Must...keep my identity a secret!

[Desertman]

Addkeyword                                                       (Characters)

  Your keywords are how others refer to your characters in the game. When
you created your character you started with your name, the words in your
short description and a few other words that you specified.
   As your character goes through the game there may be times when your
character would like to go by another name for whatever reason.  This
command allows you to do that on the fly.
   It is considered courteous and helpful to add names/nicknames as
keywords. If your character uses a name or nickname to introduce
his/herself to the majority of people they meet, the best practice would
be to add that as a keyword.  Some situations and special circumstances
may keep players from adding a name or nickname as a keyword (such as
a criminal trade-name, a secret name, or secret names of those in a secret
society). In cases where a character uses a name/nickname as his/her
sole means of identification, this name should always be a character
keyword.
   If the lack of a commonly used keyword becomes a problem, staff may
request that you add the keyword to your character.  Staff will send a
notification via e-mail to your listed e-mail account before initiating
any changes.  Appeals for removal of such a keyword can be send to the
request tool, but the final decision on this remains in the hands of
staff members.
Syntax:
   addkeyword <keyword>

Example:
   > addkeyword Amos
Keyword 'Amos' added.

Notes:
   You are not allowed to add keywords that are the names of your previous
characters.  We only allow this on review from staff, so to request this
use the request tool:  http://www.armageddon.org/request

Once you have added a keyword you cannot remove it except by staff
intervention, and we are very relucant to do this.  You must have a very
good reason why you want to remove a keyword you added.

Please try and remember our naming conventions when adding aliases
to your character.  Do not use names that are anachronistic, verbally
abusive, or otherwise offensive.

It should go without saying, but adding keywords to gain something
that belongs to someone else, or other abuses of this command will not
be tolerated.

See also:
   keywords

I don't always like it when Nyr yanks out documentation on me.

But when I do, he does it like this.

[Potaje]

It is a flawed system. Even with barrier, fully covered head to toe and hidden. Someone will spam look, way and use all that to assume they know specifics of that person.

But I suppose contact shadow, or whatever descriptor of clothing (intended to hide identity) there is in an attempt to identify someone is the double edged blade.

Do we suggest doing away with the ability to way the shadow or someone based on clothing items that hide identity making it possible then to actually make those items more useful in hiding the identity, or just shrug and accept it as it is.

[Vwest]

You can't.

All you need is a keyword and you have them identified and can know when they're online, to either hunt them or avoid them and believe you me, people take full advantage of it.

Even with a middleman, as soon as he or she is known as the point of contact, all they have to do is 'think' about you and you're outed due to mind reading.

I would:

A) Remove 'mind bending' from the game full stop.

B) Allow a 'contact' short description during creation, so you can have a mental image of yourself that differs a little from your real short description.

It could work on a similar basis as description changes, where you can change just half of it and only during creation or within a couple hours of creation, similar to reroll rules. The tall, muscular man becomes the tall, rugged man and the squat, blue-eyed woman becomes the petite, blue-eyed woman. Enough no one can really be sure it's the same person without confirmation, without getting silly.

Until there are coded means to hide some or all of your descriptions in person (without joining a certain clan or otherwise having insane connections to get extremely rare items), throw on a cloak and mask and hope the people you're interacting with aren't going to burn you. 50/50, good luck.

[Bogre]

Your character doesn't decide what is not their name, never was or never will be. Just as you can't disown your birth name that someone else gave you, you shouldn't be able to ignore that some people now call you "fizzlepops" and your mental image springs into their heads every time they think of that.

But not if they have never had a mental image of you to begin with.

My original comment by the way was in jest; but if you say, "It's not my name, but call me Ishmael," I think you have leeway to not add it. If they don't know your truename, *shrug*. More power to the truenames!

[Fujikoma]

Give them the name of someone you don't like and the instructions never to contact you .

[Vwest]

Give them the name of someone you don't like and the instructions never to contact you .

You win.

[Maso]

A) Remove 'mind bending' from the game full stop.

These types of characters are rare and players and their characters shouldn't really know how they operate. Most regular folks in the world would probably not have 'mind readers' on their radar or as something they even know exists for sure unless they have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with one.

This would be helped along by people not posting what you think these types of characters can do on the boards...e.g. mind reading or even talking about them at all. Help keep things a mystery. Even if you think it's obvious, it's not to everyone, especially new players, and you make them game less intriguing for them. A bit like telling kids there isn't a Santa...

[BleakOne]

To be fair, Maso, they are listed in the main homepage list of possible classes.

[MeTekillot]

This reminds of how people would introduce themselves only with nicknames or anything but a true name because they figured it gave them an edge on psions and magickers.

[DustMight]

This reminds of how people would introduce themselves only with nicknames or anything but a true name because they figured it gave them an edge on psions and magickers.

I used to do this back in the day.  Funny considering that most folks die by sword to the face or a beetle removing limb.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

This reminds of how people would introduce themselves only with nicknames or anything but a true name because they figured it gave them an edge on psions and magickers.

It should be a non-punishable offense to murder said people, on principal, IC reason or not. (Joking. But not joking. Not the point, in any case...)


I think the docs hit the nail flat on the head. However, it might help to think of the implications of being able to contact with a 'birth name' versus a 'nickname' from an IC perspective. So, you can hone in on a concrete feature, like someone's "ginka tattoo", or a "woman" with "fiery-red hair", and it brings you to that person, or at least someone who looks like them. At the same time, you can hone in on a name given to someone at their birth, and it will work the same... yet at the same time, "necker" won't take you to a SINGLE elven mind, despite the fact that literally every elf in the game goes by it, whether they want to or not.  (Being sarcastic, still not the point.)

So, it's ultimately up to the player playing the situation, but I personally would assume that it has something to do with assimilating that identity on a personal level. For instance, if everyone in your Byn unit calls you 'Shitlips', and you personally are comfortable identifying yourself to others as "shitlips", shitlips becomes a part of you on a mental level.  Where-as, if you're an assassin who, by needs, creates the persona of 'The Teabagger' in order to draw attention away from his regular identity, you will not assimilate the keyword 'teabagger', because you will always be accutely aware of it as a separate proxy entity, and thus mentally guarded from assimilating it. (Unless you sit on a barstool in the sanctuary and tell people that's your name.) At the same time you will never assimilate "stump" unless you consciously begin to identify yourself as "Stump."


Unfortunately, people will always abuse addkeyword to the point of idiocy, from going solely by a nickname that never gets keyworded, to adding a new nickname every other week.
If one honestly follows the documented outline Nyr posted, no one could rightfully get mad at you for twinking up.

[Vwest]

These types of characters are rare and players and their characters shouldn't really know how they operate. Most regular folks in the world would probably not have 'mind readers' on their radar or as something they even know exists for sure unless they have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with one.

This would be helped along by people not posting what you think these types of characters can do on the boards...e.g. mind reading or even talking about them at all. Help keep things a mystery. Even if you think it's obvious, it's not to everyone, especially new players, and you make them game less intriguing for them. A bit like telling kids there isn't a Santa...

If you're reading this forum, you've been to the website and read the class and race docs because it's the first thing normal people do. It isn't some huge mystery you need years of experience to puzzle out and it isn't like the class is a new concept in the realm of fantasy literature, games and media in general. (edit: Google has my back)

http://www.armageddon.org/help/view/Psionicists

There is a Santa. And he knows. He knows.