She looks young for her race. - Good or bad?

[creeper386]

A target of a raid or mugging who is told to 'not look at anyone' can still use the assess -v command to magickally ascertain that those 'tall', 'thick', 'thin' or 'short' hooded figures were possibly elves, muls, dwarves or humans instead of having to be left wondering if maybe they were just differently-sized member of his or her own race.

Theres one problem. Just be a breif glance... Your probably going to be able to tell most elves from a tall lanky human. Even if they have a hood up and a veil on. Your going to be able to tell a dwarf from a short, fat human most the time. And your certainly going to tell the difference from a mul which is basically described as a completely scary, huge-ass fucker.

Personally I still don't see a huge deal. Although I would like to see more humans being passed off as having tainted blood because of their description. I don't know... It just seems fucked up when people want to completely hide their race. They've made all sorts of changes to disallow completely hiding your description... The staff has made statements to the effect that hoods and veils aren't good ways to disguise your race... or even to stop someone from identifying you over all.

Sure, a change like this might help a few things, but it's going to hinder alot, as that little blurb isn't too helpful in the first place, and it does have some IC effect. It's not completely OOC.

Creeper

[Anonymous]

Theres one problem. Just be a breif glance...

...will get you killed if you are told not to look.  But since assess doesn't echo, you can get away with it.

Your probably going to be able to tell most elves from a tall lanky human. Even if they have a hood up and a veil on.

Yes, but there are cases where you aren't going to be sure.  A shorter human or half-elf isn't going to be sure if that's a short elf or a tall human or half-elf.  But assess -v will at least narrow it down somewhat.

Your going to be able to tell a dwarf from a short, fat human most the time. And your certainly going to tell the difference from a mul which is basically described as a completely scary, huge-ass fucker.

Muls and dwarves have height/weight ranges that intersect.  So I disagree on this.

Personally I still don't see a huge deal.

I really haven't heard one person give a reason why asses should magickally (and without error) divine the race of the target.  I'm not flipping out over it, just pretty sure that I think things would be better all around if people relied more on descs than assess.

I know I had to fight to not use assess about 40 times today when trying to quickly judge someone's race.

Although I would like to see more humans being passed off as having tainted blood because of their description. I don't know... It just seems fucked up when people want to completely hide their race.

The point isn't hiding the race.  I personally believe that excepting certain specific scenarios a desc should have the race clearly listed in it.  The point is not relying or utilizing information from some arbitrary code mechanism that I don't think was intended for the purpose I know I've used it for in the past.

that little blurb isn't too helpful in the first place, and it does have some IC effect. It's not completely OOC.

I disagree.  If someone crafts a purposefully ambiguous desc that is approved by the staff, it would seem that assess' ability to instantly identify someone as a part of your race or not would undermine it.

Or, the flip side, someone who makes a desc with the intention of possibly being confused for a half-elf or a a fat, hairless human who might get confused as a dwarf is instantly revealed as one of the human gang.

[Carnage]

I really haven't heard one person give a reason why asses should magickally (and without error) divine the race of the target. I'm not flipping out over it, just pretty sure that I think things would be better all around if people relied more on descs than assess.

It doesn't "magickally (and without error) divine the race of the target". It simply says they're not your race. If you want to bitch and moan about things, how about people walking into rooms and typing "assess oldname" when a character is trying to make a new identity and picking you right out?

It seems like everyone wants to cry "fix this tiny flaw that we should be mature enough to overlook" rather than suggest new code ideas. What's it going to be next week? How you can accidentally destroy fruit when you use the break command on plants? "BUT I SHOULD BE ABLE TO SALVAGE AND EAT THE BROKEN PARTS!"  :roll:

[flurry]

A 19 year old elf does an assess -v on a 17 year old human and gets 'They appear to be the same age as you.'
A 21 year old human does an assess -v on a 21 year old elf and gets 'They appear to be younger than you.'

I really don't like this, at least how it's worded.    Because a 19 year old elf doesn't look the same age as a 17 year old human, as long as we're using age in the usual chronological sense.   A 2-year old dog doesn't look the same age as a 14 year old person.  It looks 2 years old.  

I do like your original suggestion - to just use the "He looks mature for his race." type messages for everything, including ones own race.

[John]

I agree with Carnage. I think we should be mature enough not to twink out ass -v

[creeper386]

...will get you killed if you are told not to look. But since assess doesn't echo, you can get away with it.

I'm sorry. But I can personally not directly look at someone and tell most the time not only what gender they are, but generally can tell if they are hispanic, asian, white, what have you.

Lets see... A bunch of raiders surround you, your going to see them. If they wanted you not to see them at all, they'd kill your, or do something so you can't see you, knock you out before you get a look... or what.

Most different races wouldn't only look different. They'd probably sound different. If not just for the fact that they were probably raised speaking a totally different language they probably have some sort of over tone when speaking something different.

It's kind of like people identifying someone with just a brief look. Because of how they are dressed, how they sound, their mannerisms, minor differences in their clothing like stains or rips. It's why just pulling up a hood and wearing a veil isn't going to instant hide you.

Now, the whole half-elves disguising themselves as humans or elves... Well it already happens, and even successfully. Probably more often then it should in my personal opinion. As part of being a half-elf is well, being a half-elf. If they were to be alot like humans or elves there isn't really much reason to have them. Now, maybe EVERY half-elf trying to pass as another race doesn't get away with it, but they may be able to pass as either one... But that doesn't mean it's always going to succeed. They are what they are, half-elves. Deal with it.

The code is hardly completely an OOC piece of information. Nor is it overly being abused or can it really be abused. Sometimes shit happens. You don't have completely control over everything. Deal with it.

Creeper