Avatar Pics: PlayStation Home Open Beta

I popped into the Home open beta for a bit. It took absolutely ages to connect.

I liked the avatar customisation. It was a lot easier than Second Life. The options are really good. You can make different body types and sizes and there are many skin colours, though you don't get sliders for the skin colours as you do with all the other body appearance options.

Here are pictures of my avatar at her Harbour Studio flat:

It's a corner balcony, which I am sure she is pleased by. See how she surveys her kingdom so smugly:

This little harbour would be why it's called the Harbour Studio:

See how she enjoys the fresh sea air!

These screen shots don't do it justice, because it's really very pretty. I do like my little corner of the PlayStation Network, even if it's a little sparse.

I briefly visited the Uncharted bar or tavern or whatever it was. It was all right. It reminded me of Second Life, but a little prettier and easier to move around in because of the control pad. However, because I don't have a keyboard, I would find it hard to communicate with others if that's what I chose to do so. Most of the people in the room were having uninteresting text conversations and really annoying voice conversations. If I do hang out in Home more, I'm going to turn voice chat off, because I really don't want to deal with any of the anonymous online bullshit ("OMG R U A GIRL???"). I kind of just want to decorate my home, which I guess may be the whole point.

Comments

[Crimson Starfire]

Whooa! That's insanely good avatar generation technology. I was impressed with what I saw for Aion, but this looks almost real. Can't wait until this kind of technology makes it into Guild Wars style games.

[Brinstar]

I was also impressed at how relatively simple they made the options. You could choose from several facial templates, and from those templates you had sliders to further tweak your appearance, such as forehead size, cranium width, the appearance of your nose and lips, ... The hair choices are somewhat more limited, but I hope they add more in time.

MMORPGs generally have way more limited customisation options. I couldn't imagine being able to change the width and depth of your chin in an MMOG, but for something like Home, where huge amounts of customisation is one of the main attractions, it would be a dealbreaker if they didn't allow players to do that.

On another note: I'd like to just let you know that I'm not comfortable with the use of ableist language ("insanely") here on this blog. Abelist language is insensitive to those who are affected by mental illness.
I realise that people may be so used to using this terminology, and I myself have found it challenging to break this habit, but I would like to keep this blog a safe space for everyone. For more information on why I feel this way about this issue, please visit the following links:

http://forums.theirisnetwork.org/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=437
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/06/18/fighting-ableist-language/
http://whatsortsofpeople.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/ableist-language-alternatives/
http://blog.shrub.com/archives/tekanji/2008-06-18_721

Thank you.

[David Sahlin]

EVE Online is working on an incredible avatar system for a future update, for when space-stations become walk-around-able.

It's not exactly Home quality, but for an MMOG it's pretty amazing.

http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?playlist_id=17716

[Eleniel]

Hee, your avatar looks badass! I went with the black cargo pants, too. I need better sneaks, though...

I was really impressed with how realistic everything looks, too.

Unfortunately I've been reading that female avatars get mobbed in the public spaces =/ Not surprising, but definitely not encouraging. We should figure out a way to hang out with Twyst and go bowling together or something! Aren't there private spaces and such? *needs to poke around more*

[Brinstar]

Thanks! I was going for "bad ass"!

Yeah, we should! Do you think it's possible to invite your friends to your own place? I need to explore a bit more, too...

[Eleniel]

I think I read somewhere that's how it works. I can't even log into PSN now though, boooo!

[Brinstar]

I'm going to try tonight, and spend more time in the public areas to check them out.

[Crimson Starfire]

Gamers love character customization. I'm just surprised that up to now, it has only really been Eve that has provided a detailed character customization engine in an MMORPG.

The only thing that scares me about the customization technology seen in Home, is how many celebs people are gaming to intimidate. It could end up being a bad thing...

Apologies on the ableist language slip.

[Torri]

I had a really good fiddle with Home at a friend's place (our wireless connection at my house is pretty dodgy and Home will close up if there's a connection jitter)
Being an Anime fan the first thing I wanted to do was try and make the avatar look like a character... but having limited options I went with the cosplay-lazy L from Death Note, got it down pretty well too.
The funniest thing was in only a few minutes there was another person following our L-avatar having recognized it XD. I think cosplay could be a big winner in Home.

...now if only I can get my own PS3 hooked up to the net better...