All feedback gratefully received

[twgame]

Hello

We have put together the following site:

http://www.traderwars.co.uk

We launched the site about 2 weeks ago and would be gain to get as much feedback (both good and bad!) as possible.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Ben

[IanS]

Not Powweb!

[twgame]

Please can you elaborate?

What do you mean when you say 'not powweb'?

Thanks

[Doc C]

What Ian means is that this is not PowWeb hosted site. Please read the stickies in this section of the forum for proper submission of a site that is hosted elsewhere.

Normally, requests for critiques such as this are removed from the forum.

[twgame]

Sorry. I read the other reviews and thought it would be a good place to get some feedback. No problem. Please feel free to remove the post.

[Doc C]

Well, now we all know it's not a PowWeb hosted site so that horse is out of the barn. :)

I say leave it up and critique away. Just remember that any advice on changes might not work on other hosts.

[phlembol]

The popdown menu pops if you mouseover and stays down unless you click something on it or exit it from the help button. (Took me a bit to find I could mouse right to the help button to get it to go down.) I don't like that.

Is this a gambling site? Is this a new site? And what's with the guy and the rifle?

[YvetteKuhns]

The logo doesn't seem to fit the website. Because you mention wars, you picture a person with a rifle? That would deter me from the website.

When I was in the tenth grade, my social studies teacher made each student pick three stocks and gave us $10,000 (pretend money) to buy them. We could sell stock and buy different stock from the money from the sale of the other stock, but you could not borrow additional money from other people and you were only allowed three different stocks.

At the end of a given period (I think it was 3 months), we had to cash in our stock to pay the bank (the teacher) the $10,000 borrowed at the start. If you lost money, you had to borrow from other people. They had to do favors to pay back loans. I had 6 guys carry my books to each class for weeks! I made money on IBM, Air Products (local, but global chemical company) and Revco (the pharmacy where I worked). Technology and pharmaceuticals are great investments here in the US. Real estate was not a choice. :cool:

The Game Screen is best viewed using IE7 and on a screen with a resolution of 800x600 or higher.

For Windows, the minimum suggest requirements are:

* Processor: Pentium II
* RAM: 96 MB. More than 96 MB of RAM is highly desirable
* Screen: 800x600
* Colors: 16 bits
* Free Disk Space: 10 MB


I doubt that anyone using a Pentium II is using IE7. :D

I just looked at the demo. It is nice, but it would be better if there was audio. At least people can pause the demo, if necessary. I know my husband doesn't read that quickly or he would watch the mouse instead of reading the instructions. I would be reading the instructions to him. ;) Also, the navigation menu was staying open and covering the demo! I had to mouse around to get the menu off of the demo to read it.

The color scheme is sporty and appeals to men. The home page should define the target audience and site purpose. It should clearly state that you must be 18 years old and that there is a free and paid version. The free version would link from the word "free" or "play now" and the paid version would link to the register or login.

Before registering, people must verify that they are 18 years old and able to gamble online. This looks like a gaming site to me and there are laws that prohibit it in some locations. How do you screen out those people? I am sure that you discussed your intentions with your payment processor. Many of them here will NOT accept payments for gaming sites.

I know a guy from a car club who lost a lot of money on a gaming site when his Internet connection was lost. I noticed that you touched on the subjects of lost connections, reconnections and game play. Where money is involved, things can get tricky.

Interesting website. I better keep my 9 year old son away from it. He does well for a while, then he goes too far and loses the money. Penny poker is all he can afford right now. :D

[phlembol]

The logo doesn't seem to fit the website. Because you mention wars, you picture a person with a rifle?

I figured out (I think) that the rifleman is a Sniper. One of the stock terms in the glossary.

[YvetteKuhns]

Oh, I know what snipers are. I have been sniped on eBay and I have also sniped others when outbidding at the last minute to win an item. :D

After the Word Trade Center attack, I just don't like to see that logo. It is too creepy.

[phlembol]

I have been sniped on eBay ..

Was that you? :D You never make your final offer until under a minute to go. I remember one auction where my competition bid 3 more times in that last minute. I am sure they learned a valuable lesson. Just doing my part.

[YvetteKuhns]

Actually, I have a habit of looking for items and sorting them by items ending soonest. If I see something I want, I bid on it. That way I can pay for it and get it faster.

There is a crossdresser who has competed with me for clothing. I know he is a guy and one of the sellers confirmed it. He buys big high heeled shoes and fancy stuff.

There are also contractors who bid on all the home improvement items I want like the reciprocating saw blades and other hardware. I only buy one 50-pack of blades at a time. Can't they let me have one?

Back to this website, when I saw the name, I thought of Trade Wars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradewars). My age is showing again. While I personally didn't play the game, most of my nerdy friends did.

[phlembol]

I thought of ...

Hey, this is almost on topic: I used to play the Rogue Market. I see the domain is still held but nothing happening. Been closed for a few years. Sort of stockmarket-meets-soylentgreen.

[Doc C]

Totally off topic: There was this Air Traffic Controller game that I used to play. It was pretty cool. You could switch to different airports. Anyone know of any games in that style.

Back on topic: I like dark colors on sites. But that's just a personal quirk. I stay away from sites where real money is involved. I prefer to dump mine in those machine where you pull the handle!

[phlembol]

Used to have one on the CBM64. Heard voice contact from all the planes. Could really get stressful. I loved it. :) I haven't tried it yet but I noted this happening over at sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=1499). Looked like a complex install last I recall.

[YvetteKuhns]

Sorry for mentioning another computer game here and getting people off-topic. The game I mentioned had a similar name. Maybe we can discuss computer games in another thread before the moderators bust people for being off-topic. Or maybe we will be excused since games are related to the topic.

I stay away from sites where real money is involved. I prefer to dump mine in those machine where you pull the handle!

I feel the same way. I love the feel of the handle and the sound of the money pouring out of the machine. Of course, my husband will take all of my won quarters and blow them in those $5 machines. The poker games were crowded when we went to Atlantic City. We have a table top and poker chips to play at home, but we are too busy remodeling the home in our spare time to play cards. Anyway, Don has such a good poker face.

Stock Trak (http://www.stocktrak.com/) is used by educators, though it wasn't around when I was in high school. Star Trades (http://startrades.com/) is a free massively multiplayer online tradeing game where you have a fixed time to build the biggest trading empire you can. There are other online games that have a similar target audience. Try getting links from these sites or sites on which they are listed.

[symo]

Totally off topic: There was this Air Traffic Controller game that I used to play. It was pretty cool. You could switch to different airports. Anyone know of any games in that style.
Doc C, I'll start a new thread.

symo

[IanS]

Something's going on when the one in the straight-jacket follows the rules and doesn't go off-topic! :p

I thought the rules were too complicated to bother playing the game. I didn't like the orange in the colour scheme, too ... well I didn't like it.

[YvetteKuhns]

I would have expected blue and white like many financial and corporate websites use and maybe the right shade of green. While many gamers like dark backgrounds, this particular game appeals to a specific audience.