Phantasy Star Online (aka, PSO) is a series of online role-playing games (MMORPG) set in the distant future. Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis specifically is the latest game in the series, set on planet Halpha.
What’s the big problem?
Being an online game, one would expect to be able to access a few of the games features while logged out of the game such as ones inventory or the player market board. With the current design of the Phantasy Star Online website, this is not possible. Even features such as a first party wiki, which is needed due to the complexity of the game, does not exist. Instead players need to rely on 3rd party websites to source information on items within the game.
Other MMORPG’s such as Final Fantasy 14 Online provide these features and more to players. From playing, features such as the community finder and mobile companion app that allows inventory management and friend communication have become needed parts for a game this size.
How can a redesign fix these issues?
Redesigning the game’s main website is just the first step towards fixing these issues. Designing the page to be built upon in future with more powerful features is my main goal.
This is the current live webpage compared to my redesigned page:
Other than the obvious differences, the main improvement of the redesign is the content sidebar on the right hand side of the page. This sidebar allows the user to quickly and easily navigate to other parts of the website that are commonly used but don’t need to be displayed on every page unlike links in the header. Speaking of pages accessible from the sidebar, lets go over those.
Player Profile
This feature allows the player to login to the website with the same credentials as the game and view all their characters statistics along with their class levels online and from any device. A feature to allow other users to view your profile could also be added.
AC Store
Due to PSO2 being a free-to-play game, the AC Store is the games cash shop where you can buy currency to use in game with real world currency. This has been placed almost front and center for easy access.
Newsletter
PSO2 runs a consistent newsletter with information about game updates as well as tips and tricks to do with different parts of the game. Again this has been placed front and center in the sidebar. This link also allows users to read the newsletter without having to subscribe to it.
Database
This is where things get interesting, the database is a collection of every item, weapon, quest and character in the game as well as details on each. This is a one stop shop for all players looking for information on anything within the game. The database also serves as a way to find how to obtain any given item be it from killing a certain enemy or getting lucky in the random Gacha.
Fan Sites
The community is a big reason many play PSO2, out of game tools and fan sites are a large part of this. Thus promoting a number of these fan sites on the games front page is a great idea as it gives web developers who play the game an incentive to build tools and services for the game.
Closing Thoughts
Overall the Phantasy Star Online 2 website is a hub of information for players and should feel that way. Features like these also help build a thriving community through player communication both in and out of the game. I hope that SEGA, the developers behind the game are able to invest in the development of some of these features in the future.
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