Hm....

[Twisted Minstrel]

If you have eyes, a nose, and a mouth, odds are people will see all of those things, even with your hood up

I had a hood -and- a mask. And I wasn't exactly caught stealing, no theft was involved. I just rushed past a place I shouldn't have, and had a certain item on me I shouldn't have had. The person who sniffed my mind out using my clothing was some sort of official, who didn't even get a chance to look at my character as he rushed by. Now, if she were to chase him down and shout something like, "Guards! Stop him!" instead of contacting me and saying something along the lines of, "It'd be in your best interest to get back here." I wouldn't be complaining.

[Gimfalisette]

I just rushed past a place I shouldn't have, and had a certain item on me I shouldn't have had.

Maybe you need to re-think. Is what you did in that situation really realistic?

[spawnloser]

You should be able to find their cloak because it is how they are thinking of themselves at that moment.  "Oooh, I'm so sneaky in my cloak with the hood up, noone can tell who I am by looking at me because my dark hooded cloak is so cool."  Yeah.

[Twisted Minstrel]

I just rushed past a place I shouldn't have, and had a certain item on me I shouldn't have had.

Maybe you need to re-think. Is what you did in that situation really realistic?

I don't want to give away anything IC, buy yeah, it was.

[James de Monet]

What I was suggesting before you got all snippy, pf, is that maybe people in Zalanthas have a presence.  A cloak would reflect on this presence in the same way that scars would, or sadness, because they represent a state of mind, a mental weight.  So, if you are searching for the mind of someone you don't know, you reach out and try to latch onto those ideas, those feelings, and then, when you find their mind, you feel the 'real' them.  You get a sense of them.  To wit, their sdesc.  It would be different, reaching out for someone you know versus someone you don't.  With someone you know you could just reach out for that one specific feeling that defines them, with someone you don't, you latch onto something peripheral.  

Now obviously, all this means nothing because I'm just postulating the way that things might be.  We don't really know how the Way works, so I just think people should have a hard time saying 'This is dumb and twinkish and shouldn't be possible' when the staff have explicitly stated that it's okay.  I still don't agree with the practice, but that doesn't make it wrong.  Maybe you should just be glad people can't do 'contact thief' or 'contact feeling:triumphant feeling:sneaky'.  Catch my drift?

[Dalmeth]

Now obviously, all this means nothing because I'm just postulating the way that things might be.  We don't really know how the Way works, so I just think people should have a hard time saying 'This is dumb and twinkish and shouldn't be possible' when the staff have explicitly stated that it's okay.  I still don't agree with the practice, but that doesn't make it wrong.  Maybe you should just be glad people can't do 'contact thief' or 'contact feeling:triumphant feeling:sneaky'.  Catch my drift?

Actually, we do know how the Way works.  Finding someone through peripheral details is an accepted fact of the Way.  So the theory you presented does have some weight.

[Ashes]

One thing I haven't seen suggested is to still allow contacting a figure, but simply block the message you get about their short description.

Code Select Expand


You suffer from use of the Way.
You contact the figure in a drab, weathered stormcloak with the Way.


Granted, I'm not completely familiar with this at all.  Maybe this could be a sort of medium that would allow you to contact and speak with somebody, maybe to deliver a threat or warning that you're going to bend them over a dead scrab and do horrible things with that mekillot-bone javelin of yours, and they would have the option of getting away and dropping some coin on a new cloak.

Sounds like this might've been the way it was before they coded it differently.

[James de Monet]

Actually, we do know how the Way works.  Finding someone through peripheral details is an accepted fact of the Way.

Okay, yeah, we know how the Way works codedly   I meant we don't know how the Way really works theoretically.

[Zalanthan]

I agree entirely with James's thoughts on the subject - contact figure ... is the coded solution to whatever is actually happening.  The documentation says all sentient beings developed psionics long ago so it's safe to say everyone would be pretty good with it by now.

I just rushed past a place I shouldn't have, and had a certain item on me I shouldn't have had.

So... why exactly did you not have a psionic barrier up?  I hope everyone whining about sdesc-sniffing are just unaware of the second half of their psionic abilities, but I realize it's most likely a bunch of people who always forget to use barrier when it matters most.  It seems silly to complain about a problem you can easily fix yourself.

[Lizzie]

Barrier doesn't work all the time. You can have it up and get it broken down, and some people just plain aren't that good at it and even when it's up, EVERYONE can break through without much effort.

And even if you -are- good with it, some people are simply better at breaking through than you are at putting it up.