*SPOILER ALERT! This post contains images and information about my experience in Pottermore. So, if you don't want to know anything because you want to experience it all yourself, then now is the time to STOP READING THIS.
Still reading? Then I guess you don't mind, and so, feel free to read and enjoy! ^_^
It's been almost a week since I first entered Pottermore. I've been doing my best to help Slytherin earn House points. I've found all of the hidden objects, practiced casting spells to prepare for when dueling is up, and of course, brewing, brewing, and some more brewing.
Since like many of us, I have to deal with real life, and so, I cannot brew potions all day. But it helps to be aware of how much I need to make up for the time I couldn't help Slytherin out. And so, every now and then, I sneak a peek at the Great Hall to see the stats and monitor which House is currently in the lead. During my eight hours at work, I look at the Great Hall at least three times. I also drop inside our common room to make sure everyone is doing fine and that there are people trying to earn us some more points.
So, with the frequency of my visits to the Great Hall and the Slytherin common room, a few things have come to my attention.
FIRST, I don't know about you, but when I think of the Great Hall and the common rooms, I imagine that it is THE place in Hogwarts where the students get to mingle with each other. We get to talk to our Housemates in our common room, while we get to talk to our friends in other Houses while in the Great Hall. So I was a little disappointed when I realized that TALKING would be a bit difficult with just the current COMMENTS section. I'm not sure if this feature was made in order for us to communicate with each other, but it seems that is exactly what it's being used for now. So I think, Pottermore should really find a way to make it easier for us to communicate with each other while in these areas. I know they said that they are not a social networking site like Twitter or Facebook, but wouldn't it be AMAZING to get to talk to other Potterheads from all over the world? And we also need to talk to each other in order to get help in earning points. I mean, they allowed us to add each other as friends, so why not let us talk to each other easily. One way they could do this is by letting us reply to comments and get notifications when someone replies or mentions us anywhere on Pottermore. I find it very hard to scroll down all the comments just to check if someone answered a question I posted.
SECOND, I wish the Great Hall and the common room weren't just pages on Pottermore, but a more interactive area, like a room that we can explore, similar to the feature found in J.K. Rowling's Official Website. After reading the description of the Slytherin common room in the welcome letter, I was expecting to be able to roam around, click on a few doors, and explore the place. The same thing for the Great Hall, I was expecting that we could click on the tables where the different Houses would sit, and get to interact with our friends in those Houses. I was also hoping that the ceiling of the Great Hall would be shown changing depending on the weather or season. It was kind of sad to see that it was just a fixed page.
To sum it all up, I just really want Pottermore to offer more interactive and social features on their website. Harry Potter has such a HUGE fan base, and I'm sure a lot of us (like me) are really interested to get to interact with our friends about something that we love. If they are worried about CHILD SAFETY, then they could still do what they do with our comments and moderate them. Or, if they could include a chat feature for friends, then they could limit this to those users who are above 18 or 21. But if minors even get to use Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites, I don't think Pottermore should worry themselves over this and just give us the social features. I mean, kids do have parents anyway, so they could be the one's to moderate what's happening.
Again, just my thoughts. Tell me what you think. ^_~
So, with the frequency of my visits to the Great Hall and the Slytherin common room, a few things have come to my attention.
FIRST, I don't know about you, but when I think of the Great Hall and the common rooms, I imagine that it is THE place in Hogwarts where the students get to mingle with each other. We get to talk to our Housemates in our common room, while we get to talk to our friends in other Houses while in the Great Hall. So I was a little disappointed when I realized that TALKING would be a bit difficult with just the current COMMENTS section. I'm not sure if this feature was made in order for us to communicate with each other, but it seems that is exactly what it's being used for now. So I think, Pottermore should really find a way to make it easier for us to communicate with each other while in these areas. I know they said that they are not a social networking site like Twitter or Facebook, but wouldn't it be AMAZING to get to talk to other Potterheads from all over the world? And we also need to talk to each other in order to get help in earning points. I mean, they allowed us to add each other as friends, so why not let us talk to each other easily. One way they could do this is by letting us reply to comments and get notifications when someone replies or mentions us anywhere on Pottermore. I find it very hard to scroll down all the comments just to check if someone answered a question I posted.
SECOND, I wish the Great Hall and the common room weren't just pages on Pottermore, but a more interactive area, like a room that we can explore, similar to the feature found in J.K. Rowling's Official Website. After reading the description of the Slytherin common room in the welcome letter, I was expecting to be able to roam around, click on a few doors, and explore the place. The same thing for the Great Hall, I was expecting that we could click on the tables where the different Houses would sit, and get to interact with our friends in those Houses. I was also hoping that the ceiling of the Great Hall would be shown changing depending on the weather or season. It was kind of sad to see that it was just a fixed page.
To sum it all up, I just really want Pottermore to offer more interactive and social features on their website. Harry Potter has such a HUGE fan base, and I'm sure a lot of us (like me) are really interested to get to interact with our friends about something that we love. If they are worried about CHILD SAFETY, then they could still do what they do with our comments and moderate them. Or, if they could include a chat feature for friends, then they could limit this to those users who are above 18 or 21. But if minors even get to use Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites, I don't think Pottermore should worry themselves over this and just give us the social features. I mean, kids do have parents anyway, so they could be the one's to moderate what's happening.
Again, just my thoughts. Tell me what you think. ^_~
I think Pottermore's a really good learning tool to get kids on the internet.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it's only as good as there are parents behind the kids to teach them, but the fact that they don't use real names is a plus: only if the kid's dumb enough (or not supervised enough) will s/he tell his/her real name to a stranger, but Pottermore proposes a barrier (nickname) to this.
Otherwise, it's a strong invite to read the books while browsing the website.