On Pottermore

So I have been a Pottermore member since October 2012. When I first heard about this project I was beyond psyched! Finally, something for all us hardcore HP fans! The website's design is beautiful and full of vibrant colors. You get to unlock new material by J.K. Rowling herself throughout the books. 

As you can tell by this screencap, I got sorted into Hufflepuff. I was bummed at first but I came to love my house. (:

Pottermore lets you go through all the Harry Potter books and each chapter will contain one or up to three key moments in this chapter with amazing detailed artwork of moments in the book. You can interact with a few elements in each moment and you can even collect some items to help you throughout the story such as ingredients for potions, books or galleons for spending in Diagon Alley. You gain points for everything you collect but none if you're recollecting them. 

Like in the book when Harry first learns he's a wizard, you get to go to Diagon Alley and buy your school supplies and your wand. Once you're in Hogwarts, you get sorted into a house by answering 7 questions as truthfully as you can. Once you're in a house then that's that and you can't change it. These are the best experiences on Pottermore as you truly feel that J.K. Rowling placed the sorting hat on your head.

Your potions book.

You can brew potions and duel with other users and that's pretty much it. It's a lot fun at first but you get bored after a while as there's nothing else to do and not all the books are available to be explored. Even brewing potions can be frustrating as if you don't follow the instructions exactly, you have to start over and you'll need to buy more ingredients. Sometimes there's a lag and even if you do the whole potion correctly, the lag might make you start over. And once your potion is done, you get house points and that's pretty much it, you can't even use them. But a lot of people are pretty good at them. Not to mention most of the Diagon Alley shops are still locked. 

As members accomplish certain things on the site, they will gain points for their house and at the end of the year, of course, the house with the most points wins the house cup. 

Also, at the current moment (Only the first few chapters of Prisoner of Azkaban are available), most of the spells are locked and you can only perform a few. Same thing applies to potions, you can only brew 8 potions, including the polyjuice potion. 

To make this website more suitable for children, all members have usernames and it's not possible to upload your own photos or directly message other members. Because of that, you won't know who added you and if you have friends on Pottermore the only way to know who's who is if you talk off the website to tell each other your usernames'. 

I hope that sometime in the near future that more games will be available, maybe taking quizzes to determine your patronus charm or more fun games like the ones you played throughout the story (catching pixies or tossing gnomes out of a garden). Maybe having more moments in each chapter and having more interactive things to do in each moment. Also maybe challenging another member to a friendly game of wizard's chess. And being able to read the books you've purchased would be great too. 

The website is beautifully done and the hard work and effort put into it is very apparent. As you go more and more into the books, you can tell how the Pottermore team is trying make the experience more enjoyable.