Michael Marsh, an 18-year-old gamer from Norwalk, Conn., wanted to set up a gay/straight alliance club in PlayStation Home, Sony's new free 3-D virtual world component for the PlayStation 3.
The problem was that the words he was using - "gay," "lesbian" and "bisexual" - were being filtered from text chats and were not being allowed in the naming of clubs or in postings in club forums. Marsh, who is straight but supports gay rights, said he raised the issue with Home community managers during the private beta test, but the problems persisted after the public beta introduction of Home on Dec. 11.
I can understand if they're filtering out profanity, but if feel like it's discrimination," Marsh said. "By blocking a word like 'gay,' which is a preferred term by the gay community, you're encouraging it as a bad word."
The censorship issue is just one of a number of glitches and problems that have dogged Home, which was designed as a virtual social community for gamers. Users had trouble getting into the world on the first day and continued to have trouble connecting, prompting Sony to issue a patch aimed to fixing those problems. The fix, however, temporarily suspended voice chat.
But connections haven't been the only issue. Users have taken to Home forums to complain about harassment in the virtual world, with some women and minorities speaking up about racist or sexist comments. Others have complained that the virtual items in Home, like Diesel clothing, are priced too high. And a few have noticed their items have a way of disappearing from their virtual apartments when they're away.
Sony Computer Entertainment America spokesman Patrick Seybold said the company is working to improve Home on a daily basis and is incorporating user concerns and suggestions. He emphasized that while the virtual world is open to the public, it is still being tested and is a work in progress.
"The key message is it's a beta and it's evolving on a daily basis," he said. "We've said early on that user behavior and feedback will shape where we go with Home."
In the case of the censored words, Seybold said, Home employed filters to prevent defamation in Home's closed test version. But when the service went public, he said, it should have started allowing those words. Some other users, however, noticed that the filtering continued, and blocked words like "Christ," "Jew" and even "Hello," which apparently was flagged because it starts with the word "hell." Seybold said the company is looking into the censoring of words in Home's clubs.
Sony has reminded Home visitors about its policy of zero tolerance, which allows users to report abuses in Home to community moderators. And they're actively soliciting feedback.
The long-delayed Home has been a major undertaking for Sony as it tries to build a more robust online community around its PlayStation 3 video game console. The world is not only aimed at fostering more connections between gamers but also represents money-making opportunities for Sony and other brands that want to sell virtual goods.
Ted Pollak, a market analyst at Jon Peddie Research and portfolio manager for the Electronic Entertainment Fund, said users need to be patient with Home, which is bound to have numerous kinks in the beginning. He said it took other virtual worlds and online games like Second Life and World of Warcraft a while to get a handle on problems and address them.
"I have to respect Sony for its Home efforts because it's a fascinating environment and it's very, very complex," Pollak said. "There's no way anyone can come out with a perfect virtual world out of the gate."
Still, users of Home are impatient and want Sony to make the fixes, particularly about the censorship issue.
"It's not enough to say it's a beta," said Kevin Johnson, a 52-year-old retired graphic artist who has been following the issue since he started as a private beta tester. "Sony is major company, and they should have had a good understanding of these issues long ago. And it was brought to their attention before the open beta was launched."
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