zoraster wrote:I'd be okay with the IC status thing, but 6 months seems unnecessary given that it takes a number of months to get through the mini normal queue. As a result, a six month requirement would make it so that the earliest anyone ever modded a game was 9 months to a year after they started playing, and i don't know that we really gain that much from doing that.
I haven't done any extensive research on this, but I think of all the new players that come through, many don't make the 3 month bracket, with the scale gradually sliding down in the 3-6 month category, and even more in 6+ month category. I expect that bumping the wait time to 6 months would minimise the queue in the long run by a couple of months, changing the overall structure to be; wait 6 months + 2/3, rather than wait 3 months + 4/5.
Of all the new, first time mods that come through the Normal Review Group, there have been some wildly unbalanced games and some wildly inexperienced players who don't get how and why things work here. Even coming from another site, our culture is significantly different, to the point where it must take at least 5-10 games to get accustomed and have any basic understanding of our game. 6 months + 5 games completed seems like a good threshold to me to ensure more knowledgeable mods come through, so we're not designing their game for them. There are a lot of mods who /in on the first day of being eligible and do little in the time they're waiting. Designing their game at this stage of their understanding isn't going to produce well-balanced or fun games.
I don't think 6 months is overly harsh. Modding is a privilege, and a service to the community, not a right. Playing is always more important, and I don't see why it's unfair to disallow someone who has only played a game once to give it a shot.
