In the world of social media, new networks are constantly popping into existence and then fading away when they fail to become the next Facebook (or Twitter, or TikTok, etc.). Still, last week’s shutdown of the PS4’s Communities features (and the lack of a suitable replacement on the PS5) has left many PlayStation fans bitter about the death of a vibrant space they used to connect with fellow gamers.

For those who never had a chance to join a PS4 Community, the groups served as a kind of player-created and moderated message board system, accessible directly via the PS4’s system menu (and through the PlayStation Mobile app, before that connection was shut off last year). Members could share text messages, screenshots, wallpapers, and more on a shared “Community Wall” or form parties to chat and play multiplayer titles together with other online members.

Specific PS4 Communities could form around a single game or series, a geographic area, a cultural grouping, or just shared general interests (“Smoke&Play” and “Vaping Gamers” were popular Communities at one point).

“My reaction to the Communities going away at first was quite a shock if I’m honest,” said Alex Richards, who said he belonged to 15 different PS4 Communities, some with tens of thousands of users focused on PS4 trophy hunting. “Overall, I felt like it was like having to say goodbye to a virtual family of sorts, as I had met some fantastic people through being a part of the Communities, and knowing that the platform we all shared as people and gamers [would] suddenly disappear was a real shame.”

Richards was so upset by the shutdown that he put together a “RIP PSN Communities” video on YouTube, complete with maudlin music and sad gray raindrops casting a pall over the proceeding. “Thank you for the memories and the good times we shared,” he wrote in a video chyron.

Welcome to your PS4

Richards is not alone in mourning the PS4’s Community features and the unique ways they let players connect with others. “It was an extraordinarily convenient setup,” Australian PS4 owner Ian Mackinder told Ars. “If you wanted to send a picture or make a comment or whatever during play, it was just a few seconds’ work to flip from the game, do [a] post on whichever Community you chose, then return to play.”

That simplicity led to PS4 Communities forming around some interesting and unexpected shared interests. “The best example I can think of is one guy who set up a Community specifically for pictures from all PS4 games,” Mackinder said. “There was even a regular weekly competition where a theme would be specified (e.g. “emotion,” “black and white,” “heights,” etc.). Entries would come in from all games imaginable. No prizes, just… positive feedback and seeing who’d get first, second, third, etc.”

For others, the appeal of PS4 Communities was more utilitarian. “For games like Destiny 2, some [high-level] activities don’t have matchmaking, so it was the only way to squad up for endgame content,” PS4 Communities user Lesvix told Ars. “On the big Community, you had posts every minute so it was very convenient to find people.”

“Also, as an adult, I don’t like to play with children, so the community helped find people of the same age,” Lesvix continued. “When searching for people, you can mention 18+ in the post [and get] no children.”

For many, PS4 Communities were a welcoming way to get acclimated to a new title in the same place you were playing it. “Picture yourself a new gamer with a new game. Where do you turn for info?” PS4 Communities fan Blackdwag07 (who asked to go by his PSN handle) asked rhetorically. “YouTube is great, but it’s a video, maybe years old. With Communities, you could go to them [and easily find] info, news, wallpapers, and groups and friends to play with. I could ask any questions and get answers faster than searching Google, and better answers also.”

“The Communities were a valuable means of meeting fellow players, for new arrivals seeking guidance, and for both seeking and providing general advice/assistance,” Mackinder added. He cited the PS4 Communities for No Man’s Sky in particular as “very positive places. Any newbie who fronted up asking for advice could be sure of getting a response.”

Not every PS4 Community was so welcoming, of course. Many languished from a lack of activity or quickly got filled with spam or toxic harassment. But the players I talked to suggested that the PS4 Communities they stuck with were much less prone to abuse than other online spaces.

“There were many communities where the ‘owner’ had, for some reason or another, basically abandoned the community and left it completely unmoderated, meaning that pretty much any troll or griefer with the energy would have free rein for as long as they chose,” Mackinder said. “Communities that were properly looked after had no such problem.” Mackinder suggested that a basic check-in from Sony to see if Community owners and moderators were still engaged could have prevented a lot of the worst abuses in unmoderated spaces.

“I also owned a couple of communities myself, including one called PlayStation Network Addicts, which was more of a variety community,” Richards said. “It was a safe and inclusive space for all kinds of gamers and for the time in which it existed, I feel like it served its purpose well.”

Where to now?

When Sony announced the pending PS4 Communities shutdown last month, users were left scrambling to maintain their connections to the friends they had found through the network. “We thankfully have PSN Messages, including group chats and parties, but… a group chat allows up to 100 people, whereas PSN Communities allowed up to 100,000 people,” Richards said.

Aside from personal group chats, Discord seems to be the main beneficiary of the shutdown, with many PS4 Community users telling me they had moved their social groups to the gaming-focused social service. But Mackinder lamented that these replacements are “not nearly as convenient as what we had. But there you go. Thank you, Sony.”

“Since I do have [other] social media, [Communities] being deleted didn’t affect me that much,” PS4 Community user Scourge HH told Ars. “But I have to imagine, people who are more wary or shy regarding social media are probably feeling it much more, since they lost a huge social interaction feature, connected to the very games they play. I used to see a lot of people posting gaming compliments or finds on the different Communities.”

In the end, many PS4 players (and new PS5 owners) may never even realize that PS4 Communities are gone—Sony’s removal of the feature certainly suggests it wasn’t popular with a critical mass of the user base. Still, among the PS4 Communities users I talked to, Sony’s decision to shutter the feature has generally left them with a more negative view of the PlayStation as a whole.

“If there is no social space on PSN, I am thinking of switching to PC, and I have been using Sony since the PS1,” Lesvix said. “It’s funny how PlayStation gave free games as part of ‘Play at Home,’ but without Communities, it is more like ‘Play alone!'”

“I’d also add that there is a lot of bitterness about Sony’s actions,” Mackinder said. “No one expected much basic consideration from them, but a very common sentiment now is ‘My next console will be Xbox.'”

“In short, Sony has removed a huge quality-of-life feature from its services and has made sure that I at least will not purchase a PS5,” Blackdawg03 said. “Honestly, [Communities] made Sony games so much better because there was this huge group you could turn to. Other players would give their time, game materials and currency, help, and friendship to help you master your ‘lifelong game.'”

“I’m sorry for being emotional, but we lost our place to belong.”

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1758966