Another view of Pottermore

A take on previous speculations

Hopes and Laments

Everyone seemed to be speculating about what Pottermore was going to be — and there’s still some room for speculation, since until the site is actually launched, we won’t really know what the site will look like and what it will offer its visitors and members.

But MTV’s Kara Warner, in her article “Pottermore Pros and Cons,” has lamented the demise of a couple of her hopes for the site: that there would be an  MMORPG on the site and that there might be a “real world” treasure hunt that spanned the globe.

I have to say that, as exciting as the treasure hunt might initially sound, I can easily imagine that people would spend inordinate amounts of money trying to participate in the hunt, money that they might not be able to afford, and for those who couldn’t do that — including the many children watching from the sidelines whose parents didn’t fork out the dough for it — the treasure hunt would be disappointing and envy-producing.

I’d hate to think that JKR would exclude a lot of her fans from the Pottermore fun and create an environment of disappointment for so many children, and I don’t see her doing that. She’s always been very aware of the children who are fans of her books, and I think that she’s trying to make a site that’s friendly, inclusive, and enjoyable for all ages, wherever they might be in the world, and where they might step into her new site and, for a time, feel a part of the Harry Potter universe.