I thought I’d experiment with the poll option a bit and ask about people’s preferences concerning NWN1+2 - what you mostly use it for, what characters you usually create, stuff like that, just for the fun of it and to encourage discussion -, but I’m not sure whether to make voters visible or not, and whether it would make more sense to keep these polls in one thread or to open a new discussion for each question. So I guess that would be the first things to poll you about. 
Disclaimer: These first polls are anonymous, and I voted on “no preference” myself in order to confirm it.
1. Do you prefer polls about preferences concerning NWN to be anonymous or public?
- I’d prefer it if voting was anonymous, otherwise I would not be interested
- I’d prefer it if voting was public, otherwise I would not be interested
- I’d prefer it if voting was anonymous, but I would be interested either way
- I’d prefer it if voting was public, but I would be interested either way
- I don’t have any preferences in this regard, just get on with it, I’m curious
- I’m not interested in polls at all, how did you even manage to make me cast a vote on this one?
- You actually overlooked something here that I’m going to explain in the comment section below
2. Would you prefer it if these polls were …
- confined to this single thread
- to start a different discussion thread for each question?
- not created at all
- handled in a different way that you’re going to explain in the comment section below
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I may have voted so far but surely the answers to the above questions depend on the context of the future polls.
TR
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Interesting. Apparently my vote (as poll creator? as first voter? or just randomly?) counts 1% more than your votes, just so that it all adds up to 100% … 
Makes sense. Probably more than this poll itself. 
But it’s all in good fun, I mostly just wanted to try out this function and start harmless discussions, I don’t mean to ask anything compromising (whatever that could be).
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Anonymous voting is never truly anonymous (a single db query can reveal all voters), but it promotes participation (including trolling if you care for that) since it removes any kind of peer pressure. On the other hand, public voting allows more direct communication (no need for posting) and makes it easier for voters to congregate around their commonly-shared opinions. I.e. “rate my module” is better anonymous, while “vote for next CCC theme” might be better open.
Sadly Discourse doesn’t provide a middle option: show who voted but not for what.
Maybe something of a compromise could be anonymous voting but with encouragement for those who’d like to state their opinion publicly to expand on it in the comments below? Like “I voted for … in the poll, because I …”?
Ironically, the one who voted for “public or not interested” is anonymous now, although that’s a preference I did not actually expect to be picked, compared to “anonymous or not interested” which noone voted for so far. Would be interesting to hear to reason behind it. 
There is maybe 20 peoples who participates on these forums, so what is point of annonymous voting?
What kind of poll do you plan that you think it should be annonymous, a sexual orientation one?
Nah, you’re right. I was just playing around with the format and I was unsure how others would perceive the polls, but truth be told, I don’t expect them to be anywhere near representative anyway, considering how small the part of active posters here is, compared to the actual amount of people involved with NWN. So it probably does make more sense to concentrate on individual answers than on overall statistics. In the end, these questions might even be better suited for open discussion than polling. I guess I just like clicking on buttons. 
I assume that poll requires to be logged in and therefore when you have to be logged in what is the point of hiding who voted when this information is known?
But it would be a different question if the poll didn’t require reader to have an account - does the forum even allow it? And the site itself?
What I had in mind were such different topics as these (they are set to public now):
3. What is your main focus concerning NWN, the thing you do the most, above all others?
- Playing through official content (NWN1)
- Playing through official content (NWN2)
- Playing downloadable custom single player modules (NWN1)
- Playing downloadable custom single player modules (NWN2)
- Playing downloadable or shared custom multiplayer modules co-op with a group (NWN1)
- Playing downloadable or shared custom multiplayer modules co-op with a group (NWN2)
- Playing downloadable or shared custom multiplayer modules co-op with a group, but guided by a Dungeon Master (NWN1)
- Playing downloadable or shared custom multiplayer modules co-op with a group, but guided by a Dungeon Master (NWN2)
- Playing on online multiplayer servers / PWs (NWN1)
- Playing on online multiplayer servers / PWs (NWN2)
- Working on custom content like models, tilesets, scripts etc. (NWN1)
- Working on custom content like models, tilesets, scripts etc. (NWN2)
- Working on downloadable custom single or multiplayer modules or prefabs (NWN1)
- Working on downloadable custom single or multiplayer modules or prefabs (NWN2)
- Working on online multiplayer servers / PWs as creator, administrator or Dungeon Master (NWN1)
- Working on online multiplayer servers / PWs as creator, administrator or Dungeon Master (NWN2)
- Something forum-related like administrating, moderating, posting or lurking (NWN1)
- Something forum-related like administrating, moderating, posting or lurking (NWN2)
- Something entirely different that was not mentioned here, I’ll explain below in the comments
4. When you create a character in RPGs, do you usually …
- just care for the stats?
- model them after yourself as much as possible, just for the challenge or fun of it?
- model them after yourself as much as possible, so you can better relate to them?
- create them to be someone entirely different from you who you think fun to roleplay or look at?
- do all of the above sometimes, depending on a whim
- do something else not listed here
5. If you play downloadable custom modules, do you usually prefer …
- to use the same character for a bunch of different modules, so you can build them up to epic levels, regardless of background and balance?
- to use the same character for a bunch of different modules, so you can build them up to epic levels, but try to make it work with background and/or balance, pick the stories carefully and maybe even choose to not use some of your previously acquired money and items?
- to create a new character for each module or series, so that they would fit with the background and challenge and balance is kept?
- to do any of the other options, depending on the modules or series, with no fixed preferences
- to do something entirely different not listed here
Meta says having an account (and being logged-in) is mandatory for the built-in voting.
Also some of the people in the community download and play content but only rarely check these forums if at all. You would have to leave a poll up for a pretty long time to get much data.
Yes, like I said, this can’t be anywhere near representative. It’s just a really tiny part of a huge diverse community. My general perception of these forums is that there are a lot more veterans than newbies and a lot more custom creators than players hanging out here (so far somewhat confirmed, as the poll shows only 3 out of 10 participants mostly seeing themselves as avid players - all single players on top of it, and only 1 for NWN1, 2 for NWN2 - not at all representative, considering how many - online - players there are).
I did not really expect that on 4. and 5. a majority would vote for “new character” and “different from yourself”, as I often notice other players complaining about item stripping, or people on gaming forums seriously questioning why, for example, a man would ever want to play a female character instead of someone modeled after himself etc., but without wanting to read too much into it, maybe the reason why options like “same character for different modules” and “just like me” are hardly picked over here, is because most participants here think from the perspective of a creator (regardless if they are also players or not)? Since a creator would probably be more concerned about balance and background in a module and be more eager to invent all kinds of characters unrelated to themselves? Just a thought, might also be completely nonsense. 
Btw, in hindsight I realize now that I foolishly built in some backdoors with the “it depends” options, because of course that can be applied to anything. I also vary what I do and am not totally fixated on anything, but I tend to do the things I voted for a bit more than the rest.
What I would find really interesting to hear is what the participants voting for “do something else not listed here” on poll 4 were thinking of that I forgot to include. In general, everyone is welcome to explain their thoughts on something they voted for, if you feel like sharing them. 
re: Poll #4
While I do have certain favorites when building characters, I try to read the author’s description and create something that makes sense in their setting. City adventures for example, generally favor bards and rogues, at least in my opinion. The list of potential companions is also often a clue as to what you should expect.
Oh, okay. I do that, too. I meant it more in terms of character, appearance and such, not class. And I guess the “entirely different” is somewhat misleading there.
I’ve read quite a few discussion about what people like to play in games, how they approach their character, and there seem to be roughly two types of players:
(1) those who can really only immerse themselves into a game if they imagine themselves to be the hero, so they do not like to play someone significantly different from their RL person (of course very few people are actual mages in RL , but I guess they’d then imagine how it would be like if they - with their own looks and character traits - were a mage in a fantasy world, Narnia-style). They might even name their characters after themselves. Think “this is me”. I’ve never quite understood the perspective of this group, because how many games actually allow you to play someone like yourself, and where would you draw the line? But apparently such preferences are a thing for some;
and (2) those who can immerse themselves into almost anything and just go with whatever character the story is offering them, or freely create whatever might fit the background or whatever sounds cool or funny, independently of their RL person, because they do not imagine themselves to be the hero but just see the hero as a character in a story and manage to empathize or take an interest in whoever it is. Think “this is someone else”. Part of this group might even prefer a bit of escapism and explicitly play characters who are different from their own RL person.
And of course there also people in group 2 who could play any character, but still find it fun from time to time to create a clone of themselves, just for the lulz.
That’s more or less what I was thinking about when I made that poll.
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I only play single player mods. I always use my very first character, created back in 2006. I do so because I like the New Game + concept, I designed a way in which he keeps growing beyond level 40, so I couldn’t care less about balance or background because my character fits any situation. I also believe a player should be free to play however they want, without limitations set by authors. He’s worked perfectly in any module I keep in my collection, and he’s a fantasy version of myself. By such, I mean he’s a half-elf who’s lived for hundreds of years, a plane-walker able to master any feat or skill while acting as I would on any given scenario.
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re 4) a lot of male players plays female characters.The poll doesn’t reflect this phenomenom.
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Wouldn’t that be included in “different from yourself”? I often do that, too.
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Now 6/16, which is almost half, so maybe I was wrong about this assumption after all. (If the results are only halfway representative for these forums, that is, which they probably aren’t.)
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I haven’t voted since the first two polls because my usage is too complicated to be covered by subsequent polls and varies over time too. For example I just spent time replaying my (now positively ancient at 14 years old now) module Hrothgar’s Resting Place just to make sure it still plays correctly with the current retail release of EE and for another reason not germane to the current discussion. FWIW it still does. Then there are other projects I really should get on and finish but rl keeps getting in the way. So, if I am an example, I wouldn’t rely too heavily on the results.
TR
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You did teach me a new word in English just now though, that might be a lot more valuable. Hadn’t ever heard of “germane” before, despite being a German! 
(I know, my forum name is misleading.)
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