Results 1 to 16 of 16

Thread: Website preview

  1. #1

    Default Website preview

    Luca's been going on about a new site for the European players, since I'm no longer able to post on the GN forums I decided to post the link here and offer my feedback.

    http://www.gnonline.net/horizons/

    It's only a preview just now, but it's basically a redesign of the old Horizons website. New features appear to be a guild listing, patch information, and a place for players to post player-organised events.

    The site itself is very image intensive, although right now it is one big image and I would hope that the final version of the site is highly optimised. Regardless, it will still be heavy on dial-up surfers. It also doesn't seem to be suited for resolutions less than 1024x768.

    I would hope to see GN collaborating with Tulga on creating one unified site for all Horizons players, with features such as the online consigner viewer that is available to the North American players. More to the point, a centralised resource instead of this branching away from the existing community foundations that has been demonstrated. It makes much more sense for both GN and Tulga to work together and create a one-stop shop for all of us, because to be honest it's getting a bit frustrating visiting two sets of forums, and soon two community websites.

    btw the market feature of the preview is likely to be a place for players to post their own items for sale, either for a fixed price or an auction. I don't think we'll be seeing a replication of the online consigner feature I mentioned above initially, at least not in the short-term.

    I am pleased to see GN actually doing something, I wish they could work closely with Tulga though because it feels like I'll spend more time going through multiple forums and soon multiple websites, than I'll be able to spend time playing the game [:P]

  2. #2

    Default Re: Website preview

    I also prefer sites that are for all hz players, not only the european ones. I can't help thinking about a 'divide and conquer' strategy of GN. I don't want to feel isolated as a European player and I think the input of the North American players (especially their rants and suggestions) are very instructive. As for guild listings, non-online marketing and community events -- we can have those on the existing information boards.

    Meanwhile after a long search I finally found a site that has the informations that former tazoon.com had and more -- about skills schools, treasures, buildings an so on: http://horizons.gamersinfo.net/ [8-|]

    That was what I needed most -- as for the new European horizons site I wait and see.


    snickel wigglsniff (retired) Twilight Crusaders on Unity
    poggle wigglsniff (gnomish crafter and mage) semi-retired on Order
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    A gnomish house should not just sit there, it should definitely DO something!

  3. #3

    Default Re: Website preview

    Will the change to the website make it like what it is on the NA shards?

    And why would you not be able to post in the GN forum Tzael? [:#]
    Uroloki Chaos (Unity)(ice)

  4. #4

    Default Re: Website preview



    Quote Originally Posted by snickel
    I also prefer sites that are for all hz players, not only the european ones. I can't help thinking about a 'divide and conquer' strategy of GN. I don't want to feel isolated as a European player and I think the input of the North American players (especially their rants and suggestions) are very instructive. As for guild listings, non-online marketing and community events -- we can have those on the existing information boards.

    Meanwhile after a long search I finally found a site that has the informations that former tazoon.com had and more -- about skills schools, treasures, buildings an so on: http://horizons.gamersinfo.net/ [img]/Web//emoticons/emotion-15.gif[/img]

    That was what I needed most -- as for the new European horizons site I wait and see.

    There's no "conquer" strategy behind the simple idea of relaunching an existingwebsite with a new design and new features.

    I just want to remind you that since the beginning Horizons had North American shards for North American users and European shards for European users. Each set of shard always had different websites and (apart from the beta testing period) also different officialForums.

    I also remind you that we entered in this project because the developers were looking for a partner to manage the european market of Horizons, so there's hardly space for us to do any "divide and conquer" strategy.

    Two different website for two communities playing on different shards which are also located in different parts of the world and in different timezones is something that makes sense (from my humble point of view) and something that is usually done in this market for similar situations where two different companies manage the game for different areas.

    You will not be isolated, you will be still able to join North American players in their discussion... but since the community you play with is the European one, for anything that relates to the playing community of Unity you'll have a specific source of information that will be the new website.

    On a final note this website is being done also because we received several requests for it, because (on the contrary) several European players felt they were missing their "own place" on theInternet where to meet and where to look for information.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Website preview



    Wicked cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

  6. #6
    Member Joaqim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Unity and sometimes germany
    Posts
    426

    Default Re: Website preview

    Great work!
    I see nothing wrong that Unity has it's own website whith all that nice stuff[;)]

    Joaqim - Multiclassed God on Unity
    "I'm Immortal, I'm Glorious, I'm Supreme, I'm My Saviour"

    Beleenda - Goddess of Melee
    "Kill 'em all, let God sort them out"

  7. #7

    Default Re: Website preview

    Quote Originally Posted by Luca Mazzasogni
    Two different website for two communities playing on different shards which are also located in different parts of the world and in different timezones is something that makes sense (from my humble point of view) and something that is usually done in this market for similar situations where two different companies manage the game for different areas.
    How about one website where all the global information is shared, and with seperate sections for Unity, Chaos, Order and Blight ? Doesn't that make much more sense instead of multiple websites serving up almost identical information ? There is nothing stopping such a site having consignment listings for all shards, player event calendar for all shards, guild listing for all shards, and so on. All it needs is a means of only viewing information for the relevant shard, and if we use the online consigner listing as an example, it already provides seperate listings for Blight, Chaos and Order. What's stopping it being taken a step further to include Unity ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Luca Mazzasogni
    On a final note this website is being done also because we received several requests for it, because (on the contrary) several European players felt they were missing their "own place" on theInternet where to meet and where to look for information.
    Game Networkgot more than two but fewer than ten (several is a typical reference to the number three in the english language, but is never more than nine) requests for a new website, so went ahead with it ? Ohhhhkay...

  8. #8

    Default Re: Website preview

    About the unified website we already stated our reasons and as said it has been like that since the beginning (and so far we didn't get any complaint about it, so I fail to get why it becomesa problem only now that we decide to have re-design and re-launch of our website). What's stopping to include Unity to an already existing website is that a website is a very important tool under several aspects (support, marketing and so on) and to be used properly it surely requires a certain degree of control and freedom. There's nothing else we can say about this since I believe we said it all already, you might want to address the same questions to Tulga Games but I don't think you will get a very different reply considering that it was a common decision to keep separated everything since the beginning.

    It should be common knowledge already that English is not my mother language, but I apologize for the miserable mistake about the usage of the word "several". It is obvious that the number of requests was higher than that.

    Anyhow, according to my English dictionary the word "also" (thatI used in that sentence) means "in addition" so the meaning of the whole sentence, which should be quite clear I hope, is that the players requests were an "additional" reasons to the other reasons we already had to work on a new website.

    Hopefully I cleared out some doubts about my previous post.

  9. #9
    Member Joaqim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Unity and sometimes germany
    Posts
    426

    Default Re: Website preview

    Quote Originally Posted by Tzael
    [img]/Web/Themes/Generic/images/icon-quote.gif[/img]Luca Mazzasogni wrote: On a final note this website is being done also because we received several requests for it, because (on the contrary) several European players felt they were missing their "own place" on theInternet where to meet and where to look for information.

    Game Networkgot more than two but fewer than ten (several is a typical reference to the number three in the english language, but is never more than nine) requests for a new website, so went ahead with it ? Ohhhhkay...
    Huh you can read Luicas mailbox? Anything other, interesting in there? Or how do you know anything about the number of requests in there? Ah yes several....hmm no native speaker there ingame I also talk about "several" while others calling it "shitloads"...

    Joaqim - Multiclassed God on Unity
    "I'm Immortal, I'm Glorious, I'm Supreme, I'm My Saviour"

    Beleenda - Goddess of Melee
    "Kill 'em all, let God sort them out"

  10. #10
    Member Joaqim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Unity and sometimes germany
    Posts
    426

    Default Re: Website preview

    Quote Originally Posted by Luca Mazzasogni
    It should be common knowledge already that English is not my mother language, but I apologize for the miserable mistake about the usage of the word "several". It is obvious that the number of requests was higher than that.
    Well maybe this threat is becoming a good chance to improve our english skills - speaking as non native speaker as well[:P]

    Joaqim - Multiclassed God on Unity
    "I'm Immortal, I'm Glorious, I'm Supreme, I'm My Saviour"

    Beleenda - Goddess of Melee
    "Kill 'em all, let God sort them out"

  11. #11

    Default Re: Website preview

    Thankyou for your response Luca. For what it is worth, english isn't my first language either but I guess living in the UK and having to speak the language every day except to my family is a big help to myself.

    Quote Originally Posted by Luca Mazzasogni
    What's stopping to include Unity to an already existing website is that a website is a very important tool under several aspects (support, marketing and so on) and to be used properly it surely requires a certain degree of control and freedom.
    Control and freedom. Is it fair to say that this is an important factor that has motivated the establishment of seperate forums and website for the Unity playerbase ?

    I notice you mention support and marketing there, so if the answer to the last question is 'yes', then might I ask what is preventing GN and Tulga collaborating on these elements of the equation? Surely the old saying 'two heads are better than one' would have some weight here, especially considering that both companies are selling the same product ? There are some things that GN might be able to do better, such as multilingual support, there are other things that Tulga are better suited for, such as publicity.

    From the perspective of a player who cares passionately about the game and wants what is best for everyone, collaboration and a show of unity (eww... pun, not intentional [:(]) from both companies is in the best interest of the playerbase, regardless of which server someone is playing on.

  12. #12

    Default Re: Website preview

    Quote Originally Posted by Luca Mazzasogni
    (...) There's nothing else we can say about this since I believe we said it all already, you might want to address the same questions to Tulga Games but I don't think you will get a very different reply considering that it was a common decision to keep separated everything since the beginning. (...)
    I still think that (regardless of the advantages that might have had) it was an unfortunate decision. To establish two separate websites, yet to always emphasize that there are no differences in the game that the players on other servers and the Unity players play is a case of mixed messages and the resulting questions and doubts about the accuracy of such pronouncements should surprise noone. It seems a case of 'you can't have a cake and eat it, too'.

    The only real advantage I could imagine for a european site is multilinguality -- so are there plans to include french and german (or even italian) language sections?
    snickel wigglsniff (retired) Twilight Crusaders on Unity
    poggle wigglsniff (gnomish crafter and mage) semi-retired on Order
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    A gnomish house should not just sit there, it should definitely DO something!

  13. #13

    Default Re: Website preview



    Yes, there are no substantial differences in the game itself... what is different is the place where people play and the community itself (other than the management under which they play).

    About multilanguage our plan is to currently keep the game information section in 4 languages (English, French, German and Italian) using the text taken from the current version of europe.istaria.com for, but the whole website will be based on English language.

  14. #14

    Default Re: Website preview

    For the ones not registered to the GN-online forums:
    http://forum.gnonline.net/showthread.php?t=18945


    cya back in game soon!
    Royall on Order / Royal_wind_unity, Royall on Chaos
    Dinsdag on EU-Evernight (LOTRO)

  15. #15

    Default Re: Website preview

    What was the point of GN working on a new Horizons website, only to walk away from it before any functionality has been added ? Can we get more than a half-baked solution please ?

    This website was supposed to be the European answer to Tulga's community site, and while I don't like the idea of having multiple websites, I was hopeful that we might eventually get things like the web based consignment listings, regular news updates, plots available for sale, and the various other features available to Tulga's customers.

    Luca told me that their web designer left, however a web designer is not responsible for back-end functionality. To that end, last year I told Luca that if he wanted assistance from professional developers, he could consider using the services of the company I work for. He gave me his email address, I sent him a request for a basic functionality specification, and guess what ? Absolutely no reply. It seems to me that GN have no interest in developing this site further, they won't even take the simple step required of supplying a basic functionality overview in order to obtain a quote for the remaining work.

    I would love to see the website completed. I would love to give the EU community all the functionality (and more on top) that is available to Tulga's customers. All I ask is that GN show some interest. Please consider all the customers who end up looking at the half-baked website and turn away because of the lack of completion. They say a website often reflects the product it sells, it is in GN's best interests to see the website completed.

  16. #16

    Default Re: Website preview

    omg Tzeal, you offer your service and they just ignore the Scot?
    how rude... I wonder what they're doing behind the scenes..
    laughing and partying? maybe hibernating?
    Royall on Order / Royal_wind_unity, Royall on Chaos
    Dinsdag on EU-Evernight (LOTRO)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •