Hi :) Hopefully the following review is helpful. I rate on a 10 point scale, with 10 points being the highest.
First Impressions:- The banner looks like it says 'Nindo Pure' because of the hierarchy of the words. ;x Also what the heck is 'nindo'?
- Other than 'Naruto', I have no idea what this site is about, and while I love the series I need to be able to tell at a glance whether or not I'd be interested in the plot without having to hunt for the information.
- Related, the 'important links' box in the welcome box seems to have nothing linking me to the plot
- That... that is a lot of RP locations. Yikes.
- Theme is a little bland, a little too monochrome even with the pop of red.
A Closer Look - Content:- I still have no idea what this forum is about except 'Naruto'. There's literally no plot available for me to look at, not even a general timeline detailing the forum's relation to the canon timeline (what era is it? what events have taken place? is it completely AU? is it partially AU?
is neji alive?), so from the perspective of a potential member I have literally zero interest in this site despite loving the series. There are tonnes of Naruto RPs out there that
do have even a smidgen of setting information for me to work with, and I'd rather spend the time looking at them over this because this seems like a waste of time. There isn't even any information who the kage are for each of the hidden villages so I can't tell the setting that way either. Why should I work on coming up with a character concept if I have no idea whether or not my ideas will fit into the story?
(EDIT: I found the plot, which I commented on a few paragraphs down, but this should be indicative of how difficult it was to find and how the structure of your content doesn't really make things easy for prospective members).- There are way too many rules. I understand that in an RP where there are things like fighting and whatnot there need to be guidelines, but the rules you have are really more appropriate for a larger forum (50 members would be a very bare minimum in my opinion) where staff do not have the ability to monitor all threads. Why do you have separate rules for fighting versus battles / wars? Why is there even a battles / wars set of guidelines? Does this have something to do with the plot? Why are these rules separate from the boards where you're supposed to put the information? Alternatively, could you link to the rules for these boards (eg: Missions) in the description of the board using UBBC.
- I am really, really put off by open staff applications, for a few reasons: 1) you have literally no members. What on earth would additional staff even do at this point?; and 2) I firmly believe that staff should be promoted from people who have established their presence on a forum. Having open staff applications really leaves you open to people joining your site
just to become a staff member, and opens up the possibility that those applying will abuse their power, especially as you've opened up
administrator roles. While it's impossible to determine whether or not someone will do so, promoting from established members who have shown they are helpful, kind, and invested in the site will drastically cut down on the likelihood of this happening.
- Why do you need separate boards for jutsu & weapon registration? Why can't that information be included in the character application and reviewed all at once, instead of prospective members having to fill out at least three different forms to even get a playable character? Similarly, can't clan & organisation registration go in the same board? You can utilise the label system to allow members to mark threads as 'clan' or 'organisation'.
- Why is there a separate category for all the hidden villages outside of the five nations? Why not create a board within the main RP area and make the other villages subboards of that?**
** That said I think that there are wayyyyy too many RP boards. The purpose of RP is to have people play together. The more boards you have, the more people are going to spread out; players tend to only pay attention to threads they've plotted for too, so if you intend to try and get people to participate, cutting down on the boards is vital. My recommendation for this would be to just leave it at the five nations + their hidden villages right now so that people have options, and add other locations as your board gets more members AND has more consistent activity levels.
- Optional: If your forum is primarily an RP (which seems likely), then you should put things in a more logical hierarchy that emphasises first the starting steps (which you've done up until the introduction board), then the RP area, then any non-RP related content. This is just my 0.02, so your mileage may vary, but it makes things easier to navigate, especially for potential members that may not have RP'd before and are looking to make your forum their first experience.
- Optional: Your RP board descriptions kind of break character. This is just a personal preference, but referring to "the show" kind of breaks the fourth wall and destroys the immersion of the RP. Your mileage may vary again here.
- Holy moly I found the plot. I genuinely don't understand why this is under 'events' (surely the plot of the forum isn't an event, as 'event' implies something temporary?) or why the plot is
so far away from all of the other required reading for the forum, or why there isn't an easy-to-find link in the "important links" area of your welcome table. As I mentioned before, I think it should be really indicative of how confusing your structure is if I, as someone with about 15 years of RP experience, found it difficult to find the information I would need to decide whether or not the site's content will be of interest to me.
- Canons vs. OCs: The plot revolves around canon characters, but I see no place to apply to play a canon character...? How is this going to work? If you intend not to have playable canons I think it would be important to note that somewhere
prominent on the site; if you do intend to have playable canons then I think it would be important to have a list of available characters (and a list of those who are not playable, for whatever reasons [death, don't fit in the plot, people you don't want to be playable, whatever]).
- Are you an APC (account-per-character) or a single account forum? This is actually
really important to specify because the division of APC vs. single account RPs are mostly even, with some fluctuation either way depending on the subject of the RP. I'm guessing you're going to be an APC forum since your display name is 'kung pow'... unless you intend to name a character that.
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Before you open: (because I assume you're waiting to officially open) I would recommend you being way more active in the RP aspect of things. You don't have a character, and there are no open threads for members to jump into.
A Closer Look - Theme:
Honestly the theme is a little bland. The banner looks nice (with some criticism on the words on the banner having an emphasis that puts the name of the site backwards), but the rest of the theme doesn't seem to follow suit.
Some suggestions:
1. a textured background (subtlepatterns is a great site for getting free to use textured / patterned backgrounds, but there are others); I think having a textured background (that
isn't grey ;x) would really eliminate the need for adding more colours or more variety of monochrome to the theme -- if, for instance, you had a black textured background (or a dark / desaturated red textured background) I think having grey boards / mini profiles wouldn't be so bland.
2. avoid using gifs, especially ones with rapid movement / flashes, out of consideration to photosensitive users. unless you're not interested in their membership.
3. maybe come up with a more interesting board and/or category layout? I think your changes to the thread list template are pretty nice, but the boards & categories are still default so it's kind of ... not bad, just bland.
Overall Rate: 6/10
My biggest criticism is your organisation & the amount of content you have.
It doesn't make sense from a veteran RPer's perspective (and one who is into the series at that and has been since the US version of monthly Shonen Jump started running it in 2003) so it definitely won't make sense for a new RPer. It's also not very newbie friendly in terms of it seems like you need a very intimate knowledge of the show & manga to participate, and based on the plot and the lack of explanation of common terms someone who is just getting into Naruto wouldn't be able to participate very well. I took off 3 points for this.
The final point deduction was for the theme, but honestly I wouldn't worry
too much about it. It's bland for me because of the lack of texture / it being very monochrome, but it might be quite nice for others.