Hogwarts Live Blog

The countdown has finished and Rowling's announcement is up on youtube here:

J.K. Rowling today, Thursday 23rd June, answered mounting speculation about the nature of her new project and announced Pottermore, a unique and free-to-use website which builds an exciting online experience around the reading of her hugely successful Harry Potter books, and is partnered by Sony.

The announcement today was heralded by the revealing of the website's name via an online search for its letters, and a 'coming soon' holding page which received over a million visits within 36 hours of launching.

For this groundbreaking collaborative project, J.K. Rowling has written extensive new material about the characters, places and objects in the much-loved stories, which will inform, inspire and entertain readers as they journey through the storylines of the books. Pottermore will later incorporate an online shop where people can purchase exclusively the long-awaited Harry Potter eBooks, in partnership with J.K. Rowling's publishers worldwide, and is ultimately intended to become an online reading experience, extending the relevance of Harry Potter to new generations of readers, while still appealing to existing fans. As the Pottermore Shop develops, it is intended that it should include further products designed specifically for Harry Potter fans, offering a potential outlet for Sony products and services related to Pottermore. In keeping with Harry Potter's international appeal, the site will launch in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, with more languages to follow.

In the new website, the storyline will be brought to life with sumptuous newly-commissioned illustrations and interactive 'Moments' through which you can navigate, starting with the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone. On entering, you choose a magic username and begin your experience. As you move through the chapters, you can read and share exclusive writing from J.K. Rowling, and, just as Harry joins Hogwarts, so can you. You visit Diagon Alley, get sorted into a house, cast spells and mix potions to help your house compete for the House Cup.

At a press conference at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Rowling revealed some key features of the website. In an announcement which will thrill fans, she described how she has brought to life both the Sorting Hat and Ollivanders experiences from her books for the first time on Pottermore, by revealing the questions asked by the Sorting Hat - which places newcomers into their Hogwarts houses according to their characteristics - and the magic behind the Wand Chooser - which finds the right wand for each user from over 33,000 possible combinations. She also revealed glimpses of the new information she has provided on some of the best-loved characters.

J.K. Rowling's announcement on YouTube and sony.com today revealed that Pottermore (along with the Pottermore Shop) will be open to all users in October 2011. From today, 23rd June, fans can submit their email addresses on Pottermore.com in order to be contacted by the site following the opening of registration on 31st July, Harry's birthday. Also on that date, an online challenge will be launched, whereby the first million people to complete their registration will gain early entry into the website, and help put final touches to the experience.

J.K. Rowling commented,

"I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new digital generation. I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have. Just as I have contributed to the website, everyone else will be able to join in by submitting their own comments, drawings and other content in a safe and friendly environment - Pottermore has been designed as a place to share the stories with your friends as you journey through the site."

Pottermore has been made possible with the support and partnership of Sony.

Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Sony Corporation, commented:

"Sony's association with J.K. Rowling's Pottermore brings together one of the world's most innovative brands with the most successful book series in history, in a pioneering partnership that will help shape the future of story-telling. We are proud to be a part of it, both at this momentous announcement, and as we collaborate on its development over the coming years."

On Sony's partnership of Pottermore, J.K. Rowling commented:

"As I think people know, I am very protective of Harry and have always been very selective with any new initiatives, but I am totally committed to making this partnership with Sony and this wonderful new website a success. There are many companies I could have worked with on this ultimate digital expression of Harry Potter's universe, but it is Sony's unique philosophy of creativity in harmony with technology that made them my first choice as main partner. The spirit behind Sony's make.believe philosophy is one that rings true with Pottermore's own values."

The detailed creative execution has been led by TH_NK, a leading UK digital agency, under the supervision of J.K. Rowling and the Pottermore management team, in co-operation with Sony. J.K. Rowling's publishers, Bloomsbury in the UK and Scholastic in the USA, as well as her international publishers worldwide, have been active supporters in the creation of pottermore.com and the Pottermore Shop. Warner Bros, the makers of the hugely successful Harry Potter film franchise, is also one of the partners who have worked to support the launch of Pottermore through a variety of marketing, promotional and other efforts, and will continue to collaborate as the project grows.

The storyline of the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, will go live on the site in early 2012. The Pottermore Shop opens when the site opens to all in October, selling complete ranges of the eBooks and digital audiobooks in a selection of languages, exclusively.

Designed for fans of all ages, the website has been created with child safety in mind, employing best practice and compliance with internet codes of practice in the UK, Europe and USA, and elsewhere.

A Storm is brewing in the Harry Potter world.

Earlier today. J.K. Rowling set the Harry Potter Fandom busy looking for clues once again, something we haven't had to do since the days we tried to break into her study at jkrowling.com.

A website appeared at secretstreetview.com. The website seemed fairly normal, with a box for coordinates and a google map. A Question Mark in the corner led to the following message:

J.K. Rowling
HAS SOMETHING NEW TO ANNOUNCE.

This is not a new book, but it is something equally exciting. As a teaser before the official announcement, ten letters have been hidden on this website for you to find. To locate them you just need to enter ten individual coordinates in the search box and explore.

The coordinates are being revealed among ten Harry Potter fan sites throughout the 15th and 16th of June 2011. Find the correct sites and you could be one of the first to piece the word together.

Good luck to you all.

As a follow up, I was lucky enough to get a preview of @Pottermore recently and it is one of the most amazing, engaging, and breathtaking additions to this fandom imaginable. More details will arrive shortly, so do stay close for the latest on Pottermore.

Leaky

This editor has seen a sneak preview of Pottermore and it is breathtaking in scope, detail and sheer beauty.

Unfortunately that's all I'm allowed to say right now, but rest assured there will be more news soon and we'll bring it to you as it happens!

HPANA

Registration of new accounts is now open again!

So, there was an idea. What if monsters in the forest affected alignment...?

We understand that it could make it a bit harder on those with phoenixes and after batting some ideas back and forth, we were able to come up with a way that should still be fair.

There are now members of the Order of the Phoenix/Dumbledore's Army that will give you evil points when you kill them in the forest. And now there are Deatheaters who will give you good points when you kill them.

The evil-giving creatures do not start until level 5 which will allow you to gain some good points and not have to worry too much right after a VE. Also, as you can see in the list (with the exception of Molly) they only take away 1 alignment point so that should be easy to gain back if you do happen to kill one.

Some of the creatures already existed and were edited and/or moved to a different level and some are brand new. Here is the list so you know who's who:

GOOD (will give bad points when you kill them)

George Weasley, level 5 (-1)
Fred Weasley, level 6 (-1)
Ron Weasley, level 10 (-1)
Hermione Granger, level 11 (-1)
Ginny Weasley, level 12 (-1)
Harry Potter, level 13 (-1)
Molly Weasley, level 15 (-3 points)

EVIL (will give good points when you kill them)

Barty Crouch Junior, level 2 (+1)
Fenrir Greyback, level 3 (+1)
Lucius Malfoy, level 5 (+1)
Augustus Rookwood, level 10 (+1)
Alecto, level 11 (+1)
Amycus, level 11 (+1)
Bellatrix Lestrange, level 6 (+3 points)

So there you have it! Have fun!

Hogwarts Live is back after its first unplanned outage in over a year. There's still some work to be done so if the site runs slower than usual or something to that effect don't worry as it'll only be temporary.

Everyone, thanks for your patience!

Update: We had to roll back the database half a day so some of you may have lost some stats. If you lost any donator points or items acquired with those points, please petition for help. We apologize for the inconvenience. Again, thanks for your patience.

People have been neglecting rules lately, and its not just new players, so here is a summary of the rules:

No Cheating: This is pretty straight forward, don't try to hack the site, crack peoples passwords, or do anything that may harm HL. Don't use your own scripts. If you find a bug or think you did REPORT IT, don't try and test it yourself. You'll be banned for abusing bugs, or any of the other things mentioned.

Evading the Filter: When words show up as symbols, LEAVE THEM THAT WAY. Don't add letters, symbols, etc. to them to get around the filter. Using slang terms and foreign languages is also filter evasion. We no longer filter slang terms and foreign language insults, so using these will result in a mute after a few warnings.

No Cyber Bullying: Do not harass people, especially for their spelling and grammar, some people cannot help it, we don't care if spell check exists and they could use it. Be polite and don't ruin the game for other players who are trying to have fun. All teasing needs to stay site related, bringing someones real life into it is an personal attack and is not allowed in chat. This also results in a mute if you ignore warnings.

Drugs, Alcohol, and other Bannable Subjects: Reference to illegal drugs, extreme alcohol (ab)use, cutting, suicide or other forms of self-mutilation will not be tolerated. No sexual content. You will receive warnings and if you continue a mute. ANY REFERENCE TO RAPE OR USE OF THE WORD IN ANY CONTEXT IS AN INSTANT BAN. People have been having issues lately following that.
Along with this, avoid topics like politics, religion, abortion, etc. If any subject causes disruption in chat, staff will stop it and anyone who continues will be muted.

CYBERING IS NOT ALLOWED. Any cases of cybering will earn you a 1 week ban, if you are caught cybering with a minor, you will receive a perm ban. We ban when we have PROOF. Word of mouth is not proof. Don't go off in chat on someone attacking them for this.

Spam and Advertising: This one is probably the biggest rule neglected by players, and wrongly warned for by players also.
We define spam as useless and repetitive posting. Unless you keep doing it over and over, you won't be muted for it. For repetitive numbers, letters, symbols etc we use a general guideline of 3. WE DO NOT WARN FOR 4-5. So you as a player shouldn't harass people about it either for having only 4-5. Even 6-7 when it comes to periods isn't bad.

Examples of spam:
Kdhfblagagkjlgdhasgd
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!
"*love**love**love**love**love**love*"
"hahahahahahahahahaha"
"pppllleeeaaassseee"


All caps in 1-2 posts is OK. Using it excessively in more posts is not.

Advertising: Do not advertise any sites in chat OR through owls. This will result in a ban. If you want to talk about a site, or something that happened on another site, go to that site and talk about it, don't do it in HL chat. Discussing other RPG websites in chat is NOT allowed. Talking about sites like Facebook and Youtube is fine.

Chatspeak/Textspeak: We usually do not mute for this, staff members will probably warn you, and a lot of players will get on your case in chats over it.

Alternate characters: Please read this blog post - http://hogwartslive.wizards.pro/blog/post/463/alternative-charactersalternative-characters

Personal Information: Do not give out your contact info in chats, if you want to give someone your info please do so through owls, remember who you are giving this info to is a stranger over the internet who could be a not-so-good of a person. Giving out this info puts you at risk.
If you give your password out, be warned, if someone messed up your account, we're not going to fix it, if they change your password, you're out of luck.

Respecting staff, players, and yourself: If you have a issue with someone, ignore them.
If you think a staff member is not doing their job properly, you can owl them and tell them why, or petition and other staff members will handle it. Don't report a staffer because you just don't like them. If you make a claim against one, make sure you have proof. If you think a staff member is abusing their power, also petition them. Please don't petition them over some small issue that doesn't affect anything. Disrespecting a staff member in chat will result in one or NO WARNING before a mute.

Don't RP indecent, vulgar, graphic or possible offensive scenarios. RPing substance abuse, sexual acts, sadistic and harmful acts will get you perm muted after only one warning. Again any reference to Rape will get you instantly banned.

Staff usually only give out 2 warnings before muting.

Listen to staff, do not argue with them. As mentioned, petition if you have an issue with a staff member and their warning and another staff member will handle it. Arguing and lashing out on them will result in a mute.

Staff CAN decide to instant mute, if this happens to you and you feel it was inappropriate, petition. If you see a staff member breaking a rule, petition it. When staff are enforcing the rules, don't throw in your two cents, we don't need comments from the peanut gallery.

CAN and WILL enforce things that are not mentioned here in the rules if they feel it is necessary.

It has come to our attention that the more hard-core roleplayers (RPers) are getting frustrated with interruptions and regular conversations by the non-RPers in the chats, so in order to try to alleviate the situation, we are making Godric's Hollow a ROLEPLAYING ONLY village. Since it is already the "family" village, most non-RPers stay out of it so there shouldn't be as many interruptions.

For Secondyears and above, Barnabas Tapestry (Room of Requirement) is now a designated RP Only area and for Thirdyears and above, the Shrieking Shack and Chapel in Hogsmeade are as well.

This means that if you chat in any of those four areas, you should be "in-character." No lengthy RL posts or conversations, please. Some new players who are not familiar with RPGs may ask questions or make comments- please show some tolerance for those that are trying to understand or learn what's going on.

For the remaining villages, it's business as usual. The site IS a roleplaying site and RP can occur anywhere on it. We are not trying to limit where players can RP, but trying to provide areas where they can do so without too much interruption.

Thanks!

For a limited time you can now get the Bald Eagle pet in the pet shop.


All Easter pets have been removed from the shop, they WILL still appear as you having them though.

First trailer for Part 2!!!




Or watch here.

A Baby Chick and Bunny are available in the pet shop until April 30th.

e; Also the Killer Bunny of DOOM is available again, I forgot to activate that one yesterday.