Mobygames.com site redesign: A complete travesty

[Greg2600]

So a couple months ago they totally redesigned Moby Games (http://www.mobygames.com) site. It's perhaps the worst looking, aesthetically displeasing, ergonomically broken web site I have seen in 10 or 15 years.

So for those who screamed about the uselessness of a central "repository" WIKI type of website in that crowd funding thread, here's another reason such a site is needed. Mobygames was once a vital tool for quickly finding game descriptions, reviews, screen shots, and scans, and it has now been destroyed.

[goob47]

Oh god... I second this notion to the fullest. What were they thinking? :(

[Haoie]

I think it's only been a few weeks.

In any case, it's pretty sucky. I lost all my alternate lists to boot!

[JakeM]

Pretty bland knock off of wikipedia.

[Bojay1997]

So a couple months ago they totally redesigned Moby Games (http://www.mobygames.com) site. It's perhaps the worst looking, aesthetically displeasing, ergonomically broken web site I have seen in 10 or 15 years.

So for those who screamed about the uselessness of a central "repository" WIKI type of website in that crowd funding thread, here's another reason such a site is needed. Mobygames was once a vital tool for quickly finding game descriptions, reviews, screen shots, and scans, and it has now been destroyed.

Yes, let's just throw out the baby with the bath water here and donate money to a group of people we know nothing about so they can steal other people's work to fill their "central repository". Mobygames is still a vital tool. The redesign has created many problems and the team behind Mobygames is well aware of it and is working to repair the damage. If you really want to help, all you need to do is provide info on their forums and they are being pretty responsive and open to criticism.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Yes, let's just throw out the baby with the bath water here and donate money to a group of people we know nothing about so they can steal other people's work to fill their "central repository". Mobygames is still a vital tool. The redesign has created many problems and the team behind Mobygames is well aware of it and is working to repair the damage. If you really want to help, all you need to do is provide info on their forums and they are being pretty responsive and open to criticism.

Responsive?

What forum are you even reading? I've been there since the redesign, it's a complete mess, the people who we thought were the bosses aren't doing anything and GameFly doesn't seem to give a shit since they got what they wanted - MobyGames' database for their own site.

[Bojay1997]

Responsive?

What forum are you even reading? I've been there since the redesign, it's a complete mess, the people who we thought were the bosses aren't doing anything and GameFly doesn't seem to give a shit since they got what they wanted - MobyGames' database for their own site.

I have been following it pretty closely as well. I was specifically referring to this post from a week ago -

"Hello. I apologize for not responding earlier. We have been working on getting bugs documented and we've brought on a new developer to help us with the work. Corn Popper has been very busy funneling issues to me so he is definitely listening and bringing your concerns to me. Please don't blame him for any of this.

I understand why you are frustrated. In all the time Moby has been around there hasn't been as drastic a change as this redesign. In addition to the bugs it's just a lot to get used to. I can tell you that we are working to make this new site better over time, but if you want to leave that's certainly your choice and I'm very sorry to see you go. You've made MobyGames the most comprehensive video game database anywhere in the world with a tremendous amount of effort and care. I could work on Moby full time for the next 20 years I'd still not have as much time into it as Corn Popper and all the approvers.

To your question about whether the redesign was worth it or not, that remains to be seen. The fact that we've lost the support of the approvers I can't consider anything less than a failure on my part though, and for that I'm sorry.

I can only tell you that we are working on Moby and we do want to make it something you'll enjoy using and be proud of once again. We'll be getting some updates out soon and we'll be sure to post here to let you know if you're still around."

The fact that they obviously spent a ton of time and money doing the redesign is an indication that it wasn't just Gamefly looking to buy their data. Considering they have provided this information for free over the years and indicated an interest in continuing to fix things is good enough for me. It's certainly better than demanding payment through Kickstarter or not responding at all to criticism.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I have been following it pretty closely as well. I was specifically referring to this post from a week ago -

"Hello. I apologize for not responding earlier. We have been working on getting bugs documented and we've brought on a new developer to help us with the work. Corn Popper has been very busy funneling issues to me so he is definitely listening and bringing your concerns to me. Please don't blame him for any of this.

I understand why you are frustrated. In all the time Moby has been around there hasn't been as drastic a change as this redesign. In addition to the bugs it's just a lot to get used to. I can tell you that we are working to make this new site better over time, but if you want to leave that's certainly your choice and I'm very sorry to see you go. You've made MobyGames the most comprehensive video game database anywhere in the world with a tremendous amount of effort and care. I could work on Moby full time for the next 20 years I'd still not have as much time into it as Corn Popper and all the approvers.

To your question about whether the redesign was worth it or not, that remains to be seen. The fact that we've lost the support of the approvers I can't consider anything less than a failure on my part though, and for that I'm sorry.

I can only tell you that we are working on Moby and we do want to make it something you'll enjoy using and be proud of once again. We'll be getting some updates out soon and we'll be sure to post here to let you know if you're still around."

The fact that they obviously spent a ton of time and money doing the redesign is an indication that it wasn't just Gamefly looking to buy their data. Considering they have provided this information for free over the years and indicated an interest in continuing to fix things is good enough for me. It's certainly better than demanding payment through Kickstarter or not responding at all to criticism.

That redesign was rolled out in a test form almost a year ago. All the approvers pointed out glaring bugs that never got fixed. The redesign was rolled out without any changes done to it and without ANYONE'S INPUT EVEN BEING CONSIDERED. You know how long it took them to acknowledge they had made a mistake? NINETEEN DAYS. And look, they haven't even replied to us after that! And what has been fixed since then? NOTHING! And no, this isn't just because the user interface sucks, the approval side of the site is broken and NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE TO FIX IT!

The site is dead, not just because of incompetent management, but because WE'VE ALL HAD FUCKING ENOUGH OF THEIR CONSTANT EXCUSES AND LIES.

And "A failure"? The man is still getting paid, he's a PR spokesperson. He has no idea what's going on and doesn't care. At all.

[Bojay1997]

That redesign was rolled out in a test form almost a year ago. All the approvers pointed out glaring bugs that never got fixed. The redesign was rolled out without any changes done to it and without ANYONE'S INPUT EVEN BEING CONSIDERED. You know how long it took them to acknowledge they had made a mistake? NINETEEN DAYS. And look, they haven't even replied to us after that! And what has been fixed since then? NOTHING! And no, this isn't just because the user interface sucks, the approval side of the site is broken and NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE TO FIX IT!

The site is dead, not just because of incompetent management, but because WE'VE ALL HAD FUCKING ENOUGH OF THEIR CONSTANT EXCUSES AND LIES.

And "A failure"? The man is still getting paid, he's a PR spokesperson. He has no idea what's going on and doesn't care. At all.

The post I quoted was from less than a week ago. I can understand the frustration and I certainly share it, but it's not a site that anyone has ever been charged to use and it still remains a good resource for many things. I am hopeful that they will fix it and if they don't, that would be the time to start thinking about funding an alternative, not now.

[Kitsune Sniper]

The post I quoted was from less than a week ago. I can understand the frustration and I certainly share it, but it's not a site that anyone has ever been charged to use and it still remains a good resource for many things. I am hopeful that they will fix it and if they don't, that would be the time to start thinking about funding an alternative, not now.

We don't need to fund anything.

http://oregami.org/

Most of the MobyGames exiles have moved there. Once the database is in a stable form, we're going to populate it with all our collective info.

[Greg2600]

Yes, let's just throw out the baby with the bath water here and donate money to a group of people we know nothing about so they can steal other people's work to fill their "central repository". Mobygames is still a vital tool. The redesign has created many problems and the team behind Mobygames is well aware of it and is working to repair the damage. If you really want to help, all you need to do is provide info on their forums and they are being pretty responsive and open to criticism.

You sound like Mobygames' publicist. Mobygames is a complete disaster, and will not be fixed. I've seen this before. I saw it on scifi.com, which was a robust forum site for all kinds of genre tv shows. NBC Universal destroyed it with countless site redesigns, defective software, and unnecessary restrictions. SPEED.com was once the biggest forum for motorsports in North America. It too was systematically killed by bad software, restrictions, and practices by corporate idiots who drove everyone away.

The only way to do this is by a non-corporate entity, and that means that entity will need to be funded at some point.

Careful Kitsune Sniper on that new database. There can never be another "central repository" because they will be accused of stealing everyone's work.

[Kitsune Sniper]

You sound like Mobygames' publicist. Mobygames is a complete disaster, and will not be fixed. I've seen this before. I saw it on scifi.com, which was a robust forum site for all kinds of genre tv shows. NBC Universal destroyed it with countless site redesigns, defective software, and unnecessary restrictions. SPEED.com was once the biggest forum for motorsports in North America. It too was systematically killed by bad software, restrictions, and practices by corporate idiots who drove everyone away.

The only way to do this is by a non-corporate entity, and that means that entity will need to be funded at some point.

Careful Kitsune Sniper on that new database. There can never be another "central repository" because they will be accused of stealing everyone's work.

Oregami is planned to be an open source database. It's going to be a non-profit organization registered in Germany (eventually.) I'm new there but you bet none of us, especially the MobyGames refugees, wants the same mistakes to happen again.

Also, all the other databases are technically stealing from us anyway since many of us were the ones that entered the info to MobyGames. :P

[Bojay1997]

You sound like Mobygames' publicist. Mobygames is a complete disaster, and will not be fixed. I've seen this before. I saw it on scifi.com, which was a robust forum site for all kinds of genre tv shows. NBC Universal destroyed it with countless site redesigns, defective software, and unnecessary restrictions. SPEED.com was once the biggest forum for motorsports in North America. It too was systematically killed by bad software, restrictions, and practices by corporate idiots who drove everyone away.

The only way to do this is by a non-corporate entity, and that means that entity will need to be funded at some point.

Careful Kitsune Sniper on that new database. There can never be another "central repository" because they will be accused of stealing everyone's work.

Not at all. I've just used the site for many years and up until this revamp, it was always good. I don't know if it will be fixed or not, but given that they never charged me a dime to use them, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Shooting from the hip and automatically assuming that some shady Kickstarter that failed is the best alternative is completely absurd. I find it fascinating that the crew behind your beloved Kickstarter database hasn't been at the forefront of leading the former Mobygames submission community. Could it be that those guys had nothing to bring to the table? Mobygames was a user submission based site and if this new one is as well, it has the potential to be good, especially since they aren't demanding payment for their time or claiming that they have unique databases that nobody else has. Just like I am willing to give Mobygames the benefit of the doubt, I am willing to give this new site Kitsune linked to the benefit of the doubt as well.

[Ed Oscuro]

Site looks terrible; another example of people getting rich off the community is all this looks like. Somebody wasn't savvy and got played. Good on the Mobygames community who've ditched it, although "Oregami" is generic as hell. Let's see how it turns out; I'll be interested to see and I might even end up helping out with a few things that've needed a home for a long time.

The "accusations of stealing" shouldn't concern anybody. Copyrights are still with the original holders, as always. All that happened was the database owners changed. Hope you enjoy your soon-to-be completely stagnant database, GameFly! They should care because now it's going to be useless. Even IGN, which destroyed more than a few communities in its day, has had the sense not to drive people away from GameFAQs.

Edit: Also, I didn't realize this was a couple days old - sorry for the necrobump just to say my piece!

[HappehLemons]

I honestly wish this could of turned out better, I had high hopes when I heard there was going to be a redesign. Mobygames was one of my favorite websites but I feel completely lost going to the website now.

[Greg2600]

Ed you make a valid point, Gamefly probably kissed away whatever ad/click revenue the site had been generating. That said, the new design appears to allow for about 40% of the screen to be covered with ads. It's putrid. Also, I went to a cover art page for Doom, and it took about 1 minute and a half for the thumbnails to load. What decade is this?

[Ed Oscuro]

What decade is this?
A new age! One that doesn't include Mobygames for much longer, I suspect.

I find it uniquely shameful whenever project leaders basically sell the free contributions of their users for cash. Perfectly grubby, and it's why everybody working in a big project should insist on some legal protections. Possibly it's similar to what might be playing out in MAME right now.

[JSoup]

So...it looks fine to me. I can search for stuff and find it easily. Just like I always could.
You guys are too damn picky.

[ReaXan]

that site sure has GTAIV vastly overated.

I would say San Andreas is the best by far and GTAV is already better than IV.

[Bojay1997]

So...it looks fine to me. I can search for stuff and find it easily. Just like I always could.
You guys are too damn picky.

In fairness, it does take longer to get vital information about games you might be searching for compared to the old design as there are now multiple links for basic information. Most problematic for me and what I generally use Mobygames to reference is the cover art and screenshots that take forever to load now. Still, it's nothing that some additional servers and time in refining the design can't fix.

[Ed Oscuro]

Money won't fix what money broke, though. It's safe to assume they aren't interested in Mobygames as a thing until they prove differently.

[AbnormalMapping]

So much for an at a glance comparison of ports. I'm sure all the extra ad revenue generated by all the mouseclicks we could have avoided will more than make up for those of us who have better things to do with our free time.

And hey, all that negative rebranding for free. Usually viral marketing isn't so much like an actual disease - it's a brave new world.

[Bojay1997]

Just a heads up, the old Mobygames design has been restored and a new company has come in and purchased Mobygames from the previous owners. They sound like they are very receptive to the community and hopefully people who formerly contributed content will be back.

[Greg2600]

Just a heads up, the old Mobygames design has been restored and a new company has come in and purchased Mobygames from the previous owners. They sound like they are very receptive to the community and hopefully people who formerly contributed content will be back.

Now that is a Holiday Miracle!!!! Hopefully they can have a mobile site version as well now.