GET LOUD!

This blog gets a lot of mixed reactions. Especially since we single out and pick on people. It's usually for the greater good, and hell, it's funny. But the main point is this: We believe in the possibility of Home, we are Home users, and we are upset.

The issues with Home are many. The constant sexual harassment, the massive amount of bugs that remain unresolved, the complete disregard of it's users by the staff, and many other issues. We would like to address the Home community, and see if we can rally you to make a change.

Now, there are a LOT of folks who are upset with the direction Home has taken. If you read the forums, no one has any confidence in the staff's abilities, and are disappointed. Recently groups have sprung up to help work on Home's problems. Now, we're all for people voicing their opinions. God knows the good folks of Lithium and the HCM combined have worked hard to silence any naysayers. However, there's one issue that these groups aren't addressing.

The Home Community Management Team, and the forum staff at Lithium do not listen to anything that you say or do.

Now you can create all these themed clubs, give them cute nicknames, and hold debates all you like. The combined efforts of Lithium/HCM have worked very hard to silence anything that would give Home any bad press. You can complain, but if it's on their turf and they are the ones that determine what you can and cannot say. So let me explain the roles of those who are the biggest roadblocks.

1. Lithium. Lithium is a company of web development hacks. Fifteen minutes on their forums can give you a very good idea of how awful the forum setup is. However, as bad as it is, that's only an introduction to the main problem, which is the Lithium staff. Lithium is paid by Sony to operate the functions of the forums. They keep users from spamming, help users find the information they seek, and general functions of supporting an online community based around Sony's Playstation products. However, you need to understand the people who are operating the forums are low paid high school graduates, and maybe a handful of those going to community college. They are young, inexperienced, and full of anger & rage at their parents for forcing them to pay rent. These folks work hard to CENSOR, SILENCE, MODIFY, OR BLOCK any criticism of Sony and it's platforms. This including Home. (This also includes banning, warning, and editing the signatures of ANYONE CAUGHT LINKING TO OR SUPPORTING THIS BLOG)
   
2. Home Community Management. (HCM) These are another crew of inexperienced hacks. To clarify direct information, I have been informed by insider sources that two of the main HCM (CydoniaX & Locust_Star) have -zero- clue what they are doing. I was also informed GlassWalls is mediocre at his position, but better then the others. What the Home staff will do in order to maintain a level of order is deliberately harass "trouble users" and provoke them into some type of interaction that will cause them to get banned. They ignore any and all tech support related questions, chiming in rarely when people make too much noise. (Or sometimes to cover the problem they'll lock or delete tech support posts) They also create user groups and situations to obtain free ideas and services. One being their failed HVC (Home Community Volunteer) program. Somehow they didn't see how giving a bunch of teenage kids free range to act like authority figures would backfire.
3. Home Development Staff. Seriously, how long does it take to patch up the collision detection in Red Bull Beach? How hard is it to make the Bride Hair Wig stay on the avatar's head? How difficult is it to modify the way the wardrobe is handled? The answer: Not that hard. As a developer myself, I could have had all the issues that plague most of Home finished in a few Hours. Bigger ones a week or less. These aren't complex issues.
   

The efforts of Home users to promote progress have been quieted at every possible angle. You can create as many clubs as you like, post on the forums until they ban you as well. Nothing is going to happen because the combined efforts of the HCM/Lithium will quiet you. They will censor you. If need be, they will remove you in order to protect their interests. Their interests are simple: To look good, and to maintain job security.

Let us ask you this. If you walked into a McDonald's and ordered a meal, wouldn't you be disappointed if your french fry box was empty? Wouldn't you be disappointed? Wouldn't you voice an opinion? What if when you complained about your missing food they banned you from ever entering again? Chances are you'd call up the people above them and complain. So why is Home any different? It's a free service sure, but how many of you have invested money into it? Created friends and social circles? And it could all be taken away for something as simple as irritating the staff, or in some cases their friends. So let's continue the McDonald's analogy. Say the Manager of your local McDonald's was friends with someone you didn't get along with. When you both are in the restaurant, this other person gets much better treatment. They get free food items, they get their requests filled before you, and they can break the rules and go walk around in the kitchen with the staff, while the staff ignores you. Pretty upsetting. But this is exactly what is happening in Home. You are paying money that you work to earn, and in return you are being treated like garbage, ignored, and plain blown off. And if you have the GALL to speak up, you are placed on someone's shitlist where you have to walk on broken glass in hopes that you're not banned.

THE MOMENT YOU SPEND ONE DIME ON HOME YOU ARE A CUSTOMER. AS A CUSTOMER YOU DESERVE THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD AND TREATED WITH RESPECT.

So we urge everyone, if you are upset, make some noise. Get loud. They might be able to censor & silence you on their turf, but their turf is just a grain of sand in the sea of the internet. Start a blog, make some calls. Remain anonymous if you have to, but understand, none of these "improvement clubs," debates, or forum posts are going to get the job done. You need to get out there. I'd encourage people to use the following tools to make a little noise:

Lithium:
6121 Hollis Street
Suite 4
Emeryville, CA 94608
Call (510) 653-6800
Fax (510) 653-6801

Sony Tech Support:
Phone: (800) 345-7669
Hours of Operation Monday through Saturday 6:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m
Sunday 7:00 a.m. - 6:30 p.m Pacific Standard Time.

Start a Blog:
http://www.blogger.com/

Upload videos of Home issues:
http://www.youtube.com/

http://vimeo.com/

Contact Various Game Journalism Sites:
http://www.ign.com/
http://www.1up.com/
http://kotaku.com/
http://g4tv.com/

And last but not least, don't be afraid to band together as a group and bombard someone's contact that has influence. Don't sit back quietly as Home sponges your money and then screws you for it. If you don't stand up for yourself, they will continue to walk all over you.