My first published article for Home Station Magazine

Spotlight On: the Grey Gamers

By Burbie52  Staff Writer for Home Station Magazine

Home isn’t just for kids.

When I say, “typical Home user,” what image comes to mind? Male? Teenage? Sagging trousers? Poor punctuation?

Home isn’t necessarily a place you’d associate with older users. But they’re all around you. They just typically keep to themselves – because what does a working adult with a house, bank account and investment portfolio have to say to a cornrowed teenager who’s younger than her own children?

Sony, however, ought to be paying attention to these older gamers, and for one very specific reason:

Money.

You tell me which is more valuable: ten users who have to rely on mommy and daddy for a digital allowance, or one graying gamer who’s hooked on the freedom of this online playground and has the means to purchase every virtual commodity in sight?

This is not to say that there aren’t many wonderful, young people on Home; however, in an online community with an average age that would get carded when trying to buy liquor, it’s important to point out that there are a lot of older users in Home, too.

And, sociologically, this brings up an interesting question:

To anyone born in 1990 or later, the world has always been digital. The internet has always existed. It’s just part of your life.

To anyone born prior to 1980, however, you grew up in an analog world. Now let’s try 1970. 1960.

1950?

1940?

What is so compelling about Home that this group of people, who have lived the vast majority of their lives in an analog world, would voluntarily choose to spend so much time – and money – in a digital community?

Groups and clubs are a major part of the Home experience. Humans are a communal species; we like to associate with people like ourselves. And now it’s time to give you insight into one of the most interesting groups in Home – a group which in time may have more de facto financial clout than any other user group around.

The Grey Gamers.

I founded this group in August of 2010; the idea was to have a place where Home’s older gamers could get together with each other and form lasting relationships. The Grey Gamers hail from all walks of life; our ranks include blue-collar workers and professionals alike, with members from as far away as Hawaii and the United Kingdom.

Within three weeks, word of mouth filled the club with 31 members. A few left and others joined, but the core group has stayed together. Since that start, a second North American chapter has already formed, utilizing clubhouses generously donated by some of the group’s members. The growth has been exponential.

I asked several of the Grey Gamers what brought them into Home in the first place – what drew them to a virtual world, and what compelled them to stay. The overwhelming response: curiosity.

On Home, young or old, we are all gamers at heart. It’s the one element the entire Home community has in common. And for the Grey Gamers, many of us started in our teens with Pong – the very first video game you could play on your television – and progressed from there. So, when we bought PS3 systems and began to explore more than just the Blu-Ray capabilities, we discovered Home.

As to what made us stay in Home, the responses were nearly unanimous: relationships. All of us were lucky enough to make some very good friends in Home. We truly enjoy talking and playing games together on the network. Home has become a place where we can connect with people from all over the world, and have a great time doing it.

Another rather common sentiment which popped up: “In real life I’m middle class, but in Home I’m a millionaire!” We love to dress like we never would (or could) in real life, and own beautiful homes as well. I know that I personally love to spend time decorating my personal spaces and dressing my avatar in a variety of great clothes.

When I first proposed this story to HSM, the editor asked why our group frequented Home over a more adult-oriented service such as Second Life. And, indeed, a couple of Grey Gamers are also members of Second Life as well as Home. I asked them why they come back to Home when they have a significant amount of time and energy invested in Second Life; predictably, “relationships” was again cited as the primary reason.

However, another reason came up: graphics.

The graphics in Home, and the level of avatar detail, are much better than those in Second Life. With a group of gamers who are more interested in the social aspects of Home – who truly do lead virtual lives within it – the graphical superiority of Home is a major draw.

Gaming, of course, is the overarching theme that unifies the group. It’s great to have friends who can talk intelligently about their favorite games from the Atari 2600 or NES days. Also, many Grey Gamers enjoy the public gaming areas in Home – the bowling alley, Dragon’s Green, Midway, and especially the EA Poker Rooms (before they disappeared).

We’ve even organized two large Home events of our own so far. One such event was called “Zombiefest” – we all dressed up as our favorite zombies and descended upon various public spaces in Home en masse, like some sort of undead flashmob. There were about 45 Grey Gamers at that event; we started at the Resident Evil 5 space and ended up at Irem’s Seaside of Memories. Yes, even the undead need a tan.

Shortly thereafter, we organized a masquerade ball in the Assassin’s Creed personal space, which was quite a hit. We all got to wear those formal clothes that Home sells, but doesn’t really offer anywhere to show off. Eventually, the party swelled and grew until it had to be taken to a public space – over fifty people were participating – and we ended up at the Godfather 2 space.

(A good friend of mine from Hairbrained Ideas – Gideon – loved the concepts and filmed both events for us. The results can be found on YouTube if you want to see them.)

Future Grey Gamer events include a poker tourney (despite the aforementioned loss of the EA Poker Rooms), as well as some fun and games involving the Villain’s Lair personal space which I’d best not get into…

Some days, it really does feel like you need a social calendar to keep track of all the fun events in Home, particularly as many of the Grey Gamers are active in other groups in Home, such as the Homelings.

But let’s get back to the money.

The Grey Gamers – indeed, older users on Home in general – are a silent economic force in Home. Most Grey Gamers own at least five different personal estates (I own fourteen, personally), and there are several members of the club who own all of the estates that have been created. And this doesn’t even touch the money spent on virtual furniture, virtual clothing, or virtual games such as Sodium One, Novus Prime or Midway.

Older users have one massive advantage over their younger brethren: in general, they have their own credit cards – and higher limits. It is the hope of all the Grey Gamers that Sony take notice of this economic force we represent and perhaps offer more spaces and clothing geared to a more mature audience. There are many groups in Home vying for clout, trying to have a say in what happens with Home; I would humbly suggest that Sony simply measure the economic activity of older users in Home and decide for themselves where the beef is.

One idea that has come up repeatedly within our group is the concept of an “adults only” area in Home, perhaps similar to the PS Plus “members only” space being implemented in Home Europe, or a more restrictive version of the SingStar VIP room. Rumors suggest that Sony community authorities have the ability to age-restrict public areas, and we would very much welcome such an experiment.

Keep in mind that this “adults only” area isn’t because we want more adult content – Home would never go for something so salacious anyway – but rather because we simply want respite from being harassed by the kids.

(Although, I should mention, adding a few new avatar abilities such as couples dancing or holding hands would be much appreciated.)

The other request from the Grey Gamers – and it’s a request repeated ad nauseam in Sony’s own message forums – is that Sony improve the blocking system. There are, unfortunately, a great many number of users in Home who seem to get a great deal of enjoyment out of being a nuisance. How is it fair to those of us who are polite and conscientious to have to spend a disproportionate amount of time in public spaces blocking and reporting the troublemakers? It would be wonderful if Sony could implement an enhanced blocking feature that not only mutes the offender, but makes them disappear from the screen entirely. Empower the users to take care of the problem at the source, and you have less of an overworked moderation team trying to cover everything.

So: if mature conversations, congenial friends and fun events attract you, why not consider the Grey Gamers?