That's my point--they aren't listening. Even when we point out that something is broken (like the History pages, which I know for a fact emails have been sent about).

Please just get into the Game and Trade with Hundreds of Real Players.

Real Players

So as I sit here eating ice cream from the container, I can't help but wonder why. Why are they so dead-set on talking to potential new players like they're idiots??

I swear, that whole thing on the front page just...it sounds like an ad for a crappy facebook game trying to lure in the simple-minded with shiny things, not Lusternia. Lusternia isn't the kind of game that should be trying to reach people who are amazed by the concept of "Real Players"; that is entirely the wrong target audience. The target audience who enjoys games like Lusternia wants to see the histories and read about the unique features of the game-- oops that's right THEY DON'T EVEN WORK ON THE SITE.

Also I am Rather Irritated by The Obnoxious Capitalization Scheme they have Chosen for Said Idiot Box.

Everything that got me interested in Lusternia when I first found the website (the old one, but that goes without saying) is either swept into the corner or a broken link on this new site. If it was just ugly, fine, I could live with it. Whatever, I'm picky, I know that. But when I try to tell people about Lusternia who I think would enjoy it now, I find myself apologizing for the website, and hastily linking them to old.lusternia before they can look up the current site themselves, because I know if this is what they were first greeted with, they would never give the game a chance.

I'm actually getting rather annoyed that what we're saying is being ignored. Seriously, if you wanna keep the ugly new design, fine, I will let you keep it. But fix the broken we've been pointing out for literally months now so I can at least directly link people to the actual good parts they want to see. Seriously. Bold, italics, underline!

Don't give 'em any ideas.

I'd email again, but I never even got a response to my last one, so screw it.

EDIT: Oh, this cracks me up. Front page: "Need Help? No idea what this game is all about? Do you want to know more about text games?"

Why no, I DON'T know what the game is about, because you have put EXACTLY ZERO information about the game on the front page of your website. ZERO.

Though I'm really not the one to talk to (feel free to contact IRE directly), I do know that the front page has been tweaked and they consolidated the information. I also know that research has shown that walls of text is the quickest way to drive people away which is why you don't see a detailed description of the game. It's my understanding that the goal is to have new players get into the game where (hopefully!) they'll be so welcomed and intrigued that they'll stick around long enough to find out all the important stuff. In other words, while I know you guys have the best intention with your recommendations, there is rhyme and reason to why the site is designed as its designed. Significant resources went into R&D of the site and I doubt there will be the type of redesign that some people seem to think is needed.

Anyway, I do believe IRE listens to people and I understand there is some movement to have the front page change for those who are logged in so more information would be available for actual players rather than those incoming for the first time.

For those who want to contact IRE, my recommendation is to make small suggestions rather than grand sweeping advice on how the site should be completely overhauled.

Uh, this is a text game. If they're going to be driven off by walls of text, then this is not the place for them, in my opinion.

I think all we're really asking for is a return to the old style of organization -- not lumping all the race, city, and class info, and the wiki, the forums, the blogs, etc. into one "Game Info" page, but spreading it out into categories like "Features," "World," "Organizations," "Community," "Help," etc. As I mentioned before, Achaea and Imperian are both designed this way, and I don't see them having any problems or getting an overhaul. I completely understand being brief on the front page, but more information will be needed once a player's interest has been caught, and they need to be able to find it easily.

But more than anything, the site needs to work. There are too many "page not found" errors. The entire history section is missing!

Edit: Yay, it's back! Now I can learn things! Clicking maps to get them full-sized still leads to "page not found," though.

I think Estarra has made it clear that complaining here is pointless. The best option is to contact IRE directly. As for Achaea's website, my understanding is that the reason for its current layout is that it hasn't yet gone through the website overhaul the other IREs have.

Fairly certain they've tried that too.

Yeah, really. If they're using market research that isn't specific to MUDs, I'd be very wary about how much, if any, actually applies. I can understand being concise, but if they're going to tl;dr right off the bat, they're not going to, you know, play the game that is nothing but reading.

That's fine, you don't need to say everything on the front page. But I think that space, that very first space people are greeted with, should have substance. It's nothing right now, and has nothing to hook potential players. Don't say "Free! Always! Wow! Real people! Whoa! TEXT! AMAZING!" Put down things about Lusternia that interest people! A line about influencing, one for villages, aetherspace, the quests, the histories...have each one of them link to the other part of the site where they can read more if they want. That way, the front page stays without having all the detail on it, but there is still an indication that those things exist. The things people want to see!

Because to be honest, the things that are listed there now aren't exactly unique. Games that try to shove "FREEEEEEEEEE" down your throat are 99% guaranteed to be offering something that's more along the lines of "free, BUT..." Which IS true of Lusternia, but not to the extent to a lot of other "free" games out there. But waving it around all over the place, I think, has people associate it with the worst of the games that follow that plan. That is, the obnoxious ones with no substance.

I just think that, um...it's aiming towards a part of the market that isn't...the part that Lusternia tends to attract and keep. If you want new players who bring in fresh money for credits, you have to be going after people who like MUDs (and also have money to spend that isn't their mom's), not the apparent 15-year-old facebook gamer target audience it's pointed towards now.

That's my take on it, at least.

And the point that we're making is that IRE is (to all appearances) completely ignoring us.

A website design that is logically laid out in such a manner that people can easily find what they are looking for is superior to one that is not laid out in such a manner; the website has been moving away from the former, unfortunately.

I also know that when I started, being able to find the histories, read up on races, etc. was very important; I did all that before creating a character (heck, I've done that with pretty much every MUD I've ever tried to play). I just can't do that on the current website without wanting to tear out my hair, it's set up in such a way to make that a complete headache.

Even if Estarra can't do anything about it directly, I'd like to think that she has the ability to say, "You know, there's a significant portion of the player base that just is not digging this website design despite our market research..." which may or may not be more effective than us sending emails that get ignored. At least here we get a response.

(Thank you for the response, by the way!)

I pointed this thread out to IRE weeks ago when it started so I am passing on concerns expressed here. So yes, I have the ability and have done so.

I too dislike the current website, although the Divine Havens blog thing has been a nice addition.

Anyway, Estarra should be proud that there are so many people who care about Lusternia to the extent that they care about how it is perceived by new people. Like the game has volunteer coders, perhaps there is a volunteer website designer out there who'd be willing to offer an alternative design to IRE? There should be some reimbursement of course if the design ends up being used, but it's easy to say, "Ugh, terrible. CHANGE IT!," harder to offer an alternative that caters for what they were trying to do with the new one.

Hell fix the damn things that are broken, like the entire histories, and you'll get on our good side. What good is a shiny new (ineffective) website when the most important part, the meat of the information of the game, is a "page not found error". This was pointed out months ago.

Don't forget the maps...

The history section works now, all sections, and has the new Elder Wars books.

I would suggest adding links at the top of the Vernal Wars page that leads to each God's section further down the page, since it's such a long page. Might also consider doing that for each of the chapters of the Chronicles of the Holy Celestine Empire.

The maps appear to all be working as well, though I didn't take the time to check all of them. EDIT: Aha, you can't look at the big versions of the maps, but that's only really a problem with the full realm and Undervault maps.

Aww. Thanks Estarra.

Keep the suggestions coming in!

Yeah, I checked that earlier today before I made my other posts. I was like, "Oh, yes, the maps are here... oh, wait, never mind."