... a text-based online game created in 1988? Or strictly tabletop paper & pencil games?
From what I can see, there has been general discussion regarding online text-based games there. However what I am not seeing are any prominent tags dedicated to any one online MUD.
My question is simply this: if a community of text-based (online) RPG'ers were looking for a closely-moderated stack to seek answers regarding aforementioned game mechanics & such, would RPG be an appropriate place to do so?
I briefly looked over the New Player's Guide on the Gemstone IV Wiki, and while it does have quite a lot of elements that are similar to a table-top RPG, I think it fits the mold of "video game" more closely than it fits "table-top RPG". While this site does address RPGS that are played over the internet, using services like play-by-post or tabletop simulators, Gemstone IV has much more of a video game system surrounding it. Moreover, I think discussions of (programmed, non-social) game mechanics decidedly do not belong here.
Based on the discussion in this meta post, questions about roleplaying that relate to the social, non-video-game aspects of Gemstone IV would be welcome here. I think that such questions will have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and would be generally a bit controversial, but it really depends on the type of questions you want to ask.
I think that you should go ahead and give it a shot. If the community doesn't like it, it will be closed and the question will disappear, with no lasting harm done. I can certainly imagine some possible questions that would be within the scope of the site, so there's some nonzero chance that your question will be accepted here.
This site is for RPGs, games where a number of players get together and engage in a group activity that creates an emergent story (though the story may not necessarily be the focus of the activity).
CRPGs (computer RPGs) are not usually RPGs in that traditional sense. It is possible to play an RPG meeting this site's definition of RPG through the medium of a CRPG. Questions about the RPGing part of such an activity would be on-topic. However, questions about the video-gamey CRPG aspects would not be.
So, for example, if you run a MUD server to emulate a West Marches style campaign and modify the game as needed to interact with your players' exploration and you want to ask about, e.g. how to build suspense or deal with imbalance between characters in a party or whatever that would be on-topic. If your players wanted to ask what to do about their jerk server admin nerfing anyone who interferes with the plans of his GMPC, that would be also be on-topic.
However, if you wanted to ask about what mobs are located in such-and-such a region, or more generally speaking, if you wanted to ask any question not having to do with a hack of the game turning it into an RPG, those questions would be off-topic.
