Okay - I know some of this has been said, but rather than just pop an "agreed" or "disagreed" here, I'm just going to say it all to keep my own thoughts organized.
Regarding apps:
I personally dislike this, though the decision has been made already. There's a couple of reasons for this. The first is that it's really an inconvenience for the person posting the app. I understand you guys want to make it easier for yourselves and feel it's more organized, but... it's still not really a great solution. Posting apps in comments not only feels disjointed, but in general has so many flaws. It usually takes a couple of tries to even get the comments posted because you have to deal with the character limit. And if you make a typo, screw up coding, or anything else, you either have to edit a million times or delete the app entirely and repost it. I can safely say I have done this numerous times in games because I've messed up a link or caught a typo I made AFTER posting.
The second problem you have is that there's now a double-standard. Major spoilers count -- but nearly every canon has something with a major spoiler. If someone apps anything that came out in the last year, those are all major spoilers. Someone playing for an obscure canon isn't going to want to spoil people if they're hoping maybe they can get people into their fandom. Hell, I don't like throwing spoilers around for RPGs that have been out 3-4 years because I sure as hell know that I never loved that I knew the ending to half my games before I played them, many times from reading the apps pages of my games before anything else. Everyone's definition of a "major" spoiler of the level you described is different -- so how exactly are we supposed to know when it's okay and when it's not?
Regarding the Password System Why do we need this at all?
I don't mean to sound like a jerk or anything, but I have wondered this from day one. There's always going to be an inherent flaw with this. The first is that if you're in the game already, presumably, you've read the rules and FAQ. Those people should be exempt to begin with.
But even for new players, it may be best to go with an honor system, because I've never seen any password/question based on reading rules/FAQ work. A lot of people, when they app into a new game will read the apps in queue to get an idea of criteria and general app styles. Doing this, you'll find those hidden things very easily -- it only takes peeking at one of two apps to figure out what's going on without ever going to the FAQ page if you really wanted to. It's flawed and it's actually something some people would consider a game breaker for them because it feels kind of like being a little kid who needs to repeat stuff back to their parents to prove they're listening.
I know and will admit that the last few apps I've done, I've looked at the last 3/4 apps for the password, then did a ctrl+f in the FAQ page to make sure it was the current one.
I'm sorry this is so long or if it came of as rude or anything! That's not my intent at all and I just wanted to point out the things I see wrong with it. You don't have to answer the parts you've covered with other people, either. I've read through everything so while I know, I still needed to say it (mostly so it didn't feel disjointed). I'm glad to see you guys are being proactive with making changes, but I think some real kinks need to be worked out with some of these systems, too.
no subject
Regarding apps:
I personally dislike this, though the decision has been made already. There's a couple of reasons for this. The first is that it's really an inconvenience for the person posting the app. I understand you guys want to make it easier for yourselves and feel it's more organized, but... it's still not really a great solution. Posting apps in comments not only feels disjointed, but in general has so many flaws. It usually takes a couple of tries to even get the comments posted because you have to deal with the character limit. And if you make a typo, screw up coding, or anything else, you either have to edit a million times or delete the app entirely and repost it. I can safely say I have done this numerous times in games because I've messed up a link or caught a typo I made AFTER posting.
The second problem you have is that there's now a double-standard. Major spoilers count -- but nearly every canon has something with a major spoiler. If someone apps anything that came out in the last year, those are all major spoilers. Someone playing for an obscure canon isn't going to want to spoil people if they're hoping maybe they can get people into their fandom. Hell, I don't like throwing spoilers around for RPGs that have been out 3-4 years because I sure as hell know that I never loved that I knew the ending to half my games before I played them, many times from reading the apps pages of my games before anything else. Everyone's definition of a "major" spoiler of the level you described is different -- so how exactly are we supposed to know when it's okay and when it's not?
Regarding the Password System
Why do we need this at all?
I don't mean to sound like a jerk or anything, but I have wondered this from day one. There's always going to be an inherent flaw with this. The first is that if you're in the game already, presumably, you've read the rules and FAQ. Those people should be exempt to begin with.
But even for new players, it may be best to go with an honor system, because I've never seen any password/question based on reading rules/FAQ work. A lot of people, when they app into a new game will read the apps in queue to get an idea of criteria and general app styles. Doing this, you'll find those hidden things very easily -- it only takes peeking at one of two apps to figure out what's going on without ever going to the FAQ page if you really wanted to. It's flawed and it's actually something some people would consider a game breaker for them because it feels kind of like being a little kid who needs to repeat stuff back to their parents to prove they're listening.
I know and will admit that the last few apps I've done, I've looked at the last 3/4 apps for the password, then did a ctrl+f in the FAQ page to make sure it was the current one.
I'm sorry this is so long or if it came of as rude or anything! That's not my intent at all and I just wanted to point out the things I see wrong with it. You don't have to answer the parts you've covered with other people, either. I've read through everything so while I know, I still needed to say it (mostly so it didn't feel disjointed). I'm glad to see you guys are being proactive with making changes, but I think some real kinks need to be worked out with some of these systems, too.