Race/Gender Clues

[Kamilar]

I would like to see the online players list show race/gender of characters even when the character link isn't clickable. Once a player gives a #i in game, that clue to the race/gender is gone. Many times the position of the character makes it impossible to add something to the name tag and if the link isn't clickable, they're a genderless human from that moment forward. Also, in the English version the lizard folk are all men. I'm wondering if we could change the uninformative 'lizardman' to 'lizard' and 'lizardess' or something similar.

So, the character name could have a trailing tag (human male. lizard female, etc.) or the list could be made sortable by race and gender so that we can all see who's who. Alternately, having a basic clickable link could be made no longer optional and a minimum display of race, gender and avatar could be made the default standard with further information customizable by the player.

Having the 'someone' replaced by race/gender information was helpful but the effect is temporary.

[Achae Eanstray]

Mantis link that may have a small bearing on this: http://illarion.org/mantis/view.php?id=9011

[Kamilar]

That's an irritating link. I'm sorry I looked at it.

[Q-wert]

In regards of Lizards, I think pointing them out to be 'Lizardmen' (with men/man standing for 'mankind' rather than an explicit gender) rather than mere 'Lizards' is important, due to the general associations attached to both terms.

Lizards are cold blooded, four pedalled reptiles that like to sun themselves while Lizardmen is generally used for humanoid fantasy races. Just enter both terms into a search engine of your preference and look at the outcomes.

For lizardmen of Illarion, I like the current state of ambiguity in regards of gender. They 'do' look very much alike, so why should someone in character be able to tell their gender from just a brief look?

[Kamilar]

While it's true that historically, the term 'man' has been used to denote both genders in the English language, in the US this practice is not in favor. We have replaced those patriarchal terms with gender neutral ones to reflect our culture of equality. (Think postal carrier, fire fighter, chief executive) Further, if it's English semantics we're discussing, 'man' really refers only to humans. I'm not sure a good semantics argument can be made for applying it broadly to other races.

There is gender ambiguity among all the races, not just lizards. The different genders of all races look alike but I don't think that is intentional nor is it supported by the language in use to clarify them. Consistency across the races would be ideal. Personally, I think less confusion makes for more playability but if gender confusion is truly desirable for the lizard race, a more sensitive term could be used such as Lizardfolk or just Lizard. I don't think we need the extra confusion of having a female character walking around with the word 'man' over her head.