Description

Elaralith · Post by **Elaralith** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 11:39 pm

Now that #i also lets everyone see your Title I think this is something that is appropriate for quick implementation...
I propose that there be a function that lets everyone see the Description that you write about your character when you create your character. This could be done through "right-clicking" with the mouse. Right clicking on the character that you wish to see the description of could be the trigger that brings up the small box/screen that contains all that that particular player wrote about his/her particular character.
This proposal can overcome the fact that there are no physical graphics that let people see each others character's sizes, shapes, and looks.
-Elaralith

Drathe · Post by **Drathe** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 12:18 am

Yeh, now that Elaralith is good. I like alote.

Maybe not bring up a window, but say a 20 word player writen description in the text box. Now we can page up & down the text it should work ok.

Tho the thing is...after you create your char, you can not change it, including what title you put or description. So that would need to be addressed first.

Crocket · Post by **Crocket** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:05 am

We would need to make sure that people just put a physical description and not a background history. Naturally you could not tell someone's background by looking at them. And make sure the description only includes physical characteristics and not clothing, weapons, or armor as these things change often.

Other than that I think this is a good proposal.

Astral · Post by **Astral** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:25 am

Elaralith wrote:I don't really like that. I mean in all realism who goes around wearing a sign that gives a full history and background of themselves? Noone is who. All this would do is dimish player interaction. Character backgrounds should be found out through player interaction not through a simple mouse click.

Often people did not just write their physical description during the character creation. I don't think you could find out that someone is quick-tempered by just looking at them. This just seems a bit close to the proposal you rejected before. I sort of like it, but I think just giving an estimate of height, weight is good enough. And frankly, I don't think the admins need thousands of emails coming in with descriptions to add to characters. And then the descriptions would have to be screened...

Cuderon · Post by **Cuderon** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:45 am

And there is also the problem with the two main languages. Should these descriptions be done in english or german?
I don´t think, that I can express my self in english the way I can do in german. And most people do only speak one of the both main languages.

Also your appearance may change every day, you wear different clothes and even may wear a mask. After work, you look dirty and totally different.
As long as there is no option to edit the title and description field for the players, I hope they won´t be used. Otherwise it is nonsense.

Elaralith · Post by **Elaralith** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 2:10 am

@Astral I don't like the idea of a background/history description of a character that can be seen by everyone that character has been introduced to. What I am proposing is a physical description..the one you wrote (hopefully) when you created your character. Some along the lines of:A stout dwarven male with a dark brown beard, and dark black eyes. He has tanned skin from frequent outdoor work, and he is quite muscular from much physical activity. (this is for a male dwarf; of course this changes depending on the character)
@Crocket Yes it would have to be physical descriptions only. Something along the lines of: A stout dwarven male with a dark brown beard, and dark black eyes. He has tanned skin from frequent outdoor work, and he is quite muscular from much physical activity. (this is for a male dwarf; of course this changes depending on the character)
@Cuderon I think that the English speaking peoples should write in english and the German speaking peoples write in German. Just as the english talk in english and the german in german right now in illarion so it could be for these "descriptions". Until a online translator is implemented for illarion the english and germans will just have to continue playing just as they have been for some time now not understanding each other too much. Most Germans can speak english though, but most English people cannot speak German...perhaps that can be taken into account.

Astral · Post by **Astral** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 2:20 am

The problem is that people did not just write a physical description, they possibly added a bit about their personality. You can't find a character's personality just by introducing to them. So every description written so far would have to be screened, and those without a description would have to make one. Then all new characters would also have to submit a valid description when creating a character. And as Cuderon said, these things change often, so imagine the upkeep. After all this, maybe it is easier to make it graphical...

About a built-in translator, I don't think there ever will be one, and most people wouldn't want to have one.

Elaralith · Post by **Elaralith** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 2:26 am

@Astral The email-application system requires a whole lot of 'upkeep' too but it is still running. Of course, effort will be needed, but then that is the price of good results.
I don't know if there will ever be a built-in translator either, but I would like one. I am sure there are plenty of good German roleplayers, but because of the language barrier it is harder to interact with them.

Cuderon · Post by **Cuderon** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 2:44 am

A translator seems to be very futuristic. Sounds like Star Trek for me. If such a program, that translates every nuance! correctly would ever be developed, it sure will cost a lot. Just look at the current translation programs, they are all unusable.

A short description within a box, were your "unchangeable attributes" are listed could be useull. Maybe therein your actual title could be listed, also your current clothing. But this box must be flexible and editable by the player.

Serpardum · Post by **Serpardum** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 7:24 am

From the beginning, people could enter a title. We have gotten around to showing the title, why else have it?

You can also enter a description. Why would anyone think that we are not going to show it sometime?

I guess the question is, what is the purpose of this suggestion if you know it's already going to be done eventually? What am I missing?

Drathe · Post by **Drathe** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:06 pm

hehe thats a fair point, so are we going to be able at some point be able edit our title and description manualy?

or are we going to have to e-mail aplication it.

Elaralith · Post by **Elaralith** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 4:54 pm

@Serpardum You must remember that players like us do not know every single thing that is planned for illarion, and that is because not everything is communicated to us due to no fault of the illarion staff....I had no idea that the descriptions would be visible in the future, but now that I hear that they will be that change my outlook! Good thing to implement!

Drague · Post by **Drague** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 9:55 pm

I'd have another idea about the description.
What if the description replaced the numbers in future?
That way, if someone snipes someone else or theres a thief
around, you couldnt say " 23445 is a thief" (the number is only an
example) but would have to give the description of what those
people look like. Of course that could be a problem, if youre able
to change the descriptions...

@ Elaralith:

Some people can speak german and english

(i can at least ...

)

Astral · Post by **Astral** » Tue Mar 11, 2003 11:22 pm

@Serpardum:
The question about the descriptions wasn't an if question, it was a how question. If people write their entire backgrounds in it, you shouldn't just have to move your mouse and click to see it. I can see if it was only a physical description, it would be good. Anything more, it TAKES AWAY realism. I still like the idea of what they are wearing (most would disagree), or just the stats like Weight and Height (estimates of course).

Maybe we could make the general description based on some of the stats at the beginning of the game. If you have a strength of a certain amount, it adds the description "looks muscular" to the description. It doesn't apply to very many stats, so this may not do too much for us. But at least it's a start, and it's less prone to failure than the descriptions.

There must be a better way to implement the descriptions. It's not as easy as the titles though.

Korwin · Post by **Korwin** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 12:39 am

If descriptions are added, they need to be editable. Characters evolve, and so does their description.

Astral · Post by **Astral** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 1:06 am

If they are editable, then people will abuse that, changing their appearance when people are looking for them and such.

Korwin · Post by **Korwin** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 1:16 am

Hopefully everyone is a good enough role-player to not make large alterations to their image. Small alterations are feasible, someone could grow a beard, wear a cloak over their face, cut their hair, or use some sort of pigment to change their hair color. Also, even if a description was added, would the numbers be taken away? If they weren't, people who were terrible role-players could still be identified. It's the same as logging out after stealing something. Not very many people abuse this, and the ones who do don't last long.

Astral · Post by **Astral** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 1:25 am

Korwin wrote:If they weren't, people who were terrible role-players could still be identified.

And so could those good roleplayers. So if we found a good enough way to implement the descriptions, the numbers should be removed. But I don't think anything proposed thus far fits into that category.

Serpardum · Post by **Serpardum** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 7:39 am

Astral wrote:Maybe we could make the general description based on some of the stats at the beginning of the game. If you have a strength of a certain amount, it adds the description "looks muscular" to the description. It doesn't apply to very many stats, so this may not do too much for us. But at least it's a start, and it's less prone to failure than the descriptions.

Hmm.. I kinda like that.

"A tall, rather strong looking intelligent elf who seems quite agile"
"A short, weak looking dumb dwarf who trips over his own feet"
"A middle height, average looking hobbit who seems to be able to juggle 10 things at once"

Crocket · Post by **Crocket** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 11:58 am

I really like that one. Base the description on the character's ability scores.

John Laffing · Post by **John Laffing** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 2:19 pm

Yes, but wouldn't your smartness or height change over time, so then your discription might not be accurate.

Elaralith · Post by **Elaralith** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 5:25 pm

It has already been discussed and decided that stats will not and do not change in illarion.
I like this idea. Descriptions would not be written by players then but decided by what stats they choose. They would have to be non-editable then.

Kragmar · Post by **Kragmar** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 8:50 pm

Basic descriptions based off of your stats seems OK to me. It's realistic and would probably be easy to implement. But I would like a disguise skill of some sort. After all, if a thief is being chased, he may try to elude his pursuers long enough to put on a disguise if he can find one handy, or he may take off his disguise if he put one on before hand. When the description is implemented, it would be a good time to discuss how something like this could be done.
Kragmar

John Laffing · Post by **John Laffing** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 9:55 pm

Thats good because if your discription could change, the discription wouldn't be accurate.

Serpardum · Post by **Serpardum** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 1:36 am

Kragmar, that's an idea.

"You see a cloaked figure taller than you"
"You see a cloaked figure about your height"
"You see a cloaked figure shorter than you"

Astral · Post by **Astral** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 3:26 am

Serpardum wrote:"A tall, rather strong looking intelligent elf who seems quite agile"
"A short, weak looking dumb dwarf who trips over his own feet"
"A middle height, average looking hobbit who seems to be able to juggle 10 things at once"

Obviously, you cannot judge something like willpower and intelligence from just looking at someone as easily as strength and height. I wasn't suggesting that you write things like "dumb looking" either. Maybe it could be put in a nicer way, or not be included if less than a certain amount.

Serpardum · Post by **Serpardum** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 4:31 am

I"m sorry, but if you have an int of 3 you're pretty darn dumb

Gro'bul · Post by **Gro'bul** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 4:53 am

maybe a "disguise" could be a tailoring item. and in makes your number random. this would mean you might "look" like someone else

Kragmar · Post by **Kragmar** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 5:30 am

I propose three ways to be able to identify a character: his number, his description, and a method of looking at what he is wearing (sort of an abbreviated version of his inventory window.) We already have a character's number. A description is what we are talking about here (a physical description i.e. short,tall,fat,thin,lanky,hair color . . .) Methods of being able to look at a character's inventory have been proposed and debated before. I don't remember if anything was decided, but if anybody wants to dig them up and posts the results here, I would appreciate it. Since there would be three ways to identify people, I also propose a way to change each of these identifiers. A mask could "cover up" the last 2-3 digits of a person's number, a "disguise" would be either a skill, or a piece of portable equipement (maybe both) that used/contained make-up, fake mustaches, shoulder pads etc. that could cover up a persons description. If a person wanted to change the clothes that they were wearing, then they could do so in their inventory window.
This would be a lot of work to implement as a whole, but since it is really a collection of ideas, they could be done individually as the programmers have time. (By the way, I heard that they are busy working on a new combat system. Does anybody know if this is true? Off topic I know, but just curious.)

Kragmar

P.S. I looked back over this proposal, and I think that it would be better to allow robes to cover up a character's number as well as a mask. A character would have more reasons for wearing a robe with a cowl/hood than they would to wear a mask. This way, a player with a mask wouldn't automatically be identified as a thief. Perhaps a mask could cover up 3 digits while a cowl/hood would only cover up only 2.

Astral · Post by **Astral** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 6:33 am

Kragmar wrote: P.S. I looked back over this proposal, and I think that it would be better to allow robes to cover up a character's number as well as a mask.

If we have descriptions such as proposed, there will be very little need for a number...