Week 13: Hierarchy | Paterson

We’ve all spent some time on AddictingGames.com; if not for the organization of the website, the new games would be impossible to find and the old dependables would be hidden within the site. You can assume that AddictingGames is a primarily ad-driven site because its hierarchy almost begins with advertisements (and they must make money on free online games somehow). You can also see from the navigation bar that AddictingGames aren’t just for children looking for online games, but it reaches out to an older audience as well.

Besides the large advertisement banners on the top of the page and right hand side, the largest element on the home page is designated for new games. This section of the site is not necessarily the most useful, but it is how AddictingGames promotes their newest material. The icons of the games in this section are larger than the icons of the other games, so they draw the user to read their descriptions.

The hierarchy of newest to oldest games is driven through the homepage. This organization allows the user to explore the website further while being easy to navigate for the older games. AddictingGames organizes their games alphabetically, by category and date posted, allowing the user to find as many games as possible and convince them to return to the site.

The only problem that I’ve found with this website is their source of revenue. The advertisements are extremely distracting and definitely take away from the content of the site (even though it may be all about pointless free fun).