I like what Sony is trying with Home - I really do. Fostering community on PSN is one of the primary things Sony needs to do - I haven't met hardly anybody during online games that I'd like to have on my friends list, thus my PSN friends list is pretty short. However, being able to meet people in Home without needing a game going is pretty neat.
Unfortunately, there's some serious issues with Home. First is the community at large and the way Home handles it - You're thrown into areas full of people of differing age groups. Of course, having common areas is fine, but I would've preferred also having areas that only people of a certain age could get into (maybe something you could integrate with your PSN profile). It seems wherever I go, there's always tons of prepubescent kiddies running around and ruining what could be good conversations with people. Of course, you'd have people that'd make their profiles say they were 21 or whatever, but now we're getting into semantics. Heck, even just having a way to enter different servers or rooms would've been better than the way it's implemented right now. Seems like whatever Plaza I end up in there's an abundance of idiots, and maybe 1 person worth talking to. Being able to switch around servers would be a nice addition.
Second, I really dislike Home for the pricing stucture they're really thinking of forcing on people for customizing their character or virtual space - $1 per peice of clothing? $2-3 for furniture? $5-$10 for a new area? Seems absolutely ridiculous. Had clothing been < $0.50 and furniture had been < $1 I'd probably have a different opinion. As it stands now though, it feels like I'm getting ripped off for just getting a new outfit to wear or a new set of furniture for the place.
Communication also seems very difficult. Most users don't own USB keyboards or headsets (thanks for including one of those in the box, Sony!) - so a lot of what I see is just pre-scripted gunk in the quick-access menu. This making finding a person worth talking to even harder to do.
Finally, Integration - Home isn't well integrated into the PS3 experience. If you really want me to use it, give me an option to boot straight into it without a network connection (maybe straight into my house) and use a TV inside my area to access the XMB. If I want to go out to the Plaza/Mall/Invite someone to my place make me connect to the internet. But as it stands making me open Home on my own just isn't going to happen too much.
I guess I don't mind Home right now, but until they address the issues I care about, I just can't say I care much for Home. I see potential, but I don't know if it'll reach that potential.
