One of the biggest problems that I see with the service is the fact that I find the entire user mentality backwards. People meet friends on the Internet or on social media websites like MySpace, Facebook.com and then they invite each other to play together on gaming consoles like PlayStation or Xbox 360. I have almost never really experienced the creation of a relationship in the reverse. By first meeting someone on a game console and continue our relationship outside of the gaming console. I guess if the Sony PlayStation home service is as successful as Sony hopes that it will be perhaps this trend will become reversed in people's console-based gaming friends will become the catalyst for relationships on the Internet.

Creating Your Avatar

When creating your avatar for the Sony home service on your PlayStation you get a lot of options such as the height and weight of your character, whether it wears glasses or you have hats. Right now the amount of accessories that you can choose for your avatar is a bit limited. But I'm sure you're going to see some branded clothing items either for free or as items to purchase from the Sony store. What I would like to see his user generated accessory items and clothing, similar to the Second Life clothing industry that thrives so largely on that surface. Not exactly sure how Sony would develop tools to allow people to create their own clothing and accessories but I think this could be a real driving factor in making this service successful beyond just the initial wow factor.

MiniGames

So if you're wondering what exactly you can do inside of the Sony home service besides just chat with a bunch of people that you don't know, you'd be in the same boat that I was. Sony's answer to this was to create a bunch of mini games that you can participate with people that are located in the same rooms as you. I think some of the overall games are going to give some minimal enjoyment to people. The arcade has a variety of integrated games including billiards, bowling, and a host of arcade games. I have to admit that I was completely surprised by the quality of the billiards game. Shooting pool with a bunch of my Sony friends was pretty fun. The biggest problem that I found was the fact I realized I probably would not want to hang out with any of the people that I play with on PlayStation in a social setting. Sure "IKILLZYooz" is an awesome call of duty four player but when you get him in a room playing pool you quickly realize that he is a nine-year-old borderline schizophrenic. Conversation unfortunately wasn't his strong suit. But taking out some of the social disappointments the games are fun and playing some of the old school arcade games is going to keep people entertained at least for the near future.

Chatting

This this is probably the most creepy part of the entire service of this Sony Home. Sure you get your standard Second Life text chatting features. They can be basically impossible without having a chat tab. Fortunately though text chatting is fine. But really begins to throw me off is the usage of the proximity voice chatting feature. It truly does give you the feeling of walking to her room and being able to chat with a small group of people inside of any crowded space. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to get used to that. I have never been a big fan of talking to people on the phone. Some reason I always have trouble relating to just a voice without seeing the physical expressions that people do when speaking. But at least when I'm just hearing a voice chat I can kind of imagine what a person's posture would be doing in my mind. Unfortunately seeing some cold digital avatars staring back at me really throws my brain for a loop.

Locations

Sony didn't really skimp on providing locations for the initial release of the at-home service on the PlayStation. Right now the areas are divided into a main outdoor area and a mall that has integrated stores with different items for you to purchase which are currently all free. You can then go to the arcade which has all the games that are described above. I really miss the whole arcade vibe especially inside of malls it was something that I enjoyed spending a lot of time doing when I was kid. The themed third-party rooms are especially tacky: Right now both the Uncharted and Far Cry 2 rooms are live and functional, and they do give you some interesting content. But I just feel like this is the small beginning of some serious advertising but each person can be the judge.