Sdescs that require a trip to www.dictionary.com

[Marauder Moe]

I've seen a lot of short descriptions that have sent me to the dictionary wondering what the heck the character looks like.  Flavorful descriptions are one thing, but sometimes it seems excessive.  What do you all think?

[Frog Fairy]

The point of a short description is to give others an immediate impression of what the PC looks like.

A short description that contains a word not found in the average player's vocabulary does not manage to do this.

Therefore I personally find these to be missing the point and not achieving their purpose, so to speak.

[EvilRoeSlade]

I don't really mind myself, if nothing else it will increase my vocabulary.  I've never actually went to the dictionary to get a word for my sdesc, that would be excessive.  But I don't mind using my more than adequate vocabulary to flavor my sdesc.

[Lazloth]

I've never actually went to the dictionary to get a word for my sdesc, that would be excessive.  But I don't mind using my more than adequate vocabulary to flavor my sdesc.

Too bad grammar is out of the picture.
(Sorry, couldn't help it.   :lol: )

[Rindan]

Eh, if the word in question is actually used properly and not some weird ancient English word that is now defunct, I don't have a big problem hitting the dictionary.  It beats having another 'the <adjective>, dark haired man' 'the <adjective>, dark skinned man', or perhaps even more common, the plain old 'the dark haired man' or 'the dark skinned man'.  That said, I have seen some words used in descriptions that make me cringe with how improperly used they are.

I think it is just people trying to make their character stick out more then another 'the <color> eyed, <color> haired man".  I don't see it as a terribly bad thing.  That said, I personally prefer more mundane ways of making a description unique.  I avoid hair color, eye color like the plague, and descriptions of muscles mass like the plague.  I just go for different features that might be unique and try and avoid clichés.  If a character as a unique feature, that of course is an easy thing to pick to base a sdesc off of.  If the character has nothing terribly unique about him, I tend to think of the worst and ugliest feature of my character and use that.  A lot of people like to put their best foot forward when doing their sdesc and describe how strong their character is, or how lean they are, or whatever is supposed to make their character look bad ass.  Most of the time if you just avoid trying to sound badass or beautiful in your sdesc, you will find your description comes out fairly unique.

[Eclipse]

I tried it once, I had used a word which had a meaning which I completely misinterpreted and simply was horrible for what I was attempting to describe. The attempt to be 'unique' was completely pointless as nobody else understood just what I meant with the word and had in fact, been using it in an incorrect manner (which made the word itself obsolete if not obscured).

My personal take on it is that it helps improve one's vocabulary as well as make the world more colorful. However, be sure of the word before you use it! It's just horrible when you have to look up the word again to try and make sense of it!

[FiveDisgruntledMonkeysWit]

Whenever I see 'unique' sdescs, I assume the player just wanted to go for a 'unique' set of keywords, which is always something to think about. Type 'look dark' in any random room in the game, and you'll probably never look at the right person, and may in fact end up looking at 'the dark baobab table'. Therefore, sdescs with big words don't really bother me much, even if I don't understand it. To me, sdescs are just keywords... I use the main desc of a character to decide what they look like.

My mind just operates strangely, I guess. I once knew for a long time a character that was described as 'slender'. However, in my mind's eye, I always pictured him short, bulky and dwarf-like. I have no idea why... Maybe it was how he talked or acted, but I just used the word 'slender' to interact with him, not to picture him. Who will ever know anyways?

Probably what irks me the most are not the big words in sdescs, but more like the 'theme' of the sdesc in general. Sometimes it seems like people are trying too hard to 'stick out', or have unlikely keywords that won't get jumbled in a crowded tavern. Understandable, but come on... We can't all be mutants, though people... If I see one more green skinned, purple-haired, three-eyed freak I'm going to snap!

[The peshek-haired woman]

I made a char quite some time ago, who had the sdesc "the peshek haired woman". Almost EVERYONE I know asked me "what does peshek mean?" and I kept saying "brown". Now peshek isn't in any dictionary, it's here.

The reason I used peshek was because the docs say that it is encouraged to use terms relating to the game, so I figured it was in the documentation so I would be safe. Does using terms in these instances add to the game or subtract from it? Now I imagine if I used a term for some super-rare plant that grows only in Tek's Tower then there would be a problem, but I figured it was in the docs so I was safe.

What is everyone's opinion on this?

[Carnage]

'Peshek' is one of those rare kind of Arm terms that doesn't come up too often. I think that some of the things they mean are agafari, baobab, maar, lirathu, jihae, etc for colors. Or instead of using feet in emotes, use cords. Things like that.

[crymerci]

On the other hand, if you tell me in your desc how many cords tall you are, I generally get a blank look.  Sure, I could look up the conversion, but it's easier to just ass-v anyhow.  I guess I'm either lazy or a twink.

[Angela Christine]

The point of a short description is to give others an immediate impression of what the PC looks like.

I figure that is just half the job.  The other half, as others have mentioned, is to provide useful keywords.  

I remember one time trying to contact an aquaintence but I wasn't sure how to spell their name, so I couldn't be sure if the reason I couldn't reach them was because they weren't available or simply that I misspelled the name.  I tryed a keyword instead.  Contact red, break, contact 2.red, break, contact 3.red, break, contact 4.red, since 4.red was an obvious NPC I deduced that the person I was trying to contact wasn't logged in and stopped.  Boy, was that fun.  Then there was the time there was a PC with the word "skin" in their sdesc, and everytime the group passed around a waterskin someone would mistakenly emote drinking from the PC.  Actually, that one was kind of amusing.  :twisted:

Trying to balance the competing desire to have an uncommon set of keywords and the desire to have a meaningful word picture is hard.  Heck, just trying to describe a person in 35 characters is hard.  Hmm, I guess I don't have a point after all.  Oh well.

AC

[Synthesis]

One thing I hate is when people use words in their sdesc that aren't included anywhere in their long description.

It's annoying when you look at someone in a hood and can't figure out at least one of their non-racial keywords from their long description.

[Stroker]

And here I always thought that the purpose of wearing a hood was to hide your features.

[Callisto]

When I see someone going for a key-word that stands out to the point where you look twice just to make sure you read it right, or go look it up just to make sure you understand it, it just irritates me to the point of wanting to avoid them. I've found these are the same types of people who attempt to write long-winded emotes that, for all the fluffy-fancy words, don't go anywhere.

I remember there was a character with the word "Ragamuffin", or however its spelled. It jarred me right out of character every time the description passed across my screen, I was half expecting it to leap from its chair in dramatic fashion and break into a stage show routine with the cast of Les Misérables. It is the single worst short description word in the history of Armageddon and turned my off playing the game on several occasions, just due to its jarring effect and the fact the character was hard to avoid.

I'm all for a wide range of short description key-words, but please, don't pick a word because you think it would be cool and unique, pick a word that is suited to the game world and the character. If you want your character to stand out and be unique, you have a whole full description to do so, but try to keep your short description to something easily understood by people looking in from another room or just passing through and keep your prime key-word (EX: elf, dwarf, human, woman, man, youth, etc) within the general standard, just so people aren't drawn out of character or forced to go look something up.  Also, if you use Ragamuffin, I'm going to kill you with lasers.

I'm kind of split on this issue. I tend to use more unique words when the character's appearance is more unique. For instance, using 'capacious' instead of 'big' or 'large'. Big and large don't really specify, but capacious (In its dictionary.com definition) implies just big all around, not just tall, not just fat, but all around expanded. I also tend to use sdesc words like that when there's something a little unnatural about they way they might be big, skinny, short, tall, or scarred.

Now as far as 'dark skinned' and 'dark haired', they might as well be called 'the Zalanthan John Doe', because unless there's something extraordinary in their mdesc (Which probably should've been in the sdesc anyway) they most likely look just like nearly every other Zalanthan you'll see, unless you know that person intimately.

But as far as simple sdescs like... the long-limbed dwarf, I would assumedthat the dwarf is pretty average looking, since they're described in pretty simple terms. Average of course except for the long limbs, which were noted.

[marko]

I completely agree with Frog Fairy - an sdesc is a method to describe a character in a very concise manner ICly.  Using an adjective that is found via a thesaurus just to be 'unique' defeats the purpose.  On a few occassions I've seen people attempting to describe those with the more obscure adjectives ICly and not getting the point across at all.  If they do use the actual term - well, it looks silly for a 'rinther to be saying a nine syllable word (an exageration but only barely).

The best part is when people use the thesaurus-descriptor and get it wrong!  I've seen this happen on multiple occassions and it makes me laugh and laugh and laugh.  I suppose for the laughter aspect it is worthwhile to suggest that people continue to do so - it is so funny.  It always reminds me of a pompous ass who's trying to impress people with their knowledge but is constantly getting their facts wrong.  

As for my other pet peeve - the use of adjectives in the sdesc that are not found in the main description.  This makes no sense to me.  The sdesc, once again, is a quick what do you notice about someone - yet a few people actually write up a nice main desc and then promptly create a different sdesc.  Use your sdesc in your main description - it's supposed to be your character's most prominent features.

[crymerci]

Actually, capacious refers to a large container, like a backpack or something.  As in, it has a large capacity.  However, I think capacious is a good example of an unique descriptor, because I don't think most people would have to look it up, but it's still unusual enough not to be in every other PC's description.

[gfair]

As long as the person gets it right and knows what it means, I don't care what words they use in the sdesc.  The thing I don't like is when a string of complex words are used throughout the description.

In my opinion, the sdesc is a completely OOC concept.  Sure, it describes the character succinctly, but it never manifests in the game, only players see it, so if a player doesn't understand the word, that doesn't stop the character from being able to judge with eyes and ears what that complex word refers to.

The only issue I have is when a number of those complex words are used in the main desc, because without the player understanding, IC reactions are made difficult.

[Cuusardo]

Personally, I think people with really bland sdescs are trying to purposefully look nondescript.  I've seen some like "The tan-skinned man" (not the actual sdesc, but you get the idea) in more than one city, and they were completely different people.  Sometimes an NPC has that same sdesc, and you have to look at the person to determine 'oh, that's not who I thought it was.'  Just like in real life, where you might easily mistake one person for another because of similar hair color or style, skin tone, etc.  People with more unique sdescs want their characters to come across as standing out more in the crowd.

However, I don't think it's a good thing to have horribly obscure words in one's sdesc.  You don't need to cash in on as many 50-cent words as possible just to have a good sdesc.

[Twilight]

I've rarely run across words in sdescs I didn't know.  I come out on the side of using the word which most precisely gives the sense of what you want to convey.  We only have so many words to use, especially in the sdesc.  If you want to very precisely convey a specific meaning, you may have to use a somewhat unusual word.  And then, there is the issue of exactly what standard do you use as "usual"?  High school vocabulary?  College degree?  Master's English lit grad?  The disparity in knowledge between people is exactly what a dictionary is there for, I can't see why someone who didn't know what a word meant wouldn't use one, unless they have something against dictionaries.

[Krath]

*mutter* The thing that pisses me off most is those people who have an SDESC. Lets say  The tan-skinned man, and none of their keywords tan, skinned, man or human work as a keyword. What is the point of putting it in your SDESC if it isnt a keyword or something that we can know you buy.  As far as using "unique" Words, so long as they are used correctly I do not have a problem with it. All in all I agree with marko.

[John]

*mutter* The thing that pisses me off most is those people who have an SDESC. Lets say  The tan-skinned man, and none of their keywords tan, skinned, man or human work as a keyword.

AFAIK that's impossible. I'm fairly certain the sdesc automatically becomes your keywords. I might be remembering wrong but I'm pretty sure I'm not

Just recently I put in a hyphenated sdesc like that and, taking the example, only "tan-skinned" showed up in keywords, I added "tan" and "skinned" separately.

[Hoodwink]

In my opinion, having a keyword in your sdesc and using that same word in the main desc is redundant.  Sorry to break the trend.  I think it makes more sense to use a keyword like the example word capacious, and then describe what capacious means -- in different words -- in your main desc.  As long as the meaning is still there (as long as your keyword and mdesc both describe you as fat), then why be redundant about it?  It's like the emerald-eyed man reminding us in his emotes that he has emerald eyes when it already tells us that every time he inputs a command.

The emerald-eyed man's emerald-green eyes twinkle in the torch light, like glowing green emeralds.

Wait, what color are your eyes again?

As for rare or unheard of words, I have no problem with them unless they are either contrived (simply used for their showiness), misused (definition of the word doesn't match the character's appearance), or too awkward to pronounce (some words just don't sound very nice, especially not if they are constantly in your face every time the person emotes.  But in this latter example, it's all based on one person's opinion vs. another, in which case, to hell with it, make the sdesc that YOU like.)

[Dan]

I recently played a character who had a short and simple sdesc. I like to change my ldesc quite often and the more I can put into it, the better. Also, I made this character's sdesc sort of generic, so as to easily blend in and be forgotten, from both the players and opposing character's minds. Its main word was unique and didn't have any problems with other people having the same keyword as me. I went for a short and simpole sdesc so that I was better able to manipulate the environment through detailed ldesc changes. I really think people underuse this command. Every time I am standing or sitting somewhere I take a second to put down where in the room I am. Under a tree, in the shade against the wall, on a bench, etc... There is so much opportunity with this and I for one would like to see it utilized more often.

[Cuusardo]

I change my ldesc a LOT more than I used to, and it's partly because of you Dan.  

[crymerci]

In my opinion, having a keyword in your sdesc and using that same word in the main desc is redundant.

I thought that I read in a doc or the character generation system that you HAD to use the same words in both places.  I can't seem to find a doc at the moment, anyone know for sure?

[Drayab]

Maybe you are thinking of this...

Choosing Keywords:
Keywords are the words used by other players to interact with your character, as in "smile dark", "look tall" or "kill dainty".

Enter your race, words in sdesc, and possible nicknames. Example, the short desc "the tall, brown-haired man" would need keywords: tall brown haired man human miki, where Miki is his nickname.

Don't forget race, which is a common mistake, and don't put commas or other punctuation marks between the words. Don't include words that may be implied by (or even included in) your main desc but are not in your sdesc (e.g., the short, dark-haired man including "blue" as a keyword because of his blue eyes); this can cause confusion. Do not include "the" in your keywords.

As has been said before, I think if the word is properly used and does not seem contrived then it is okay. Also, I think there is something to be said about having a character that looks unexceptional. Maybe it could be argued that the people on Zalanthas would have more variety in their appearance, but I can't help but roll my eyes when I look at someone and get a full page of flowerly language and obscure words. Somedays it seems like a chore to read all that. When I make a description, I try to keep the length to about the size of a room description and use words that concisely create the image of the character that I have in mind. I put things in there that are unique to my character, and I try to avoid what I see as gaudiness. On the other hand, there is a certain amount of personal taste involved.

[flurry]

I personally don't mind having to use a dictionary to understand part of an sdesc.   If I need to look up five words in the main desc on top of that, that's probably overkill.

But unique (even better if they're short) keywords are a plus in terms of the mechanics of emoting in crowded places.

I agree that it seems to be a matter of taste.   The ragamuffin thing is a perfect example.   I never saw that PC, but I remember the thread where it first came up.   I went back and looked at it again, and it's amusing how the opinions range from the best sdesc ever to the worst sdesc ever.

A while ago I thought of an sdesc that used alliteration that I thought was oh-so-clever.   I haven't used it, and I doubt I will.    Partly because there's one word that I think is kind of iffy, and would probably inspire ragamuffin-type reactions.    I would hate to play a long-lived character whose sdesc annoyed people.     So I guess if I push the creative envelope I'll make it a low-visibility and/or high-risk character.  :wink:

[Impska]

I agree with Hoodwink. I generally don't use the same words in my sdesc as in my full description, but rather elaborate on the sdesc descriptors in more detail.

I'm not sure why it would be a problem (as long as you use sdesc words appropriately). If someone needs to describe you, or recognize you, either way I don't think expecting them to look and pay attention to your full description is too much to ask.

[Vendyra]

I remember there was a character with the word "Ragamuffin", or however its spelled.

I thought the ragamuffin was adorable.  It made me laugh every time I saw it.  That aside, I do agree that some short descriptions get overly verbose.  Although the game is a great way to learn SAT words, some are only found in obscure dictionaries.  When I try to find a unique keyword, it isn't about something new and different.  It's about what the population is.  Are there a lot of 'tall's?  'black-haired's?  If there were too many talls, I could go lofty.  It's about variation rather than confusation.

[Vox]

Veeeeery subtle Vendyra.... Veeeeeeeery subtle!

Trying to pass off 'confusation' on us as though it were actually a real word in a thread about often misused and obfuscated terminology.  Would this be an example of 'confutation'?

the lofty, exuviated elven haberdasher gesticulates towards the tip of his hooked nose as he cackles and flails his spidery limbs.

:twisted:

[chinwa]

What I add as the worst thing to hit sdescs is the conclusion of eye color.

While having fancy words might be a pain for those who don't know what they mean, at least the word describes a physical trait that is, as FF mentioned, something you see in a glance. Something that jumps out. If glance at someone from across the room and the first thing that jumps out at you is their eye color, well I'd hide from the scientists because you'd be a marvel. Even up close and personal eyes are usually something you have to actively look at to see their color and detail.

So please folks, let's keep the eye colors out of the sdescs. Feel free to devote three lines to them in the full desc, but keep the sdesc to quickly and easily noticeable traits.

[Forest Junkie]

I have to disagree with chinwa.

Who is to say that the person in question does not have eyes that "jump out" at their observer at just a quick glance? I think having eye color in sdecs is perfectly fine. If we were confined to only listing traits that were noticeable at a -glance-, then -everyone-, IMHO, would have tall, or short, or bubbly breasted in their sdecs. :twisted:

[Anonymous]

I don't think eye-color should be forbidden from sdescs.  But I never use it.

Why?  Two reasons:

The tanned, blue-eyed man looks at the sinewy, tanned templar blinking his blue eyes.

Personal habit here, I like to include eyes and eye colour in emotes/flavour text for commands.  So it doesn't work for me.

Secondly.

101/101 118/119 102/102>Rolling plains stretch out in an endless sweep of grass.
[Very far]
The tanned, blue-eyed man is standing here.
[Far]
Nothing.
[Near]
Nothing.


All I gotta say is...if those eyes are visible from very far those are some damn bright eyes.

But again, I am not bothered by other people using eye color in an sdesc.  In fact, I have yet to be bothered by an sdesc.  Though I imagine the heavily-armored, sword-slinging noble would agitate the bug up my ass.

[Forest Junkie]

Good points CRW.  :lol:

There are different answers to different situations. In a sense, there really is no right or wrong answer on the matter.

[X-D]

I agree with chinwa, IRl I do not notice a person's eyes less they are bugging out of thier head and even then, minutes later I would be hard pressed to tell you the color. On normal people I simply do not notice them, nor do I care. Also, eyes (generaly) are very small, with lighting we have today you'd be hard pressed to tell somebodies eye color from 10' away, in zalanthas they use torches and candles and lanterns, the rooms are full of smoke and dimly lit with a wavering flickering orange/yellow light, in this light it would be hard to see a person's eye color at the same table and most of them would appear black, specialy when you consider that the pupils would be -very- dilated, and that's if they are not covered by a pair of sunslits, hate seeing the thin emerald eyed man and looking at him to find out he is wearing a pair of sunslits..indoors.

Otherwise, I myself like to use more interesting words in my sdesc, though I have had apps turned down or changed for it, which is annoying since the word is always used properly and describes one of the striking features in the main desc...also, often the words in my sdesc do not appear in the main desc.

And lastly, though I think it was already said, if I've been noticing a large usage of certain descriptive words in the pc and npc populations I will avoid those words at all costs.

[Callisto]

the lofty, exuviated elven haberdasher gesticulates towards the tip of his hooked nose as he cackles and flails his spidery limbs.

Vox for president!

[Vendyra]

Trying to pass off 'confusation' on us as though it were actually a real word in a thread about often misused and obfuscated terminology.  Would this be an example of 'confutation'?

Don't be so dramaculus.

[Krath]

Don't be so dramaculus.

:shock:  What the fuck?

[Vendyra]

That was a reference to a Saturday Night Live skit.

[Ayashah]

Okay, since we are talking about short descriptions, does anyone else but me get the vision of hobbles around a horse's legs everytime they see the short description with hobbled in it?

I know there are different meanings to the word but I CRACK up everytime I see that pc.

[spawnloser]

My only problem with short descs is the fact that 'tall' and 'short' are subjective terms.  I HATE seeing the TALL elf...yeah, you're a flipping elf, we know you're taller (on average).  The problem is that that kind of information should be gotten by people assessing you, not by looking at your description.  I once saw the 'short' blah blah blah...who was taller than me.  Uh...what?  Seriously...height and weight should be left out.  Body shape descriptors are fine...but nothing that directly ties into height or weight, if you ask me.

[Drayab]

I think saying short/tall, big/small is fine, you've just got to assume that they mean that they are short/tall/whatever for their race. A tall dwarf would still be shorter than a short elf. The tall dwarf is just taller than most dwarves, that's all.

[spawnloser]

I think saying short/tall, big/small is fine, you've just got to assume that they mean that they are short/tall/whatever for their race. A tall dwarf would still be shorter than a short elf. The tall dwarf is just taller than most dwarves, that's all.

Yeah, but how the hell is a half-giant (hell even an elf) supposed to have a good feel or frame of reference for what is tall for a dwarf?  Turning it around...a half-giant is 13 feet or 14 feet tall...that 3 foot dwarf isn't going to be able to tell much difference except that he's looking at different parts of their knees.

[Sanvean]

Occasionally I hit the sdesc that boggles me, although it's fairly rare. On at least one of those, I felt that my life had been enriched by finding out that a long Latinate word existed that meant "shapely buttocked". While I have yet to use the word in conversation, I still like knowing it exists.

One of the things I worry about in this thread is simply this: people's vocabularies have different degrees of extensiveness. The word sending person A scrambling to dictionary.com may be humdrum to person B. Accordingly, I'd rather err on the side that has the occasional obtuse word than on the side which seems (to me) to lead to endless repetitions of "the tall dark man".

I do ask that if you use a word like these, though, in the name of all that's Holy, use it correctly. See it used in a sentence, run it past someone else, I dunno. Once I'm back, I'll gladly take a look at them and say whether or not you're using it correctly, or point you to an online source if I have no clue. Few things in life bug me more than people using words in a half-assed, if-I-pull-hard-enough-it'll-mean-this-too sort of way. Nothing lends itself more to perpetuating this error than just grabbing a word from the thesaurus and running willy-nilly down the pathways of mistakeness with it while the English Language weeps in the background.

I love the people who use Zalanthas-specific vocabulary, whether it be in sdescs or descriptions. You make my day, in all seriousness.

As far as the Great Ragamuffin controversy, it's not a word which I would have approved, but I've seen a number of these in my time here, including wench, bardess, lady, etc. I'll step in if it's a real mostrosity (c.f. bardess) but I try not to secondguess other staff because I think it's impolite. Ragamuffin comes from Middle English, and appears well before the time of the French Revolution, so it seems pretty valid to me. However, Callisto's comment does point out something that people should think about - is this something that's going to jar on other players? If you're intentionally doing that, it's one thing - perhaps your character is so odd and malformed that you want exactly that effect, but if it's not intentional, you may want to think again.

Note: I am still on vacation and not answering email/PMs until the 20th.

[Ayashah]

Personally, I find the word  -imp-  jarring in a short description. Just because there are mutations and one would expect that pc to be one from that short. I did a double take the first time I spotted that pc and finding nothing 'implike' (as in a mutation) I completely tossed aside any real desire, on my part not my pc's, to find out more/rp with that pc. I understand the concept that pc was trying to get across with that word but with a short like that one would expect to see that pc on a leash crouched by a noble's side.