Making char creation and char library public?

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Apr 8, 2015 6:13 pm
So to try to get some more help with the 13th Age char sheet, I reached out to a Facebook group I'm a part of. Unfortunately, I realized after someone responded, that it looked like an underhanded means of getting someone to signup for the site under the guise of assistance needed. It got me to thinking:

What if I made character creation and the character library public? So anyone who visited the site could create a character and save it (once they left, obviously they wouldn't be able to edit it any more unless they signed up an account), and thus share it. Any character created would go to a system where a group of volunteers (hint, hint) would check it out, and determine if it should be added to the library or not. And anyone visiting the site could visit the library!

I think this could be a way to drive more traffic to the site, kind of the pastebin of RPGs, and once people are on the site, they'd be more encouraged to sign up, I think?
Apr 8, 2015 6:23 pm
Not a bad way to have people take a test run to see what GP has to offer. I like the idea.
Apr 8, 2015 8:34 pm
Now that I'm sitting at a proper computer....

I like the idea of opening up the creation process to guests in order to give them a taste of what you have to offer here. Give them the option to save their characters to the library (with proper review, of course) and maybe some mechanism to recover them once they've created an account.

I like opening the character library for perusal as well, although you might want to consider hiding the usernames to guests (just as you hide "The Gamers" link from guests) or not.
Apr 8, 2015 9:04 pm
I only hide The Gamers because it doesn't seem like something would be interested in when logged out. I'm not sure I'd want to hide the username.

That said, the biggest thing I'm worried about is how to set it up so the user can import their character if they sign up...
Apr 8, 2015 9:47 pm
I'd say leaving the character library public wouldn't be a bad idea, but character creation without an account would be...problematic, I'd think. Too much opportunity for abuse.
Apr 8, 2015 9:50 pm
Well, like I said, it wouldn't go to the library without approval. But I could avoid spam by making it so a non-registered IP could only make 5 chars a day (or something), and set up an IP ban for char creation if someone abuses.

I'm debating setting a limit on how many chars a regular user can make a day (10?). This could rise based on leveling up.
Apr 9, 2015 12:12 am
Could you set up a quickie, mini-account? i.e., they still probably want to sign up (so they have write access to edit their toon), but just have a quick username/password, but skip other stuff like hobbies and favourite cat colour. I guess the question is do you want a bunch of unclaimed characters in your library that can't be used or edited?

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