New Design

[dodig]

You have taken an extremely user friendly format and changed it for the worse. I used to be able to read all the review for a particular game by scrolling down the screen, now I have to go through multiple pages. Not just for reading reviews but even for viewing the game titles. That is far more cumbersome in my opinion.

I think your intentions were in the right place but the delivery of the product was a complete miss. Whoever redesigned your web site ought to go back to the drawing board and try again. I hope you didn't have to pay for this "new and improved" design.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Lara]

Try using the Search products feature to find a particular game.

[Richard Hobbes]

Lara,

dodig wrote the followng:

--- You have taken an extremely user friendly format
--- and changed it for the worse. I used to be able to
--- read all the review for a particular game by scrolling
--- down the screen, now I have to go through multiple
--- pages. Not just for reading reviews but even for
--- viewing the game titles. That is far more cumbersome
--- in my opinion. I think your intentions were in the right
--- place but the delivery of the product was a complete
--- miss. Whoever redesigned your web site ought to go
--- back to the drawing board and try again.

In response to dodig's (and other people's) quandaries about the new VGR site you have responded with the following: "Try using the Search products feature to find a particular game." While we appreciate that you take the time to respond, telling user's to "use the Search products feature" does not solve most of the problems with the new site. Not being able to see all reviews for a game on the same page is a major pain. Not being able to find games alphabetically is a major pain. Having dissimilar games from diffeent platforms all thrown together in the search results is a major pain. Having games listed only by publisher is a major pain. Only being able to use a small part of the available space on your monitor is a pain. Everything about the new site is a pain. You could not have gotten the navigation and site layout more wrong if you had tried. (Well... I suppose you could, but my point is that the new site is miles away from being as good and as useable as the old site. Ditto for the new bulletin board.) Please take my comments and the comments of others seriously when we say that the site is such a pain to use that it is causing your users to go elsewhere for reviews and gaming information.

I realize that you folks are working very hard on the migration so it must be frustrating to receive continuous negative feedback. However, please believe your users when we say "the new VGR web site is unusable". It would instill more confidence if you said "we know it's f*cked, but we'll fix it as soon as we can".

RH.

[Lara]

In response to Richard Hobbes. I have posted several times asking for everyones patience. All complaints and questions have been read, and answered by Chris and me as best we can at this point. We don't HAVE all the answers for you right now.

I've asked this before and I'll ask again for everyone's patience. I am not an engineer, and am not a manager. I do the best I can to convey all inquirys, suggestions, and problems to Consumer Review.

I had one suggestion I could give about the search feature because I thought it would help people find any given review easier until the issue is dealt with.

I have had the company's upper management read all of these posts. So I'm doing my job the best I can.

This new site is not yet 24 hours old. Give us a chance.

[Richard Hobbes]

Lara,

--- In response to Richard Hobbes. I have posted several
--- times asking for everyone's patience. All complaints and
--- questions have been read, and answered by Chris and
--- me as best we can at this point. We don't HAVE all the
--- answers for you right now.

Yes. I understand and appreciate the help you have given. I also appreciate that the VGR and PCGR board amalgamation is a huge undertaking so problems will arise that need to be fixed.

--- I've asked this before and I'll ask again for everyone's
--- patience. I am not an engineer, and am not a manager.
--- I do the best I can to convey all inquiries, suggestions,
--- and problems to Consumer Review.

This is all we can ask. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

--- I had one suggestion I could give about the search
--- feature because I thought it would help people find
--- any given review easier until the issue is dealt with.

Again, thanks for taking the time to let us know this. Your suggestion is a great help. The search function is currently the only feasible way to navigate new VGR site.

--- I have had the company's upper management read
--- all of these posts. So I'm doing my job the best I can.
--- This new site is not yet 24 hours old. Give us a chance.

I've said this to you (Lara) and to Chris: you folks do a great job. I understand that it will take time to adapt the new VGR site to the specific needs of the gaming community. From what Chris has told me, my understanding is that you have amalgamated the VGR and PCGR sites into the same structure that you use for all your other review sites. From a systems management perspective, this makes complete sense. Unfortunately for your users, there are a lot of adjustments that need to be made before the new site can even begin to be as functional as the old one. I'll try to be more patient during this process.

Just a side note: from a user perspective, a big part of what has gone wrong (thus far) during the migration is that our expectations were not managed. For example, if VGR management had told us "we're standardizing the gaming boards and during this process you will lose most of the functionality you normally use (such as alphabetical listings, etc.)" you'd have us all on side. You could follow this up by saying "don't worry, the alphabetical listings and other features you depend on will be back - it will just take us a bit of time to work these in to the new system". With this in place, most user's frustrations would be mitigated. The key thing is VGR needs to manage expectations and then follow through. You could still do this now and I bet it would reduce a lot of negative feedback. Put a message on the first page of the new VGR site that addresses the key concerns that users have voiced and I bet you will get more positive feelings about the new site. Just a thought.

Thanks for listening and responding to my feedback.

RH.

[Lara]

As requested by Chris, please post any new questions/comments to this thread about the site change.

Official Site Change Thread - feedback and complaints here please

Post all feedback here in this thread!!!!!

http://forums.videogamereview.com/showthread.php?threadid=393