Pottermore

[starrylizard]

So, other peeps seem to have been sorted into houses etc. Does this happen automatically? Am I already sorted, because I can't find the information anywhere? It's really not a very exciting site from what I've managed to access so far.

*confused*

Comments

[ljmckay.livejournal.com]

It took me a while to get the hang of it. :)

You have to start "experiencing" the books, and as you get to the relevant parts (when Harry goes to Diagon Alley, gets Sorted, etc), then you do those things as well.

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Oh okay, I must be missing something. I'm stuck in Chapter 1.

Edit: Never mind. It just let me go to chapter 2. I think it must have been overloaded last night.

[shoemoney2night.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it follows the events of the book - you go through various scenes from each chapter, collecting stuff as you go. Once you get to Diagon Alley you get your wand (and explanations for what the core, wood etc. means), and when you get to the Sorting Ceremony you get placed in a house.

It took a while for me to figure out what was going on too - I found this walkthrough while trying to muddle through it.

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

hmm, thanks. The guide seems to be down atm, though. Server down time.

So, how do I get beyond chapter 1, because I seem stuck there? :(

Edit: Never mind. It just let me go to chapter 2. I think it must have been overloaded last night.

[smuffster.livejournal.com]

Can I ask if it's appropriate for kids? Or would it be too hard to navigate? My daughter is almost 9 and in love with the Harry Potter movies and books, but I don't want to show her the site if it's too complicated.

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Okay, having now sorted through my issues... It's certainly kiddie-safe. No chat rooms etc. I can't even talk to people I've friended.

The site should be kiddie-friendly too for the most part. My issues are coming from the site being so graphics (flash) heavy. So some of the chapters don't load properly. If this happens have kid go in via the Pottermore badge at the top of the screen, then into the chapter and then click on the section they were up to. It then usually reloads correctly.

Mostly, you just go through each chapter. There's flash pictures that have 2 or three layers and you double-click to zoom in and out. You can make things happen (fires sputter, lights go on and off or books fly, etc.) or sometimes you can pick something up (galleon, book, potion ingredient, etc.) and there's extra information from the author you can read as you go through.

At 9, she'll likely pick it up faster than me. I struggled with the stuffy graphics and figuring out where to click to move on, but kids are more intuitive on computers than I am.

Once you've been sorted and have your wand etc. you can make potions. This may be too much for a 9yr-old unless they're very patient. Most of them have ~1hour wait and you have to be back precisely an hour later to finish the potion of it is ruined. Also the instructions are very specific and the mouse coordination needed at times is quite tricky (for me), so may be frustrating for a kid. I did one potion 4 times before it came out right, mostly because the site has trouble recognising my mouse movements. Again possibly a glitch that you may not experience. The whole site is in beta from the looks of it.

She may have fun duelling though. That just involves clicking circles twice as they come up. Again, took me a while to figure this out, but I think kids are better at that stuff. :P

Anyhoo, should be fine for her imo.

Seems only the first book of activities is available atm. More to come in time.

[billy-red-ocean.livejournal.com]

Know what you mean it took me a while too, as the other said you have to get through the chapters to get to the sorting. When you've finished the chapters of book 1 you can still do some other stuff like brewing potions or duelling to earn more housepoints...

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

I'm stuck in Chapter 1. No idea how to get beyond it. And I think I've clicked on everything. :(

Edit: Never mind. It just let me go to chapter 2. I think it must have been overloaded last night.

[billy-red-ocean.livejournal.com]

It took me an hour to get out of Chapter 1, kinda frustrating when you've got no clue what it's all about.

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

The site is very poorly designed, which is sad considering how much money must be involved in it. *eyeroll*

I now have a wand and I'm in Hufflepuff.

Do any of the chapters just come up as black for you? I assume they're meant to have flash images, because there are sounds, but all I see is black. :(

[billy-red-ocean.livejournal.com]

That's true, they could help a little more at least in the beginning to get things started...

Yeah, that has happened to me too. I went back a chapter so it could load again...

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Can you get the last scene with the banquet to work? It changes the flag colours and then just thinks. And going back into the chapter doesn't fix it. I've cleared my cache and logged in again and it doesn't seem to help at all. :(