Firstly, some background: feel free to skip.
The reason behind the actions(feel free to skip).
Firstly, thanks Seven for raising this. I'll be honest: when I came here, I didn't think this site would be super table-top/pnp focused, simply because of the name. Role Playing Games.
Yet when I saw the question from...ah, it's been removed -or at least, I cannot find it. The question about the unarmed army and should you be allowed to have an unarmed army. To me that was immediately understandable, and indeed very RPG-related, yet it was quickly...."shot down", for that is what it felt like, perhaps due to the overly militant pouncing. The chat felt initially uninviting, although thankfully it tapered to helpfulness -but think: will that asker have left with a positive impression? Is he likely to return? I don't think so on both counts.
One could argue, maybe he shouldn't return, because this site isn't for him -but on the flip-side I say, had the reaction/way it was dealt with been different, he may of been enticed into exploring further into the type of RPGing that is asked about here.
Alarm bells ringing, I thought it best to ask what is everyone's feeling of what an RPG is -and that was also quickly enough shot down, as it was felt not in tune with this site.
Hopefully that all sets the scene as to why I agree that the Tour page needs revising, and why the tag line for the site needs to be improved: hey if this site is about a group of veterans strongly protecting their domain, then it doesn't need to. But I thought that it is a site about making others become veterans, and indeed about showing off how awesome this kind of RPG is, rather than making it feel daunting and putting potential peers off.
As to what the starting site words could be.
Seven and dlras42 (for the live-action comment) I believe are spot on: Role playing game hobby. It is exactly that -and being a hobbyist is pretty damn cool. Yet noobs may not know what is meant by it. So why not reword that first, most important and excluding of words, to something akin to:
"RPG Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for RPG Game Hobbyists(eg: tabletop, paper-and-pencil, live action role-playing games and the like) and those that aspire to become such."
Immediately it is made more accessible, includes examples as to what the term means, is a cool sounding term, and is inviting by not excluding those that wish to dip their toes into this very daunting world. And all for the cost of... 1 1/2 line extra of text.
As to why who shouldn't enter needs to be made more visible.
I also agree with BESW: it needs to be made clearer who shouldn't post here -not because they are lesser beings for liking a different type of RPG (otherwise this site is but perpetrating the incorrect concept that pnp/tabletop Hobbyists are elitist), but because such sites are already present within SE. Until it was mentioned in reply to my question, I had no idea there were other sites for that.
Indeed, this is mentioned in the tour page: but let's face it, it is a very small text of two lines. I read it when I took the tour, sure, but it went in one ear, and quickly out again.
It would not be uncool to have a big warning about that (at least, in the font of the first words) below the words discussed in point one, yet prior to anything more in the tour, along the lines of:
"Dear explorers please note: computer game (hyperlinked) and board/card game (hyperlinked) RPGs are not covered here, as they are detailed with great insight in our cousin sites here, on SE!"
Immediately the Dear (or similar acronym) invites warmth from us (like how Tridus/others give greetings immediately to new users, that's a super nice touch) and showing consideration; the explorer or similar shows playfulness and a semi-link to what takes often place in pnp; treating the other sites as "family" shows acknowledgement that we are all part of the big bad world of RPG, and are not being elitist in serving one specific branch -it would just mean too much spreading thin on one site, which as already stated isn't really the point here.
As to what the tag line could be.
This is indeed a dozy: yet again though I return to what Seven suggested, and implemented within the line:
"Q&A for hobbyists, game masters and players of more traditional and unusual RPG Games".
Of course doesn't have to be worded exactly like that, but I think it hits all the right notes:
-Hobbyists implies those that like to tinker without exactly being game masters (mentioned) or players (mentioned), and it also implies both groups in a cool way. Further, puts a more accessible and less intimidating terminology first. Also game masters seems should be kept as a separate word to make it look more tidy.
-Please note: I am not stating "traditional and unusual RPG Games", but "MORE traditional and unusual RPG games". There is always someone who thinks that one RPG is more traditional/unusual than another, and who are we to disagree? By implying thought that here they are more of a specific quality, it clearly steers it away from popular RPGs (computer, board and card) and towards the more, well, traditional and unusual (tabletop, pnp, live etc.)
-By a happy coincidence it is exactly as many words as the other tag -albeit I suspect the words are longer. 13 is a nice number.
Concluding:
That's all from me, apologies there are so many words here. I strongly hope that this site will be made to feel, for newcomers, more accessible than it is, and that ultimately you decide to make it such, as pnp/tabletop etc. RPG is way too cool to not spread about.
Like butter, it works much better spread, rather than eaten in a lump.