Updated Mod Eligibility Rules

[mith]

After discussion with the List Mods, we are implementing the following "simplification" of the rules regarding mod requirements/eligibility, effective immediately:

• First time mods can run a single game, either an Open or Mini Normal.
• Mods with one game experience
  can run a single game
  , either an Open, Mini Normal, Mini Theme, or Large Normal.
• Additionally, mods with one game of experience may apply to the Newbie Queue, though preference may be given to more experience mods depending on demand. (Newbie Games do not count against Mod limits, and do not count for Mod experience.)
• Mods with two or more games of experience can run two concurrent games -
  one from the Open/Mini Normal/Mini Theme group, one Large.
• Mods with five or more games of experience can propose Special Games.
• Mods with a significant body of work on another site can ask to have that body of work counted as one game of experience here.

Significant changes highlighted.

Edit:

A few quick notes on off-site experience, since I have been getting more requests for exemptions lately:

• At most, off-site experience will count toward 1 game of mod experience here. This will allow you to run all types of game except for Large Themes.
• This exemption requires a
  body of work
  of forum games - a single game is not sufficient, nor are a couple of small games, and we do not count chat games.
• The more information you can provide about your games, the more likely I am to approve your request - I don't really have the time to wade through an unfamiliar forum structure trying to find information on your games. Direct links to the setup and quotes from the players commending your modding are helpful.
• We do not consider off-site mod experience which has been earned after you joined this site; that is not a loophole we wish to open.
• The three months + one game played on mafiascum requirement is mandatory.
  We do not make exceptions for that - everyone else has to go through the same waiting period.

[mith]

The requirements for first time mods still apply. We might consider increasing them, I don't currently feel strongly about that either way.

Special games are games which require admin/List Mod intervention in some way - games that break the usual rules of the Queues. Invitationals and /in-vitationals fall under this because of the way they handle signups, but most of these are initiated by the staff these days. Team Mafia is the only other recent example of a Special game, due to the cross-game communication, larger number of pre-/ins, and the grey area it occupies between one large game and four minis.

I don't approve them often. Most of the proposals I get for these are thinly veiled ego-stroking ("Hey, mith, I should be allowed to run this special game, because I'm

special

!").

[mith]

Games with private subforums like those in the California Trilogy would count as Special as well then...

Yes; there have been a handful of these, but it's been a while.

[mith]

Can you be in the Open Queue while modding a Mini Theme (if the theme will end before you get to the top of the open queue)?

No (though this was never quite a well-defined rule prior to the current announcement, so it isn't my intent that anyone who signed up under the old rules be kicked off a list).

[mith]

RC, the only meaningful mod experience levels are 1 game and 2 games (Special games are rare, and someone with fewer than 5 games experience with a fantastic special-game proposal can always find a "sponsor" with the required experience to back their proposal). Counting an offsite body-of-work as 1 game only prevents those mods from running a Large Theme game as their first game here, allowing them to get a better feel for the site meta before they take that on, as well as allowing our users to get a feel for their style of modding.

tl;dr: No.

[mith]

(The problem with IC status as a mod pre-req is that it might lead to a hypothetical new player who eventually wants to mod taking on too many games just to get the IC status out of the way - thus, we may end up with a burnt out player flaking from several games rather than a player growing into the site at his/her own pace. IC status can be rushed, a set time requirement can't.)

[mith]

One thing to consider for mod wait times is that the speed of the Mini Normal queue is somewhat throttled by the Mini limit for players - players who like Open games have no such limit. That's something that will hopefully be addressed if we ever get a handle on site wide game limits.

I'm not sure how much of a problem it is that the Open queue is faster, though... first time mods have had a free choice between the two queues for a long time, and the wait of the MN queue may just suggest that more mods prefer the control of designing their own setup.

(I wouldn't be opposed to a minimum player count for earning mod experience, in both queues; after all, there is nothing currently preventing someone in the MN queue from running a 5 player game. We do need to be careful of the balance between first time mods wanting to run a 9+(?) player setup so they can run a theme game next and players who want to get in a quick Vengeful game; we've already drifted a bit from the original intent of that queue, which was for the players to have ultimate say in what is run.)

[mith]

That's correct.

[mith]

A few quick notes on off-site experience, since I have been getting more requests for exemptions lately:

• At most, off-site experience will count toward 1 game of mod experience here. This will allow you to run all types of game except for Large Themes.
• This exemption requires a
  body of work
  of forum games - a single game is not sufficient, nor are a couple of small games, and we do not count chat games.
• The more information you can provide about your games, the more likely I am to approve your request - I don't really have the time to wade through an unfamiliar forum structure trying to find information on your games. Direct links to the setup and quotes from the players commending your modding are helpful.
• We do not consider off-site mod experience which has been earned after you joined this site; that is not a loophole we wish to open.
• The three months + one game played on mafiascum requirement is mandatory.
  We do not make exceptions for that - everyone else has to go through the same waiting period.