Recently,one of my questions (0 net votes, 3 reopen votes, 1 delete vote), How does the export/import feature work in Kittens Game?, got put on hold as off-topic because "it is about save game decryption. Decryption is not a gaming skill in any sense, not unless it's in-game". So I made a search in the Help Center and Meta, but didn't get anywhere an answer about if this is on- or off- topic. I also asked the closers of the question; they said it's off-topic, check the Help Center.
The Help Center (What topics can I ask about here?) states this:
If your question generally covers things such as …
- Gameplay strategies and tactics
- Puzzle solving or obstacle clearing
- Game mechanics and terminology
- Plot and characters in games
- Game-specific hardware and utilities
… then you are in the right place to ask your question!
Please note, however, that site policies prohibit questions of the following types:
- Game and Mod Development (try the Game Development Stack Exchange instead)
- Speculative questions about developer intent, with respect to both mechanics and narrative
- Requests for game identification based on personal recollection alone
- Catalogues (listing games that fit specific criteria or are like an existing game)
- Shopping advice and recommendations
- Speculation of the future of the industry and of upcoming releases
- Piracy, and support with pirated games.
And the definition of Game mechanics is:
Game mechanics are constructs of rules or methods designed for interaction with the game state, thus providing gameplay.
So game saves and their coding are game mechanics, and are not anything on the prohibited list, thus are on-topic. Am I right, are they on-topic? Because I think this is a question type that hasn't been asked.
And a side question: Can my question be reopened?