Well, like a bunch of other people, I moved into my new Home on Sony's servers last week with the release of the Home public beta. I haven't had a lot of time to mess around with everything, but the word that popped into my head was "Potential". The virtual world has the potential to turn into a great place to hang out and explore, but it also has the potential to fall flat on its face without the proper nurturing.
After a brief hiccup with some overloading issues the first couple of days, Home appears to be up and running smoothly now. There are several areas available, including your basic studio apartment, the Central Plaza, Mall, Movie Theater, Bowling Alley, Uncharted and Far Cry 2 locations. I haven't been everywhere (Theater), but have seen enough to formulate a quick impression.
The world layout as it stands has me scratching my head a bit. The Central Plaza ties together several different buildings, so lets hope there is a way to get out into the world similar to the way you can leave Bullworth Academy for the town of Bullworth. The Mall is a two-level affair that has places to buy new homes, furniture, clothing and other items. These are all available for the "M" word, micro-transitions. A summer cottage costs $4.99 for example. You also are inundated with ads everywhere you turn, much like a real mall. Most of these are for Sony IPs or related PlayStation products. You can hit the Bowling Alley to knock down some pins or play some pool and arcade games. The pool kind of sucks though, as I couldn't line up the shots very well with the control scheme that was available. Need better sighting options and the ability to use backspin, draw and so forth. Your apartment is sparse, with some basic furniture and accessories. It has a great view overlooking the marina, but you cant get down there just yet (if ever). The Far Cry 2 and Uncharted areas are well done with some activities and game details, but are also extremely crowded all the time.
Seeing as how it is a Beta, it will have quirks and such, but it is disappointing that the way some things work are not well thought out. The lines to play video games, pool or bowl are simply stupid, as people congest the areas constantly. I'm not sure why the methods used by MMOs to access vendors weren't incorporated in. Maybe we will see regional servers in the future, or they will go with a method of everyone getting equal time at the activities in game. Otherwise, I can stand in line in the real world just as well as the virtual world. They also could have provided more options for the basic clothing and character creation tools. The facial creation system also seems a bit wonky, as everyone pretty much looks like they were spawned from descendants of the same grandparents.
Overall, I think it is off to a good start, but needs to really brought along properly and Sony should take the input of PS3 owners seriously. My biggest concern is the amount of micro-transactions and forced advertisements in Home even though it is a public beta of a free title. These do not appear to be going away when the final launch hits, so Sony may end up with PS3 owners refusing to buy anything and they have a lemon on their hands that wont pay for itself. If this occurs, I worry that they will abandon growing and expanding the Home world. However, if they do continue to open the world up, I could probably spend hours wandering around checking things out IF it is designed more like a game (again, like the layout that Rockstar uses for Bullworth Academy and the town of Bullworth) and less like a virtual marketplace. In addition, something needs to be done about the lines to do things. As more people get on Home, that means less space available to play any of the activities unless a way is created so that there is always and "open" slot. A good start, but I would like to see more locations and items introduced during the public Beta phase instead of holding out until its launched fully.
