Avatar and Personal Spaces (EU,US,JP,HK)



Article By The Bridgelad and Edited by Jontis_00

Avatar and Personal Spaces
When first accessing Home, users are given an avatar and an invitation-only apartment which they can personalise with their own choice of decor and furnishings. The user's avatar is the means of travel and communication. The user's personal spaces and clubs are means of expressing their selves and meeting new people and friends alike.

Avatar
The user can create their own avatar or use one of several preset avatars available in Home. Users can access the Wardrobe from the Menu Pad at any time and location except when in another user's personal apartment. They may customise a variety of the characters features including gender, skin tone, hair, body shape and facial structure. They may also customise their avatar's clothing and accessories using a set of standard items, items bought from one of the clothing shops in Home's shopping complex, or won items from Home's mini-games or PS3 games that support Home rewards. The user has the ability to save up to nine versions of their avatar for quick access at any time.

Personal Spaces
Each user has a Personal Space, called a "HomeSpace", which they can modify and change any time they are in it. The initial basic apartment, the Harbour Studio (a studio overlooking a harbour), is free and offers users limited options, such as a 50 item limit, for customisation and personalisation. In the future, Sony will provide tools that will enable users to have an even greater ability to create their own Personal spaces and content. Users may invite any other Home user (even cross-region) to their Personal Space and in time, will be able to stream the host's music from their console's hard drive. Videos may be enabled in the future, but not during the opening stages of the beta. Users can also place their own digital photographs in picture frames to display on the wall of their apartment; this feature is currently available to the Asian, Japanese, and North American versions. Whilst the Harbour Studio and basic furniture is provided to all users free of charge, premium Personal Spaces, dedicated furniture for the premium Personal Spaces, and other furniture is available to purchase from the shopping complex. Some furniture and decorative ornaments can be won from the mini-games in Home and PS3 games that support Home rewards.

Premium Personal spaces that are available from the Home Estates store include the Summer House, the Lakeside Log Cabin, the City Penthouse, the Visari Throne Room, the Post Apocalypse Apartment, the Neptune Suite , the MotorStorm Monument Valley Campsite, the Zombie DeadQuarters , The Lost Dam Hideout , The Pirate Galleon Apartment , and LocoRoco Island. The Ratchet & Clank: Home Sweet Home apartment is available from the Grummelnet Superstore in the Ratchet & Clank game space.

The Visari Throne Room is based on Visari's Throne Room from the last level of Killzone 2. The Chamber Apartment was a free personal space that was only available from May 14, 2009 to May 21, 2009 in the North American Home. Users who own Batman: Arkham Asylum can unlock a special Batman: Arkham Asylum Batcave Outpost personal apartment. Users who pre-order MAG from Amazon.com will receive an S.V.E.R. PlayStation Home Personal Space. The Neptune Suite personal space, made by Mass Media, is the first underwater personal space, the first personal space to be released with a mini-game, and is the first personal space to include an interactive pet. The Zombie DeadQuarters apartment was made by Undead Yourself.com and comes with two free zombie costumes for anyone who visits this personal space. The Pirate Galleon Apartment made by Ndreams  is a pirate ship with an canon mini-game and a tropical Bar.

In time, Home will have a Hall of Fame which will include "Trophy Rooms". The Trophy Room is a Personal Space where users are able to display 3D representations of their PlayStation Network Trophies.