Illarion.org

No, I say forget the base the descriptions on such things as clothings, facial hair etc. Let us use the idea where the descriptions are based on the stats the player chooses when he/she creates his/her character. So such things as gender, height, weight, age, all stats would be described briefly and approximately in the description. An example (Elaralith's description):
You see a female elf who has a frail build of average height, and seems rather intelligent. Not from her looks, but from her stance and attitude you can tell that many years weigh upon her.
(Everything that I chose when creating Elaralith is described briefly and approximately)

I don't think we need to include the gender and race in there, because it is pretty obvious from the graphics. The only exception is the lizardmen both look alike, but I think that was done on purpose...

@Astral I am not criticizing the graphic artists when I say this but some of the 'graphics' for the different races and genders...well lets just say its hard to tell what they are expecially for people new to illarion.

An idea: Why not do away with the annoying "numbers" that appear above every character? The numbers could be stored in the files for illarion staff use, but not visible ingame. The descriptions could replace the numbers and the use of the numbers for indentifying. That would eliminate people from when talking saying things like "23405 killed me" etc. etc. in the RPG boards and elsewhere.

The only problem is if you want to know who exactly is speaking... You can either leave it at "Someone says: Hi" or

"A female elf who has a frail build of average height, and seems rather intelligent. Not from her looks, but from her stance and attitude you can tell that many years weigh upon her says: Hi!"

I don't see why we need to identify a speaker, but some people may think differently.

But this also might encourage people to introduce more often...

@Astral What is wrong with people introducing more often? That is a good thing because it encourages more player interaction! I think that in chatting it should be left at "Someone:" or perhaps "A Stranger:" is better.