Check Out Everything the New MEMBERS has to Offer!

• Posted on
• March 17, 2009 1:00 AM
• in
• Memberland

Welcome to the new and improved SQUARE ENIX MEMBERS! We've been toiling away to build a more immersive experience for our dear members, and here it is. Feeling a bit befuddled by all the newfangledness? Worry not and walk with us on a tour of Memberland.

If this is your first time to SQUARE ENIX MEMBERS, welcome! Take a moment to register. To do so is free, and only registered members have complete access to everything the service has to offer. We've conveniently placed a New User Registration Start button at the top of every page, so click it whenever you're ready. We'll wait right here for you.

All logged in? Great, now you're caught up with our veteran users. Here's where we start pointing out the fun things in the tour. So that box in the top-right where you first sign up and log in, that's what we call the Member Status window. Let us point out the four main features of the Member Status window.

(1) Right now it looks like a creepy ghost, but that's how you look to everyone else on MEMBERS until you create your Avatar. Once you've created an Avatar, a more flattering portrait will appear here.

(2) In the center part here, we display your Level, along with a handful of handy links.

(3) Down at the bottom is a quick-link for registering games and earning Points. We'll discuss this in more detail later in the tour.

(4) Finally we have your Current Tier, a representation of the number of Points you've earned this year. We'll get back to this one later, too.

But first, let's get your Avatar taken care of! That ghost portrait doesn't look good on anyone. To get to the Avatar page, click on or hover over FAN ZONE in the main menu, and then click on AVATAR in the sub-menu that appears below.

Once you're in the Avatar top page, click on Basic Avatar Settings to begin the creation process. The Basic Avatar Settings is where you'll choose the distinguishing characteristics of your Avatar, such as gender, face type and hairstyle. You're free to choose from all of the options available, but be aware that once you finalize your Basic Avatar Settings, they are set for life. No resets!

Once you've built an Avatar to your liking, you'll be presented with a confirmation screen. If you're happy with the Avatar, click the Create button and you're done! If you're not happy with it, by all means, click Back instead and change some of the settings. We can't stress enough how important it is that you're satisfied, because we really don't want to get emails from you in the future begging us to let you change the settings when we already told you that one chance is all you get.

I think that Avatar turned out pretty nicely. Choose Create and let's make our way to the Item Shop. This is the part of the tour where you grab your souvenirs. And we've got a little special something for all you early adopters. Any item with the orange "Limited" icon next to it is available for a limited time only.

Select "Try it on" to see how an item will look on your Avatar in the preview window at the top left. Select "Get it" to add an item to your shopping cart. You can equip eleven different types of items to your Avatar at once, including actions, special effects and scenery.

Once you've added everything you want to your shopping cart, select View Shopping Cart to buy everything you've selected. Don't worry, it's all free. We just say "Buy" to keep with the whole Item Shop motif. All the equipment you've bought will be moved to your Closet. You can change your equipment at any time, so you might think of your Closet as a list of favorite items you often change.

As you change your equipment, you can also manipulate your Avatar within its preview window. Click the small arrow on the right side of the preview window to expand the scenery. Click on the magnifying glass to bring up a slider that moves your Avatar closer or further from you. Click on the play/pause button to grant your Avatar the joys of motion. If your Avatar is moving, you can also click and drag within the preview window to rotate your Avatar. Position it however you like, and click on the small arrow on the right to return the preview window to its usual, compact size.

Now that your Avatar is all set, all that's left to do is to release it into the wild. Tap the little camera icon to take a snapshot. If you're happy with it, select Yes to save the image. Your snapshot will be added to the LATEST SNAPSHOT section of the Avatar top page, and a short time later, your portrait will appear in your Member Status window.

Now it's time to introduce yourself to everyone else in Memberland. Click on your portrait in your Member Status window to be taken to your My Page. On your My Page you can keep a journal; send messages to friends; set up lists of games you're playing, games you own and games you hope to get soon; and keep track of Groups to which you belong. Think of it as sort of your own little Official Site nestled within the Square Enix universe.

Here's a rundown of each of the My Page features that appear in the My Page navigation menu.

Top - All of your community information at a glance.
Journal - Update your Journal and manage your Comments.
Message - Send and receive messages with other Members. The Inbox link in your Member Status window also directs to this page.
Groups - A lists all Groups to which you belong.
Footprint - A list of Members who have visited your My Page.
Collection - List Square Enix games you own, are playing currently or hope to acquire.
Links - Share links to your favorite websites with other Members.
Settings - Manage the settings of your My Page.

You have a broad set of options for how much information you share with other on your My Page. You may choose to share your information with Friends only, Friends and their Friends only, all registered Members, the whole world or even no one at all.

Moving on to the last major attraction of the Fan Zone, we have Groups. If you've ever wanted to set up your own private message board for you and your friends, now you can. You may create and lead up to three Groups at one time, and you may join as many Groups as you wish. The Group Search feature will help you narrow down your focus to find the Group that's the right match for you.

We're coming close to the end of our tour, but we've saved the best for last. Have you ever wished you had something more to show for your collection of Square Enix games other than a lack of shelf space and more save files than you can manage? From today on, every new Square Enix game that comes in a box will contain a Point Card. On each card is a unique, 16-digit serial code. Remember feature (3) from the Member Status window? Click on the link that says "REGISTER YOUR GAME AND EARN POINTS" to bring up a cute mini-form, enter your serial code and click SUBMIT.

Once you've claimed your Points, your Point total will be reflected in your Member Status window. If you accumulate enough Points, your Level and Tier may also increase.

Your Level is a running total of all the Points you've accumulated in your MEMBERS life. It doesn't have much in the way of functionality, but it's a neat way to show off how big of a Square Enix fan you are, since your Level will be proudly displayed on your My Page.

Your Tier is the one to really keep your eye on. In addition to the Regular Member Tier that everyone starts with, there are four additional Tiers above that: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Ultimate. As you collect Points and move up in Tier, you'll become eligible for some swanky presents we'll pass out from time to time. Members belonging to higher Tiers will get the cooler goods.

There is one more layer of complexity we should share with you: Tiers are a reflection of the number of Points you've accumulated during a one year period beginning April 1st and concluding March 31st of each year. At the end of each one-year period, everyone ranked Bronze or above will be returned to the beginning of the Bronze Tier.

Think of it as a kind of competition to show how active of a Member you are. If you really want to get into the nitty-gritty of Tiers, you can take a look at the FAQ in the Help Center.

Well, that concludes our tour of the new MEMBERS features. We hope you enjoy everything MEMBERS has to offer and we'll see you around for a long time to come!