Hi, thanks for your interest and the questions, I'd definitely like to get you involved so let's make sure this rule isn't stopping you.
When I added the rule "No outside help is allowed" I mainly had cheat devices and answer calculators in mind, though in a broad sense I suppose that would also include chatrooms feeding the player the answer while livestreaming. You bring up a great point that this is a tough rule to enforce, especially since not all runners are comfortable including (or are equipped to include) webcam footage. I took a look around SRC to see how other puzzle games with hidden information treat outside help, and it seems like it's not a big deal in games like Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy. A player could build their own database of answers while playing the game naturally, which technically would not be outside help, so I agree with you that it is too easy to circumvent "no outside help" with silly loopholes. That being the case I think it'd be appropriate to change the rule from "No outside help is allowed" to "No cheat devices or tool-assisted emulators allowed."
This would mean that looking up answers online or being told the answers by a chatroom member would not disqualify a run. I would like to hear your thoughts about this MrJimmysteel25, since I find myself to be a bit torn. I personally think that looking the answers up or accepting audience answers is against the spirit of Wheel of Fortune, but I also feel that the "speed at all costs" approach is perfectly acceptable for SRC.
Regarding solving puzzles with no letters on the board, I wouldn't worry about it. It might be suspicious if a player solved every single puzzle this way, but it makes sense that you'd get a very distinct movie title right away every once in a while. For example I solved "It's a Wonderful Life" with no letters on the board in a recent run (zne9ollz), the apostrophe and lengthy third word gave it away.
- Main Pokémon used - Wigglytuff
- Applicable game(s) - Gold/Silver
- Link and info for completed run(s) - , Completed in 5h45m53s, Played on Gameboy Player for GCN, played Oct 7th 2023
I'd like to request a new Alt Main subcategory in the appropriate thread, but it seems to be locked, possibly due to inactivity or age. Should I make the request here, or is it possible to unlock the requests thread?