More insider information - HARD NUMBERS ARE HERE!

Well, it's now known what the virtual item sales are for Home. With all the Kotakus, IGNs, 1ups, and other gaming new sites out there, a tiny blog got them first. And they are SAD. A forewarning, these numbers don't include the income from advertising. This is only the sales from micro-transactions, and only for the USA.

Home rakes in on average $125k a week. That's right Home fanatics, it's not even breaking a million per month. Hence the reason it's quite possibly being canceled in the near future.

So who's to blame for all of this? Well first off there's Katherine De Leon, who is responsible for the virtual spaces in Home. So when the [all] spaces bugged out, she would be the one to blame. We reported prior to this that they had hired someone to "revamp" Home, and it turns out it was Katherine who did the hiring. She hired a woman by the name of Celia Pearce, who claims:

Celia Pearce is a game designer, author, researcher, teacher, curator and artist, specializing in multiplayer gaming and virtual worlds, independent, art, and alternative game genres, as well as games and gender. She began designing interactive attractions and exhibitions in 1983, and has held academic appointments since 1998. Her game designs include the award-winning virtual reality attraction Virtual Adventures (for Iwerks and Evans & Sutherland) and the Purple Moon Friendship Adventure Cards for Girls. She received her Ph.D. in 2006 from SMARTLab Centre, then at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London.

Her website can be found here. Be warned, her website is an eyesore that challenges even the worst Geocities pages of the late 1990s. Higher than Katherine though is Jack Buser. Jack Buser (seen here doing his best impression of Animal from the Muppets) has failed to keep Home's development moving forward. While most successful companies and software projects excel due to the teamwork and combined efforts of everyone involved, Jack Buser had made every attempt possible to do the polar opposite. Every member of the team, if it be Katherine De Leon, Glasswalls, CydoniaX, Locust_Star, Buggie, or [insert name here] has had issues with Buser. According to sources he's a bit bipolar and has an extreme fear of failure. So chances are he's scared shitless at the moment because Home is doing really poorly.

It seems to us Buser's biggest mistake is placing his responsibility as the director for Home on the shoulders of the dingbat Celia Pearce and her idea of what Home could be. She spent months hanging out at malls and theme parks, taking pictures, and put all this together into some sort of grandmaster "redesign for Home." So there you have it...the future of Home is a giant mall/amusement park designed by a clueless, socially inept middle-aged lady who billed so much money to Sony for this "work" she bought a house with it. She then passed off this piece of shit to Katherine who passed it off to Jack, who decided to bank Home's entire strategy for the year on it. Now, normally strategic direction of a platform should come from the DIRECTOR, don't you think? But since Jack is so incompetent he dove on this thing like a fat kid on cake.

Most of the costs for Home development are in London, but there's also a ton of money paid out to 3rd parties who also build a lot of their virtual spaces and items. In fact, this is how most stuff is being created for Home this year, since Katherine De Leon has managed to hog most of the budget for her internal team of about 25 people to only work on the piece of shit Home redesign.
Some other interesting information, we have discovered Home does have its own QA team and they also use Sony's internal QA. Each region also has their own. Katherine, Jack, and the Home business manager talk to game developers to try to convince them to make stuff for Home. Jack answers to the Senior Director of PSN Marketing, Susan Panico.

So we have to ask: Susan Panico, what the fuck is going on? Why are you letting this crap go on? Isn't it time to cut and run?

More insider information/Apology to the HCM

So recently I've been getting a LOT of information from the sinking ship that is home. I'd like to share that with you now.

A brief history of Home:

1. Phil Harrison begins announcing the direction of Home, introduces media sharing, trophy room, etc.
   
2. Phil Harrison quits after a disagreement with Kaz, the head guy in Japan.
3. Katherine De Leon fills the spot of main producer
4. Jack Buser, becomes Director of Home.
5. CydoniaX, Glasswalls, Locust_Star become the HCM
6. Home releases public beta
7. Home operates for a year, under constant threat of being axed.
8. Game journalists rip on Home constantly
9. Katherine De Leon proposes a large scale redesign of Home, Focus groups hate it

Etc. Maybe sometime I'll actually make a timeline video or something. Here's some other interesting information:

1. The Home Community management team is FORBIDDEN to speak of promised features that have not come to be
2. Jack Buser might be losing his position
3. Home is STILL UNDER THREAT of being shut down
4. Game media still rip on home any shot they can, if they decide to acknowledge it at all.
5. Jack Buser fired CydoniaX because she reported him to the Human Resources division of Sony for "sexism, abuse, manipulation, undermining, and generally turning his whole team against each other"
6. Katherine De Leon is responsible for every space published in SCEA Home, so when something breaks, she is the one to ask about it.

I'd also like to humble myself at the moment, and speak a little bit about the HCM. Or what's left of it. Over the last six months of this blog, the HCM has taken quite a deal of punishment from this blog. We investigated them each in detail, and nitpicked their every move, post, and action.

Recently, I received an education about the HCM, and realized that they are not at fault for a good chunk of what we placed on their shoulders. However, Sony gave them zero permission to protect themselves nor gave them the ability to express what they were responsible for, and what they were not responsible for. This stemmed from above them, from the folks by the name of Jack Buser and Katherine De Leon. For months we have hounded and attacked the HCM because we assumed as many have that THEY are responsible for how shitty Home is. I have since discovered the truth.

What is disturbing to us is while we shit all over the HCM crew the people who were truly at fault sat in the background quietly, and allowed the HCM to accept all the blame for things that were their bosses' fault. That to me is even worse than the constant shit we've dumped on them over the last half a year.

Imagine enduring the abuse we can put out for half a year, knowing that none of it was your fault, however the folks who's fault it actually is force you to stay quiet and accept the blame that belongs to them. That's incredibly shitty management and Jack and Katherine should be fucking ashamed of what they've done.

So Glasswalls, CydoniaX, and Locust_Star, I apologize for the incredibly harsh way we've treated you. Although there have been many occasions where you did make mistakes and do silly shit, we wouldn't have gotten on you one tenth the amount we have had your bosses given you the ability to defend yourselves. For that I am sorry. Shoot me an email and I'll send a couple pizzas your way some day. All hush hush of course.

But back to the subject at hand. Jack Buser, Katherine De Leon, for months you've sat quietly in the background and let others take the blame for your incompetence. This is a polite warning to you: We are coming for you. You thought we were bad going after the HCM? Heh, you haven't seen shit yet. Better get some suntan lotion, we're coming after you with the fury of a thousand suns.

Chewout!

Last night I got a somewhat suspicious email. Although I usually call bullshit when I receive insider information, tracking down the person who sent it opened a shitload of doors. I don't plan on posting the entire content of the email because it could easily identify the sender, however it corrects a good chunk of information we have here. Via email: (Removed parts of the email marked with [...] to protect the identifying parts of the email)

Dear PSN Home-Watch Retards: (Had to keep that intro, it's priceless!)

[...] First of all, all the myriad of problems with Home (and you're right about one thing, there are a ton of them) have nothing to do with the community managers.
[...] They don't make business or content decisions, all they do is get paid to interact with and entertain thankless aholes like you.
[...] SCEA Home is failing because of 2 people. #1 being JACK "ABUSER" BUSER. That guy is mentally ill, incompetent, and his entire team HATES him. He has ZERO experience with virtual worlds, the video game industry, or anything else having to do with Home. [...] Want to know the real reason CydoniaX is gone? Buser got rid of her [...] He's a real piece of shit and will be responsible for Home's downfall. Mark my words.

The other person ruining Home is its main producer, KATHERINE DE LEON. She is the 2nd most hated person on that team. [...] Her shitty work speaks for itself: she is responsible for every space published in SCEA Home and they all fucking suck.[...]

If you're going to attack people, at least go after the ones who deserve it. Oh yeah, and your site fucking sucks. Sorry your mom hates you and you never, ever, ever get laid.

[...] Oh and this just in: 2 more people have quit the Home team since Cyd left. [...]

Glasswalls & Locust_Star post with a friend!

Well it seems as though E3 was pretty dull this year. Sony showed off a bucket filled to the brim with raw sewage which they then threw out on the crowd. Honestly other then the ice cream truck thing for the new Twisted Metal, I didn't see a damn thing that stuck out in my memory.

Speaking of things people forget, Home had a microscopic booth. Most people stopped by to ask questions of the Home staff such as "Where's the bathroom" and "holy shit, you mean Sony's still supporting Home?" The booth was almost an afterthought, as Sony made zero mention of Home the entire time at E3. Honestly it makes sense to avoid bringing attention on your retarded children, but you want to make them feel included. It's almost as though they had them there to simply escape the embarrassing talk that they might have given up on the concept. No, the large scale massive social networking software of the future can still be found.... in a tiny booth near the Ladies restroom, past the Hot Dog-on-a-Stick. Sadly, CydoniaX didn't make it. Guess it wasn't in the stars! (HAHA SEE WHAT I DID THERE) Although unconfirmed sources are suggesting she has been fired, although her name still appears in the message of the day.

The funniest part of the whole thing is they were giving codes away at E3 for free home items... which were broken and didn't work. At least the folks at E3 got the full home experience.

Warning: Lameness may cause anal leakage

This topic made me want to stab myself in the scrotum. Jim777, who I've made an extreme effort to not crap on because he's barely legal. But Jesus grape-flavored Christ.

I am turned our favorite Home team into raceable characters in ModNation! So you can tear up the track with Glasswalls or throw a salvo of missiles into Locust_Star, all depending on your mood

As much as I'd like "throw my missile" into Locust_Star, I have to ask, are these people really worth the effort to emulate in a game? I say no. I do however like how Jim777 managed to nail Jack Buser's pedophile meets Johnny Depp Willy Wonka hairdo & CydoniaX's hands seem to be to scale.

Locust_Star shows his immaturity, unprofessionalism, and huge vagina

Ugh...where do I begin? All these events that I'm about to discuss took place over 3 months ago. Note: the screens I am about to show are only screens of messages I received, at the time, I didn't see a need to screen cap my own messages. Although some messages have quoted stuff I said.
With that being said, I suppose I'll get started...oh, and this is probably going to be really long, so get ready for a lot of reading.

So, let's go waayy back to this post I made: http://home-watch.blogspot.com/2010/02/update-glasswalls-hackers-confusion.html (go on click on it, I'll wait...)

So now some of you might be thinking, "Well what about the other part of the question??" Fear not, I have sent another PM asking, more directly, what steps they, the Home staff, are taking to prevent such things from happening.

I'll let you know when he responds.

Yea, well I never got a follow up to my follow up. Oh, and that question I sent Glass, the one quoted in that picture, I also sent that to Locust_Star and CydoniaX. Exact same question sent to all 3 HCMs at the same time. <<----remember that, that's important. Seriously, remember it.

Anywho, since I wasn't getting the answers I wanted, I decided to make a thread asking about it. That was a no no apparently, as it was deleted , quick. Twice. But on fellow happened to see it before it got deleted, and that's when I this guy whose name shall remain unsaid.

He/she (I'm gunna say he from now on, seemed like a he to me anyways) decided to make a the same thread, asking if hacking and/or importing stuff was allowed and what-not. He made two of those threads and both were shut down. He received warnings from shungokusatsu that were basically the same as what is pictured below:

And a few hours after that is when Glass replied to my original question. SO, now we're all up to speed on how all of this go started. Remember that serious business I told you to remember? Well here's where that comes in handy, also this is where the lots of reading kicks in..

So now about 2 weeks have passed, and CydoniaX has made a thread. Not just any thread, but a thread where the HCMs...actually manage the community! Oh what a joyous occasion this was, I mean, its not often these people actually do what they're job title is. I just went back and search a little bit for this thread but didn't have much luck in finding it, I'm sure it's there somewhere though.

Anywho, this was basically a thread to ask whatever questions were on your mind, and one of the HCMs would eventually answer it. So I took it upon my self to ask, again, about the hacking and importing situation. And my question was on the first or second page too, "no way they can miss this" I thought. but after about a day and 9 pages later, my question had still gone unanswered, So, what else should I do but post it again, so I did. I get bitched at for asking the same question multiple times and quite soon after that (perhaps minutes) my question had the book thrown at it.

But you see, I had to be smart about the way I asked about hacking and importing, because you're not even allowed to mention that stuff in Lithium's public. After pussyfooting around with Cydonia for a few back n forths within that thread, she invites me to ask her the question, straight up, in PMs. Ok, cool. So I go to start comprising a new message (same direct question) and before I could even get half way through, I noticed I had a new PM. I checked it...and this is what it was:

Funny, right? Does that give off a little hint of how often they actually check they're PMs? She replied to the original message I had sent to all 3 HCMs 2 weeks earlier. The one that GlassWalls was kind enough to give an answer to, the one I posted here. Here's the really funny part, it took them this long to piece together that I am one of the people who write for Home-Watch. And we all know I've been open about the fact that I, PSN ID: zKAPOWz, contribute to this blog since i first started writing here. Hell, even before that, I would always leave comments here using my PSN ID or just Kapow (which is what i go by). It also reinforces the fact that they read this blog a lot.

Ok, so they think they've "found me out" or something, throwing the Home-Watch URL in my face, oh, and don't forget, 1 day after i got this message from CydoniaX they made the Home-Watch URL a curse word.

Anyways, so they think they've caught me red handed or something, yea, they:

I guess Locust finally decided to make a childish response to my 2 week old question, but here's where the fun really starts. But, unfortunately, like I said earlier, I didn't screen cap my messages, so I'll have to do my best to summarize what I said back then. Wait, nevermind, just realized I sent the whole conversation to Home-Watch when it all went down. Copy n Paste mode, GOOO! [Kapow's comments in bluegreen]

"alright, i'll just spread the word that hacking and importing items is acceptable and encouraged.

thanks for taking this matter seriously."

"Why thank you, but it's 'we' not 'me'. I'm not the head-honcho over at Home-Watch, just so you know. I don't like to take credit for what other people have started.

And it's sort of like Jack; you don't necessarily have to log on (or follow) to read something . I'm sure the boss over at HW knows how much traffic his blog really gets daily."

This response was by far my favorite. I like how he says we like to "mislead, misquote, and misrepresent" others, but what the fuck is this guy spewing right now? Really, lets dissect for a minute. Like I said earlier, these dick faces actually think they've "outed" me, when I've never tried to hide the fact that I contribute and support this site. I've been open about since the first time I've left a comment up until now. I openly tell people I am one of the writers here. In short, I've never tried to hide, or "minimize" my contribution to this blog. I'll even go as far to say that I was and still am the biggest supporter of this place, and have been the loudest voice both here and in the forums. And my signature? Really? I've only changed it once since I made it and that was upon a warning I received from a MOD because I had our URL in it. (you know, the curse word before it was a curse word) So i changed the text from "We're Watching you. . . home-watch.blogspot.com" to "We're watching you. . . and we will not stop Home-Watch."

So far he's wrong that:

1. he thinks I updated my signature because of him and that she-bitch CydoniaX
2. he thinks they "outed" me, and
3. he thinks I've tried to "minimize how they perceive my contribution to this site."

Right now he's looking pretty damn foolish, and that's just the first sentence! Let's carry on! Who was it that was asking about that quote from Locust calling us an "ugly, hateful, libelous site?" Yea, this is where That came from. Next he tries to wag his small e-penis at me, boasting about past writing experience, like I give a shit. And uses that as a segway to talk about my "homophobic rants and the poor punctuation" on my twitter. Ok, I was playing Street Fighter IV and i said something like, "Zangief is a real fag!" or something like that. I said fag, oh my god! What am I missing? I said fag, I also say gay, and homo and queer too. Moving on, he says I have bad punctuation. Um, it's fucking Twitter you douche nozzle. Nuff said. Moving on! You might want to take this time to stand up and stretch, maybe get something to drink, because now I'm about to post what I replied to him after his erroneous, idiotic message. Here we go:

hmm, well i'll try to convey my sarcasm better next time. but anyways, i wasn't trying to minimize how you perceive my contribution to Home-Watch, i am a major contributor to the blog. i don't try to hide it nor do i shout it from the roof tops. at first i hid the fact that i wrote for Home-Watch, only because i wasn't sure if the boss man over there wanted people to know he or she had multiple people writing for the the blog. but once i got the ok i told a few friends and they told their friends and..well you know how that goes. so once word got around and people asked me if it was true, i confirmed it for them. by no means did anyone (especially not you or Cyd, i guess you two didn't know i wrote for Home-Watch until i posted the PM Glass sent me?) 'out' me. every article i write for Home-Watch, i write knowing full well what i am posting and saying. i post screen caps with my name and others names int it for a reason, mostly for authenticity.

and i haven't changed my sig in a while, i only changed it from, "We're Watching You (with the Home-Watch url at the bottom right)." to what it currently is now, for the simple fact that the MODs wouldn't allow the Home-Watch URL to be posted publicly because, "it linked to profanity." which is a bull**bleep** excuse because people post links to Destrctoid and the likes all the time.

so with all that being said i'm not really sure what you mean by i didn't update my sig until you and Cyd "confronted me." but like i said, i guess you two were late to the 'party' because it's certainly no secret lol.

also, i have no doubts about your past work & writing credentials, without them i doubt you'd be at your current job. but it also doesn't take someone like that deduce something as simple as the similarities in peoples writing styles. that 'skill' is elementary to any ametuer writer.

as for my antics on twitter, saying '**bleep**' and 'gay' does not make someone a homophobe. but seeing as you don't know me personally, i don't blame you in making assumptions. when i am writing something with meaning or purpose, i make sure that my grammar and punctuation is decent, at the very least. when i'm writing something on Twitter, i **bleep** (fag) in talk like an ass with lots n lots of sarcasm n junk (<---like that). i mean, it's Twitter for god's sake, not a term paper. so if you want to keep judging me based on my Twitter shenanigans, by all means go right ahead.

last but not least, i have no doubt you are watching ME, as i am the only 'Name' that writes for Home-Watch. you guys have no one else to watch, and i don't mind taking some heat off the boss man. i'm sure he's, "lovin' every minute of it." (<--that's from a song i think, it got stuck in my head. "Lovin' every minute of it!")

anyways, try not to forget we are just trying to help Home and it's community in our own special way me, you and HlPPE played pool together back in the first days when the beta changed to 'Open.' we had good times back then, i have no qualms in having more good times with you guys in the future. we all don't have to be enemies unless you wish it to be that way. ok, i'ma stop now, i've rambled enough and i'm not going back to proof read so you get what you get.

aah.. one more thing i guess, why not? just in case you were wondering, i know as much about the creator of the blog as anyone else. i don't know what you guys, HCM or MODs, did to him or her, but it must've been something pretty bad.

hahaha, now That one made me laugh. if you're talking about the article i made posting the screen cap from Glass, i don't see how that was misquoted, misleading, or misrepresenting him. i've even told Glass that i won't post anything He says to me if he so wishes it. Glass has my respect. notice how none of this is on Home-Watch (until now). it seems you haven't really been paying attention to anything i've said and i won't bother repeating myself.

i'm sorry you feel so threatened by me and My colleagues but we will not stop and we will continue to expose Home and it's community for what it really is.

don't think this is our last interaction. you have decided to continue this 'war', so we'll see you on the battlefield.

Man...I am such a bad ass, amirite? Anyways, a few days later, I got banned from lithium, got my sentence doubled and now here I am. There's still some shenanigans going on with my ban though, as I pointed out here http://home-watch.blogspot.com/2010/05/commaderkoopa-calls-out-lithium-mods.html .

Welp, that's the end of this story. Let the comments begin.

The Lack of Creativity. . .

From the forums:

So... This AvsP 'event' is the 5th or so dance off on NA Home. I think a dance off every now and then is fine, but the majority of ALL our events have been dance offs. Not to mention all these events are only being held in Central Plaza, when Home has a variety of spaces to choose from. Even if home was prohibited to only use core spaces of Home for events... we have the gamers lounge, the mall, the bowling alley, numberous theaters, etc.. We even have the presentation podium, that can make its return during events or something.

Most of these events were given rewards for participating. Kudos. However this 'event' doesnt. So not only are we particiapating in an event that is basically the same thing as most other events on NA Home, we're encouraged to buy these $$ costumes for the event with no reward granted. Hell... I cant even be with my friends at this event because my PS3 just froze up 5 times after accepting an invite to different central plazas. This is damaging my hardware shutting my system on and off like that. Please, make events worth while, The lack of creativity really has me wondering 'Why'.

Suggestions for future events:

1. Events around Home in different spaces, not just central plaza.

2. RPG style events like that of our friendly neighborhood Japan Home.

3. Events that dont consist of Free vs Paid/Paid vs Paid items by "dancing off"

4. Something BIG, like the Xi event. That event had the forums active and more users involved.

5. How about an event that requires us to obtain unlockable items from the games around home, and use them to access other parts of home, to complete another challenge. For example, you need the echochrome outfit to access theater 5, which gives directions on what to do next, etc...

Get creative Home! Dance-offs are getting played out, seriously. At least give us more dance emotes if we have to endure more 'dance-off' events than something more creative.

Couldn't have said it better. However, CydoniaX in all her worthless manhand glory disagrees:

We also thought people were tired of dance-offs, but YOU the users wanted to throw them! As long as people are having fun, where's the harm? No one has to buy anything to participate.

That said, we do encourage everyone always to "think outside the box" and throw different types of events in different spaces. And until we get an events space, Central Plaza IS our best events space! But keep throwing out your ideas, we love them!

~Cyd

Of course, she fails to acknowledge that every single suggestion made for events is either locked/linked to a suggestion topic, moved to support, or just flat out ignored. She is soon owned with the following message:

Don't buy the whole "user run" event scenario. Sure, an unpaid representative for Sony helped organize it and make posts about it, but this was an HCM/HCV deal the whole way. How many users/clubs get posters for their events splashed over CP posters? Hey Cyd, I'm going to have a free blue shirt vs free white shirt dance-off. You gonna get those posters in CP? I didn't think so.

I would like to see this event come to life ASAP!

I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME

Since this blog's creation we have seen a steady influx of traffic from Sony of America. Recently it's been more then our friends at 919 Hillsdale, but also Sony San Diego, and Sony of Europe. Even a few hits once and again from Sony of Japan.

THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOL'S DAY PRANK. THESE STATS ARE DIRECT FROM OUR STATISTICS COUNTER:

Enlarging the above image will show that Sony's Foster City offices make up 20% of our traffic. 1/5 of our traffic. What do they look at?

Well, according to the stats, they look themselves up. A lot. The hits usually start in the morning hours, and then continue to about 6-7PM in the evening. So pretty much their entire shift. So literally, they check the blog all day long. Stalkers. CydoniaX and Locust_Star often check for posts about themselves, often following the blog labels to hop around various posts about themselves. Awesome part is, this continues when they get home, as I've identified their home ISPs as well. I won't expose those because as much as I find them to be incompetent and terrible at their jobs, I respect their privacy. However, as past posts' comment fields have gone, others don't have the same moral obligations. And they love to read those as well!

So, without adieu:

Let them know how they're doing -- Update

Written by: Kapow

In a recent thread made by Cydoniax, she asks everyone to participate in a 3 question survey to get a better understanding of what people really think of them (if, Somehow, they didn't already know). So we encourage everyone to take this survey (it takes 1-2 minutes to complete) and tell them how you really feel about them.

Hit the link below to jump to the survey.

[Update]

Survey no longer exists.

Survey

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.

Worst bowling alley trip ever!

In the topic: Worst bowling alley trip ever! A young lady complains about something that's a real burden. THE REPORT FUNCTION BREAKS AND DOESN'T ALLOW SUBMISSION OF REPORTS.

Don't know if this has been pointed out but the report function seems to have been malfunctioning. I'm usually not bothered by the harassment I experience but it annoyed me tonight when guys kept coming up to me, sitting on me, asking me to take off my bra. Not what they were saying, but the fact that I couldn't submit a report. Just had to a rant a tiny bit. Otherwise it was the worst trip cause I couldn't even break 100 on my score lol. I'm terrible at bowling.

Since that feature is broken, I suggest immediately messaging Locust_Star, CydoniaX, and GlassWalls.

HCM Answers Questions

Some folks might think we have no respect at Home-Watch. This is actually not the case. There is one HCM we actually have respect for, and that is the gentleman who goes by the name of GlassWalls. GlassWalls is the only HCM on home who has always been polite to people, shown respect to the people he interacts with, and takes an honest interest in what the issues and problems of home are. Unfortunately he works under CydoniaX, the queen of sitting on her ass and collecting a paycheck. I'd like to bring to everyone's attention how a HCM should act and respond to their position. GlassWalls deserves more credit then he receives, and he's always quiet and humble about it all. So I encourage everyone, go visit GlassWalls on the forums and thank him for doing his job. I'm sure he would appreciate the recognition.

Wow. Amazing CydoniaX!

We recently got an email requesting to identify and make notice of the broken fishing game in the Waterfall Terrace personal space.

I just wanted to drop by and say it's wonderful how you are making everyone aware of the situation that is now taking place in home. May I make a suggestion that you start attacking the Waterfall Terrace bug threads.. It's been a week now, and now the house is basically useless, and the fishing game is dead. Later if you'd like I could go into detail the horror I'm going through just trying to get the 2 items I paid for from that bundle. lol.

So off to the Home support forums to see how many threads were made regarding the broken game. What I found actually made me laugh out loud.

Could an HCM at least acknowledge that you are aware of the problems that exist in the Waterfall Terrace? As of right now, we dont even know that much! How are we supposed to know that anyone even knows about it if you dont at least post the simplest acknowledgment of it? I mean what other recourse is there? There are multiple threads about it and now another one, so why dont you spare the people that purchased this space some grief.....please!!! Thank you.

Seems like a pretty straightforward request. And after this post, this post, this post, and this post the staff is pretty much aware of the situation. CydoniaX actually spent 20 seconds to paste a url and leave! Now that's progress.

Inside Information

Recently we have been in contact with a handful of Home insiders.We WILL NOT be sharing their names, positions, or any other info about them.

But we would like to share the fact that we are now inside home, and getting a look at the inner workings. We have info about the development process, the process used for testing, we even have some REALLY interesting things we've learned about the HCM, with a lot of it focused on CydoniaX. It would be kind of pointless to just start listing everything we've learned over the last week. However over time we'll share it bit by bit as it applies to specific situations.

Expect it to be juicy, and expect it to come out in future posts!

Home's Terrible Support. How bad is it? 10 unanswered posts.

I decided I was going to go on an adventure to the PlayStation®Home Support. See if I could dig through there and find some answers to WHY things don't get accomplished. I decided to pick 10 different support posts that should have been answered, that have not. This is what I found: (all references to pages are pages by the default settings)

First is this post, 6th Lure Is Broken!!! (When will this be fixed): At this point the topic is a little more then 28 hours old and two pages.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Secondly this post, user from quebec redirect to european server: Currently this post is four days old, the person posting claims that the issue had been going on since Thursday the 7th. Three pages.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Third, How do I get missing ITEMS?: As of this point, this post is a week old. 2 pages long. The person posting it even says:

First, since SONY has like NO CUSTOMER SERVICE at for home, and PM's GO UNANSWERED how do you get items you are missing?

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

I decided to stop picking on the new posts. I mean, a week isn't forever. I went back through the pages to page five. Surely things here had to be answered. Unanswered post four, Central Plaza FREEZES,,,needs Maintenance!!!: This post was posted 1 month 6 days ago.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Page 6 of the forum, post number five, Why does my Ghostbusters StayPuft shirt look all screwed up?: posted 11 days ago

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Page 13 had this gem, number six in my count, MAKES ME SICK!: posted 18 days ago.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Page 13 also had this post, number seven, Why is it I have yet to get support for my missing paid item?: posted 2 months ago. 3 pages long. To quote:

I've called Sony Support 3 times since Home's 1.32 update and they told me that they can not refund my money for my missing "Female Do-rag". They told me that I have to contact the Home Managers or the Home Moderators to either get my money back or to restore my missing item. I've PM Locust Star 2 times and I've PM Cydonia and Glasswalls at least once. I've even sent an email through the support form and not one person from Sony replied to my problem. What the hell kind of support is this company is running. I haven't even got a reply that someone is going to look into my problem. It seems that the people who run home can only ban people from home or provide service that will line their pockets with more money. I'm very disappointed in the service from this company it makes me not want to purchase anything from the Playstation network anymore seeing how they can not provide technical support for my purchased products from the service.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Number 8, from page 15, Over-moderation (Directed at forum staff): This was actually replied to. It was given a half assed reply. (The admin asks that if your post is deleted to take it up with the mod who deleted it. How is that possible of THE POST IS MISSING? Astounding.)

LAME RESPONSE FROM STAFF

Page 16, unanswered post number nine, I DID NOT GET THE TURKEY STATUE, CP lag crashed me!!! HELP : Posted 21 days ago.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

And finally #10, Lost and Found!: This post is for support for missing or broken items. It is six pages long. It has been going for two months. It is full of tons of folks who paid for things they didn't receive or that don't work.

NO RESPONSE FROM STAFF.

Tune in later as I continue to expose the support forums lack of support, and the lame duck job that the home team is doing.