Using Player Character Status for Game Masters
This Thread is about the feature explained in this Post. This feature helps Game Masters to control the Players participation in the game. The default is "Not Approved" so a new Character can be edited by someone who is yet to be a Player.
Once you are okay with the Player participating you can and should switch their Character to "Active". The other options indicate the status of the Character and will cosmetically dampen the Character in your game so it isn't mixed up with current active Players.
If a new Player needs more time to edit their Character you can shift it to "Editing" which means they are not approved yet and are merely being allowed to edit their Character.
NOTE: If a Character is in any other status except "Active", "Editing" or "Not Approved" then they cannot edit their Character. This prevents cheating while they are gone. You should NOT put a Character back to "Not Approved" once they have started to play. If the Player is not active then choose "Not Active", etc. Otherwise they may be able to keep editing their Character under "Not Approved".
How does this feature stop cheating? A Player can be gone for a long time, come back and decide to edit their Character hoping that you don't notice because so much time has passed. It can stop old Players from suddenly jumping in games without your permission.
How does this feature give you control? Via the "GM Stats" you can now see who are the actual Players in your game and their status. You will be able to better track delinquent Players and know who to slowly or forcefully kick out.
I like the new look. It makes the GM stats page more worthwhile because I can see the party at a glance without trying to find who is playing and who isn't.
I had a character that died but was showing up as part of the party, now he appears "Dead" as he should be RIP. .
The part of this I really like is being able to see who is active and who just updated their character in GM stats and if I haven't seen a character / player in awhile hopefully the Dungeon Master updates so I don't have to wonder about their status when planning a move with the rest of the party.
New Statuses
I've added "Editing" and "Transfer" to the options available for Character Status.
"Editing" allows you to track new Players who need more time to edit their Character before being moved to "Approved" status. They do not get "Editing" as a default in case you are not accepting new Characters and do not want the Player to waste time editing a Character further.
"Transfer" is a locked status so the Player cannot edit their Character. This indicates that a Character is scheduled to be moved to another game / Dungeon Master / GM or Referee. Therefore, their Character cannot be edited during the transition period.