Make pages visible when they need to be

[Boltgreywing]

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

 

[cpvr]

Games, exploring, forums, game maps and a directory of main game pets should all be visible for guests. However, items that are being sold in regular game shops should never be visible. Also, every visible page that’s opened for guests should have a direct link to your game’s registration link.

The main goal of having pages available for guests to browse is for them to see what your game has to offer before they make an account.

Also, if you’re trying to attract more traffic to your game via the search engines, then all of your game’s pages that you have opened to guests should have their own unique meta description and page title.

 

[Boltgreywing]

Games, exploring, forums, game maps and a directory of main game pets should all be visible for guests. However, items that are being sold in regular game shops should never be visible. Also, every visible page that’s opened for guests should have a direct link to your game’s registration link.

The main goal of having pages available for guests to browse is for them to see what your game has to offer before they make an account.

Also, if you’re trying to attract more traffic to your game via the search engines, then all of your game’s pages that you have opened to guests should have their own unique meta description and page title.

As far as shops go items in shops can change at a moments notices, even if an item is in the shop at one point in time it could be gone the next. I try to avoid having registration links on every page except the main layout, as it is always visible in the upper hand corner. The only stuff that should be locked away in my view is any time you create an object, delete an object or edit an object. Show or Index of objects should always be visible barring a few exceptions. Most of my website is entirely viewable by guests except for shouts, private messages and comments in the future. I feel comments can be hit and miss when it comes to content and figure it is safer to have that only visible to logged in users. The exception to that rule has to do with the forums as these tend to be more public, only logged in users can comment.