Names vs Keywords

[Disgruntled Kank]

For the love of whatever diety (or lack thereof) that you believe in, USE NAMES INSTEAD OF KEYWORDS!  One or two accidental misdirects is understandable, but when you are constantly misdirecting when trying to speak to a person, it gets to be jarring!

I have lost count of how many people I have watched misdirect repeatedly, and it makes me wonder if they care.

[Armaddict]

You shouldn't wonder if they care.

You should wonder if they even -realize- it.  I do it on occasion, and often don't notice until I'm told.  I just typed the emote, so I don't generally read it's output.

[Spoon]

What if you don't know their name?

[Bestatte]

True story...

Once upon a time I had a character with dark skin and light colored hair. The lightness of her hair was part of her sdesc. The darkness of her skin was not, but described very nicely in her main desc.

She was accused of something - and the accuser described her as the (light-colored word)-SKINNED person.

The accuser continually - and I mean CONSTANTLY - used that light-colored word to RP with her, instead of her name, even though he knew her name and used her name when he spoke with her (so there's no doubt that he knew her name).

I had a little fun with that - since I had made every effort to correct him ICly - until I got tired of it and finally OOCed that he needed to stop using that keyword because he kept targetting OTHER people who also had that keyword...and he still refused to stop doing it.

So eventually I gave up and roleplayed it that the guy (the character, not the player) was a blind fool who couldn't even tell that my character was BROWN, not (light colored word). And that his accusations weren't worth a grain of sand, because he was describing someone who didn't look ANYTHING like my character.

So my advice - try to correct it ICly at first. If it doesn't work, try to correct it OOCly. If THAT doesn't work, try RPing as though the *character* making the mistake has serious vision and hearing problems since he keeps confusing you with other people (since your character's voice is probably also different from that other character).

[Disgruntled Kank]

What if you don't know their name?

Then use a different keyword.

[creeper386]

Several points. Sometimes you don't know there name ... Sometimes you don't know you are directing at the wrong person. Sometimes a different keyword directs at the same wrong person or at a completely different wrong person. Sometimes you don't notice this as well.

And when that's a big problem, I stop trying to direct at that person specifically as typing 2.blah blah and finding out it's wrong and going with 3.blah is annoying. So I'll just sort of figure something out. Like go to a different room!


:-p

Creeper

[Cenghiz]

Heh.. I remember once I had to give up emoting a thing because the target had all the common keywords the ones walked after her had.

[Twilight]

I always tend to use the most unique thing to reference.  Most unique keyword if I don't use the name, or name if I don't.  However, if I have interacted with someone for a time before I learn their name, I find out of habit I tend to continue to use a keyword.  Or if they have some screwed up spelling with their name.  It could be just that, some of those habits are hard to break.  I don't know what to say on top of that, except that assess <keyword> is your friend.

I am now struck by a strong complusion to create:
sdesc:  the blue-eyed man
Name:  Dusty

[creeper386]

Well, one think I was thinking about, alot of this comes from the fact that everyone wants to have a 'unique' sdesc. And considering alot of the PCs tend to have similar traits fairly often, it cuts the words used down by ALOT. And I think sometimes going simple can be alot more unique. Although you might be viewed as newer to the game at first look but alot of people if you have 'the blue-haired woman' but when everyone else using anything bluish uses cerulean or cobalt or navy or who knows what else, it's alot more unique I think.


Creeper

[Disgruntled Kank]

If you aren't noticing that you're directing your emotes and says at the wrong person, then you should start paying more attention to what you're doing.

[creeper386]

It happens sometimes. What someone else says is true. The writer rarely pays as close attention to what he's writing then the reader. I know in english I used to always make mistakes and I'd read right over them. Even reading it out loud I'd put in what it should be not whats on the paper. You just wrote it. You ussually don't read it to make sure it's perfect.

Maybe I'm just not a true RPer like you, disgruntled.


Creeper

[joyofdiscord]

if you have 'the blue-haired woman' but when everyone else using anything bluish uses cerulean or cobalt or navy or who knows what else, it's alot more unique I think.

I once reflected on this too, how everyone wants a unique keyword, so you have a million slenders, sveltes, sinewys, lankys.  "Thin" just might end up being the most unique of all!

[Maybe42or54]

Or..

Something I had.

The brown-haired woman.


There were 8 haired in the tavern.
7 browns, not to mention the nine brown keyworded items on my person.

So I couldn't get in touch with her to find her name. took me 10 minutes to finnally target her and then she logged off.

[Agent_137]

i always try to have one very unique adjective or at least, kind of unique adjective in my sdesc for ease of use.

Also, I try to have a simple name, or at least a simple nickname for ease of use.

Once, when I recruited a guy with a pain in the ass name, I nicknamed him, and had him wish all to have the nickname added to his keyword list. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

What I mean to say is, solve this problem from both ends:
Use names when possible.
Pay attention to what's going on when possible.
Use unique adjectives or adjective combinations (remember if you put a dash between the two, it shows up as word1-word2 on your keywords)
Have a easy nickname if you have a hard name.

[Grey Area]

I frequently use assess <keyword> right before emoting, just to make sure it goes where it's supposed to. Especially in a crowded room.