Comments on: Home Clubs

By: Segitz

Segitz — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:37:37 +0000

So…

as of now, creating a Club in the beta, you need to buy a “club slot” for 0$… It doesn’t say anything about a subscription, but that can change^^

By: Tosh Hatch

Tosh Hatch — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:49:27 +0000

I created a club called PSTHREEBLOG, search for it.

By: fleakitten

fleakitten — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:49:11 +0000

I agree with Paranoimia.

By: mpz

mpz — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:07:34 +0000

32 – it is probably some sort of technical limitation, or related to the fact no game will support a play group of that size. I originally thought that if the limit was 32, having more people join would be pointless if you couldn’t all log on at once, but on the other hand, a bulletin board would still work just fine if it instanced off multiple copies as it does with the rest of the system. Even if you couldn’t talk to everyone face to face. On the flip-side having a small limit isn’t so bad – it will prevent that rather tedious and annoying mind-virus of facebook-friends-itis, forcing everyone to be a bit choosier about who they invite, and which clubs they join.

Ps3fanboy had this to say about price:

“However, a Sony developer clarifies saying “Clubs do not cost money. There will be premium club houses.””

So maybe there is a tiered system. e.g. free ones are a small boxy room with a view of a greasy wall, you pay for bigger rooms/bulletin boards or nicer views, pin-ball machines, and whatnot. Although I think as with almost everything to do with the PSN since day dot … the only way we’ll know what is really happening is when it actually comes out! They seem to have terrible internal communication about this sort of stuff – which is actually probably not that unexpected given the size and spread of the company.

IRL clubs always have ongoing fees – it’s just the way they work (otherwise they’re just a bunch of pals moping about!). Only sponsorship can reduce/eliminate those fees, or some wealthy benefactor could allow them to buy their own facilities … for `hard-core’ gamers, I think it will be a small price to pay for a place to call their own – assuming the facilities are up to scratch, and the payment means they’re not forced to have advertising spoil the ambience. e.g. they’re paying for xbox live without too many qualms. And I am led to believe that’s chocka’s with ads (boy that would piss me off if I was paying for it).

By: George

George — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:49:35 +0000

I haven’t bothered to check out this update to Home yet. Maybe this weekend.

The 32 person cap seems way too low. Good idea though (clubs).

I think the benefit of increased usage would out weigh the nominal cost of maintaing a table of member’s clubs, and a table of clubs. They could even ditch the “club” name and call it something like a “Guild” or “Clan”. That would be cool.

By: mcloki

mcloki — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:06:25 +0000

Don’t look at the subscription model as a money grab look at it as a way of stopping thousands of “useless” clubs being created. The biggest problem from Sony’s standpoint is the server capacity to run these clubs. That’s why they put limits on tit/ Thousands of clubs would require terabytes of storage and server access. That costs money. Now that they set up this club server mechanism. Sony could offer it as a feature to games. IE SOCOM. 32 man clubs. costs 24.99 a year for the leader and all of it is integrated into the game engine and looked after by Sony. We get a better game.
Get ready for a subscription based future. Most of the concerns expressed about paying don’t seem to be about paying it’s paying too much. But the Horse armour fiasco for Oblivion teaches lessons. I’m sure that clubs will too. I’ve got to become a writer on this blog.

By: Trieloth

Trieloth — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:47:16 +0000

The club will be a great place for clans to meet up. I dont mind it costing money. I would consider it as a Tip to keep bringing new stuff and making sure the services continues. I tip my bar tender, waitress all the time. Why cant we tip sony once in a while? It seems kinda crazy that every freaking thing must be free when the compation is collecting money for just about everything that they do.

By: Tosh Hatch

Tosh Hatch — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:00:22 +0000

I agree I don’t mind paying for a club, but a monthly fee for it .. I’ll pass (unless it’s a very small amount). I checked it out last night, it’s a cool concept. The Bulletin Board is cool, you can even set a expire date for the message too. Anywhere from 1, 3, 7, 14? and 28 days.