Name or description

[racingspider]

Ok, after playing a little while, I've gotten to know a few people (IC) and I know their sdesc and their name. Is there a way to see a player's name instead of only the sdesc?
For instance, if I constantly played with "the skull-faced merman" and knew his name was Bob, could I see stuff he does as Bob says... instead of the skull-faced merman says" etc?

[Tisiphone]

Ok, after playing a little while, I've gotten to know a few people (IC) and I know their sdesc and their name. Is there a way to see a player's name instead of only the sdesc?
For instance, if I constantly played with "the skull-faced merman" and knew his name was Bob, could I see stuff he does as Bob says... instead of the skull-faced merman says" etc?

Create a client-side trigger. That's the only way.

[Lizzie]

Also, creating a client-side trigger won't prevent you from confusing the six different "tall dark man" PCs and NPcs in the game.

[Sokotra]

I like the way it is and hope it doesn't change.

[Reiloth]

Also, creating a client-side trigger won't prevent you from confusing the six different "tall dark man" PCs and NPcs in the game.

No.

You should confuse them. They look alike.

[AmandaGreathouse]

Also, creating a client-side trigger won't prevent you from confusing the six different "tall dark man" PCs and NPcs in the game.

No.

You should confuse them. They look alike.

I agree. At least at first glance. That's why I don't understand the big debate over "looking" at someone. Though, if you want, you can always type "l <name>". Then, if there are three similar looking people there, you don't have to look at each.

[RogueGunslinger]

Also, creating a client-side trigger won't prevent you from confusing the six different "tall dark man" PCs and NPcs in the game.

No.

You should confuse them. They look alike.

Just because someones sdesc is similar to another's doesn't mean their appearance overall is the same. Just because two people are tall and broad-shouldered doesn't mean they look alike...

[Reiloth]

No. But if their most distinguishable traits are the same, and if their sdesc is what my character would 'see on first glance', unless I took a closer 'look', how would I tell them apart? To see that one has violet eyes, and one has green, seeing as that isn't in their sdesc.

[Marauder Moe]

Sdescs aren't necessarily the most distinguishable/visible traits.  Or, I should say, traits described in sdescs are not guaranteed to be distinguishable enough for a foolproof visual identification.

Nor is the sdesc meant to be a complete first glance.  It's simply meant to be a (practically) unique identifier that shows you who is in a particular room.


Seriously, people, think about it.  The eyes and visual cortex of the brain of a Zalanthan is pretty much identical to yours.  When you glance into a room and briefly see someone... are you truly only able to make out two or three characteristics?  Do you think to yourself "well I saw a man, but the only thing I know is that he's tall and he's muscular.  Hey, my buddy Amos is tall and muscular.  That's probably him."?  Or do you just see Amos, complete with his shaggy brown hair, big nose, strong chin, high cheekbones, thin eyebrows, and whatever he's wearing at the time?

As I've argued before, the sdesc's function is just as a unique identifier and to relay species and/or gender.  The fact that is contains information about a character's appearance is purely for flavor and immersion.  The game would work perfectly well if every sdesc was replaced by a random string generated at character creation like "human male 19g49fi3" or "elven female p246zx4".

[Reiloth]

Agree to disagree. If I happen to not 'look' at a person, what exactly will I go by when I am trying to describe them? Their eye color, which I am not privy to?

I might say something like "Well, I dunno, but the guy was tall." or "Well, I don't know, but I think the gal had black hair." While I agree with part of what you say, MM, I think it is a balance of both. It is a unique identifier, but if you have a client side trigger to tell apart all the 'tall, dark men' in a room, and replace their sdesc with a name, i think thats kind of silly.

[Marauder Moe]

Agree to disagree. If I happen to not 'look' at a person, what exactly will I go by when I am trying to describe them? Their eye color, which I am not privy to?

You do it the same way you describe someone in real life.

[racingspider]

My whole point of this was to bring the characters I deal with on a daily basis into a more personal light. If I went into a bar (like in the show Cheers), when 'the fat postman' came in, everyone would say 'Norm!', not 'Fat Postman!'. I deal with a few of the same people, and do stuff with them, but they still seem mysterious because they are all 'named' 'the tall man' 'the rotund fella' etc.

So, when I come into the bar, and a character is there that I know, I see that person (the name) not their description. The first time I played soccer with my brother's coworkers, everyone to me was:
the skinny tall guy
the rotund big-legged brit
But, now that I've been playing for a while, I see
Chuck
James



I like the sdesc, but when I KNOW someone, I want to use their name that's all.

[staggerlee]

It's mostly an aesthetic choice.  A wiser people have already said, set it up with triggers on your end. 

[brytta.leofa]

The first time I played soccer with my brother's coworkers, everyone to me was:
the skinny tall guy
the rotund big-legged brit
But, now that I've been playing for a while, I see
Chuck
James

I used to have triggers set up to replace
"The <known sdesc>"  -->  "<name>, the <known sdesc>,"

That way I had both the name and the sdesc shown in what seemed to me like a fairly non-distracting way.

[Simple]

My whole point of this was to bring the characters I deal with on a daily basis into a more personal light. If I went into a bar (like in the show Cheers), when 'the fat postman' came in, everyone would say 'Norm!', not 'Fat Postman!'. I deal with a few of the same people, and do stuff with them, but they still seem mysterious because they are all 'named' 'the tall man' 'the rotund fella' etc.

So, when I come into the bar, and a character is there that I know, I see that person (the name) not their description. The first time I played soccer with my brother's coworkers, everyone to me was:
the skinny tall guy
the rotund big-legged brit
But, now that I've been playing for a while, I see
Chuck
James



I like the sdesc, but when I KNOW someone, I want to use their name that's all.

Hey, that's my football team!

I was thinking of changing all my friends names in my mobile phone's name list to sdescs...

Thought it would be funny (for about an hour probably)

[Tisiphone]

racingspider, I used to be the same way. For me, it just changed over time as I got more used to the game. Now, there's no conceptual gap between seeing, "the tall, muscular man," and Amos, unless I'm not sure because I don't deal with him regularly.

[LittleLostThief]

It doesn't look very fast.

But it's a racing spider!

[Elgiva]

I used to use my client to put the name after the sdesc (e.g. the tall, muscular man (Amos)). I did it with my first char. And second. And maybe third. Then I gave up. For some reason, I don't need (or want) it anymore.

[Lizzie]

My whole point of this was to bring the characters I deal with on a daily basis into a more personal light. If I went into a bar (like in the show Cheers), when 'the fat postman' came in, everyone would say 'Norm!', not 'Fat Postman!'. I deal with a few of the same people, and do stuff with them, but they still seem mysterious because they are all 'named' 'the tall man' 'the rotund fella' etc.

So, when I come into the bar, and a character is there that I know, I see that person (the name) not their description. The first time I played soccer with my brother's coworkers, everyone to me was:
the skinny tall guy
the rotund big-legged brit
But, now that I've been playing for a while, I see
Chuck
James



I like the sdesc, but when I KNOW someone, I want to use their name that's all.

Right. But if there were TWO skinny tall guys in the room, in the game of Armageddon, how would your trigger or alias or game code know which one is Chuck, and which one is "the skinny tall guy who I've never seen before?" Would it name them BOTH Chuck? Would it name neither one Chuck? Would it look for a different identifier, maybe "force" your character to look at each one? And what happens if you have identified one, and another walks into the room and becomes the "first" on the list of skinny tall guys now? Because that's what the code does. If there's only one of something, and another one shows up, the first one becomes the second, and the new one becomes the first.

And then when Chuck leaves and there are still two other skinny tall guys in the room, will your trigger/alias/code know that neither of the two still there are Chuck?

As for them being the same, they're not. Two people might think that being skinny and tall are the most identifiable things about them...but one might be a noble, wearing all silk, the house cloak, and a silver signet ring. And the other might be a rinth-rat wearing rags. The noble skinny tall guy might have hair down to his shoulders, neatly brushed, and clean, while the rinth-rat might have close-cropped hair that looks like it was hacked off with a dull wooden butter-knife. Just because they both have "skinny tall guy" as their sdesc does not mean they look -anything- alike. It means only that they are both tall and skinny, and guys.

[Reiloth]

I understand what you are saying.

However, without 'looking' at these people, with the use of the look command, how exactly would you know, in passing, that either 'tall, skinny man' is anything besides...Well..A Tall, skinny man?

These traits and features you describe, as well as clothing, are not a part of what I see without using the look command.

Thus, I deduce that 'the tall, skinny man' is all I would recognize if someone asked me 'Who was that guy?'.

'Dunno. Tall, skinny.'

'Oh. I think that's Noble Fancypants.'

'Oh. I didn't get a close enough look, or stop to look.'

'Oh. Well now you know.'

And then I go to the Gaj a week later, and see another tall, skinny man, and get -really- confused. Hah.

What I am trying to say is: How do you tell what people's 'really super distinguishable features' are, without looking at them? I agree you should be able to see they are well dressed, and if they are important enough 'AKA the templar tag'. But as it stands, this is not what flies in Arm 1.0.

Also, i'm just going to quote what it says during character creation:

It is important that this description be done correctly, and there are a few guidelines associated with it:

     * Your short description should contain information on your character's
       race and other noticable features of your character.
     * Your short description should not contain information that is not perceivable by looking at him (e.g., "the intelligent man" or your character's name or guild) or adjectives that are not applicable all of the time (e.g., "the grinning elf").
     * It should start with the article "the," not "a" or "an."
     * Keep it short(35 characters or under).
     * Terminate by hitting return at the end of the line.

[manonfire]

How many completely identical sdescs have you seen in game at the same time, Lizzie? I've been playing almost eight years, and I've seen zero.

[Maybe42or54]

I've seen three pair of twins.

Something More, I've seen though, is multiple peope with the same name.

[BlackMagic0]

I've seen three pair of twins.

Something More, I've seen though, is multiple peope with the same name.

I know two people with nearly the same sdesc minus one word..
And two people with nearly the same name, besides one later different..
And this is with my current PC...

It happens....

[Tisiphone]

How many completely identical sdescs have you seen in game at the same time?

I know two people with nearly the same sdesc minus one word.

We're talking about macros, and not fuzzy ones.