Pottermore Reintroduces Log Ins and Sorting

With Pottermore’s numbers up since the relaunch, the site moves to bring back log in and sorting to their more hardcore fans.

Yesterday, Pottermore released their fourth quarter numbers for 2015, showing a positive turn around since relaunching the site to make it more accessible to the average internet user. But as was noted, they still have along way to go to get back to the numbers the site was putting out when it was supported by Sony. This morning, the site rolled out what we might consider to be “Phase II” of the relaunch, in which features that appeal to their original hard core user crowd are brought back.

One of the major features of the original version of Pottermore was that it was designed as an interactive game so that users could live through the Harry Potter story. Everyone had a log in, was sorted into a Hogwarts House and then began a play through of all seven novels. Whether you only dabbled in the game, or studiously and methodically worked your way through every chapter, doing anything at Pottermore required a log in. When the site did away with the core play-through of the story that was the structure of the site, they also did away with the need to log in just to see content. They didn’t do away with the content, for the record. All those bonus stories and J.K. Rowling penned Easter eggs that accompanied every chapter are still there, most of them filed under “Writing by J.K. Rowling” or “Explore the Story.” But now one no longer needed to be a member to access them.

This doing away with log ins and the play-through also meant doing away with the comments sections that were under each chapter. Many of those functioned as defacto community hang outs. The hardest-core Potterhead would spend hours chatting with friends through them. Now Pottermore is making a bid to bring back those hardcore members again, by introducing log-ins back to the site. One major difference is that log-ins, as far as can be ascertained, do not seem to be required this time in order to enjoy Pottemore. Instead users are merely encouraged to create one, so that they can be officially sorted into their desired Hogwarts House.

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The site notes in the announcement that everyone will need to join as if they are a new user, even if you are old hands at the site. The old log-ins are still there, once you join, you are asked for your old username if you want a shortcut to reclaim your house and your wand. For those who may have forgotten their old username, an email is helpfully provided to get it back. This is a good blend of the old and new. Everyone can now pick their new username, while still maintaining their old account. Old usernames were assigned, and not that easy to remember. Luckily I had mine saved in my email from forever ago, and got back both my house–Hufflepuff–and my wand–Rowan, Unicorn Hair, 10in, “Suprisingly Swishy.” Upon being reassigned to my house, there is a page with much of the writing on Hufflepuff in the “My House” page, all of which has been sorted into the “Writing by J.K. Rowling” category. Under “Explore the Story” there are several Hufflepuff-centric articles gathered together.

The features page has also been updated with half a dozen new articles to reflect the reintroduction of sorting. They include “6 Reasons Why It’s Great to be Slytherin”, “7 Ways Hufflepuff is Better Than You Realize”, “6 Reasons to be Excited If Your Sorted Into Ravenclaw”, and of course “5 Reasons Gryffindors Need To Calm Down A Bit.” There are also entries on famous members of each House through the ages. Comments do not seem to have returns as of yet, and neither has any sort of play though for the original users of the site (though I’m sure they’re still hoping.) But I would expect by the end of the week, Pottermore to have bolstered their user database numbers, as the original users log back in for the first time since the summer, and the new users who have been drawn to the site since September get sorted for the first time.

Next: Fantastic Beasts Was Originally Imagined As A Documentary

Head over to Pottermore now and get yourself sorted (Or re-sorted!)

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