cipher - The Etiquette Room

^{This puzzle can be solved as puzzle on its own, but its solution is also part of Deusovi's Community Metapuzzle.}

You wake up feeling rather dazed. Your head is pounding. Whatever just happened did not agree with you in the least. As you get up from the floor and start exploring the room you see interesting inscriptions on the walls.

The first you see seems to be about making cipher puzzles and the etiquette involved.

Welcome, adventurer, to your learning experience where you get to die. Double transposition ciphers are a great way of challenging user. Naturally, if a cipher is being used, it needs to be clued properly. In essence, when a cipher is used, one must make sure that it is crack-able.

The second seems to be about making riddles and their etiquette.

Overt riddles are another good way of making something fun to solve. Slowly and carefully building one can also be quite enjoyable for the creator. Generally, one should always be sure to reference the object or idea thoroughly. Priming the solver one clue at a time, but one has to be carefully not too make it too vague. In the circumstance where the riddle is too vague, it will be unsolvable as there are too many possible solutions.

The third wall has an inscription about crosswords.

Winding back and forth is not a great way to make crosswords, that will only end in grief. Numerous words at hand make it easy to cross reference words against each other to build the grid. However, building the grid is only half the challenge of making a crossword puzzle. Obvious clues can sometimes be useful to give to the solver. Prudently giving those clues can easily make a crossword difficult yet solvable.

On the fourth and final wall you see a panel and an inscription with an encryption. On the panel there are what looks like 52 emoji buttons, the text kind, and a digital display.

╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗

║                                                                               ║    
║      ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗    ║
║      ║                                                                   ║    ║
║      ║                                                                   ║    ║
║      ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝    ║
║                                                                               ║
║                                                                               ║
║   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗  ║
║   ║ }:-> ║   ║  :/  ║   ║  >.< ║   ║  :-( ║   ║  T_T ║   ║ |:-o ║   ║  ;)  ║  ║
║   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝  ║

║   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗  ║
║   ║  ;-) ║   ║  :-) ║   ║  O.O ║   ║  ^_^ ║   ║  :-> ║   ║  :D  ║   ║  8-) ║  ║
║   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝  ║
║   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗  ║
║   ║  }:> ║   ║  :-P ║   ║  :o  ║   ║  :-D ║   ║  <_< ║   ║  :-C ║   ║  :*  ║  ║
║   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝  ║
║   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗  ║
║   ║  >_> ║   ║  :C  ║   ║  O_o ║   ║  O:) ║   ║  -.- ║   ║  :>  ║   ║  :O  ║  ║
║   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝  ║
║   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗  ║

║   ║  :V  ║   ║  :'( ║   ║  |:o ║   ║  O_O ║   ║  o_O ║   ║  :X  ║   ║  >_< ║  ║
║   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝  ║
║   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗  ║
║   ║ O:-) ║   ║  :-* ║   ║  ^^  ║   ║  :P  ║   ║  :-O ║   ║ :'-( ║   ║  :S  ║  ║
║   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝  ║
║   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗  ║
║   ║  :-X ║   ║  -_- ║   ║  :-S ║   ║  :-o ║   ║  :-V ║   ║  :)  ║   ║  T.T ║  ║
║   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝  ║
║                         ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗   ╔══════╗                        ║
║                         ║  :-/ ║   ║  :(  ║   ║  8)  ║                        ║

║                         ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝   ╚══════╝                        ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

In order to leave this room you must enter the password. How to do is written just below:

 >_> :'( ^_^ ;) :/ O_O O_o <_< :) O_O 8) :S :V ;) 8) :X :> -.- :O |:o ^_^ :D 8) }:> ^_^ 
 O_O <_< :'( ^_^ :'( O:) >.< T.T :D 8) :(

Just remember, not all canines are negligent and not all vulpes are swift.

While looking down to think you spot a small torn scrap of paper with this written on it:

I think I've got it! For those that somehow end up here after me, think of the or____al sent___e, c_an__ f___ let_er_ and m_ve ___!

The other pieces lie on the floor torn off letter by letter and alphabetized them, someone has a sick sense of humor...

c e e e e g g h i i i n n n o o s t v

Answer

Sconibulus cleverly determined the values of half of the emoticons (please upvote that answer if you like this one).

So we know the values of the buttons on the keypad, but still don't know what we need to punch in.

I was looking at the tags on the puzzle, and the inscriptions on the walls. The steganography tag indicated to me that

something important was hidden in the text. The words starting some of sentences seemed like they weren't necessarily the typical word that would be chosen in every instance.

So I collected

the first letter of every sentence in all three inscriptions:

WDNI
OSGPI
WNHOP

Not a particularly promising group of letters, but I took the advice of the other unused tag on the post, and

anagrammed them, which gave me the solution:
WINDOW SHOPPING

Translating that back to keypresses on the keypad gives

:S :/ :V :D 8) :S O_o :'( 8) |:o |:o :/ :V :(