What if you can only switch a hobby project to the wip category and once you do that it can’t be switched back? That would mean the author has to be sure this is what they want to do. Maybe even have a finished alpha before asking to switch categories 
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I mean we’re talking about adding a separate category, yeah? Like a new category in the forum? If that’s the case, the project would be tagged differently and moved to a different section of the forum which would likely go a pretty significant way in clearing that up. I might be optimistic or misunderstanding though
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Personally, I think closing the old thread, and creating a new in the other section, is better than moving the thread over. Less chance of people getting confused.
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Not even gonna lie, upon reading “Hobby Projects” I was like “Oh, we can even call it the Hobby Lobby–oh wait, no, that’s a bad idea.”
I think it’s worth the risk of confusion, within reason–otherwise if a writer decides they want to change the type of feedback they’re getting, they won’t have much of an option to do so, beyond restarting with a new thread entirely or editing their OP, staying within a category, and diluting that category’s intended purpose. Maybe make clear that WIP/HP creators have to contact a moderator to move categories, and then there can be a soft limit (so moderators don’t have to keep checking how many times something was moved) on how many times you’re allowed to change category? Say, twice? Once to change feedback, and a second time in case the author regrets moving?
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Won’t this splitting be even more confusing for readers and authors? I think it should be much easier to advice new authors to explicitly tell what kind of feedback they want to get, if they don’t want to get some certain type of feedback.
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On second thought, I agree with this. A new thread with a link to the old one would probably be best.
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I think if that’s the case, a lot of it will pretty much solve itself. There might be some confusion if someone comes in from the homepage, but if we make sure that Hobby Projects don’t put WiP in their title, people should be fine. Make sure the new sub-category has a drastically different color than green though!
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We do have blue–Off-Topic!
Edit: And also Heart’s Choices.
Should the Hobby Project sub even be in the HG category? Isn’t the point that they are not necessarily working towards becoming HGs?
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I think by default the Hosted Games is the closest one. General is for not games, and game development is for general theories. I see your point, but it’s the closest one methinks.
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And as I said at the top of the topic, just because it’s a hobby project doesn’t mean it won’t get published! There’s just not really the same level of stress or expectation
If possible, I actually think this should be up for vote, because there’s pros and cons for including it in HG and allowing it to be its own category.
Including It:
Pro: Easier transition should a writer choose to change their category
Con: Easier chance of confusion from forum users on what category a game is in.
Not Including It
Pro: More straight-forward to find in the forum, can grow its own community
Con: Harder transition, could make people feel more isolated/“lesser” for not being part of the main category.
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I think instead of a soft cap there should be a cool down time limit. Instead of being able to switch from hobby to WiP only twice or thrice, you can do it as many times as you want, but upon switching it from one to the other, you have to wait a week or two to switch it back?
I prefer moving the entire thread since then all the feedback is all in one place which is incredibly useful… but that might just be me and my tendency to lose track of things 
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I prefer it being part of HG because even though they’re doing it to learn or on the side, they’re still writing out of their love to share their stories. Moving it outside the main category feels like we’re alienating them.
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That sounds good in theory, but it puts a lot more work on the moderators, potentially.
I hope, if Staff is looking then, they do consider it. I think based on the reactions here, it’s a more popular idea than initially thought.
Edit: I think this would also assist with adjusting to the cultural shift that’s been happening here due to more active forum development. We’re undergoing growing pains and I’d like us to navigate it more smoothly.
(also hello staff, if you’re looking at this i love you 
)
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True, I just don’t want people to assume they’re trapped in one section or another once they’ve hit the soft cap. But then again, it is called a soft cap for a reason.
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The new subcategory Hobby Projects has been launched!
Here is the link:
https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/about-the-hobby-projects-category
Thank you, everyone who participated in this discussion – your contributions were very helpful and needed.
The subcategory is located under the Development Category – It does make more sense being located here than under Hosted Games.
Let us all try to make the hobby authors/developers’ experience here a positive one.
Thank you, Jason, for being on top of this.
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This is really cool, I hope it encourages experimentation and creativity that aren’t necessarily geared towards commercial work!
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I know this was discussed in this thread, regarding switching from a HP to a WiP should you want pursue publication. But I just wanted to clarify that this is the official position of CoG?
I suspect that some of my ideas are better placed as a HP initially whilst I figure out the mechanics of the games and decide if they are goers or not, then moving to a WiP once I bite the bullet on one.
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