Functionally, what's the difference between this and, say:

App: I'd like to apply to heroimm
Staff: OK
(interview, etc)
Staff: Welcome aboard new heroimm
App: Thanks. I'd like to do something like X for my area, does that sound reasonable?
Staff: Sounds good (review process). Get started!
App: Great, I'll get started working on it.

The only difference is that you would get to play the game instead of putting in hours as a heroimm while you work on the area. In my opinion, that bypasses some of the other key elements of the process. I'm not part of the selection process, so I don't care - I'm just noting my observation.

The other thing that would affect you is that while we're not exactly churning out new areas at a record pace or anything, how would the staff maintain any kind of control over who is designing/revamping/replacing which areas? Especially if you start getting lots of pre-heroimms (?) that want to do this. How do you manage the 6 people who have ideas to revamp the Forest of Nowhere?

By the way, I'm not shooting down your idea - just sharing my first reaction to it, for good or ill. I like the discussion.

Double extra secret by the way: You can come up with mobs and items and, to some extent, room descriptions for the core of the area, and then when you heroimm, incorporate them into the area you actually design. I'd wager that you could finish 70% of an area in this way, and then the other 30% is tying it in. It's not a full draft, but is it that far off from what you're suggesting? In this case, and in the case you suggested, you're probably putting in a lot of hours and heart and soul into it, and it's probably going to get changed (potentially to a large degree) when you imm anyway.