With the constant evolution of computer hardware and software and access to high speed Internet access, online gaming has caught the fancy of gaming aficionados more than ever before. The greatest advantage of linking up your computer to the Internet is that now you can choose between virtually-endless arrays of gaming genres but also get to pit your skills with other gamers in the online arena.
The importance of good gaming website design
As with every development that takes the fancy of its audience, online gaming too achieved level of popularity quite unimaginable in a very short period of time and all of a sudden players found themselves at a loss on how to decide what they should be selecting and playing. Like everything else in the world that needs to differentiate itself in the eyes of its audience, online gaming sites too commenced paying a whole lot of attention to not only game content, but design and gaming experience that would keep the online gamer hooked on to the website and pave the way for additional revenue streams such as advertising.
The competitive environment
Before setting off to design a gaming website, it is best to define the target audience that the website would be looking to address and satisfy. In the modern competitive world the theory on one size-fits-all does not work anymore – target audiences often need to be sharply defined and distinguished. One you have ascertained the goal a quick scan of the competitive environment is called for so that you can pick up the best elements while being in a position to sharply differentiate your offering from the rest.
Cross-platform functionality
It is important for gaming website designers to remember that their website is going to be viewed and experienced on a variety of hardware and software environments, and it is important to provide enough flexibility for gamers on these counts. Web designers would like to concentrate a substantial amount of their resources in getting the look-feel of the gaming website just quite right that this includes all aspects that the potential players perceive as being important- color schemes, typography, sound effects, use of white space, etc.
It is also important for the website designer to keep in mind that the home page of the site should not be so heavy that loading over relatively slower Internet connections becomes problematic. Web designers could do well to consider uploading multimedia videos of the games contained in the website so that gamers can have a preview of what their experience could be.
The importance of visual style
Visual style refers to the appearance of the gaming website as viewed by the player. This is perhaps the most crucial aspect of website design as this stage represents how gamers will perceive the website. It is vital to use high quality graphics to appeal to, entice, and engage potential gamers. Remember it is the home page that represents the first impression on the target audience and this page must really work overtime in trying to promote the goodies inside. View this page that the start of the gaming experience for if this page cannot hold the visitors’ attention then the race is virtually lost.
Website organization and ease of navigation
While there must be an immediate liking for the visuals, the website must be easily and visually categorized for a productive visitor experience. Essential information such as game categories, registration procedure, hardware or software specification, ideal screen display specifications, payment terms, etc. must be presented logically, predictably, and interestingly so that gamers can quickly process this information and get cracking.
Designers of gaming websites will do well to continually remind themselves that potential gamers have generally a low level of concentration hence presentation of facts as well as allurements together with navigational tools must be really easy to comprehend and practice. A huge amount of testing is called for so that the lag between the intention of the website designer and that of the actual website visitor is reduced to the minimum.
Contents
For visitors to become hooked on to gaming websites there must obviously be interesting games catering to every visitor category. It must also be remembered that visitors can become very easily bored and hence the call for continual update of the contents. New games must be added on for every game category and for varying difficulty level and the homepage must actively promote the launch of these new games as else the visitor may perhaps never notice them at all.
Author bio:
Neha is a part time blogger and gaming geek. She loves playing games online and love to write about various game reviews and tips. She has also contributed few articles at sites such as Gamegarageonline.com. This is a gaming blog which one would love to visit.