Neopets Site Overhaul - Google Search/New Games Room

[pipsqueeek]

I've got kinda mixed feelings about this. As for the colors, I wish they'd tone them down a bit. Especially the yellow. I now that kinda orangey-yellow is neopets official color or something, but I find it kind of ugly and hard on the eyes. And if you don't have the default sidebar on it clashes horribly. And this is coming from someone who almost never notices when she's wearing clashing clothing. It would look much better as a kind of banana yellow, imo.

Icon style- I don't mind it all that much, really. Except for the puzzle games icon. That does not look like a puzzle piece.

They should take out the "for kids" section, in my opinion. All it's going to do is make people feel self conscious about playing those games and make it harder to find them. You'd expect volcano run to be action and wheel of excitment to be luck/chance, for example, and wouldn't think to look in the kids section. It doesn't really give you any idea of what the games are going to be like.

As far as bugs/stuff that's been left out- stuff that's already been said like the points ratio being missing and favorites/stockmarket links gone from front page, no quality option. Even though that doesn't bother me since I always play on high, I can see how it would be murder for people with slower computers. Etc. I'm not going to go through and restate what's already been said a bunch.

What bugs me the most though is that you can't open multiple game windows. When I play games ofen what I'll do is open up all my favorites, play one and when I'm done with it the next is already loaded and ready to go. Can't do that now. But what's even worse is that if you open a game when another's already up, it'll open in the same window. So if those games have differently proportioned windows, it completely screws things up.

[Pink]

What are the medals for?

[Daze]

First of all, this page: http://www.neopets.com/games/arcade.phtml .... You don't even have a link to all the different game categories! If I want to play a game, you have now added a click for me. I click "games" and if I don't have a game name to type in, I am forced to go either to action (the category of the featured game) or to the new releases. Why can't you put all the categories on the front page?! That is so aggravating! *tears out hair* If you read my normal customer service submissions you will know I am normally not emotional when submitting, but I think this was a TERRIBLE design flaw and I'm shocked it passed the approval process!!!

Secondly, I couldn't figure out how to get to a different category of game, besides to type in the url replacing "action" with "puzzle"..."luck"... oh wait, that didn't work either, because the names got changed! I finally had to type in the name of a luck game, and then click on its little icon.

So if I want to browse a category of games, I have to click games --> type in game name from that category, assuming I know one --> click the "game type" icon in that game's description... OR click games --> hope that when scrolling through the category that comes up, there will be a game that also sits in the category I WANT --> look at every game until I can find one and click it.

Not too sure what you mean by this. As far as I can see there are more categories than before and all are listed on the front page.

Sixteen categories + Featured Game.

IF you want to see what other games are in the category, then you click on the more link to open up the category.

To find a game using Search - it is the same as before.

I want to find a Dice Game - I type in Dice and these are the results:

Attack of the Gummy Dice
Dice-A-Roo
Bilge Dice
Dice Escape
All Fur One and One Fur All

If I can't remember where Splat-A-Sloth is, I just type in Splat, and I get:

Splat-A-Sloth
All Fur One and One Fur All


Nothing has changed with the Search feature.

[SierraRaven]

I can't help but feel that Viacom and Nick Jr. is turning Neopets into a site for younger kids. Bad move, IMHO.

Is anyone else having problems with the game room on Netscape or Mozilla? The page isn't loading correctly w/ Netscape (Mozilla engine). I'm on dial-up, so I make most of my NPs on games and stocks, rather than restocking my shop. This is really going to mess me up. I've been playing Neopets for almost 5 years, and I'm seriously thinking about subscribing to another game site instead.

[Arka]

Wooo. I just saw the Games room, and I agree with an earlier poster that the color is too bright. It blurs the headers of the types of games and makes after-images on my eyes. Yike!

The NP to score ratio is needed. Surely it will be able to be included.

Last edited by Arka on Thu Nov 23, 2006 12:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

[laurenb]

I can't help but feel that Viacom and Nick Jr. is turning Neopets into a site for younger kids. Bad move, IMHO.

Is anyone else having problems with the game room on Netscape or Mozilla? The page isn't loading correctly w/ Netscape (Mozilla engine). I'm on dial-up, so I make most of my NPs on games and stocks, rather than restocking my shop. This is really going to mess me up. I've been playing Neopets for almost 5 years, and I'm seriously thinking about subscribing to another game site instead.

I use Mozilla firefox, and it doesn't load wrong...I don't think...Nothing is overlapped or anything like that.

[unr4veled]

... This makes me feel like I just stepped into Nick Jr. to play games. It's almost giving me a pathetic feel like I'm wasting my time on a kid's site. And I never, ever looked at Neopets as that childish before -- but now it's really hit me.

I don't want to sound like the complaining bafoon, but it makes me really uncomfortable. I mean a 'Kids' category!?. What are we on here?. What about the older teens and adults?.
I'm 17 and I suddenly feel like a 7 year old. <_<;

I guess when it comes down to it.. I have only one thing to say:


If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I agree wholeheartedly. Although, i do see why they made it like that, but i think that they should have at least given us older folks a chance to avoid the pain. It would not have taken them more than a month to allow for more themes that just that central one in the gameroom. No, i don't like the layout. No, i don't like the curved corners. No, i don't like that yellow creepy game guy. And no, I don't like the stars. At all.

But what i really don't like, is those colors.

Yellow!!! Red!!!! Blue!!! Look at me!!! I'm colorful!!! Get your parents to give me money!!! ooohhhh!!! ooooh!!! yay!!!!

Anyway.
ahem.

I think what would have been really smart would have been to have the style of the gamesroom match that of your sidebar. Perhaps having that eye-numbing gameroom for the standard yellow sidebar, but something like this:


for if you have the Altador sidebar.

Now, mind you. That's not very good. I threw that together in 20 minutes, and the only reason it took me that long is because photoshop hates me.... but you get the idea.

So yes. I have faith in you neopets! You will make the right move... I know it.


Not really. Judging by the actions of Neopets in the past few years, it'll probably look like this:


By the end of the year.

-sigh-

Oh well... It was a good run.

[anjuna]

Not really. Judging by the actions of Neopets in the past few years, it'll probably look like this:


By the end of the year.

-sigh-

Oh well... It was a good run.

I think I actually prefer that to the current Games Room style. Nice job. (It's currrvvvierr on the eyes.)

EDIT: I know what the new Games Room reminds me of now. The Neopets Arcade! And the Games Room link is even called arcade.phtml

http://arcade.neopets.com/

[Meer]

Judging by the actions of Neopets in the past few years, it'll probably look like this:


By the end of the year.

-sigh-

Oh well... It was a good run.

That is a very very depressing comment. I really hate how much Neopets is becoming a kiddie site. Considering is was originally intended for people my age. Of course it's natural that kids will like the site, and I'm not saying it shouldn't be friendly for kids, but I hate the feeling that I'm being treated like a 6 year old. That feeling is pervasive and increasing more and more. I feel like little kid vibes are being shoved down my throat, or something. The very fact that there are categories called "for kids" and "educational" makes me want to scream.

But what can we do about it? Protest? That will do no good. I'm just wondering how much longer I can play this game before the kiddie-ness gets too much for me and it's not fun at all anymore.

On another note, has the featured game not changed for today? It's still Meerca Chase II. Seems to me it was that yesterday, but since my schedule is weird I could just be confused.

And my favorite sponsor games are FUBAR. I can't play lady in the tramp or whatever that other one is with the cat and the dog (crowd patrol games) because my score keeps getting reviewed, and tamagochi is totally unplayable because the words are all gone, and scores won't send at all.

[sily_sicily]

I see many of you commenting that neopets is becoming a kiddie site. But no. I know how the children feel, and don't think they like neopets to be becoming like that. Kids don't like to be teated very "kiddish", or in other words, treated like preschoolars...
And those bright colours hurt my eyes. Won't they hurt kids' eyes too?
Although I really do feel that neopets is getting abit too kiddish through the gamesroom, but I have to admit that after you click a game, sometimes the colour is green and I like that green (example).

Please don't be mistaken, I'm not a child. But neither am I an adult.

[Meer]

I see many of you commenting that neopets is becoming a kiddie site. But no. I know how the children feel, and don't think they like neopets to be becoming like that. Kids don't like to be teated very "kiddish", or in other words, treated like preschoolars...
And those bright colours hurt my eyes. Won't they hurt kids' eyes too?

So, not only are they alienating the adults and the teens, they're also alienating most of the young kids as well. Who are they trying to aim the site towards then? Four year olds? I somehow doubt that age group makes up a large portion of the players.
I don't like the sensation that I've just wondered into the Playskool isle of Toys R Us I get when viewing the main games room page. >.>

Although I really do feel that neopets is getting abit too kiddish through the gamesroom, but I have to admit that after you click a game, sometimes the colour is green and I like that green (example).

I have to agree. Now that I've had time to get over my initial outrage, I have to admit that the individual game pages aren't so bad. I like seeing my all time high score along side my high score for the month, and I like some of the background colors, like the greens, greys, and pale purples. And I like the little patterns on the 'click to play' buttons. I also quite like the ability to rate the difficulty of games. But what I don't care for too much is seeing the high scores right there on the game's page. I don't need to be constantly reminded of how much my scores suck compared to other peoples. When I'm interested in seeing the high scores, I can easily click to see all the high scores. I wish they'd replace that section with the much needed points ratio.

[Drake Redcrest]

I really like it. I actually find it loading much faster, and to be honest, it was a little drab beforehand. Now people can easily find their favourite games (and it actually made me play a few I'd been meaning to for a while), and it is bright and bold. It's nice. *gives Neo a cookie*

I totally agree. I don't have to scroll a whole bunch to find the games I want to play now. It really did seem quite bland before, and I like the fact that it actually has bold colors now.

I don't see how it's kiddy at all. OH NO, bright colors! That is sooo kiddy! No adults like bright colors, ever.

One thing that I would really like, however, is to have the option to have the colors match your sidebar. I'd think that then most people would like it better, because they wouldn't think it was "kiddy." I would actually be kind of surprised if they didn't have this in mind, since it makes alot of sense to have it match.

[JCMidore]

I don't see how it's kiddy at all. OH NO, bright colors! That is sooo kiddy! No adults like bright colors, ever.

One thing that I would really like, however, is to have the option to have the colors match your sidebar. I'd think that then most people would like it better, because they wouldn't think it was "kiddy." I would actually be kind of surprised if they didn't have this in mind, since it makes alot of sense to have it match.

Yes, bold is good. My point is, I wish they'd install "themes" like they do for the sidebars -- such as Maraquan, Altador, etc. Those bright colours aren't as uncomfortable on default as they are on.. let's say.. Valentine's sidebar. Which I think that's what you're suggesting also.

And personally, I'm not overly fond of the tone in which they used. Sure, go for red blue and yellow together -- just have it saturated until it's a little easier on the eyes.

[Rubywinged]

I will admit i didnt read this entire thread before posting just kinda skimmed it so I dont know if I'm agree with people as I post this or disagreeing or what so umm dont hurt me.

First I kind of like the new game room yet at the same time I dislike it. The colors eh reminds me of a crayola box to be honest. I think prehaps having the ability to choose a color or theme would be much nicer. prehaps 'themes' tie into the sidebar themes as we get them or you could do things like we do to gain sidebar themes.

Secondly not really enjoying the layout much instead of 4 little boxes that didnt require much scrolling down the page now we have *counts* 15 boxes plus the top 'whats new/featured game' box... Honestly I must say i find it annoying and kind of silly. It's more like a 'back in time' revamp of the page. Meaning with the big deal about all the maps now being in flash why not make the game room something simular? Personaly (and i hope I discribe this so you can see my vision) I would like to see the boxes as they are now but in a scrolling line (but not just a normal scrolling box like I am typing in the flash style that when you simply hover over the arrow it moves) done correctly I think this could really make the page look spiffy and more user friendly in ways cause i dont know about anyone else but scrolling down the way it is seems just.... odd. And as i said almost like a step back in how the rest of the site is now being pushed forward. Most things on neopets should be so no scrolling what so ever is involved. If the ads where placed right and the side menu bar didnt keep expanding downward that would very well be possiable. Move the search next to our user names or prehaps on the other side of max neopoints. Make the background of the search box translusant so it didnt clash white. Do away with the little ad on the right (because seriously no one pays that ad much attention now that we have an ad at the top of the page screaming at us) don't give the ads so much space.... seriouly those are some big ads. maybe make the text of the menu a bit smaller and you'd be all set for a no scrolling website! I'm aware this is just an idle hope but with all the different pages it just seems more logical for how neo is set up.

But back to the games room I also dislike the 'more' button it seem silly. Why not make flash drop down menus or something of the like? You could click the name of the game (prehaps there could be a small icon of the game in the list too) the link would take you to the games main page and you could decide if you wanted to play it... There just seems to be so much clicking now. and honestly do you ever really know what game you want to play when you come to the game room? Don't you browse with the thought of 'what sounds fun or having I played in awhile' sometimes? I know for sure I do.

Of course as everyone else I NEED my points = neopoints ratio unless you are going to make every game 1=1 then that is something that is critical to have.

The icons that mean what catagory they are... That's just such a step back I can't even begin to explain how dissapointed they make me. If I didnt know any better I could swear they went to the clip art folder and just found something quickly.

I'm sure i could go on but I wont. I'm just really hoping TNT is reading around about what people think of the new games room and taking notes. I know atleast one member of TNT has taken interest in this forum before (Beta Tester) and was very helpful in solvin problems so I do hope these issues are atleast being noted by that person or others.

and wow that was long

[sily_sicily]

I support unr4veled's idea of making the theme suit our sidebar. Bright colours really contrast with my Halloween sidebar, so it really seems weird and uncomfortable. Halloween sidebar is black, as you know, while the gamesroom is...red blue yellow green!...

Oh, and to comment about the "For Kids" section. It's so...erm...doesn't make sense! TNT don't know what games suit kids, unless they interview 'em, which I doubt they would. And I see the Wheel of Excitement in it...huh?