As I say in a statement just below the blog title, we are just like that Skeeter woman, except we're honest. I WILL be critical of Pottermore, but I will also update to let you know of any positive responses people receive from them regarding the site issues.
In my post regarding cheating I quoted a reply one member received to a letter she'd sent to Pottermore regarding the multiple dueling accounts cheat. The reply, if you scroll down and read, was FAR less than satisfactory and basically told her that Pottermore wasn't concerned with the games and rather felt the site was a digital reading experience. In other words, quit whining.
She fired back a note explaining that Pottermore obviously still did not understand it's members and that the site was far more than just a reading experience. This is her note, followed by the new reply she received:
"Do you see how we are competing for that house cup? HP is very much about the house cup and the house pride and rivalry. It is sad that you guys don't understand this but now I know why you have never cared about the cheating going on."
PM's response, by a different Customer Service Rep.:
"Thank you for your reply. I appreciate how cheating to get House Points would impact on your enjoyment of Pottermore, and I have escalated your enquiry to our web design team to see what we can do!"
Kind regards,
Xxxxxxxxx
The Pottermore team
I'm going to check my kitchen for listening devices because that is the precise response I told my husband they should have given, even if they never meant to do anything. I believe in giving Pottermore time to correct the situation and I will take them at their word.
One way to help end this cheat was brought up by another member and should be suggested to Pottermore. Simply remove the points for direct duels. Turn direct duels into practice rounds like when we practice duel members of our own house. Real friends can still have fun dueling each other for best scores and chest thumping rights, but no points are added to personal scores and house points.
Pottermore really does have to show a serious lack of diligence for me to come down on them harshly for the simple reason that I truly want this site to be the best it can be. I want it to be successful. I care deeply. I want it to be the magical experience it can be. They are pioneers, leading the way for other popular books and authors to inspire their readers, but they lead no one and they shoot Harry in the foot if they don't do what is necessary to make the site all that it can be.
As mentioned in the previous post Pottermore replied to a complaint regarding game cheats with the statement that they consider themselves foremost a digital reading experience. I've had better reading experiences on aspirin bottles. Well, okay not quite but close.
The hoopla prior to Pottermore opening the doors for the Beta testers had my son and I expecting a wondrous online journey through Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I mean the whole book. We thought it would be a very enhanced online version of the book. Look at the Sony games for their Playstation, imagine that technology bringing each page of the book to life so that as you read, you see, you hear, and it feels as if you've fallen face first into the book as Harry fell into Tom Riddle's diary or into the memories held in a pensieve. This was not to be.
Right out of the gate, we found there was no actual book. Pottermore has used two or three sentences from each chapter which it calls "Moments". These "moments" are accompanied with some really nice artwork. You can zoom into the pictures a time or two to get closer looks at the art and find items to collect that are hidden in each scene. As you move through the "moments" you unlock the only really special thing about the Pottermore website, the extra content from JK Rowling that didn't make it into the books but which gave Harry's world it's realism and depth. There is information on the background of the Dursleys and some of the Hogwart's teachers, insights into where some of the author's inspiration came from, and some just downright funny phrases from this highly imaginative and intelligent writer.
Aside from our disappointment at there being little from the book to actually read, during most of the Beta period there was absolutely no sound. This, to us, was an absolutely glaring oversight. I think my first comment on one of the end of chapter comment sections was "Jo's extra material is wonderful! The site needs sound." We were asked to use the Beta button to report issues and make suggestions and "SOUND PLEASE", was one of the leading suggestions. It took them 8 months to give in and give sound. I was overjoyed. Fluffy finally growled.
Many of the items that are hidden in the chapters have absolutely no purpose. We are told to collect items like salt and pepper shakers, a chipped cup, candle, an alarm clock and chocolate frog cards. We find out fairly quickly that there is no use for these items. So why are we collecting them? So that Pottermore can say it's "interactive". I have to tell you that JK Rowling's original official site, not the revamped one, was more interactive than the Pottermore "moments" and more enjoyable. We were able to follow clues, on her old site, and unearth extra information, the titles of the books as they were released, and even the eraser on her desk had a purpose. Pottermore couldn't even be bothered to add pictures of the famous witches and wizards on the chocolate frog cards, and only recently added brief descriptions of them.
Other items, such as lavender, wolfsbane or unicorn hair, can at least be used in brewing potions, and there are a few extra galleons hidden about but those are the only useful items you find. The usefulness of these items is rather questionable when you consider that reply from Pottermore which was quoted in the preceding post.
So, what is the real "reading experience" on Pottermore? Well, it's obviously not Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. There is that wonderful extra information from JK Rowling, and some fascinating information about wands but other than that the "reading experience" seems to be the sale of the eBooks which are hardly free. If you want your youngster to have the real reading experience, I suggest you go straight to the bookstore for the books or if you really MUST buy the eBooks just make an account at the Pottermore shop. If you and your child are interested in back story, then you'll definitely enjoy unlocking that great extra content. But do not expect the "moments" to be a magical reading experience.
The Ollivanders wand quiz is brief and the Sorting Hat quiz is thought provoking, but
most people get sorted, fall face first into their common rooms and say A. Is that it?? and B. Why can't I get into Chamber of Secrets?? and the ever abundant C. Noooooo I wanted to be a Gryffindor not a Hufflepuff!!! The only thing left for them is the House Point race. The only way to earn house points is by brewing potions and dueling. Since Pottermore deems these games secondary and thus is not willing to insure a level playing field, and since Pottermore has, thus far, refused to pay sentient beings to monitor the comment areas, there really isn't much, other than Jo's content, to recommend the site. Google Books is a more substantial digital reading experience for heaven's sake.
Do NOT expect a level playing field on Pottermore. This has been a very sad problem on Pottermore since the dawn of Beta. If there's a cheat to be found, someone will find it, share it, and before you know it honesty either dies, leaves or gets left in the dust. My compatriots and I are being left in the dust yet again.
From the moment the Quill Challenge was announced in order to gain people to enjoy/Beta test/babysit/troubleshoot the site, there has been cheating. The Pottermore Terms and Conditions during the Beta period EXPRESSLY forbade multiple accounts. Well since when did rules with no consequences ever work?
As mentioned in the previous post, when people were banned during Beta, they just used the spare accounts they made during the Quill Challenge. These accounts were brought to the attention of Pottermore, again, with screen shots. Not a thing was done. By then, thankfully, the role players were keeping their plays PG as most of them actually realized they'd gotten too carried away. The use of multiple accounts had more dire effects in the games portion of Pottermore.
People would use these extra accounts to "visit" their competing Houses and beg potion ingredients and cauldrons from generous new folk who just wanted to fit in and be nice. These ingredients would be used to A. Melt a cauldron on purpose in order to cost the competition House Points or B. would be sent to their main account so that they had a never ending supply of free ingredients.
For example, a person happily sorted into Gryffindor has a second account that was sorted into Hufflepuff. This, dishonorable Gryff uses his Hufflepuff account to melt cauldrons which costs Hufflepuff house points. He then begs the other nice Hufflepuffs to give him ingredients which he gifts to his Gryffindor account so that he has a never ending supply of ingredients for his potion and points making for Gryffindor. If any members take offense at being called dishonorable for this activity, well, in a word, tough. That's what it is. It might not be so dishonorable if you told those Hufflepuffs that you were out of galleons (provided you actually ARE out of galleons) and needed ingredients for your Gryffindor account. Then the Hufflepuffs could choose to help you out of the kindness in their souls. If you're one of the people who try to blame Pottermore because their software allows you to do this, no, you're still behaving dishonorably. "...It is OUR choices that make us who we are..."
Another multiple account cheat that is currently in action, has been reported by multiple members and which is being ignored by Pottermore is a Wizard Duel cheat in which a person uses their main account to repeatedly beat their other accounts in direct duel challenges. One account throws a low point spell on purpose and the main account easily beats it with a higher point spell. They can do this all day long with no time consuming losses or draws or rematches and amass 5,000 or more dueling points a day. This is not only unfair to the houses they are competing against but it is horribly unfair to the honest members of their own house that they are passing on the leader board.
Screen shots of the Recent Activity feed and common room comments pages clearly showing this type of cheat in action were, are and apparently always will be ignored by Pottermore. One member recently received a reply from Pottermore regarding a member of her house using the multiple account dueling cheat. Their response to her note was: "We appreciate your feedback, however please understand that Pottermore is a free online digital reading experience. While there are some simple games you can play, Pottermore is very much about the books: being able to experience Harry's story in a new way and discover all the additional information that JK Rowling has written. I hope you are enjoying Pottermore." (See more about Pottermore being a free online digital reading experience in an upcoming post.)
While it is easy to spot this type of cheat in the recent activity feeds, Pottermore SHOULD have the technology to tell what computers where are involved by their IP addresses, even blogs have that technology for pete's sake. This lack of concern regarding A. members breaking their Terms and Conditions by having multiple accounts and B. using those accounts to cheat at the games discourages people from playing or teaches them they can cheat their friends as well as their competition for their own personal points gain. Pottermore's lack of regard for the rampant cheating going on now using multiple accounts would explain why no accounts were banned and no points were removed from the more serious Potions cheat during Beta when people were using 3rd party software to speed up their potion times. Once again, this cheat was reported via the Beta button, Help button and screen shots emailed to Pottermore. While Pottermore did, eventually, after months, manage to block the cheat, they did nothing about those who exploited it.
Pottermore recently updated their Terms and Conditions and it is still against the rules to have more than one Pottermore account, and still that rule means nada. Rules without consequences are just corporate-cover-your-own-butt-boiler plate.
For anyone wishing to play the games on Pottermore you need to play them once in a while for fun. The unfortunate truth is that there is so much cheating you stand little chance of actually helping your house, making it to the leader boards or even staying on the leader boards if you are an honest person.
BEFORE you allow your child to join Pottermore, you need to know a few things both good and bad.
There are a lot of people on Pottermore right now but the only way to communicate with each other is in full view in the House Common Rooms, in full view in the Great Hall, and in full view in the comment sections at the end of each chapter. There is no personal/private messaging. Every word your child types is in full view of everyone else, and you can at least hope that there are responsible people present to report any problems. That's the good news.
The bad news is, that apparently Pottermore doesn't always give a darn about what others post that your child may read. It took many people several weeks of reporting via the report buttons, reporting via the Beta links, reporting via the Help link, sending in screen shots of R- rated role play in the Great Hall to Pottermore, and eventually sending those screen shots around to publishers, agents, and other Harry Potter fan sites before someone yanked Pottermore's chain hard enough that a scant handful of accounts were temporarily (a week or two) banned from access. During those weeks when those accounts were banned, the reprimanded individuals simply put into use all the extra accounts they made during the original "Quill Challenge" for Beta users and passed them around to their banned buddies, so they never actually lost access. Those accounts were used to continue their role play, although at least milder than the graphic rape-murders which were originally reported, and to throw screaming hissy fits about their right to free speech in the common rooms and Great Hall.
We knew Pottermore would have to be more specific about the rules governing member posts. When they published their new Terms and Conditions, they were more specific alright. They added legal protections for themselves all over the place which are simply: We try, but we can't control what your child sees here. Then they cap it all off with this statement "To be clear, each user, acts on his/her own behalf at all times and does not act as our representative or agent in any way. We do not endorse nor are we responsible for any of the actions of any Pottermore user."
What this boils down to is that in spite of repeated pleas to hire actual people to moderate the user comments, Pottermore still insists upon using an automated system. This automated system of moderation will prevent you from telling someone the highest possible score in a duel because numbers are not allowed lest your child give out their phone number, but the system will not prevent role players from passionately or forcefully "unicorning" one another in the Great Hall. The automated system only looks for words, not context, so when a couple makes out and lays down for a hearty unicorn, that's a-okay because unicorns are just pretty creatures right? Everyone watching knows what's going on, but the automated system is clueless.
I'm not saying do not let your child join Pottermore. I'm just saying that Pottermore has refused to do what it takes to monitor what your child sees. Pottermore, to all appearances, simply does not wish to spend the money for real "Prefects" who can implement instant 30 minutes bans, remove posts, and monitor user generated content. Have a talk with your kids before you let them join. I know at least some parents do that. Most, however, are clueless and others simply have a blind faith in anything related to Harry Potter.
This is the first time I have had to adamantly say, you cannot sit back and simply trust the Harry Potter name. I hate the fact that I have to say that, because I am a great fan of the books and the author, but in the case of Pottermore, it is the absolute truth. The muggles at Pottermore need to read the books. The books faithfully show that what is right is seldom easy. You cannot trust Pottermore to do what is right. If their behavior over the 8 month Beta period is any indication, Pottermore will only do what is easy.
