What should Sony’s ‘goodwill gesture’ be?

A free PSN game? Maybe a personal information theft warning? The GamePro Staff discusses what Sony should offer up as a “goodwill gesture” after PSN is finally restored.

Julian’s Take

I don’t want to be too greedy, but ultimately Sony needs to do something to cheer us all up after keeping us on tenterhooks for a week wondering whether or not we’ve had critical personal data stolen.

I think either a voucher for a free download – perhaps something that has a monetary value so we can spend it on whatever we want, or put it against the cost of something more expensive – or perhaps a choice of a couple of free minigames from a nice selection would be a welcome gesture.

Jason’s Take

The only thing I’d want for Sony is for them to pay for credit report monitoring for all of the affected accounts. This will mean more to the people who got their information stolen than any free game or other gamer-related perk.

Justin’s Take

I don’t need any free stuff. If Sony comes back from this with an online system that doesn’t require me to spend an hour updating every month, and an additional hour waiting to update every game before I’m able to play, I’ll be happy. What I don’t want them to do is compound these already time-consuming problems with more regular, interminably long patches. It’s like at the airport — sure some people might feel more secure by all the smoke-and-mirrors extra security the TSA implemented after 9/11, but has that really been effective?

I understand that some of my personal information is at risk when I had it over to any site (which is why I always go by my online alias, Winston Howell III). Sony needs to find a real, permanent solution that doesn’t feel like a huge unnecessary inconvenience. I think if they do it right and partner with credit companies in a meaningful way, they might be able to improve their public persona after all this.

Kat’s Take

To be perfectly honest, my world hasn’t exactly been turned upside down by this whole PlayStation Network fiasco (apart from being unable to download a free custom theme I with Super Robot Taisen Z2, anyway). I mostly use my PS3 to watch my blu-ray collection, and I can live without whatever online functionality might be affected by PSN. I suspect that will continue to be the case until Namco Bandai finally gets around to porting Gundam Extreme Versus to the PS3.

That said, I’ll happily accept a free copy of Dead Nation.

Ray’s Take

Since the disasters in Japan, I’ve heard a lot about cell phones that blare “earthquake alarms” just before something strikes. So, I think Sony could adopt something similar — How about sending out some sort of desk clock that broadcasts a warning signal when my personal information gets stolen again?

When it happens, of course; not a week later.