PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home was an online service accessible through the PlayStation 3. It was a social platform in which you control a Digital Avatar and can interact with other people and places. The world is divided into several spaces, each with a different theme, based on genres, what you can do there, or which company is sponsoring it. There was a fair amount of customization to be had, from changing your avatar's clothes, to decorating your personal spaces.
First launched in 2008, it started as a largely social platform with some advertising and light games. However, the games have gotten more focus over time, and you could find some pretty deep ones at certain places. The service was shut down on March 31, 2015.
Tropes used in PlayStation Home include:
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Many games and quests will just give you threads for completing their goals. Sometimes, you'll get a shirt or something similar just for entering a space.
- Cosmetic Award: And sometimes, you'll get a chair, or a table, or a doll, or an ornament...
- An Interior Designer Is You: You start off with an apartment space and some furniture which you can arrange as you like.
- Bribing Your Way to Victory: Some of the games can be unplayable unless you spend a little money for boosts. For some other games, you will only be able to play at certain intervals unless you pay for some extra tries.
- Cross Player: Given the avatars, this is likely.
- Digital Avatar: Usually human-like, but there are some accessories that can make you look like something else.
- Emote Animation: There are a lot of choices for these, ranging from signs of approval to dances.
- Holiday Mode: The main space will be appropriately decorated whenever certain holidays are close, like Christmas.
- Lost Forever:
- Some spaces will be taken down for one reason or another, meaning that the items within can never be obtained again.
- Some items can only be obtained during limited-time events. If you don't get them then, you usually won't have another chance.
- Microtransactions: Small payments exist for many things, ranging from clothes and furniture to power-ups for some of the games.
- Mini Game: Plenty of these, especially in the sponsored spaces.
- Product Placement: There are a good amount of sponsored spaces, where you can win branded clothes to wear and props to show off.
- Purely Aesthetic Gender: Choosing a male or female avatar will make no difference gameplay-wise.
- Virtual Paper Doll: There are many items you can have your avatar wear.