Sdescs that require a trip to www.dictionary.com

[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.