I had a look through the open games with one user and a password set. It seems new users are creating a game and setting a password. I think they are new users because I try to search them under the users menu but suspect they are not appearing because they have never played a turn.
Creating a game with a password without having ever played a turn? Does not sound right.
I think a big use case for this site is playing with IRL friends, which is why password protected games like that don’t really bother me too much. It is a little frustrating if you’re looking to join games and there’s nothing open, though.
Yeah, but when that happens, I find that creating my own open game - without any password, will find me a full game pretty soon 
Hey there…new to the site and just wanted to say that I have created a new game with a password. The reason being is so my friends (as MRosack said above) can get a feel for the site and the way things work. There’s nothing worse I would have thought then regulars joining a game only to find that we’ve cocked up the settings or one of us isn’t about for ages. We regularly play online games on a Friday night but there is sooo much to play in that time, that I’ve been looking for many months for a PBEM style game for us to play outside of the Friday night sessions. So look at it as noobs getting up to speed and we promise that when we’re confident, we’ll open up/join open games as soon as we’re comfortable
Squiffy101