Sunday, 25 September 2011

Focus on Web Design - "TORN" Game Site

Introduction
I have managed to locate a website that interests me greatly. As this is a site I visit on a regular basis and is somewhat "unique" I have also managed to address the following questions regarding this sites' scheme, functionality and performance.


The image above is a popular picture, showing the home page when a user has logged in.

Image Reference
What is the purpose of this site?

"Torn" is an online, text-based RPG game site with many features. The main purpose is to allow people to play a game with no limits, but most importantly, a community that can be built based on the user's personality. The site allows people to discover their own way of reaching the top of the game in many different aspects of game play.

Who is the intended audience?

The intended audience for this site are to those who wish to play a game with very little graphics, make friends and help establish a community within a game. This site offers a large area of community development, which often brings in more people to play the game, making it larger and more popular.

Do you think that the site reaches its intended audience? Why or why not?

The site does indeed reach its intended audience. Before signing up to the site, users can read what the game involves, what is available and what's on offer. So those that do not feel that the site may not be for them, need not apply. The site has very little users who become inactive and stop signing in, most often after a long period of time being a member of the site.

Is the site useful to you? Why or why not?

Since I enjoy the community aspect of the site, I do feel it is useful. There are forums for people to involve themselves and others in discussions, which can include both on-topic and off-topic site discussions. There is also IRC (internet relay chat) and Teamspeak areas for that little more enjoyable communication. Although I do enjoy the community aspect of the game, many other users differ dependent on their sociability and game play. Since this site meets my needs of both fun and community roles, if they were not available I would not find this site useful.

List one interesting fact or issue that this site addresses...

One particular issue with the site is functionality for mobile users. Although there are mobile areas available for those who wish to involve themselves in the game or just in the community areas, there are not many tools that are fully customiseable to meet user's needs.

Would you encourage others to visit this site?

If they are interested in joining a game which offers more of a community than actual game time, then I would definitely recommend this to my peers, family and friends. It can offer lots of room for personal development, such as creating channels, broadcasting shows live on air and much more.

How could this site be improved?

As briefly noted earlier, a great advantage would be more customisation to mobile users and those that use devices to connect to the site. The site offers a great range of services other than its main purpose of being a role-playing game. So a mobile app or more options so that the navigation could be easier to scale on a device would be so much easier.

References

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