If you’ve been checking around World of Depleted (or the WoD Contributor section) of late, you’ve probably noticed that their have been changes, everything from the logo, to the registration, to the menus have been changing. This is because after spending a lot of time talking to fans, the team at Viking Productions is restructuring the menu layout to make thiings easier to find and locate for both new users, as well as pre-existing fans and contributors.
One of the big things that was lacking from the older menu design was a way to access the new content from Depleted right off the main page. Viking’s Jeremy Hanke had this to say, “One of the things we want to encourage people to think about is that the stories and mythology of WoD are a world unto themselves. That’s why we had originally separated them from the main page and placed it within the Contributor section. However, we discovered that this caused a lot of confusion, so we decided that we’d more clearly label a Content section on the front page that people could access.”
One of the big changes that’s part of the new Content section is that you can now sort through official content by either Author or Title. (And both types indicate what type of work you’re in for, whether it be films, stories, music, etc.) If you click on the headers for either of these departments, you also get to see a list of upcoming content that’s already in the pipeline. (I noticed that we’ve got a new one from Jojo Stratton coming soon, as well as one from Fred Koskin, and a variety of music artists coming up.)
The former Blog area has been renamed “Updates,” as this is where a lot of the updates for World of Depleted occurs. The change in logo and where information is stored is also to more fully embrace what World of Depleted is: a Creative Community. Many new users felt it was so tied into a single film in the series that they didn’t immediately understand that this was a Shared Story World. The changes will help folks understand this more readily (and will soon include a “What is World of Depleted?” page from the About section).
Experienced World of Depleted fans and contributors will also notice that the login options are now located at the top of the page under the “Enter” option. (And in the Contributor section, they’ll find both an Enter option, but also an Exit button to go back out to the main site.) The two areas of the site (the outer area and the inner Contributor area), now have more evocative descriptions of locations which users can access based on real world survival. For example, general members will be able to find their specific preferences at their base camp, while contributors will find their contributor information within The Cloister. (According to Hanke, the Cloister will also soon sport additional content that Contributors will have direct access to, including high quality versions of films, exerpts from films, music, etc.)
While the menu redesign is not yet completed, the team at Viking is very excited for what it will mean for fans of the series as it streamlines the way they’re able to use and interact with this world!
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