too. Shouldn't they all be larger? How about if they added a new feature to every space at least twice a year?

But what I hope that I might actually see from Sony and friends is that they pay more attention to the details of their furniture, appliances and ornaments. Why can't item sizes be uniform and realistic? In the real world I do not look over the top of refrigerators (VeeMee), loom over furniture (Paris modern sofa by Sony) and stools (Amaterasu by Loot) are not three times as large as my bottom. For another example, surfaces should start and end where you see them. A kitchen counter that you can't put appliances on or a curved kitchen island that you can't get close to is ridiculous (mydeco). Items of furniture that you can't put right next to each other are irritating also (kitchen counters by Loot). And please, can we have better descriptions and size information before we buy? Home Originals has a picture of a grand piano with a bench in its chairs section, and the description reads “A grand piano bench”. I never bought it because I don't know if there's a piano included, every item should have dimensions, color and features completely spelled out.

Our next contributor is Orion_NGC1-976.

Since we are getting very large apartment spaces from the developers (the Luxury Yacht and the Loot Space), which would make very nice party places, I would like to see the maximum number of people in a personal space be increased.

I would like to see a walk-in store where you can try things on and see them only you in a realistic environment and lighting. Also be able to take your friends with you so they can give their opinion on the clothing item. This would apply to non-clothing items too, to see them in a realistic environment with proper lighting.

I would like to see additions to the User Interface that would bring things together on your screen without going into the XMB or the Navigator. For instance an indicator showing pending XMB Private Messages and pending Alerts. This can be transparent and in an upper corner. Also, perhaps a count of friends that are online that can be expanded into a drop-down list of friend with actions that can be performed, such as sending a PM, much like how the Chat Log works now.

I agree with better descriptions on items. Some of the bundles in the PSN store do not itemize what is included so one does not know what one is really getting.

I also agree with getting Final Fantasy 7 costumes. I would like to also see Final Fantasy 10 costumes, Auron for men, and Yuna for women. Frankly, think that pretty much any of the Final Fantasy game costumes would sell very well.

I also agree with everyone's wish for being able to gift people items outside of the gift machine. I know that you can sort of accomplish this with PSN card, which I have done, but some people just want to give the one or two items and not $20. It also makes it more personal to gift a exact item.

I would love to see a translator for the Japan region or at least to be able to specify a language other than Japanese so the menus, instructions, labels, etc. would be in your native language. Having a translator be real handy when talking with others. I have used Google Translate on occasion, but having something like that built into Home would be fantastic. This would even help those that are in multi-language region and not just region hoppers. In Europe, I have met so many people who only speak their native language and maybe some broken English. How do people communicate with each other, without some sort of translator?

An RPG adventure that you can go on with your friends.

And now we hear from our intrepid art director MJG74. He has a completely different spin on this discussion as you will see.

Home in 2012? According to the Mayan calender 2012 is it! For all of us not able to catch a ride on a Homeling Mothership and get off this doomed rock, we have to make the best of this coming year. Before the unknown happens, here are my top ten Home and Home Station things I would love to see happen.

Ten: At least one episode of the Upload where everyone is dressed!

Nine: The Chain Swing sung in German.

Eight: A Mohawk on a Homeling.

Seven: An Oprah avatar with a Gail King companion.

Six: A Double Bubble machine.

Five: Cubehouse crowned King of England!

Four: The booty shake dance added to the avatar dance list.

Three: Make the toilet and gold toilets active items!

Two: Norsegamer in an episode of Hawaii 5-O

One: 2013

I see someone decided to have fun with this one, great list!

Now on to our intrepid friend Gideon to see what his take is.

Home has come so far this past year. What we have for the third year of our virtual society is far removed from what we began with just a few short years ago. This doesn't mean that isn't areas that are in need of improvement. Here is a small list of four things that have long needed attention from the Home developers.

Expanded Emotes: The list of emotes that Home avatars could have is literally endless, yet there has been very few emotes added to the avatar tool set since Homes inception. More greetings, More poses, more dancing. We just need more of what we have.

Continued Club Improvement: Clubs have long needed an overhaul and we are finally starting to see some headway. More clubhouses and more options within the club are needed to meet the needs of all the various. groups in Home. Not just cosmetic upgrades but functional upgrades to clubhouse tools, like the bulletin board, are needed. Ideally the expansion should include a small suite of tools for club management.

Arcade Cabinet Realization: This is one of those things that has always been available but has very rarely been used. When Home began, I envisioned filling a personal space with dozens of different arcade cabinets to run my very own virtual arcade. Why aren't there enough Arcade cabinets in Home to do this?

Home External Integration: Home needs to integrate with outside social media to truly be successful. Twitter feeds in personal spaces is a good start but there needs to be quite a bit of headway for Home to just catch up to what other games and services are doing today.

Hearitwow, one of our regular contributors had this to add.

As we've already received so much of what we've asked for this year, we're now moving into a realm where some of our wilder flights of fancy can be indulged. So here's my wish list for 2012.

A Bowling Alley Personal Space. Two lanes, please, and use the same code that runs the public Bowling Alley. Trying to get into a game in that space has been impossible since 2009. Heck, I'll settle for a Bowling Alley clubhouse. I'd just like to see more people have an opportunity to enjoy this game.

Cameras, cameras, cameras! Give us a portable camera that doesn't have all that stuff on the screen, with first-person and third-person views, so that users can shoot their own videos. While we're at it, disabling text bubbles without disabling talking animations would be a huge help for Home's video community.

Floating furniture. Let's override the physics control on that Z Axis so that we can put furniture anyplace we like in a personal space. Home doesn't need to conform to real-world physics, and a ton of creative possibilities were lost when the furniture float glitch was patched. Home should be enabling creativity, not restricting it.

Classic arcade cabinets. With all of the great Konami and Namco content already in Home, why don't we have stand-alone, functional arcade cabinets for classic games like Pac-Man, Crazy Climber, Galaga, etc.? Those games used a tiny amount of RAM, so it's possible to run them in Home. The cabinets we already have are great, but we need more.

Community Cooperation. Let's all renew our commitment to looking out for each other and trying to positively influence the development of Home. There are very few software platforms out there that listen to their users quite like Home does, and while it may take months for features or suggestions to be implemented, it does happen.

Now lets hear from xx96791DEATHxx, otherwise known as Sue. She is the creator of many of the videos you see in the magazine as well as a team writer.

This year has brought to HOME some great things.

I personally would like to see a way to have a optical device that allows us to record video in public spaces.

I would also like to have more larger props to work with.

The ability to use the vehicles they give us would be a welcomed site.

I would also like to see a better way to use our wardrobe as well as somehow sell back what we bought, even if its at a discounted price.

I would like to ride the tram around the new HOME community.

I would like to see maybe a color gradient scale to help choose our hair color.

I would like to kick someone out of my space without me having to leave it.

Our next contributor is Olivia_Allin, a long time team member and our team photographer and creator of the wonderful pictures you see here.

Random wildlife where appropriate.

Ability to upload self made videos for viewing with friends.

Music… my own play list or at least Pandora.

Trash can in wardrobe to purge some things I wouldn’t even gift to an enemy.

Events like concerts.

Hulu and Netflix screens in personal spaces

Internet browser on PDA so we don’t have to leave home to look something up.

Home Station Magazine News stands or coffee shops where anyone can sit and read

Parks with terrain and grass and weather and trees and changing time of day.

Color pallet for clothes so we can make them mix and match more.

Natural environments like rain forests, mountains, beaches, woods and waterfalls.

A zoo.

Drive in theater where not only could you watch videos but show of custom made vehicles that you buy and upgrade.

Notation in wardrobe items that tell where you got them and for how much.

Extreme sports, Skydiving, skateboarding, moto X, rally cross, bmx, winter sports and summer sports

Live network programming for TVs and NPR.

And everything that everyone else has said already.

Now we will see what General Sealwyf from the Homeling Collective has to say.

I think Sony is still figuring out what Home is and can become. For many of us, the twin lures of Home is social interaction and tools for creativity. We made some strong advances during 2011, such as the Lockwood gift machines, multiple chat channels, video capture in private spaces, improved EOD options, clubhouse skins, and Flickr and Twitter integration. I would like to see Sony and the developers continue to improve these aspects of Home during 2012, with tools such as:

Social tools:

The ability to send a friend any item as a gift

Club tools:

A way to delegate administrative duties, such as deleting club members and decorating clubhouses, to the sub-leaders.

A way to send XMB mail to all members of a club.

Support for picture frames in a clubhouse.

EOD in a clubhouse.

A way to capture the chat scroll to a text file -- this would be wonderful for taking minutes at meetings!

Customizable items for club members, such as your club name above your head.

Increased club capacity: we should be able to own at least five clubs, and belong to twenty-five.

"Super-clubs", which can hold up to 64 members.

Creativity tools:

Video capture in public spaces.

More flexible furniture placement options, such as floating furniture or turning it in three dimensions.

User-customizable items, including clothing and hair color.

The ability to attach keywords or tags to inventory items, and search on them (e.g. "Christmas", "books", "food and drink", "red").

More private spaces where the time of day or the weather can be changed.

Media enhancements:

Portable EOD: radios and televisions that can be placed in any private space

Add YouTube to video-on-demand

Add Netflix to video-on-demand for Netflix subscribers.

Add all Internet radio stations to audio-on-demand.

Facebook integration.

Media sharing, if the lawyers can be placated.

PS3 / PSN tools

Larger friend lists -- 500 friends would be reasonable.

Better email tools for sending XMB messages -- longer notes, mailing lists, multiple attachments, and the ability to exchange mail with the Internet.

Real productivity applications on the PS3 platform, including a text editor or word processor.

That's enough for one year, I guess. Based on last year's advances, I'm sure 2012 will be exciting

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