When your designing a site some users go about their day locking off pretty much every feature behind a login functionality. The problem with this method is it makes it harder for guests who are coming to your site for the first time to get a sense of the place. While yes the homepage is important and the player can see the pets and items, its very important that you don't go too overboard with them. Don't throw 20 plus pets on the homepage as they might get overwhelmed.
When I look at my website I ask myself a fundamental question do I need to have this page hidden, most of the time the answer to that question be a no. You want your guests to see as much content as you possibly can provide. Should you lock the forums behind a login? No. Should you lock the creation of a topic behind a login? Yes. Anytime you have to create content that behavior should be behind a login. What about buying items? Buying items should be under a lock, but the shop itself can be visible if you want it to be. Pets, and items should be visible along with the maps.
The only time you should lock down something is if it is a create action, a buy action or its a pm, anything else doesn't need to be. Remember to make your pages visible when they need to be.
Here is a site below which is a bit mixed in its handling of its pages.
Xanje
Settings is something a guest should not need to see so please hide this. Don't display this on the homepage there shouldn't be a link here unless logged in.
Messages section hide this as well.
Explore section make this visible and don't hide this away from your guests. Let them see the maps and content. Don't put this behind a login section.
Items section remove it from the homepage link from guests if this a feature that you only want login users to see.
Forums and Games are visible which is a good way to entertain guests.
Pets is hidden behind a login script, remove this so users can get a sense of your pets, otherwise remove the link from the homepage and only make it visible to logged in users.
This is a small sample of what I am looking at.
I may have missed a few things.
My site is a bit flawed but it has open access to most things. Notice that none of my features prompt the user to login into access features. That is what you should aim for.
Duelingpets
When I look at my website I ask myself a fundamental question do I need to have this page hidden, most of the time the answer to that question be a no. You want your guests to see as much content as you possibly can provide. Should you lock the forums behind a login? No. Should you lock the creation of a topic behind a login? Yes. Anytime you have to create content that behavior should be behind a login. What about buying items? Buying items should be under a lock, but the shop itself can be visible if you want it to be. Pets, and items should be visible along with the maps.
The only time you should lock down something is if it is a create action, a buy action or its a pm, anything else doesn't need to be. Remember to make your pages visible when they need to be.
Here is a site below which is a bit mixed in its handling of its pages.
Xanje
Settings is something a guest should not need to see so please hide this. Don't display this on the homepage there shouldn't be a link here unless logged in.
Messages section hide this as well.
Explore section make this visible and don't hide this away from your guests. Let them see the maps and content. Don't put this behind a login section.
Items section remove it from the homepage link from guests if this a feature that you only want login users to see.
Forums and Games are visible which is a good way to entertain guests.
Pets is hidden behind a login script, remove this so users can get a sense of your pets, otherwise remove the link from the homepage and only make it visible to logged in users.
This is a small sample of what I am looking at.
I may have missed a few things.
My site is a bit flawed but it has open access to most things. Notice that none of my features prompt the user to login into access features. That is what you should aim for.
Duelingpets
