PlayStation Home full of immature jokers, unlike other virtual communities

It's not been a good month for Sony. Layoffs, poor holiday sales for the PS3 and a wee bit of hacking over at PlayStation Home surely have the electronics giant hungry for some good press, which has made the newest PR kerfuffle over at the nascent online service quite unfortunate. According to Ars Technica, Home has become something akin to the nightmare futurescape of The Warriors, a service "incredibly unwelcoming to women, with female players quickly mobbed as players dance around them or type sexual come-ons... a disturbing look at the worst part of human nature." This is heady stuff, but as the company is quick to point out, the thing is still in Beta, and it's still evolving -- hopefully, as it becomes more popular the free service will move itself out of the adolescent ghetto. In the mean time, they've been rocking a bit of good old fashioned censorship, banning words like "gay," "Jew," and "Hell" -- perfectly understandishable if you've ever spent a minute on any online gaming service, but highly uncool if you're trying to build any sort of inclusive social network. In the meantime, what's a homosexual Jewish Satanist to do? There's always Second Life...

[Anthony @ Dec 30th 2008 2:02PM]

*sigh* I'll never find a place that accepts me for who I am.

[skyblaze @ Dec 30th 2008 2:25PM]

try neverland. im sure someone there will accept u ;)

[High ranks made me sterile :( @ Dec 30th 2008 2:42PM]

@Chris:

Congratulations on overthinking an Engadget comment.

[ggg @ Dec 30th 2008 3:09PM]

?? And Xbox Live is not full of imature kids??? Seriously,... I

[Rocketboy @ Dec 30th 2008 3:25PM]

Somewhere, there's a place for you
Somewhere,
A time for you...

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 30th 2008 3:42PM]

Have you tried Gizmodo?

[Flashpoint @ Dec 30th 2008 4:00PM]

I talk so much shit on xbox Live its ridiculous.

In fact, what's funny is at this point, games are so fast paced, nobody bothers to downrank people anymore. When Quake 4 came out I talked so much crap to people while beating on em, I had less than 1/2 a star.

When Halo 3 came out and people basically stopped ranking others and avoiding them - my rank shot up to 5 stars.

[adrian @ Dec 30th 2008 4:17PM]

Maybe the female players should toughen up a bit instead of whinging.

[tlarkin79 @ Dec 30th 2008 4:43PM]

adrian, you are an asshole.

[Anthony @ Dec 30th 2008 4:43PM]

lol that was me i bet hahahahahahahhah high as shit i tell ya ;]


good weed good weed

[AshR @ Dec 30th 2008 5:08PM]

*sings* Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high.
There's a land that I heard of Once in a lullaby.....

Maybe they'll accept you there :)

[OneLove @ Dec 30th 2008 5:11PM]

so its the same as in here?

[paul eastwood @ Dec 30th 2008 2:03PM]

Why am I not surprised? I'm so not surprised, I think I'm going to die of not surprise.

[Platinum_Skeet @ Dec 30th 2008 3:27PM]

A free online community that's easy to access with no real consequences for behavior... How do you expect people to act?!?

[bolezhinkov @ Dec 30th 2008 3:42PM]

the worst part is that its not just 'people' being immature. its young males. we make up such an awful part of the worlds demographic. what is it about being a young male that makes us think we can get away with that shit and not only get away but think its funny?

even engadget had to tell people to reign it in with the comments. I feel ashamed to be part of such a pathetic demogrphic.

[teej @ Dec 30th 2008 4:42PM]

that's just it... it's called being young. as you grow old, you wise up when life gets real (responsibility, family, etc). well, most of us anyways. what else is a young male to do besides school? it's human nature to talk trash in competitive games, and it's a lot easier when there's no counter physical retribution to be had.

if you're ashamed of the demographic, do something about it and help educate young males.

this human nature is the pure essence of humanity, in that, it keeps us alive and prevents us from developing into a (worse) horde of boring robots. sure, it's not exactly positive behavior to really be celebrated, but i'd rather my kid talk shit on XBL and know to respect people and their limits IRL than be a polite, vanilla-flavored nancy: "oh dear, you shot me...jeez jimminyjillickers that was rude!"

people who are affected by the comments of XBL users should quit all forms of electronic communication as it is. no matter where you go, gaming communities (competitive) or even blogs (non-competitive), you'll find some form of bashing/flaming/shit-talking/rickrolling. it IS inevitable; everyone is an idiot.

[Nadool @ Dec 30th 2008 6:32PM]

I have the Home beta on my PS3. I hate it only because of it's lack of content at the moment. That is what leads to this behavior. You go on there and download all the areas, spend some time decorating your home with the limited furniture they give you, create a character with the limited clothing and accessories, and ... well that's about it. I don't play it but my girlfriend goes on when she's bored and guess what... She goes on there, creates some ugly ass avatar, and bothers people. We're in our late 20s so it's not like we're "young males". There's just nothing to do.

My point is that once Sony gets it's head out of it's ass and gets some content going on this nightmare which probably should have just become vaporware, we'll see this go away. It's just people doing it out of boredom. This is what would happen in WoW or FFXI if there were no quests or missions or whatever. Give people something to do, and if there's nothing to do, don't play. Simple. Sony sucks!

[DarkLight @ Dec 30th 2008 6:50PM]

I'm with bolezhinkov

"what else is a young male to do besides school?" Well, I'm a very young male, and I do Linux/electronics haxing, put microcontrollers in everything I can get them to fit. Don't like that? There's always audio "hackineering", video editing, graphics, lolcats, diy

That's not an excuse to be inmature, there's plenty of "clean" fun to have. I'm also ashamed of my demographic..

teej, this is not about XBL, it's about PS Home... And also, one think is to say "joo got pawned, n00b" to a hardcore gam0r, and another thing is to say "hey babe, want to see my stick" to a woman... You're comparing blueberries to bananas

[DarkLight @ Dec 30th 2008 6:56PM]

Oh, let me correct that last part... "to a potential woman" - most likely actually a fat dude. But still, I've seen that happen in real life, with real woman.. I'd have loved to punch them in the face, but 1.7 vs. 10 = about to fail

[Chucula @ Dec 30th 2008 2:12PM]

GTA6?

[Nick @ Dec 30th 2008 2:07PM]

I thought only XBL had these types of users?

[Ayle @ Dec 30th 2008 2:05PM]

There are asshats everywhere... Do they have stuff like GMs that could ban those idiots for a week and permaban the repeat offenders? That would solve the problem quickly.

[kal326 @ Dec 30th 2008 3:07PM]

Yes there are assholes everywhere online. It has already been proven in the "Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory"
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/

[Kevin @ Dec 30th 2008 3:48PM]

@Kal326 I'm gonna send that to all the flamers and trolls I know. Thanks buddy.

[Jakob @ Dec 30th 2008 5:28PM]

Blah blah Engadget, I had a blast with a British and Dutch, we throw a guy party and the Dutch one played music from his headset. We made fun of Swedes (I made them) Afterwards we looked for some girls.

Even though it may sound very "immature" and "primitive" it was very fun, and if just half of the experiences in Home are like that, it's great.

[HalfJoey @ Dec 30th 2008 2:05PM]

Sounds like Xbox Live

[wait... what? @ Dec 30th 2008 2:14PM]

as amusing as that is, its also incredibly true... and why is it true?

It's because the people that spend their lives in these online worlds are generally social outcasts who feel empowered to do as they wish when they're hidden behind their avatar... whether its 12 year olds in halo, or just your run-of-the-mill loser in second life or PS home, these game manufacturers need to realize who their demographic is and realize that everything they produce will at some point be hacked or turned into a giant dick joke.

[xcrunk @ Dec 30th 2008 2:31PM]

This has nothing to do with Sony, and has everything to do with humanity, or the lack thereof.

Jackasses are everywhere, MySpace, XBL, AIM and yes, even HOME.

[Hackettman @ Dec 30th 2008 2:47PM]

Id love to hear/see what the worlds biggest dick joke is...... Personally I think thatd be funny.....

[Aaron @ Dec 30th 2008 2:50PM]

Xbox Live is full of 14 year olds. Who would have thought that 14 year olds could act immature?

These services need to provide an area for only adults.

[wait... what? @ Dec 30th 2008 3:09PM]

an adults only area sounds good, but whats going to stop a 14 yr old from saying he's 26?

[qwerty613 @ Dec 30th 2008 3:28PM]

It shouldn't be by age, it should be by maturity. I've played some adults that were more immature than me, and I'm 14.

[From My Cube @ Dec 30th 2008 3:51PM]

if your an older game ( mid 20's and up) goto www.geezergamers.com its a community full of mid 20+ people who play games online...its made my gaming life that much better...i always have a full squad of 6 people for COD4 and very rarely have to play with dumbass kids whose only words are racial slurs, f bombs, and your mom....

its not my site so dont flame me but its seriously the best site for older gamers who dont put up with shit and only want to have a good time

[Lars @ Dec 30th 2008 3:56PM]

True, qwerty.

I always resented remarks like that when I was a teenager, because I felt that I was about as mature as a 40 year old.

Anyways, this won't really affect what I want to use Home for. Which would be the features they promised two years ago. Hanging in my virtual apartment with friends, viewing AVI's and pictures from my PS3 HDD on a virtual TV. And showing off my Trophies in some kind of trophy case. Alas... the only functionality I care about isn't there.

[teej @ Dec 30th 2008 4:52PM]

can you break into virtual apartments and steal their virtual PS3's?

[phanbouy fan fan @ Dec 30th 2008 5:17PM]

I'd be happy with any 20+ forum. At least it'd keep Flashpoint out.

[josh @ Dec 30th 2008 5:33PM]

To some extent, but XBL has the benefit of allowing you to stay in a community of friends and not play with the general fuckwads that populate most online venues. Eventually Home promises to offer a similar, more inclusive, option but at this point that functionality isn't yet implemented. At this point all home really offers is exposure to a bunch of jack asses and a mechanism to shove even more advertising down your throat, which isn't horribly compelling to me. As they said though, it isn't complete yet.

It is sort of sad that to really enjoy the benefits of online systems like this you need to whitelist who you interact with.

[Ramin @ Dec 30th 2008 2:05PM]

If they've banned a word, can't you just be clever and put spaces in between the letters?

Anyway, I love Home, even though there isn't much to do on the EU servers (living in UK), but I'm sure it'll get better. Hopefully Sony won't fudge this up by making something, then leaving it alone, like they always seem to do.

[Dr. Spaceman @ Dec 30th 2008 2:49PM]

That's so clever! Why didn't I think of that!

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Dec 30th 2008 3:40PM]

Y-e-s y-o-u c-a-n, d-u-h.

[WixosTrix @ Dec 30th 2008 2:05PM]

"female players quickly mobbed as players dance around them or type sexual come-ons..."

Good job guys setting the straight males back 100 years.

[TK @ Dec 30th 2008 2:12PM]

Think of Home as one big "online" bar. Just like in a real bar, there is always the guys hitting on girls. Here, it's just people hiding behind
PSN ID's knowing in real life they would get turned down.

[rock99rock @ Dec 30th 2008 2:35PM]

@WixosTrix

"Good job guys setting the straight males back 100 years."

We got it easy compared to the homosexual Jewish Satanist who just got set back to Jesus times. Ironic? I think so.

[BlurMagic @ Dec 30th 2008 2:41PM]

@TK

That saddest part is, they are being turned down in real life, and in online communities...

=(

So sad. So sad.

Thank god I was not born a social outcast.

[Karl Hackswell @ Dec 30th 2008 2:07PM]

"the things is still in Beta"

Come on guys, seriously? Don't you get paid to type right?

[ack154 @ Dec 30th 2008 2:11PM]

And by "right" you mean like this as well?

"It's not been good month for Sony."

[Farris @ Dec 30th 2008 2:21PM]

"Don't you get paid to type right?"

Shouldn't that be "Don't you get paid to type correctly?"

:D

[Chris Are @ Dec 30th 2008 2:24PM]

Thank you farris.

[TrentD @ Dec 30th 2008 2:25PM]

...that's "type correctly".

[TrentD @ Dec 30th 2008 2:26PM]

You're welcome.

Say hello to your mother for me.