It's the house party that just won't die! They shut off the lights, turned the music down, locked the doors, and every once in awhile the Admins wander in wearing their bathrobes - yawning and looking around with an expression of "you're still here??... the party's over... go home". Over six years later, it seems that the party is indeed over. In about April of 2003, Sony first revealed the existance of a group called the "Gamer Advisory Panel", which became commonly referred to as "GAP". The group was essentially a focus group for various surveys as Sony worked on the development of both the PSP and the PS3.



The Gamer Advisory Panel was also an invite-only group and on receiving the invitation gamers were granted access to a private blogging portion of the Playstation site. Most new members received a fancy certificate of membership and also a welcome gift that changed over the years, but generally was an item like a hat, t-shirt, disc binder or other small item. In exchange for their involvement they were promised such things as the following:
* Opportunities to provide feedback (generally through various surveys, but also in response to blogs posted by the site admin) * Prioritized access to beta tests
* Opportunities to work at Playstation events and promotions (Ozzfest, Comic-con, and sometimes instore promotions at various locations) * Access to exclusive insider events, including contests
* A shot to win a trip to E3 (this contest was last held in 2006)

For the most part, the promises made were fulfilled. I got the invite in early 2006, a few months after registering a launch PSP. I was admittedly a bit puzzled about the certificate which stated that I was apparently "one of the most elite, involved gamers in the Playstation Underground". I had only made a few posts on the PSU and my gaming skillz were hardly "elite"! After awhile I soon came to realize that membership was likely either entirely random or particular demographics were targeted (acquisition of newer consoles seemed a definite factor as most newcomers had a PSP and later newcomers had a PS3).



The biggest promise was the "power to shape the future of gaming" which did happen. Early members received many surveys which helped to shape the current PSP and PS3 units and many of the contests were unique. One I still remember was for the God of War 2 Alternate costume contest. GAP members submitted their alternate costume ideas and then they also got to vote on the submissions to select the final costume. Amusingly GAP members voted for the "COD of War" costume, and astonishingly the Devs actually fulfilled their promise and included the costume in the final game. It illustrated that gamers have a sense of humour, and it was a fun addition to a fairly serious game - indeed changing "the future of gaming" to some small extent.



So GAP served it's purpose and more members were added to GAP regularly in giant waves of invites where the community was flooded with "hi I'm new" posts. Slowly things changed though. With the release of the PSP and PS3 the surveys decreased. When the Playstation.blog became a reality and feedback could be more direct, surveys to GAP members ceased. Data that once they relied on GAP members for, they now had direct access to. With the PSP and PS3 being connected to the web, Sony now had access to what games were being played, how long, the movies we watched, how many unique users used a PSP or PS3 unit, the web sites we surfed, how many friends we have or don't have, heck, they probably even know what we eat for breakfast (and quit scratching yourself there... it's not polite!) With this "hard data", new alternate feedback mechanisms such as the Playstation blog, and the ability to send out betas electronically without a physical disc or UMD... input from GAP members became obsolete and basically not needed.

About a year ago, new members stopped appearing. New contests became increasingly rare, and beta invites came through pre-orders, random selection or PSU forum participation. There were no new surveys and the website itself began to become outdated and stale with old contests, old promises and old information that was never changed or updated. Members gradually left for the usual reasons... school, life changes, other websites. With no new incoming members, active participation in the GAP community decreased. However, Sony seemed to forget that it's people that make the party. Even with no music, no booze, no cake and no balloons... the people there have formed a community. While it's not always a "happy" community, the GAP site is still "home" to many gamers. So what do you do with a group that refuses to leave when the party's over? Sony essentially created a prestigious private club and everyone wanted in. To this day there are still threads on the PSU forums with enquiries regarding "how do I get into GAP?". Do you tell them that you're shutting the doors and give them a timeline? Do you hope that eventually they finally do drunkenly wander off and you can quietly close the doors? Do you create a new program (possibly P.S. Thanks) and invite them in? Do you kick them out on their asses and quickly lock the door behind them? Could (and should) the program be reinvented? Sony could learn a lot about group mechanics by looking at GAP more closely. How large gaming groups work, the benefits to Sony, how groups could better be incorporated and catered to.... but that's another blog!

I used to be a very active member on GAP and was even a GAP moderator for several years. I came to Destructoid, because I started looking for a new gaming community. Somewhere that I could game online with other people, somewhere that I could read and write... and somewhere that what I write might actually be noticed by Playstation. In all honesty I don't think they read GAP anymore, and have rather forgotten about us. In some ways I'm glad they shut the party down as otherwise I would never have joined Destructoid... but in many other ways I'm saddened not by the loss of the "perks" of being a GAP member, but rather by the loss of the community. I still lurk on GAP and occasionally participate, but the site's stagnation and unknown future is unsettling and makes me feel sad. Playstation's Gamer Advisory Panel seems to have become "forgotten". :(