If Home was the big system seller people are claiming it is, then wouldn't that kind of success have already happened with an MMORPG, at some point in the past?
I think we will only know if it's a system seller or not after launch. Now it's just an impressive work-in-progress.
MMORPG is a game. PS Home is a horizontal, multi-party online platform (like Xbox Live and yet *different*). They may look similar (e.g., Sims Online vs PS Home), but we should expect different experiences and objectives between them (e.g., EA booth vs E3 2005). There will be overlaps but good developers will value add and differentiate themselves from PS Home.
Today, the only really successful MMORPG (WoW) doesn't have apartments or really any other "Sims" type features, and certainly doesn't base its success on those things. However, I already play another MMORPG in which I can:
1) own and furnish an apartment
2) have visitors in my apartment and visit theirs
3) show trophies of my achievements within my apartment
4) customize my avatar within spitting distance of Home
5) chat and interact with people in open or private social settings
6) play a variety of mini-games with others
7) watch others play those mini-games
And yet most of you probably wouldn't be able to name the game, and would never try it if you knew, just because it's an MMORPG and isn't WoW.
So what is it about Home that you think will conquer the MMORPG stigma?
They have different objectives. PS Home is free so you can try it out at your own sweet time.
It's like YouTube. I don't create videos myself, but every now and then people forward me links to interesting videos. I end up visiting YouTube a couple times a week, some lead to further actions (e.g., researching more on the stupid but funny "HardGay" video someone here posted). Someday, I might just upload a video... but not in the near future. However this does not mean that I cannot enjoy Youtube.
Once the content in PS Home reach a critical mass, we should see referers, events, sponsored group activities with varying objectives.
It is entirely possible that the "build your own home and invite your friends" bullet point is just a beach-head. They will no longer be the (main) draw in its final form.
1) is it just the fact that Home is free?
2) is it the fact that Home looks like "real life" and most MMORPGs are based on fantasy?
3) is it the integration with PSN services (which are, in themselves, unremarkable)?
4) is it just the new hotness?
It's the total package (all of the above), the Playstation brand and the players themselves. We all share the same interests, but different people look for different things in life. The PS Home demo is impressive partly because of its depth and content variety.
On top of that, the platform owners (Sony and developers) will have to offer enough incentives/values for the people to stay. As some pointed out, the hard part is not to attract crowd, it is to make people stay. What we saw is only the
enabling technology, the actual service will bring in the real meat (marketing, content, and community leaders).
Because MMORPG and PS Home have different business models. the marketing, value/content and how the mods/community leaders behave will be different. I am not sure if you can compare MMORPG and PS Home in that sense (You may only compare them at the technology and visual levels but we shall see).
wco81 said:
However, one cool idea was suggested by the Miiworld thing.
It would be cool if you could design a detailed avatar and then whenever you buy a game that lets you create a custom character, they could just import that avatar into any of those games.
So for instance, in a game like Tiger Woods, you could already import your ready-made avatar as a created player.
It could flow the other way too. What if a car you created or customized in something like GT could be parked in your virtual Home? Instead of just virtual trophies and achievements in your virtual Home trophy room, you'd have the cars in your virtual Home garage (everyone can have mansions with garages for dozens of cars in the virtual Home world. ).
But probably, the graphics won't allow that kind of detail. Maybe if they interchange some basic data so that you'd render a simpler version of the car, avatar or whatever other objects in the Home world and then within a game, that same data would be used to render a more detailed object.
The main thing would be to save time, so you don't have to create or customize objects in every game.
There you go... a good idea for PS Home, but doesn't fit into an MMORPG agenda. See what I mean by different ?
EDIT: Zassk, I'm not sure if my points get delivered. It's a rather abstract concept: The moment you start comparing MMORPG and PS Home, you're on the wrong path. I'm saying this based on my own interpretation and experiences from running online services and marketing programs. I could be wrong too, so feel free to shoot.
EDIT 2: I hate SCE. They push their product concepts so far out that it's very difficult to explain and see, and yet attractive to many people. I'm not sure if those Sony folks risking their careers doing it are having fun or not too. What amazes me in LittleBigPlanet is it has Sony's over-the-top elements and Nintendo's cuteness and simplicity.
