Am I The Only Person In The World Disappointed With Pottermore.com?

If you love the idea of Pottermore.com go no further.

The big reveal.
A website. With games. Social media. eBooks.
No wait.
Click, Click.
*scratches head*
Ah, I must be reading some halfwits article. I need Google.com.
Aha! YouTube, Official Announcement by Rowling herself. We’ll straighten this out.
On it.
Click.
The stage is set, her lips are moving. My god. Something epic is about to happen that will shake the foundations of everything I know.
[Three minutes later]
The excitement bottoms out. My eyes narrow. I tremble with confusion and horror.
This is not happening.
I go back to Google.com because there is a crazy person on YouTube pretending to be J.K Rowling trying to suggest, in essence, a gaming website based on Harry Potter is the incredibly amazing announcement behind Pottermore.com
Click. Click.
[One minute later]
I am past denial. It is a website with gaming and social networking elements.
“No, not just a website,” this article tells me. “You can create a username!”
I blink.
“You will be sorted by a sorting hat. You can answer questions and can pick a wand.”
I shift in my seat, scroll down the page.
“Rowling has written,” the excitement skyrockets again, “18,000 words of back-story specially for the website.”
I feel sick, I just lost altitude. I’m crashing again.
I pop a can of Coke and glug. 
Sugar helps. 
I can breathe again.
Onwards.
“There will be a social networking aspect. It’s inspired.”
Here is the first rumble of anger.
*Virtual silence*
“Oh, and you can buy the eBooks through the website.”
Wait. What? Kindle, iBooks and Nook eStores just not good enough? 
Did I misread? I think I misread! 
Silly me.
*More virtual silence*
Oh, and we’re working on the web-enabled tablet integration.”
Crickets.
You didn’t think to do that before you...! 
You know what, never mind. I’m letting it go, too much to process already.
“This is a huge step for digital publishing. A landmark.”
Hyperventilating. 
Struggling to ... contain ... disbelief ... at words *gasp* on screen....
“That is all.”
*roar*

I spent days salivating over what this would be. I literally exploded in my seat at work I was so upset. Oh. My. God. Harry Potter just got lame. I loved the story. I preferred the films (believe it or not) but still thought the story was ace.

Did the marketing team learn nothing from the Apple Beatles-on-iTunes-the-hype-was-a-stupid-waste-of-my-time disaster of 2010? Realistically, this announcement could only have been a few select things, but with all the hype I figured it just had to be something good, right? They just had to have a trick up their sleeve, right? Wrong. *disappointed face

Translation: Harry Potter becomes a demented version of World of Warcraft.

*pinches bridge of nose

Could you not have just sent out a press release? The world would have gone a bit nuts, but it would have been proportionate. 

As an avid reader what am I going to do with my free time? Go online and f**k around on Pottermore.com or read a book. Am I going to encourage my younger siblings (the future generation) to muck around on Pottermore.com or read a book? Tough decisions huh?

All they had to do was release the eBooks. Enhanced eBooks if they really wanted to get fancy.

3 comments:

  1. This was definitely a shit announcement. I was hoping for something great, but instead we get an exclusive place for Rowling to sell ebooks.

    disappointing. lame.

    I'm with you on this.

    Just 1 Writer

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  2. Funny post. I don't think I'll waste my time there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought it was more, and I must say I am a bit disappointed, but I still like the idea. I don't think it makes the books any better or worse, though. It is just a site. It doesn't alter the contents of the novels; it only alters its community. And to have an official place for fans to join and share their love or whatever for Harry Potter, well, doesn't sound that bad to me. Still, I get what you mean. I definitely expected more. A lot more.

    ReplyDelete

Ta!