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There is a Witcher RPG game announced a while back. Would asking a question about the current state of the game be off topic?

Clearly, as the game gets made and released, the question would need updating. In addition, once the game is out, the question becomes obsolete.

Would it be a bad or good question to ask?

The final question...

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  • \$\begingroup\$ @Tritium21 they said a mid 2016 release so I could see a beta in a bit if they go that route, its using the mechanical core that a lot of their other systems are based on. \$\endgroup\$ Jan 25, 2016 at 15:32

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It's fine, you can ask.

We do handle tabletop RPG betas, including questions that are only valid or relevant during the beta process. We fielded a lot of stuff like this during D&D 5e's beta stages, in which a whole lot of stuff got chopped and changed all the time.

It doesn't matter if the questions and answers will need updating or go obsolete as the game's development progresses. We already deal with stuff at the time for finished and published games, like with all the supplements that were released for D&D 4e and are still being released for Pathfinder.

Be careful if there's a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in place. Some beta tests have more or less strict NDAs playtesters must agree to. If you've agreed to an NDA, you could breach your playtesting conditions by talking about the game material here. That won't break any of our rules (SE and its citizenry aren't responsible for policing NDAs) but it will be between you and the developer, and could compromise your position as a playtester. Check the conditions, if in doubt seek clarification from the developer and don't ask us until you're certain you can.

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    \$\begingroup\$ That was what I thought but wanted to check first. \$\endgroup\$ Jan 25, 2016 at 10:59
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Sardathrion Fair thing to want to ask about first. :) \$\endgroup\$ Jan 25, 2016 at 11:35
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    \$\begingroup\$ I shall wait a little till everyone has had a chance to see this then if there is no overriding reason not to, post the question to the main site. \$\endgroup\$ Jan 25, 2016 at 11:48
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    \$\begingroup\$ It’s perhaps worth mentioning, assuming I remember this right, that it is SE policy that SE is not responsible for policing people’s NDAs. Asking about NDA’d material, or using NDA’d material, is not “against the rules” here, it’s purely between the developers and the testers. \$\endgroup\$
    – KRyan
    Jan 26, 2016 at 14:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ @KRyan Good suggestion, I've updated the last paragraph. \$\endgroup\$ Jan 26, 2016 at 15:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ Question asked, we shall see... \$\endgroup\$ Jan 27, 2016 at 16:43
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Questions about the game's content (like "Is there a limit to how many potions I can carry?") are almost certainly going to be fine. Games in beta are games in their own right too. They might not be answerable yet, but honest questions that will be answerable in time and remain useful (even if only niche-useful) over time are OK, and doppelgreener's answer covers some excellent details on that point. (The only thing to watch out for here is “camping” a question: asking a question pre-emptively that one knows can't be answered yet, just to be the one to get the rep for it later when the game is released and starts getting lots of attention. I don't think that's going to happen much, but it's something to be aware of and, if the temptation is felt, to avoid.)

Asking questions about the game's state of development (like "Who is the lead developer" or "Is it out yet? What about now?") may get closed as too localised (in time) if it would be meaningless to host long-term. (“Too localized” isn't a prewritten close reason anymore, but it's still a reason to close a question.) This isn't a hard-and-fast rule: it's possible that some types of questions about a game's state of development will get a pass, but it's not something we can give a blanket “yes” or “no” to ahead of time. We can only say for sure after seeing the specific question, so the best way to find out is to try it on the live site and see the response.

So TL;DR it depends on the question.

Update: Now that you've asked the question, it falls squarely into the "Is it out yet? What about now?" type of question that we don't handle. Just like Will a 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons be released?, the question becomes meaningless to ask at the exact moment that it becomes answerable, because it's just requesting that people share news. (Such questions are also magnets for speculation, which is secondary to the asking-for-news issue but still causes significant problems.)

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    \$\begingroup\$ You may want to be more specific than "too localized", since the original meanings of too localized (time, location, etc) got dropped totally as virtually useless. When you mean it might be closed as too localized, why would we actually close it? Do you mean it'd be closed as obsolete, no longer relevant to current material? \$\endgroup\$ Jan 26, 2016 at 15:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ @doppelgreener Not for questions about the beta rules themselves. That's a critical distinction I make above. Only for things about the rules' real-world state like "Is it out yet? What about now?" Reading the meta linked above, the meaning of "too localized" is intact; it was just misused more often than used right. We can still custom close for the same correct uses of the old "too localized" (but with more explanation than just saying "too localized", of course). \$\endgroup\$ Jan 26, 2016 at 16:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ @doppelgreener Okay, it's a distinction I tried to make but on re-reading was not clear at all without examples, so I've edited it to fix that omission. :) \$\endgroup\$ Jan 26, 2016 at 16:43
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    \$\begingroup\$ Why is 'camping' bad? Is there a meta on that topic somewhere yet? Having trouble finding one ^^; \$\endgroup\$ Jan 27, 2016 at 7:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ @thedarkwanderer You can ask that as a separate question altogether. Do it! \$\endgroup\$
    – Joninean
    Jan 27, 2016 at 9:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SevenSidedDie the 5e question you're pointing to in order to say "we don't handle these" was open for months after it was answered, and closed with a close reason that's now disowned, theoretically for a part of the close reason that was acknowledged as a problem by the staff and part of the reason the close reason was getting removed. Nobody there claims to have closed it for the reason you've given either (or has commented at all) - it may have just been closed as eventually obsolete. You should point to actual precedent or policy. \$\endgroup\$ Jan 28, 2016 at 4:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ Too localized wasn't disowned, it was gotten rid of because it was misused more than it was correctly used. The correct usage of it is still a solid reason to close a question: “ it is only relevant to … a specific moment in time”, and is why it was used there. For reference, there are 13 deleted comments on it. It was originally closed because “… we don't really speculate in questions. —C. Ross ♦” It was later reopened by five voters, and later reclosed by five voters. It's a good precedent, and demonstrates why questions that obsolete themselves are a bad fit for the site: they're doomed. \$\endgroup\$ Jan 28, 2016 at 4:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ I agree that "is X out yet" is not a kind of question we want to host. \$\endgroup\$
    – mxyzplk
    Jan 29, 2016 at 17:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Joninean meta.rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/6061/… \$\endgroup\$ Jan 31, 2016 at 6:04
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Nope. Question was close because

We don't want the information on our site to become obsolete, and so we try not to ask questions whose answers may change with time.

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