What attracts you in a server banner?

[Pandora]

What attracts your eye when you open a page and there is a banner?

Here are some of the banners currently displayed on rms, putting aside rates, which one would attract your eyes and make you wanna know more about the server?

01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

11.

12.

13.

I wanna make a new banner and I'm curious what is attractive and what could make it successful, aside from the obvious that it should show the server name and rates.

[Wyvern Court]

Personally, I like LegacyRO's the best. Why? A banner is supposed to appeal to the eye, not really tell you more then rates, mabe even someone wont care about the rates. If it appeals to the eye, i'd click on it even if it provided no information. If they know what they are doing, their website will have easy access information to tell a user what they offer. A banner NEEDS to appeal to the eye, and not be crammed with all the crappy info.
It's not on the list, but I remember ForsakenRO had an amazing banner. Probably the best one ive ever seen. Im not sure if it was crammed with info, but it did appeal to the eye extreamly well.

[david10]

i think the Banned of a server has to be atractive to the person that look it, i personally dont like banners filled with information (Example??¿¿ the banner of noob fury RO), when i look for server i take a look to the banner firts and then to the information, so if i dont like the banner i almost always close the page of the server.

P.S sorry for the bad english, i was typing fast.

[Kasumi]

I like #1 and #2.

I dont like moving banners that much. They move too slow or too fast, and they're annoying to me.  Unless they move just right and not everything is moving, or too many things moving. I also like the professional-look banners.

[Pandora]

Thanks for all the inputs

Wyvern, if you ever come accross the ForsakenRO banner again feel free to show it to us ^_^

Kasumi, are there any in that bunch that look professional? Did you mean with a more corporative look?

[Anti-Static Foam Cleaner]

They all seriously suck style-wise, except LegacyRO's one, but it doesn't say ANYTHING.

[Guest]

bright neon colors, super flashy images, excessive bragging (like we have 5000+ bla bla bla and super incredible bla bla bla), too cluttered, or too plain, and the fact that some banners simply just copy and paste one image, then do some effects, and slap on some fancy text

those are all the things i hate about banners XD

[Rekenber]

I usually ignore banners when searching for a server.

I look at the description of the server; the banner doesn't really have any effect me.

[Shaelyn]

07 and 12 - especially 07.

the artwork that's different from what you'd expect.  most people just use the generic artwork from iRO in their banners...meh.  07 has great detail in the artwork, and it's not the same crap that everyone else uses, that really pulls me.  12 isn't as detailed, but it's still different.

04 attracts me a little, but there's something about it...I think it's the fact that it's just two things off to the side and some colors that pull you in.  and 06 is cute, but definitely has that same problem - it's just one cute little thing that draws my attention, and the rest of the banner is bland.

y'know what REALLY grabs my attention?  the animated ones that have a little introduction or backstory...and then at the end of it tells what it's all about.  one server did this, I think it was ShadowRO or something.

[Kasumi]

Thanks for all the inputs

Wyvern, if you ever come accross the ForsakenRO banner again feel free to show it to us ^_^

Kasumi, are there any in that bunch that look professional? Did you mean with a more corporative look?

I think #1 and #2 look more professional. By professional I mean, simple & clean. Not too messy and it makes it appear that the server takes things seriously. I don't know how to explain it really. xD

[asdfqwerty123]

Of course I'm going to say ours.  I personally like to be able to read less than 3-4 snippets of information, one of which should include the name itself and be easy to read all at once without waiting on a transition. 

The main thing is Clear and Quick Information at a glance.  You're not really making a full introduction to your server, you're just giving them enough information to let them know if they would want to know more.

Animation, while annoying, is really much more effective.  The average time someone spends on a page is less than 3 seconds sometimes.  You don't want to bombard them with seizure inducing flashing banners but getting their attention is good.

EternityRO has the right idea except they're missing a 1pixel border which really makes peoples eyes run off the banner.

And ours needs a little more color.

[Guest]

o.o i'm supprized so many people like eternity's
personally i hate the bragging about the population, and the neon colors

all in all it makes my eyes bleed a lil XD

[Lore]

The main thing is Clear and Quick Information at a glance.  You're not really making a full introduction to your server, you're just giving them enough information to let them know if they would want to know more.

Animation, while annoying, is really much more effective.  The average time someone spends on a page is less than 3 seconds sometimes.  You don't want to bombard them with seizure inducing flashing banners but getting their attention is good.

I agree. Animation is an excellent device, but must be timed almost perfectly. Too fast and it'll make people dizzy, too slow and it'll just be ignored altogether.

Despite what Rekenber says, I still believe banners are incredibly important to recruiting players. The more an advert can grab attention/impress the better the chances of nabbing some d00d whos just browsing. Maybe not so much a searcher who has a determined criteria in his mind of the server he wants.

bright neon colors, super flashy images, excessive bragging (like we have 5000+ bla bla bla and super incredible bla bla bla), too cluttered, or too plain, and the fact that some banners simply just copy and paste one image, then do some effects, and slap on some fancy text

those are all the things i hate about banners XD

Flashy images ftl, but the bragging is completely necessary. Personally, I prefer banners with just the name and rates, but having some 5000 players is certainly something I want to get known. No one wants to play in a server with 2 people after all : P

#1 is pretty stylin'. I don't like the eyes much, but the cool background makes up for it.
#2 Average. Not really bad, but it doesn't exactly grab my attention either.
#3 Spams text. It's annoying and not something that I will ever read. Next.
#4 This one has good potential, but the juxtaposition of colors is a bit odd. That gaped-mouth chick is also unappealing. Too dark, too.
#5 Good but the text is too damned small! I don't have a clue what the animation is for either. 6/10
#6 is a good example of what you shouldn't do in an animation. Little useless lines of information at a slow pace makes for poor banners. Add that to the annoying, pink background and you have a craptastic banner.
#7 Scantily-clad chick ftw. Too bad I can't read the name of the server.
#8 That guy pisses me off. And the text is too slow and big.
#9 Blinking pisses me off; its going too fast. Background is messy and tangled-i can't make out anything. This fails.
#10 I completely ignored the flashing uber-fast text, not even gonna try. I can make out some sort of graphic at the right, but I dunno what it is. Fail.
#11 Good use of animation-its discreet. Needs more color and the text suxx0r.
#12 Interesting. Caught my attention at least, but I don't like the dark colors and the drawing in front is lacking. Another example of good animation too.
#13. The first slide with the chick is ok, but the second one totally screws it over.

[kenan15]

in a banner? i dont pay too much attention to banners.....i really just look at the description of the server, and when i do look at the banner all i wanna see is the name, rates, not some crap about having so many people or anything like that, simpler is better imo. btw i know my grammar sucks a*s

[Pandora]

So pretty image, easy to read text with minimal information (name + rates), maybe animated but at the right speed. Did I get this right? ^_^

I'll get started on a new banner soon.