Is He Gone?

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

The Main Bazaar [NES]
   The clamor, tumult, and melange of smells that make up the bewildering
chaos of Allanak's main bazaar fill the air.  Crowds jostle each other on
every side, in a constant jumble of shouts, arguments, and conversations.
Merchants from both Allanak and afar trade goods and services, throughout
the day and night.  Tents and stalls are scattered throughout the bazaar,
vendors and beggars vying fiercely for prime spots.  The dry air is filled
with the red dust kicked up into the air by the constant movement of the
crowds, as well as the mingled smell of cooking foods, perfumes, spilled
wines and attars, the reek of tanning and dyeing vats, and unwashed bodies
to every side.
The tall, black-inked man stands here, looking weary.
The grey mul stands here, bleeding profusely.
The Allanaki soldier walks the streets, eyes roving.

>The tall, black-inked man is gone to the bathroom.

>The grey mul has lost link.

>The Allanaki soldier is gone, fetching Tektolnes.

>l
The Main Bazaar [NES]
   The clamor, tumult, and melange of smells that make up the bewildering
chaos of Allanak's main bazaar fill the air.  Crowds jostle each other on
every side, in a constant jumble of shouts, arguments, and conversations.
Merchants from both Allanak and afar trade goods and services, throughout
the day and night.  Tents and stalls are scattered throughout the bazaar,
vendors and beggars vying fiercely for prime spots.  The dry air is filled
with the red dust kicked up into the air by the constant movement of the
crowds, as well as the mingled smell of cooking foods, perfumes, spilled
wines and attars, the reek of tanning and dyeing vats, and unwashed bodies
to every side.
The tall, black-inked man stands here, looking distant.
The grey mul stands here, looking distant.
The Allanaki soldier walks the streets, eyes roving, looking distant.

There is no situation where I think adding the blurb 'looking distant' would interrupt immersion or otherwise hamper roleplay. It can also hardly be called spammy. Those newly arriving on scene could also quickly note who was present for immediate roleplay and who was not.

[Lizzie]

I like!

[Majikal]

I'm in favor of anything that points out to someone that nobody is at the keyboard, when playing an outdoorsy type of pc that doesn't have a beloved ranger quit and I gotta go afk for any reason, I usually tag 'afk' onto my ldesc.

Your idea is definitely awesome for those players that scream mai emmerzionz!

[Olgaris]

> Change ldesc is here, looking distant.

> Gone afk a few

[Lizzie]

> Change ldesc is here, looking distant.

> Gone afk a few

Oh sure, make it easy. How is THAT contributing to harshness, huh?

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

> Change ldesc is here, looking distant.

> Gone afk a few

While you were being clever, perhaps you noticed the bit about losing connection, as well.  

There's also the fact that people don't use 'change ldesc' much as they should now. You are right - in an ideal world, this would be the solution. But what about when you are sitting at a table? Laying on a couch? Most furniture doesn't allow for long description to be seen by the room. What about when you are mounted? No long description then either.

I don't expect to see this idea implemented, but I do think it's the optimal solution to the situation that arises from not knowing why a PC isn't replying. Linkdead? Idle? Gone?

I might also note that it standardizes the indicator of being gone. Sometimes, you might not know if the PC is gone or not, even if they take a shot at a long description. If there is a common indicator, you automatically know that the PC is gone or idle or disconnected. This simplifies the issue of wondering if that long description really means they are unavailable or not.

[FantasyWriter]

I would love to see this feature added IG.
I think looking distant is the perfect ldesc as well.

[Thunkkin]

The bland, boring man is here, looking distant and waiting to be assassinated.

Actually, it's a great idea, because then people would have even less excuse for ganking link-dead players.
Also, to increase immersions, I think a few npcs should get this ldesc as well.  Maybe even randomly from time to time.

[AmandaGreathouse]

The bland, boring man is here, looking distant and waiting to be assassinated.

Actually, it's a great idea, because then people would have even less excuse for ganking link-dead players.
Also, to increase immersions, I think a few npcs should get this ldesc as well.  Maybe even randomly from time to time.

Nice.

[MarshallDFX]

Je l'aime.

[Synthesis]

People don't use change ldesc that often because it seems like every little thing you do resets it to code default.

Also, this would make it too easy for idiots to abuse people who are AFK.

As a frequent player in the 'rinth, I've witnessed probably much more than my fair share of this sort of asshattery.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I would think that knowing a person is afk would particularly help stop asshattery.

Particularly if staff said that such cases would be reviewed with the utmost discipline.

[Yam]

I would think that knowing a person is afk would particularly help stop asshattery.

Particularly if staff said that such cases would be reviewed with the utmost discipline.

I seem to remember that AFK/linkdead characters are still game for IC actions.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Yes, I remember the same.

That's not to say that I agree with a concrete blanket statement. If staff noticed that most of somebody's kills were on AFK characters, I'm willing to bet that that statement would be revised.

Eh.

But I digress. I am sure that somehow a blurb on the end of a long description would be abusable, but I doubt it would be overly abused. I suspect that the OOC convenience would blanket the OOC twinkability.