Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike1888
The site definitely has a lot of potential. My suggestions:
1. Simplify the submission process. People are not going to want to catalog their collections when they see 25 inputs for a single item. I realize only some are required but title, game, category, photo, description; that's all that you really need.
2. Profiles/collection feature. Collectors like showing off their collections and looking at the collections of others. Perhaps this site is aimed strictly at the utility of an archive, but I think it needs a community to be sustained. There needs to be connections between the users and the collectibles:
-Profile/username tied to your contributions
-Collection feature. Obvious one - users can add items from the catalog to a collection (can have multiple), wishlist, for sale list, etc. on their profile.
-Users can upload photos of their general collection to their profile.
-Items have an "Owned by: " list
-Maybe even have a dedicated section for collections? I'm just picturing how sweet it would be to flip through a list of "Mosavon's GTA Collection", "Liuken's Uncharted Collection", "Lemur's Steelbook Collection", etc.
These are just a few ideas off the top of my head but you see what I'm getting at.
3. Value estimation. One of the main reasons I went on sites like Diesnake (MGS collectible database) back in the day was to check out the estimated value of items. The "What's the value of...?" thread on this forum is of the most popular. I think the site would really increase its utility by providing this information, though I'm not sure of the best way to implement it given value fluctuation, bias, etc.
4. More categories. There is no general promotional category in the submission form but it does appear in the catalog so I assume it will be added. Off the top of my head, I would consider adding categories for press kits, cases (steelbooks, metalpaks, etc.), collectible/limited physical copies of games (these are becoming really popular right now), and art prints/posters.
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In the future improvements, he said he wants to ''Allow users to save items from the catalog to their own personal collection, with a shareable link''
that would definitely be a great feature to add.
When the database will be more complete, I think this website could be an usefull tool in several ways:
-Organise your collection.
By saving items to your collection, you are creating a digital list of every collectible you own. Which is usefull, because as a big collectors, it can be hard to remember every single items we own. As Mike said, a wishlist would also be usefull. That way, we could see more globally what items we want to buy next, how much they cost, which ones to buy first, etc.
I also agree that you should add more categories. I'm thinking of a ''book'' category, maybe even subdivise to ''strategy guide, artbook, notebook'', etc.
-Show off your collection
That's if you allow users to have profiles on the website, with as Mike said the possibility to see their saved items, their credits (contribution to the website) etc. Sometimes it's fun to see how big people's collections are.
Myfigurecollection does that in a very good way, you should check them out. Users can add entries to the website, save them to their collection as wished, ordered or owned. They can add the price they paid for the item in the database. They can add pictures of the actual items to the entries. They can comment about the entries (which creates a community for the website). Sadly they do not accept non-japanese stuff in their database.
-Get to know about the latest releases
That's if the website is updated reguarly. Also, as I said to phpworm, I don't think people will visit the website each day just in case something new is added. That's why you should add a ''subscibe to list'' feature. For exmaple, if someone wants to know all the latest stuff made for Destiny or Dark Souls, he can subscribe to the Destiny list, or Dark Souls list, and he will receive an email each time something new is added in the catalog for these games. That way, that person is saving a lot of time without missing something.
I know it does not take a day or two to add these features, but they would be a great addition to the website!