Description snooping via the way

[facehugger]

I'm not certain if this has been discussed yet, being one who rarely reads the boards, so forgive me if I'm rehashing old ground.

Multiple keyword contact has been implimented, so you can contact that yellow abad elf that just ran by. The staff likes it, I like it, all is good.

The one part I question, is, the ability for a person to gleam that yellow abad elf's sdesc just by a simple contact. They're focusing on what the person was wearing, not their eye and hair and whatelse not, which was pretty well covered by that hood or mask or any combination there of. This is the one part of this new system I don't think is overly kosher. It makes taking certain actions a bit -too- risky when there's a good chance that anyone who saw your cloak can find out your description without much difficulty.

And from an IC basis, I don't think it makes sense. You find a mind and project thoughts into it. At first, it's just a generic mind. I contact a cloaked figure, I've got a cloaked figure in mind, not a little blue-eyed boy. The "sense of self" (ie desc) should come from when the little blue-eyed boy contacts me back, relaying what he knows himself to look like with the communication.

Well... since I'm going to all the trouble to post, I'm not just going to leave it at a complaint, but offer a suggestion that the general masses and staff alike can possibly mill around. Why not have the description of the hooded figure remain in the Way messages, until such time as they contact you back, and establish what they look like beneath that hood?

> contact dark hooded
You suffer from use of the Way.
You contact the tall, darkly hooded figure with the Way.

> psi Thief!
You send a telepathic message to the tall, darkly hooded figure:
    "Thief!"

a foreign presence contacts your mind.
The bow-legged, swarthy skinned chap sends you a telepathic message:
    "What'choo talkin 'bout, Willis?"

> psi Bring back my underwear!
You send a telepathic message to the the bow-legged, swarthy skinned chap:
    "Bring back my underwear!"

[Marauder Moe]

Discussed quite recently, actually: http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=22720

[Zalanthan]

And the most meaningful bit I got out of the recent discussion on the subject was one word:

> skills
Psionic powers
-------------------
contact          barrier