Random Gripes

[Adhira]

When I'm travelling I often spend days living in airports (I'm poor, it works).  This means I live from my backpack, not a huge camping pack, but an ordinary backpack. I carry my backpack with me everywhere, it has spare clothes, it has toiletries, it has food, drink, books, pens, writing things, another set of shoes, a towel. I have a little pouch with phone, money, documents, makeup, keys and camera.

Uncomfortable, yah, but I lugged that sucker on buses, planes, through airports, sitting in bars, restaurants, takeaways, the beach, shopping malls and parks.

I figure if I'm going to carry that much junk around with me for a few days trip because I don't have some safe place to keep it, I'd surely make the effort to do so in a world where I don't have a room to sleep and every guy is looking to rip me off.

[Agent_137]

lawl, i agree for the most part with the original poster, though some things were naturally a little exaggerated. I am personally proud of once having a 'rinther who regularly strutted around with no hood up, and also being a hardcore mercenary with a REALLY pimped out hat, who hated to wear the damn hood because he couldn't wear his hat, too.

The hat was special. If i see you with it IG, i will have my char kill your char for it, completely OOCly. Take that as a warning. :mrgreen:

[Sokotra]

... being a hardcore mercenary with a REALLY pimped out hat, who hated to wear the damn hood because he couldn't wear his hat, too.

Actually, it wouldn't be hard to wear your nifty hat OVER your hood?  Ever think of that?  Hmm... a revelation.  Yeah, it is now and was probably often done back in the day in combat-oriented groups especially.  You just need a helm/hat that isn't too small.  That cloth hood gives some extra padding under those uncomfortable helms and protection against the elements, even if that hat you are wearing already does that.  Also, even though it looks funny, you could also wear your hood over your helm if at all possible.  Although yes, I understand that horns and other things might get in the way... in the military you still find ways to alter (i.e. cut with knife) the uniform to make it work and still be functional or even better than it was before.  Still, wearing the hood under the helm would probably make more sense in the example you described and is completely realistic.

[JollyGreenGiant]

I carry my backpack with me everywhere, it has spare clothes, it has toiletries, [edited for brevity]... a towel.

Heh heh.  Always remember your towel!

[Anonymous]

While we're on the subject of backpack gripes... people REALLY need to stop putting soup/stew/beverages in their packs!  :roll:

Seriously... its incredibly ridiculous.  If you don't believe me, try it for real.  I will not accept counter-arguments from anyone who hasn't.

[Hexxaex]

With a Byn character I had, I saw someone put at least 3 or 4 bowls of stew into their pack.  When I asked them how they keep it from spilling, they just said they tied it down securely.  You're riding a kank, man!  Kank's don't have uber-shock absorbers of ult1m4te D00m!

Yes, anyway, putting things that can spill in your pack is stupid.  Don't do it.  Ever.  Period.  I mean it.

[Manhattan]

With a Byn character I had, I saw someone put at least 3 or 4 bowls of stew into their pack.  When I asked them how they keep it from spilling, they just said they tied it down securely.  You're riding a kank, man!  Kank's don't have uber-shock absorbers of ult1m4te D00m!

Yes, anyway, putting things that can spill in your pack is stupid.  Don't do it.  Ever.  Period.  I mean it.

there's something called a 'lid'.

[JollyGreenGiant]

With a Byn character I had, I saw someone put at least 3 or 4 bowls of stew into their pack.  When I asked them how they keep it from spilling, they just said they tied it down securely.  You're riding a kank, man!  Kank's don't have uber-shock absorbers of ult1m4te D00m!

Yes, anyway, putting things that can spill in your pack is stupid.  Don't do it.  Ever.  Period.  I mean it.

there's something called a 'lid'.

And what would this lid you propose be made out of?  How would it seal well enough to keep liquid from spilling out?  And if it seals that well, how do you get the lid off?  Is it cost effective?

Bowls of Byn stew do not come in snap-n-seal plastic containers.

[jhunter]

A piece of thin leather or animal skin to place over the top and a length of leather or sinew to tie around the edge of the bowl if the bowl has a lip on it. *shrug* That's the only way I can think of that someone could realistically do this.

[Cuusardo]

Bowls of Byn stew do not come in snap-n-seal plastic containers.

Or tupperware.

The worst I saw was a guy pulling a chalice out of his belt....Then he proceeded to drink water from it.

[IntuitiveApathy]

I would suggest that most clanned characters can get by with a pouched belt, in most circumstances.  But then again I have noticed that most PC Zalanthans are packrats.

I think that in order to facilitate this reality into the gameworld, the OOC item-whoring needs to stop.

You know what I'm talking about.

Pouched belts that cost 500 sid.  * the closeable ones anyway - non-closeable ones are 'of course', totally common and totally cheap.

Pouched boots that cost 500 sid.

Wrist sheaths that cost 50000000000 sid.

Wrist razors that cost 50000000000000000000000000000 sid.

There really is no IC, in-game reason why these kinds of items cost the amount they do - there's no fantastic super duper ultra sekrit technology that goes into them ICly, it doesn't take the rarest of rare materials, or maniacal, psychopathic magicker-god-king to enchant them.. you're just freaking strapping small sharp objects to your damn hand, dude.

It's just that OOCly, players want them for their OOC utility.  "Wow, with this awesome item I can now store items on my character's -ankle-!!!!11oneeleven."  And so OOCly, these items are crazily rare/overpriced, which is totally unrealistic for the gameworld.

Come on, give me a break.

ps.  A little birdie says, "You shouldn't be able to pick things up when you've got your hands codedly full.  Especially when fighting.  How about if you do, you gotta drop something from one of those hands?"

pps.  And I've always wondered why there just aren't -normal- sheaths, I mean I know people are poor, but would you want your own sword cutting up your leg while you're walking around or mudsexxing?  If you can afford a sword and a belt, can't you afford another small chunk of leather to go with it all?

[Weasel]

Hoods:

The hood situation bothers me OOC, but I think that it's perfectly justified most of the time, IC. It's fucking HOT in Zalanthas, and a hood provides some shelter. Indoors, it's a different story. Hoods should not be worn indoors - it's impolite, IC and OOC.

Sparring:

'Hit each other with sticks' is no substitute for real, roleplayed-out training. Pushups, laps around the Commoner's Quarter, and lectures are all great. I wouldn't call it a necessary evil, exactly, because sparring just makes sense in character. It's not some weird convention that we have to deal with in order to increase our coded skills.

Skill-fishing: It makes me wince OOC everytime I hear 'What are you good at?' As previously mentioned though, the question is easily deflected.

Backpacks: IRL, I love backpacks. Love them. It's like a manpurse... but it's so much more.
 I really don't have a problem visualizing a bunch of hardy desert-dwellers carrying all of their belongings around on their backs, all the time. It seems natural to me.

[bloodfromstone]

ps. A little birdie says, "You shouldn't be able to pick things up when you've got your hands codedly full. Especially when fighting. How about if you do, you gotta drop something from one of those hands?"


I've always wondered about this. Every time I've seen disarm;get sword it has always jarred me. How are you taking my/that gith's/whatever's sword when you're wielding two? It's not so much that it angers me when it happens or anything, it's just something I wouldn't do myself.

[jhunter]

ps. A little birdie says, "You shouldn't be able to pick things up when you've got your hands codedly full. Especially when fighting. How about if you do, you gotta drop something from one of those hands?"


I've always wondered about this. Every time I've seen disarm;get sword it has always jarred me. How are you taking my/that gith's/whatever's sword when you're wielding two? It's not so much that it angers me when it happens or anything, it's just something I wouldn't do myself.

Last word I heard on this "disarm;get sword" is a huge nono. That is, if you don't have a free hand to pick up the other weapon if I remember right.

[Xygax]

Last word I heard on this "disarm;get sword" is a huge nono. That is, if you don't have a free hand to pick up the other weapon if I remember right.

I have no problem with "disarm; get sword", personally.  You take an appropriate amount of risk when you dive for a weapon on the ground for me to consider this perfectly acceptable play.  And I don't consider it either an unrealistic tactic (ie. it makes sense wanting to have your opponent's weapon), nor do I consider it an unrealistic physical possibility (ie., I can conceive of situations where I could take my opponent's weapon from them during the battle)

-- X

[jhunter]

Last word I heard on this "disarm;get sword" is a huge nono. That is, if you don't have a free hand to pick up the other weapon if I remember right.

I have no problem with "disarm; get sword", personally.  You take an appropriate amount of risk when you dive for a weapon on the ground for me to consider this perfectly acceptable play.  And I don't consider it either an unrealistic tactic (ie. it makes sense wanting to have your opponent's weapon), nor do I consider it an unrealistic physical possibility (ie., I can conceive of situations where I could take my opponent's weapon from them during the battle)

-- X

Hrrrmm...I used to do this a while back and the way that I did it was this:
disarm
emote snaps his blades out in rapid arcs, moving toward ~sword and attempting to kick it away from ~dude.
get sword

Then, another imm some time ago when a discussion came up about it said that they were going to karmically rape anyone they saw using that tactic.

So is what you are saying on the subject the staff's stance on this or are people who do this risking another imm who is against it nailing them for it?

[Xygax]

I'm definitely not setting or declaring staff policy on this one, but I personally have no intention of docking karma for this sort of thing.  If you can find the old thread, I'll take a look.  It's possible that the old declaration was made _before_ the code was changed to create an acceptable risk for this sort of maneuver.

-- X

[flurry]

This might be what jhunter means:

http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=68605

related thread:

http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7250&start=0

[Xygax]

Well, Gesht is a legend, so you don't need to worry about him "karma-slapping" you.  At any rate, we don't dock karma without at least one warning (and that IS staff policy).  We'll let you know if we think you're being a twink.

-- X

[jhunter]

This might be what jhunter means:

http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=68605

related thread:

http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7250&start=0

Yeah, that first one is it.

[IntuitiveApathy]

Last word I heard on this "disarm;get sword" is a huge nono. That is, if you don't have a free hand to pick up the other weapon if I remember right.

I have no problem with "disarm; get sword", personally.  You take an appropriate amount of risk when you dive for a weapon on the ground for me to consider this perfectly acceptable play.  And I don't consider it either an unrealistic tactic (ie. it makes sense wanting to have your opponent's weapon), nor do I consider it an unrealistic physical possibility (ie., I can conceive of situations where I could take my opponent's weapon from them during the battle)

-- X

Hrrrmm...I used to do this a while back and the way that I did it was this:
disarm
emote snaps his blades out in rapid arcs, moving toward ~sword and attempting to kick it away from ~dude.
get sword

See the problem I have here is to me, this is tantamount to Virtual Abuse Through Code.

Let's take jhunter's example, where he emotes kicking the weapon away and picking it up.  Essentially, what he's doing is unilaterally deciding what happened as a result of a successful disarm (it doesn't always have to be after a disarm, you could just really like the look of that shiny magick rock) and totally eliminating any possibility of the opponent retrieving that weapon again by codedly picking it up.  Now virtually, at least in jhunter's mind, the weapon may not be in actual possession of the character, but 'kicked away into some irretrievable location such as a horribly deep cleft in the earth', but codedly it is - it's no longer available in the room.  To me, this is a problem and is pretty much the same as emoting a VNPC coming along and picking it up and walking merrily away.  Or a VNPC coming along, lopping off that pretty noble's head and walking merrily away.  Or.. you get the idea.  Except, it goes even beyond these virtual examples, because you actually codedly remove any opportunity for the other player to respond in a different manner to the situation.

Anyway, if people are going to be allowed to stop combat to pick something up with both hands full (are you contemplating people sheathing a weapon and picking something up 'automagickally', Xygax?  or perhaps someone leaning all the way down and solidly clenching that pretty golden sword in their teeth?), I think the penalty should be far more severe than it currently is.  Right now, if you're a better fighter or even similarly situated to an opponent, the penalty seems very small - more often than not you'd just parry aside that 'bonus' attack.  I think it should entail a much higher defense penalty (you're stopping fighting, after all, plus maybe even putting a weapon or shield away?), or maybe even an auto-hit.  Of course, there were many good suggestions in that old thread that was linked to, and I very much like 7's suggestion of the code check to see who might make it to the weapon or successfully defend it or whatever.

[jhunter]

I'm all for making the penalty for picking anything up during a fight much much worse. Then if they want to retrieve their weapon after a disarm, who cares?

[Ghost]

I'm all for making the penalty for picking anything up during a fight much much worse. Then if they want to retrieve their weapon after a disarm, who cares?

Me too.  Currently, I don't think the penalty is as much as it is expected.

[Realedazed]

They only thing that gets me is this: My character enters a room, then everyone 'looks' at her. I know its been said several times, but I do wish look didn't echo.  Also, after I do enter, but before I get to press enter to send my emote, I get emotes and tells aimed at me.

Now, I don't have a -huge- problem with this as I love interaction and roleplay, but I just feel like my character has actaully entered a room untill I emote it. I know I don't type that slow and even if I did, my entrances are not 5 lines long.  They are just a simple:

emote enters into the tavern, holding the door open for the man behind her.

Or something similar. So after that, do what you will.

Ok, thats it.

[amoeba]

They only thing that gets me is this: My character enters a room, then everyone 'looks' at her. I know its been said several times, but I do wish look didn't echo.  Also, after I do enter, but before I get to press enter to send my emote, I get emotes and tells aimed at me.

Now, I don't have a -huge- problem with this as I love interaction and roleplay, but I just feel like my character has actaully entered a room untill I emote it. I know I don't type that slow and even if I did, my entrances are not 5 lines long.  They are just a simple:

emote enters into the tavern, holding the door open for the man behind her.

Or something similar. So after that, do what you will.

Ok, thats it.

A couple of easy ways to approach this:

1. n (holding the door open for the man behind her)   I forget the exact way this would look. I'm sure others will explain.

2. n ; emote enters into the tavern, holding the door open for the man behind her.  With this, your commands are stacked so they can flow more seamlessly. I think stacking an emote with a command is a nice way to flesh things out.