Hints for excellent character descriptions

[Booya]

I find it totally bizarre that people barely read room descriptions! A lot of them are wonderfully evocative and/or interesting. Some point to clues about what else there is to find, too.

I have brief room OFF all the time as it helps me remember and play off the virtual surroundings.

I take a quick look over mdescs, in case they have something my character would stare at or something, but if someone's writing a very long, minutely detailed one, or one as flowery as one of Lizzie's funny pisstakes, I tend to skim to get a gist of their character and then leave well alone.

[Kismetic]

I have really got to stop derailing this thread, but one of the best parts of the game for me is reading that mdesc, or room desc, or object desc and incorporating it into says, emotes and command emotes.  There are some very interesting people/places/things in the game world.

[Is Friday]

Serious post:

I don't find most mdescs very interesting, that is why I don't read them past a certain length. I'm much more stimulated into the environment by interaction, so in general my playstyle reflects that I want to get "right into the action". I make an effort, but seriously, some mdescs are really shitty and overly long for no reason. I like it concise, and that's just a preference.

[Kismetic]

I can understand that more than "I don't read, I just make things up in my head."

I have to admit, I attacked your post out of convenience, because it has been aggravating me that people seem to care more
about eq lists than descriptions.  It was unfair, on my part.

I'm gonna drop it, now, because I don't want to see a helpful thread get locked.

[Is Friday]

I'm interested in the eq list for the following reasons:
1.) Clothing. Fashion is an overlooked part of the game that I enjoy. (homo alert.) My PCs are often very fashion aware, as I think most people generally are in Zalanthas -- since we have very distinct and xenophobic cultures.
2.) I tend to pay more attention to a PC if they are wearing less. I prefer short eq lists.
3.) You can tell if someone is armed.
4.) You can tell if someone is particularly dirty/bloody/whatever.

These things don't override a mdesc, but instead are more pressing than how someone looks in a lot of cases when we're talking about how my character should interact with them. If you want to spend 10+ lines describing your PC in a fanciful way, including a lot of details that are not pertinent, then do not be surprised that I "fiendishly" concentrate on things that I feel are important to the "here and now".

To be honest, I think I'm a lot better than most players (nyuk nyuk.) I copy/paste descs/eq lists into a notepad doc each time I see someone again. I refer to this each time I get a second or two, so that if the interaction reaches a dull point my PC can make a comment or I as a player can make my PC interested in one detail about their mdesc/eq list.

I think my approach is incredibly reasonable. Anyone who has interacted with my PCs knows that I pay a lot of attention. I just think that super long mdescs are annoying.  

[Cind]

For some reason I don't care about eq lists.... anyone, under the proper circumstances, could be wearing what you're wearing. What's your damn hair color! Is it curly? Ahhhh curly.

[i can haz mantis]

To be honest, I think I'm a lot better than most players (nyuk nyuk.) I copy/paste descs/eq lists into a notepad doc each time I see someone again. I refer to this each time I get a second or two, so that if the interaction reaches a dull point my PC can make a comment or I as a player can make my PC interested in one detail about their mdesc/eq list.

Glad I'm not the only one who does this.

[Kalai]

Notsure if I should look into this split-screen thing, my normal 687x370 text output screen seems about bare minimum width. Suppose there's no harm in investigating.

[Lizzie]

For some reason I don't care about eq lists.... anyone, under the proper circumstances, could be wearing what you're wearing. What's your damn hair color! Is it curly? Ahhhh curly.

Yes, it's curly. But I'm wearing a helm. So you can't see my hair. And since you don't care about eq lists, you're not noticing that my curly hair is obscured by my helm. And when you refer to my curly hair in your emoting, you're using OOC information that your -character- doesn't know about.

On the other hand, I have no idea that you're a noble, because you're wearing a Kadius-made silk cloak that isn't specific to your house, and you're wearing gloves on your hands. You also didn't bother bringing your NPC guard with you. So when I don't bow to you, don't get all bent out of shape. Your regal bearing and meticulously groomed fingernails and the ink of your noble house's sigil covering your entire back - is not going to be noticed by my character. Even though I, the player, can see it perfectly well.

[BleakOne]

I tend not to read people's mdescs either, or just quickly scim them, unless my character has reason to be focusing intently on them. I do read room descs, usually, but have been guilty of not doing so on more than a few occasions. 

[Cind]

For some reason I don't care about eq lists.... anyone, under the proper circumstances, could be wearing what you're wearing. What's your damn hair color! Is it curly? Ahhhh curly.

Yes, it's curly. But I'm wearing a helm. So you can't see my hair. And since you don't care about eq lists, you're not noticing that my curly hair is obscured by my helm. And when you refer to my curly hair in your emoting, you're using OOC information that your -character- doesn't know about.

On the other hand, I have no idea that you're a noble, because you're wearing a Kadius-made silk cloak that isn't specific to your house, and you're wearing gloves on your hands. You also didn't bother bringing your NPC guard with you. So when I don't bow to you, don't get all bent out of shape. Your regal bearing and meticulously groomed fingernails and the ink of your noble house's sigil covering your entire back - is not going to be noticed by my character. Even though I, the player, can see it perfectly well.

X) Not like that!