Contacting

[boog]

I was reading the helpfiles on contacting and was curious:

is it kosher to 'contact' someone you have never met before? what if you know their name? what about briefly seen?

I don't want to ruin any RP because of poor etiquette and lack of understanding. Thank you!

[Lizzie]

I've always roleplayed justifications, or lack thereof. I've built it into my characters' personalities and personal comfort levels with regards to the Way and the purpose of the interaction.

So for example, if my character has never met someone, and that person is in their head, but doesn't identify himself, then my character -might- be capable of responding by image. But probably wouldn't make too much of an effort, because ICly, it -should- be an effort, even if the code doesn't make it so.

If my character is looking for someone by name, but has no idea what that person looks like, she -might- make an occasional attempt but is not likely without at least -some- idea of who it is. Or at least, their race, and what part of the world they'd be in.

If my character is trying to find someone over the way they've seen, but don't know, they would concentrate on the visual and attempt to contact by focusing on that.

If my character has seen someone, has learned their name, but hasn't actually been intruduced, or spoken with this person, she would likely feel comfortable trying.

In ALL cases..my characters would normally identify themselves, IF they are wanting a response. I assume, that ICly, it's easier to way someone if you have *a* name (even if it isnt their real name - if it's a keyword), and some idea of what they look like. Even if the code doesn't require it, I assume this is so from an IC perspective.

[Thunkkin]

is it kosher to 'contact' someone you have never met before? what if you know their name? what about briefly seen?

Yes to all of the above.  If you approach it like calling someone on the phone whom you've never spoken to before, you should be fine.

Also, if you're just starting out ... your contact skill will be AWFUL.  Don't expect good results.  Eventually, it'll be like a psionic cell-phone but until then it's best to rest on beds or comfy couches, etc., while trying to use the Way.  Otherwise you'll pass out and wake up naked.

[brytta.leofa]

Most such etiquette isn't particular to the Way; you can treat psionic conversations much like face-to-face ones.  If you're contacting Lord Fancypants to apply for a job:
- identify yourself immediately,
- explain why you're contacting him, and
- ask if it's a good time.
> psi Lord Fancypants, begging pardon, my name is Amos. I heard tell you were wishful of an assistant-- when it's convenient, might I ask who I could speak to about it so's to not trouble your lordship further?

However, remember that your character doesn't have to have good etiquette.  (If he does, how did he learn it? Innate good sense? Experience dealing with the upper crust?)

I would say that it's impolite to contact someone and wait a long time before communicating.  People get nervous when someone's in their head and they don't know why.

[musashi]

I believe it's totally fine to contact whoever for whatever reason so long as you have an IC to be doing so.

I've had PC's who have on a whim just contacted "man" and struck up a conversation between strangers out of boredom and isolation

[boog]

Okay! I didn't want to randomly do it if it wasn't justifiable and have someone ooc me back and ask, "WTF IS YOUR PROBLEM DOOD?"

<3 thank youp.

[Gunnerblaster]

I've always considered it "rude", ICly and OOCly, to >contact cloaked.figure when you encounter such a PC in the same room with you - For the sole purpose of just knowing what they look like with the hood down.

Otherwise, there isn't much else to worry about.

[musashi]

I've always considered it "rude", ICly and OOCly, to >contact cloaked.figure when you encounter such a PC in the same room with you - For the sole purpose of just knowing what they look like with the hood down.

Otherwise, there isn't much else to worry about.

Yeah ... but rude IC is still IC, and thus, perfectly acceptable behavior for a player.
Train barrier. 

[Agent_137]

I've always considered it "rude", ICly and OOCly, to >contact cloaked.figure when you encounter such a PC in the same room with you - For the sole purpose of just knowing what they look like with the hood down.

Otherwise, there isn't much else to worry about.

Remember when you could do this from outside the room? From any distance?

Yea. It was like that for more than a decade. Quit your bitching, cause like musashi said, there's a skill for that. so I don't think it's rude OOCly.

but i like the idea of taking offense ICly. More power to you. I could definitely see it being kinda rude ICly if it it's done at a distance and as the first interaction.

[Old Kank]

I've always considered it "rude", ICly and OOCly, to >contact cloaked.figure when you encounter such a PC in the same room with you - For the sole purpose of just knowing what they look like with the hood down.

I don't think "rude" is strong enough language for people who do this.

Seeing an sdesc is a purely OOC convention.  If you look at someone with their hood up, you know they're tall and have black hair, you know they have grey eyes, chiseled muscles and a pointy chin, and that they're wearing a leather headband.  Wanting to know that they're ALSO described as "the tall, muscular man" so you can later pick them out of a log of a crowded tavern from two rooms away is purely an OOC desire.  RTFD and work with that.  I don't think contact was ever intended as a psionic scrying ability; the reason you're shown a true sdesc is to prevent mass confusion with the skill.

[brytta.leofa]

I don't think contact was ever intended as a psionic scrying ability; the reason you're shown a true sdesc is to prevent mass confusion with the skill.

I must respectfully disagree.  The playerbase complained about this (the ability to get an sdesc from "contact figure") to high heaven.  The staff modified the behavior, but did not remove the ability altogether.  They could have.  They didn't.  Moreover, have refused to declare this behavior out of bounds.

If you can see someone, you can contact him.  If you can contact him, you WILL get an idea of what he looks like.  That's how the code works.  That's how Zalanthas works.

[Gunnerblaster]

It's my own opinion so, as curtly as possible, everyone - Get off my back.

Edited to add:
And I meant I thought it was rude to '>contact figure' the moment you or they entered the same room, before interaction of any sort has begun. Again, my own opinion. No one has to even listen so get off my balls. Everyone's so quick to go fucking apeshit crazy, nowadays.

[Mr.B]

Yep. I agree with Gunnerblaster there. It's been mentioned before that just because the code lets you do it, doesn't mean it's always cool to do so. I remember there was a thread on the GDB where people were throwing in the opinion that backstabbing a single target multiple times was cool, since there were no coded barriers to it. Much later after that, I did exactly that with a character and the staff curtly asked me not to do that. Why? Because they held me to a higher standard. Contacting a cloaked figure in the same room with you is doable, but I think it's pretty uncool when it's for the express purpose of looking at their sdesc.

I think it would be great if some of the old code was plugged in to the current incarnation of contacting hooded figures. Before, you would get "you contact such-and-such cloaked, hooded figure", and receive their sdesc in subsequent communication through the way, if I remember correctly. I think I'd personally like it that way.

Oh, and for the record, I can say that I've never, ever done the whole contact figure; break thing because I think it's lame as hell.
That's my 2 'sid, take it as you will.

[Lithium]

I've always considered it "rude", ICly and OOCly, to >contact cloaked.figure when you encounter such a PC in the same room with you - For the sole purpose of just knowing what they look like with the hood down.

Otherwise, there isn't much else to worry about.

Remember when you could do this from outside the room? From any distance?

You still can.

[musashi]

No. You can't. Now typing contact figure is only good for when you're in the same room as they are.

[BlackMagic0]

No. You can't. Now typing contact figure is only good for when you're in the same room as they are.

Yup! They fixed it!

[Spoon]

I'm with Gunnerblaster & co on this one, I don't like it (whether it's allowed or not). If it is okay, I'd like the contact helpfile to be changed reflect that it can be used to acquire the likeness of a person. I don't think the staff kept the ability to contact a hooded figure in the same room as you so that you could get their sdesc.

[X-D]

Funny, I think they did.

In the past it was asked if it was alright to contact somebody you could not even see for sdesc and the staff response was "Yup."

Not that I agree mind you, but still.

[Spoon]

Seems out of place to me in the context of everything else... If it is okay to do, I find it odd that any character can just go "Hmm, I can't see that person's face clearly because of their hood. No problem, I'll use my psi powers to identify their most notable features!"

[musashi]

Well, it was suggested before that contact could be changed so that when you contact someone you just get a message that says: You contact a foreign presence. And you would not get their sdesc until you psi'd them something, thus givng them your sdesc as well.

But the idea was not taken up by staff. I believe that staff's offical stance on this been, and remains to be, that it's alright to contact someone for the sake of getting their sdesc.

But they did fix it so that unless you were in the same room as them, trying to contact a hooded figure would not work. So the raiders of the world caught a lucky break there.

So despite what your personal opinions on the subject might be, it isn't considered bad form by the people that matter (read: staff) for a character to make psionic contact with another character to glean a better likeness of them.

[AmandaGreathouse]

Seems out of place to me in the context of everything else... If it is okay to do, I find it odd that any character can just go "Hmm, I can't see that person's face clearly because of their hood. No problem, I'll use my psi powers to identify their most notable features!"

Except a HOOD doesn't cover your face. It covers your hair.

And being as you can only contact someone hooded who's in the same room with you and it allows you to see that, well, that seems to say that you can... see who you're seeing already.

Makes a lot of sense to me.

[Thunkkin]

The problem is that the code can't handle all the varieties of hoods in existence.  Some hoods do just cover the top of your head, revealing your features clearly.  Other hoods are voluminous and cover the face in shadow and obscurity.  Consider the hooded figure of Aragorn in the Prancing Pony ... I don't think the hobbits were noting his eye color.  I suspect this is just one of those things that no matter what, a chunk of the player-base won't like the solution.

[musashi]

Forget hoods ... some people in game dress like this:



So what color are his eyes? How about his hair? Wait ... is it even a he?

When people are wearing masks, helms, facewraps, hoods on top of that, with maybe a veil and scarf thrown on top for good measure, you are not going to be able to discern any of their features beyond their basic height and build. And the build is a big maybe depending on how billowy and long their cloak is and if they have it buttoned up to hide all but the vauge outline of their body at the shoulders.

The game's code, sadly, isn't written to take into consideration the entire outfit when deciding what gets concealed and what doesn't. So rather than go on about what their clothing would or would not hide, lets stick to talking about the way, and what psionic contact should or shouldn't reveal.

[Lithium]

No. You can't. Now typing contact figure is only good for when you're in the same room as they are.

You're mistaken. I was riding with my hood up 3 rooms away from someone who I'd never seen before last night and they somehow contacted me...explain.

[X-D]

Just because you have never seen them before does not mean that is true the other way around.

Then there are common keywords.

Race coming first, then gender.

elf
elven
breed
half
dwarf
dwarven
male
man
woman
female

If your riding we can rule out elf and such.

Race is usually pretty easy to figure out.

So, usually you only need to try a couple keywords.