Why? Why do you do this?

[Callisto]

Why must you look at every single cloaked person you come across, regardless of the situation?

It never fails that as soon as someone with an hidden short description (ie: wearing mask, veil, hood, etc) enters a room - be it in the street, in the desert, in a tavern - everyone else turns and looks.

Why?

I've noticed there are a small number of people who look at someone with an "activate thief shield!" extension. Some examples:

So-and-so looks at cloaked person suspiciously.
So-and-so looks at cloaked person looking under the hood.
So-and-so looks at cloaked person engraving them in his sights.
So-and-so looks at cloaked person following their movements.

Why?

It doesn't stop there, however. Sometimes people will follow cloaked figures clear across cities just to get a look at them, then turn around and walk back they way they came. Sometimes people will go into a tavern or shop, look at any/all cloaked people and walk out without so much as an emote.

Why?

When someone walks into a tavern with their hood up, it never fails that someone will turn away from a conversation to gawk within seconds of the person entering. A lot of the time the person never even gets an emote off or a chance to lower the hood before a tavern full of people turn to stare, which is compounded by people doing one of the above examples.

... why?!

If you're one of these people, please, explain to me why? I don't care how, do it as a guest if you want to, but tell me why in the holy blue hells you do this?

[Ghost]

Well, personally I dont look -suspicuosly-.  But since my first playing on arm, I feel the urge to look at the PCs.  Be it cloaked or uncloaked or naked..

Well, I have dealt with that looking.  I no longer spam look, but still, if someone is cloaked, I feel the urge to look at them.  Just to check, if he is someone I know.  It is not about checking thieves, it is about checking the people I know.

And some people following the cloaked ones to the other part of city?  Well, they must be really curious fellas.

[Agent_137]

i'll check out a cloaked person if they are chillin' in the tavern cloaked, that's kinda odd. I'm like, "you're inside fella, what's the deal?"

But, that's because it's odd. It's more of a quizzical glance than anything.

I think it comes from people's urge (as stated above) to look at people. Maybe old lingering H&S effects...you know, equip obessions, etc. etc.

I know in my old game I'd spam look...at everyone..multiple times...

But now with the look echo, i'm very self-aware, and I tend to not look at people unless my character would actually want to give them a GOOD look. You know, good enough to tell the color of their codpiece and the quality of their shoes.

[jhunter]

I tend to give everyone a look...just to check for visible insignias and such. Things that I would notice with just a passing glance that I cannot actually see as the player of the pc without directly looking at someone.

[EvilRoeSlade]

I only do it if you're wearing a cloak and a veil or facewrap.  And that's just so I can figure out how easily I can make you dead.

[Angela Christine]

Why look?  Why not?


Didn't we just have this discussion?  Looking is the only way to see if it is someone you know, someone affiliated with clan X, someone wearing your dead mate's necklace, or someone weilding weapons and about to go berzerk.  You're just looking, you're not feeling them up or rumaging through their pockets.  It is just a look.  Get over it.  


AC

[Mr.Camel]

why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what's on the other side?

--Tyrion Lannister.

[mansa]

It's human nature to try and know the unknown.  It's the same URGE that people have when they see a 'someone' emote.  People don't -think- about it, they just -do- it.  There is no reason why.  It's an automated response that is built into everyone.

[Carnage]

So I can find out who you are.

That way, when you try to PK or steal from me, I can post a thread to the GDB about it.

[Bestatte]

Couple of constructive things to help cut down on insta-looks (especially if your character is sitting in a spot of the room where he shouldn't logically be capable of seeing who just walked in):

1) The obvious: Stop wearing your hood inside buildings, and you won't get nearly as many people looking at you. Tug the hood down outside the door.

2) The recognition check: If you are looking for someone particular, and are checking to see if this is the person, use assess -v FIRST. If it isn't who you are looking for, then probably your character has no need to look at them, and you'll have to dig your heels in and refuse to give into temptation.

Adding to the complaint itself though:

I notice people (some new, some not so new) who will look at EVERYONE, and sometimes more than once, and often without any emoting at all. I find this much more jarring than looking at hooded faces.

Wish list:

Some new command that would allow us to look at a person's worn things, without looking at their desc. Just like in real life, if you spot someone from way across the room and he's wearing a really big purple hat, you might not notice or recognize his face from all the way over there, but you will definitely notice the hat. Or the woman who is keeping her head tucked in her hood, but is sporting a 4-carat diamond on her left hand and walks past your table. You're GONNA notice that rock, even if you can't see her face under her hood. Something like: look figure's things

This would not be the same as peek because you won't see what's in their inventory. You'll see -only- those same exact things you'd normally see if you typed "look figure" - without the main desc, and without anyone seeing that you looked at them. It isn't meant to be a sneaky thing, but rather it's meant to be more polite - less obtrusive. Especially if you're just checking to see if you recognize someone by what they're wearing because you can't see their face.

[UnderSeven]

Looking is pretty important at least once.  If say that cloaked person came in with a two handed sword wielded you'd notice it, but the way code works, you WOULD't unless you look.  Some things are hard to miss but unless you look you would miss them.  So part of this is simply due to code issues.  The second part is if they are up to no good, they won't likely stick round for you to look at them later, but where as if they did do something up to no good, they would likely be hard to miss then too, a glance in real life is as little as a tilt of your head, in game it requires you to actually type something.

[spawnloser]

As long as this new command only shows what look would, I'd be fine with something new.

Still, there are other ways to look at people's stuff without letting them know...just, be clever about it.

[Tarx04]

I don't -always- look up at cloaked figures.  I do occasionally though.  Actually, that applies to everyone.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Because I want to. It's not my fault that there is an echo to look.

I still wish that they would remove the echo if there is not an emote attached to it. FOr example, l man would yeild no echo, but l man for a moment would show what is currently shown.

[da mitrey warrior]

I've never understood the group of people who wear their hoods all the time then get bent out of shape when people look at them.  They've been around ever since the hooded code came in.   I remember a few years ago being cussed out by someone OOCly for looking at him.

Maybe they're trying to be super anonymous with their hood + facewrap and got the idea in their head that other people arn't allowed to know who they are and therefore are forbidden to look at them.  

Or maybe they are the type that thinks that the the vast majority of the population of the major cities goes around wearing a hood 9 hours a day, 11 days a week.  This dispite the fact that nearly every single npc does not wear a hood, and not a single room desc that I know of mentions throngs of hooded people moving back and forth.  [Of course, in Red Storm the npcs wear hoods, but in the major cities I don't see much evidence for it.]

I, on the other hand, feel that wearing your hood up in a tavern is not normal.  People who stand around a tavern wearing their hood up are going to draw suspicion from the other people.  Hoods are associated with various evildoers, from thieves to raiders, so it is quite normal for people to be curious about hooded folk, and even quite normal for them to be suspicious or at least wary.

[flurry]

Look echoes have never really bothered me, and I never have really understood why they bother other people so much.

That said, I certainly don't look at everyone.

With hooded figures indoors, they are calling attention to themselves by wearing a hood.   It would almost be odd to -not- look at them in many cases.   Outdoors is different, though.

[Tmp]

Unfortunately, wearing facewrap/hood/whatever is NOT an "activate look shield!".

On a seperate note:

I look at everyone. Sometimes multiple times even over the course of a conversation. I like to do it, I don't know why. Maybe I don't have very good short term memory, but to me it's a function of keeping in my head who I'm talking to, and how the scene is being played out in the eye of my mind.

A look is just a look, especially without emotes. It doesn't signify anything. So I find it amusing that people find looking at everyone multiple times without emoting a jarring thing. When you talk to someone, do they like, not make eye contact with you at all, refuse to look apon any part of you, and stare pointedly at the table?

[SailorMars]

Because they're about to spam steal all my equipment including my keys, then go sell my furniture a piece at a time over the next few nights.

[sarahjc]

If you are wearing a hood/facewrap indoors.. Yes.. people are going to look at you.. especially in the nice bars and taverns.

If you are trying to "blend" wearing a face wrap and your hood up is not a good way to go about it.

Perhaps changing your l-desc to "The Pink Rhino sits here playing cards" would be.

But the " The short hooded figure in a long black linen cloak wearing a purple floral face wrap is standing here" is not..

The Description of that alone is two lines long! You stand out! Sorry. Wearing a hooded cloak, hood up indoors is like wearing sunglasses at night. People may not or should not be able to tell who you are.. But they -will- notice you.

I don't think look should have an echo.. But I don't see anything wrong with looking at people when you walk in a room. You are not invisable. Your head is just covered.

[sarahjc]

Duplicate

[naatok]

In a raspy voice, the tall hooded figure in a jet-black longcloak says, in sirihish:
    "Any o' you fuckin' faggots looks at me....I'll kill ya."

Adding, as if in afterthought, the tall hooded figure in a jet-black longcloak says, in sirihish:
    "Oh, and any o' you queers calls me Francis...I'll kill ya."

Rolling his eyes as he responds with a low growl, the dour-faced, blue-robed Templar says, in sirihish:
    "Lighten up, Francis."

[jhunter]

ROFL!! Heheh, you rule Monkey.

[Cowboy]

I thought Warren Oates said that in "Stripes"....

[Cuusardo]

If you're trying to be anonymous, of course people are going to want to know who you are.  People are curious, and even moreso suspicious of other people who are trying to conceal their identities.

Complaining about getting looked at a lot if you've got your hood up is like sitting in a tavern and doing something that is guaranteed to draw attention to yourself, then yelling at everyone who looks at you "DON'T LOOK AT ME!!!"  People are going to look.

[Agent_137]

just be considerate. Be aware that look does echo, regardless if you feel it should or not. This is regardless of the whole "am i suspiscious if I wear something to hide my face?" issue.

Take responsibility for your actions, just like in real life.

Look echos. So when you look at some one, they notice that you look at them. If you don't want them to know that you looked at them, don't look! If you don't want them to know, but you kinda wanna look at them....decide which you want more.

Look DOES echo. So just be aware of the scene you are creating. Don't expect them to ignore the looks...they -will- see them and have every right to act on them...however they see fit. If I walk into a bar and -everyone- turns to look at me, it will feel odd. My character would probably be like, "WHAT!? Can't a guy walk into a bar? Krath!" and then walk out. Maybe your character is different.

But just remember, look -does- echo. Be aware of what kind of action you are inputting into the scene. Look if your character would look. Don't if it's just you that wants to look. This is basic RP, i don't see why it's such an issue.