The look command

[Irulan]

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to hold that one in reserve for the future. I like learning new things too!

-Irulan

[Rhyden]

Man I love getting looked at. It's like: "Yo, check out my awesome ninja half-elf with a black leather suit and a bone katana." I can't get enough of people using the look command with my character. It just makes me feel so awesome deep down inside. Sometimes, I'll even make a scene, just so I can get more 'looks'. Seemingly enough, none of my characters are egotistical fools, except the good ones. 

I'm with Irulan - I don't think it's a big deal.

[Rindan]

If you're "looking" at someone closely enough to observe their entire main description and every article of clothing/jewelry they're wearing then you're looking at them pretty closely. I govern my "looks" at other PCs pretty tightly for this purpose, and it is a pet peeve of mine when everyone in a busy, bustling barroom with VNPCs walking in and out multiple times per second that when one poor Joe walks in he's spammed with 10 "look (with a glance)" type deals.

That is just silly.  Maybe I have twinked my stats in the real world, but I can walk into a room and instantly point out the police officer, the president, the naked guy, and the dude wearing a clown suit in about half of a second.  Hell, I can pick out the geek wearing a binary t-shirt, the jock wearing someone's football jersey, and the girl with the largest pair of breasts just as fast.  People need to get over their paranoia on look.  You can see and classify anything of importance on any person in literally the blink of an eye.  In fact, you can see and classify every single person in a room almost as fast.  Your head will discard details that are not out of the ordinary, but you certainly see them and certainly will react at anything odd.  You might walk into a crowded bar and promptly forget what every single person looks like and is wearing, but you better damn well believe that you would notice instantly if your eyes even briefly passed over someone who was utterly naked.

My advice?  Look often and look liberally.  If anyone takes it as a staring contest, ignore them.  It is pretty easy to look at the guy walking in the door, see that he looks normal, and not bother to read much into his equipment.  This is a lot more realistic than silly situations where the naked person walks in and no one notices until after a half hour conversation because people feared that a look echo would cause their eyes to be gouged out.

Seriously, and this goes for Templars too.  How many times have people failed to notice the color a Templars robe or even their gender because they were terrified that the Templar would PK them for daring to flash a look echo at them?  Seriously people, the look command will not hurt you.  Use it.

[Salt Merchant]

Can anyone put forward a reason that we need a look echo for looking at PCs and NPCs?

Like Jenred pointed out, there's no echo for looking at the environment or at objects. Nor at VNPCs for that matter.

Maybe we could we just rely on using emotes when a character wants to make a point of looking (such as staring at someone, looking them up and down, looking at them contemptuously or admiringly and so on).

[Irulan]

Can anyone put forward a reason that we need a look echo for looking at PCs and NPCs?

Like Jenred pointed out, there's no echo for looking at the environment or at objects. Nor at VNPCs for that matter.

Maybe we could we just rely on using emotes when a character wants to make a point of looking (such as staring at someone, looking them up and down, looking at them contemptuously or admiringly and so on).

I always assumed that the reason that the inanimate objects didn't get an echo, was because they are inanimate and wouldn't notice., When looking at a person, there is a fairly good chance that they are going to notice you taking a glance at it, as well as anyone else in the room. Even if you are just scanning over the crowd, most likely -someone- in the room will see you do that. If there was an echo for every single object, then our screens would be completely full of 'look' spam. Most likely, if  you are just glancing at some object or another, most people wouldn't even notice that. If you emote when looking, you are looking in a way that may draw some attention. So, I like the way that the look is for objects. On that same thread, I like the way that look is for people. I think that most people would notice your eyes looking them over, even if only for a glance. And so would most of the people in that same area. So, I generally feel that the way that look is now, is relatively related to realism. Most people would notice, at least enough that the subconcious would make note...hey, that guy just glanced at me.

Just my opinion.
-Irulan

[roughneck]

Can anyone put forward a reason that we need a look echo for looking at PCs and NPCs?

A character's sdesc is your brief glance, if you want to see their main description, clothes beyond their cloak etc. you have to cloak.  You're main description is at least four lines and your wear list is fairly descriptive as well, it's enough information and detail that you should notice when somebody's getting.  Until there's an easy way to mask yourself it's necessary that you know if somebody looked at you in certain situations, although most of the time it really doesn't matter.

[Marauder Moe]

Sdescs are totally not your "brief glance".  In real life, most people don't have sdescs.

I've never been able to make up my mind on whether or not look should echo.  Both sides have merit.

I do, however, believe that if someone looks at you and then in turn you react as though their character is staring at you, that's power playing.  If someone chooses not to specify with a command emote I feel it's best to interpret it as just a glance.  Your character is allowed to notice it if you want, but it's just a glance, something that happens just about every single time you pass into someone's sight.  Don't attach any further meaning to it.

[Akaramu]

I wish looks without emote attached were just like hemotes, with a chance to notice them or not. Seems realistic to me, if someone enters a tavern and looks at someone who sits at the bar talking to the barkeep, they probably don't have eyes attached to the back of their head. Every single look being noticeable by everyone, all the time, seems unrealistic to me.

Making them hemotes would also cut down the tavern spam some. 

[Seeker]

I do, however, believe that if someone looks at you and then in turn you react as though their character is staring at you, that's power playing.

And I partially disagree.  If you receive a "look echo" from another PC, if you decide to notice and how you choose to react to being looked at is completely in your province.  It would only be power-playing if you actually "redefine" their look somehow.

The petite otherpc looks at you, sparing a brief glance.

Acceptable (if somewhat indicative of mental instability)
emote visibly tenses under ^otherpc glance, muttering under her breath and shifting further back into the jostling crowd.

Not so groovy
emote noting ^otherpc hungry, bug-eyed oggling, @ reaches a hand for ^Knifeo'Doom


Seeker

[Marauder Moe]

I think you got my idea.

Obviously if your character is insane or looking to stir up some shit you could ICly react to a glance as though your character thought it was a stare.  However, you shouldn't react to a glance or an un-modified look as though it was, in fact, a stare.

[Akaramu]

I would get so tired of finding a dozen different ways to add variations of a brief glance to the look command. So much easier for everyone involved to simply not assume a plain unemoted 'look' as a stare. 

[Agent_137]

I wish looks without emote attached were just like hemotes, with a chance to notice them or not. Seems realistic to me, if someone enters a tavern and looks at someone who sits at the bar talking to the barkeep, they probably don't have eyes attached to the back of their head. Every single look being noticeable by everyone, all the time, seems unrealistic to me.

Making them hemotes would also cut down the tavern spam some. 

Right, but they aren't. So I must interpret a look as not a brief glance, not as a stare, but a good, solid look. They see everything about my PC. my mdesc, all my gear, which they can then look at in detail without echo.

A quick, brief, unnoticable glance is called PEEK and it's a skill.

[Marauder Moe]

Right, but they aren't. So I must interpret a look as not a brief glance, not as a stare, but a good, solid look. They see everything about my PC. my mdesc, all my gear, which they can then look at in detail without echo.

Like Rindan said, real people can do this in a small fraction of a second.

[Shimrod]

I wish looks without emote attached were just like hemotes, with a chance to notice them or not. Seems realistic to me, if someone enters a tavern and looks at someone who sits at the bar talking to the barkeep, they probably don't have eyes attached to the back of their head. Every single look being noticeable by everyone, all the time, seems unrealistic to me.

Making them hemotes would also cut down the tavern spam some. 

Right, but they aren't. So I must interpret a look as not a brief glance, not as a stare, but a good, solid look. They see everything about my PC. my mdesc, all my gear, which they can then look at in detail without echo.

A quick, brief, unnoticable glance is called PEEK and it's a skill.

But you are using a code limitation as an excuse to start some shit!

IRL we can take in all sorts of details in a millisecond glance out of the corner of our eyes or even just scanning the room. The peek skill is a poor substitute - we shouldn't need a stealthy skill just to notice that the guy sitting at the bar is wearing extraordinarily bright silk clothes and is thus probably a noble.

[Agent_137]

you want a change. take it to the armageddon reborn folder.

I'm talking how things should be interpreted right now. My concept is based on the coded options. Yours is based on perceptions and wants.

[Marauder Moe]

Your concept is based on a perception of a coded option.