Orcs and Stormtroopers Not Welcome in PS3’s Home

There has been a lot of hype surrounding the upcoming community for the PS3, Home, and I’m sure PS3 owners are already giving some thought to what they might want there virtual selves to look like. In an interview with the Official Playstation Magazine, Peter Edwards, the executive producer for Home, discussed what will and will not be allowed in the community, specifically noting that avatars not based in reality are on the “Not Allowed” list:

“If everyone’s walking around dressed as orcs or stormtroopers or whatever, then you lose that welcoming, accessible element that means Mum, Dad and your sister might get involved as well. The idea is to keep it as accessible, mainstream and friendly as possible.”

So it looks like users are going to stuck being human in Home (sorry, cosplayers). This apparently marks a strong push by sony to the keep the entire online environment realistic.

On the one hand, I understand why Sony is doing this. There are a number of online community sites that allow you the freedom to be as ridiculous as you want — most notably Second Life. That may generate a lot of people with some creative, down-to-earth avatars, but more often than not you just run the risk of walking in on Harry Potter having sex with Winnie the Pooh while Darth Vader looks on and a pink hippo dances in the background. I think Sony is wanting people in Home to be just that: people. And maybe if everyone looks mostly normal, that might influence people’s behavior in the community.

On the other hand, being confined to a realistic world does just seem to narrow the range of creativity for the game. Besides which, I doubt having everyone look human will stop stupid people from messing up the place somehow. A tard is a tard no matter what they look like. What they’re wearing just makes them easier to spot.