Hoods and storms/sun/etc...

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I'll be very brief here...

Last night, me and my clan went hunting. It was sandy and windy, the code telling us all that terrible, biting sand was flying through the air. I raised the hood of my cloak. The person leading my character says to me, 'hood down'. Another person tells me that 'we are no raiding party, take your hood down'.

Does no one realize that the hoods are not for raiders alone? You do realize that hoods should be brought up when the storms are going, because, ICly, there is no fucking way someone is going to leave his face open to be scoured at 50 mph by sand?

Gameplay issues aside, I hope that you all are not really thinking that hoods mean raiders. That is idiotic. Secondly, it is completely illogical to leave your frame open to the elements in such a hot and stormy world.

The logical conclusion to this mess is to tell everyone who is with you to lower hoods before combat. If it is not possible because of code issues yet it would be a good idea to be able to do it during combat as well. But ICly, it is lunacy to run around in blinding storms with no hood.

Rant completed.

[Koala]

Does no one realize that the hoods are not for raiders alone? You do realize that hoods should be brought up when the storms are going, because, ICly, there is no fucking way someone is going to leave his face open to be scoured at 50 mph by sand?

Not only the storm causes to raise your hood, the sun burns your face if you walk "hooded down" in the desert.

It is meaningless to say that "hooded up" walking relates to raiding. You should raise your hood whenever you go out. Otherwise sun burns your skin and that causes you to lose much water.

[Anonymous]

Heh, I've always hated being micromanaged like that.

But I've always understood the reason for having hoods down is to avoid OOC keyword confusion.

`kill hooded` can cause all sorts of trouble, especially when you don't know how the order is.

I did a `kill brown` once and ended up kicking the crap out of a partner.  That sucked hard.

[Ayashah]

I have had that happen and I rp around it. Talking or saying something about the wind/sand/dust making it impossible to breath/see/continue unless my hood is up. Then I just leave it up. I figure if a superior orders me to drop the hood then I will just stop using the 'coded' follow command and follow behind, cause huge delays as I try to manuever my kank/self when I cant see.

*pulls out a halo and balances it on her horns*

[Guest]

I agree.

That's stupidly horrible RP to keep your your hood lowered for ooc convenience, and makes NO sense to automatically assume someone with a hood up in the desert is a raider.

Everyone from raiders to merchants to scavengers alike would be wandering the desert with their hoods up if they have a lick of sense in their brain, especially when the winds pick up or the sun begins beating down mercilessly.

[Anarchy]

I think it is a code and keyword issue, if i was leading a group i would ask the same, it is so you know just who is still with you, who is who and who has failed there ride check - RP having your hood up, dont need to have it coded up when in a large group.

[FiveDisgruntledMonkeysWit]

I've always thought raising a hood was a sort of odd reaction to a sandstorm. I mean, if you're walking into the wind, wouldn't it just blow right back? Or pile up in the back of the hood? Seems like a quick-fix, if anything, to me.

My point is I agree with you, T7DV. People should be able to raise their hoods in a storm. I also think they should do a lot more than that. Put a bandana on the 'face' location, telling your superiors that it helps filter out the dust and sand and helps you breath. Wear sunslits (whatever the hell those things are supposed to be... like sun glasses?) to help, too. Try not walking directly into the wind, when it can be avoided. And, um... Well, that's about everything I've ever tried, but do those things together, and I feel you're handling a sandstorm realisitcally and then some.

In the superior's defense, he was probably worried about keyword issues. I had a character once with 'dark' in his sdesc, and he got his ass kicked nicely whenever a scrab walked in. It happens so often that I wouldn't dare tell you the actual numbers unless I wanted to make you vomit. Heh... I remember when I once attacked a character that would be very important later in their life (*cough cough SUJAAL cough cough*) due to a keyword issue. Sweet Tek, what could have been if I wasn't deft with 'flee'.

ICly, your superior might have just been giving his underlings a hard time to prove what a gruff macho-man he is. But in general, yeah, I agree, it's a good point. Hoods do not equal evil raiding mantis defiler templars of d00m.

[Anonymous]

I've always thought raising a hood was a sort of odd reaction to a sandstorm. I mean, if you're walking into the wind, wouldn't it just blow right back?

Not if its deep enough, it'd probably blow against your face and really obscure your vision.

It also depends if you are walking south and the wind is blowing from the east.  Keep that sand out of your ears!

[Tlaloc]

On the other hand, I really hate seeing PC's who LIVE with thier hoods up, 100% of the time. You aren't being particularly sneaky, or shadowy, or dark, or brooding. You're just being sort of anonymous. As a person, I try not to keep the hood of my hoodie up all the time, simply because it can get annoying, uncomfortable, and isn't appropriate for it to be UP, either.

Take, for example, being indoors, or in good weather. I've often been tempted to aflict someone who never lowers thier hood with baldness.

On the other hand, having led large groups of fighters around before: it can be really annoying to have to try to keep tabs on who is doing what, and getting attacked if everyone is 'the figure in the brown, hooded cloak.' Additionally, I rather like sdescs. I think they're cool to look at, and add an extra flair to the whole RP experience. 'The figure in the brown-hooded cloak' is cool - but not nearly so cool when everyone else in the party is also a figure in a brown hooded cloak.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I agree with the OOC goodness of short descriptions. However, ICly, it is utterly insane for someone to run around with no hood in blinding, biting sandstorms.

Are you, then, saying that for the sake of OOC play, to forego IC play?

BTW, I also wear a hoodie IRL, and I have my hood up a lot. Anywhere.

[X-D]

Though there are times when the char keeps the hood up almost all the time for reasons other then being sneaky but rather because they want to be

You're just being sort of anonymous

:wink:

[creeper386]

Hmm... When I'm out and about, alot of time I'll keep my hood of my hoodie up. And I wear a hoodie most the time. Or a big hooded jacket. I tend to get lots of looks. Lots of questions when I'm buying something... And alot of times it comes down to just being bored, having bad hair... Being cold... Who knows what else cause I don't. Now... I don't have my hood up ALL the time. But I also don't have a hoodie or coat on all the time. I find it just as unnerving when people are always wearing their cloak.

And I think it wouldn't bother me so much if there was a coded way to wear your coat so you can see things underneath. Most the time you don't always going about with your cloak pulled around your body... And it should be coded to allow a difference.

Hmm... My point? Having a hood up all the time is about the same as wearing a cloak all the time, probably comes down to just not wanting to pull it down. And I think being harrassed just because your hood is up is really lame. I know I've been bitched out IC from COMPLETE strangers, superiours, militia, templars, nobles... The list goes on just because I had a hood up. It's a hood... Most the time it isn't that big of a deal.

Hmm... But yeah... The OOC annoyance of not being able to save the fourth, hooded figure in your group forgoes the IC annoyance of having a coded hood up. If your out in a group, RP your hood being up and deal with not being a hooded figure.

[Wintermute]

Speaking from past experience, in this case I have to side with the OOC - however unfortunate that is.

I would absolutely love if the situation wasn't how it is where you cannot OOCly tell which person 'the figure in a hoodie' is even if ICly they are right beside you and getting eaten alive by the Dragon.  

Blame the code or non-visual nature of the game if you will, but this is something that has to be sacrificed for playability.  I am all for as much realism (or suspension of realism if you will) as possible, but I'm not going to play out having to use the little boy's room in a realistically regular fashion (and these are in the game, so obviously Zalanthans must have to do this).

[spawnloser]

I know a character that is always wearing a hood and a particular facewrap...now, when people do this, they stick out like a sore thumb.  This person is disfigured...and is hiding such.  There could be other such1 IC reasons for doing so as well.

[Peabody]

Just another example of why I think there should be a command to list all the (somethings) in your area.

ie:
>Match hooded
1. A brown hooded cloak
2. A enormus figure in a black hooded cloak
3. A puny hooded chick

[Stroker]

I disagree with Tlaloc. Obviously having a hood up does have sneaky, brooding, whatever implications since venomz's leader decided that it reflects a raiding group .... HA. I'm not saying it's a correct assumption, I'm saying that's what others think. In fact, people should overlook hoods, hell in a city of numerous thousands, I don't think your char will notice a hood, and if you attempt to afflict them for that, that's just plain bad. Hell, in some places like red storm everyone wears hoods. In places like the rinth, everyone wears hoods. What was that? It doesn't make you look sneaky? I wonder why nearly every npc in the rinth wears one, must just be a coincedence.

From an ooc standpoint, it forces players to not just recognize your for your sdesc, but for your actual description, your actual featues, not your tanned, or bronzed skin, etc - HA.

You can't catch me, so there's no point in trying.

Dirr the Soviet

[mansa]

I'm going to disagree with Dirr.

Having your 'hood' up is more than just 'being anonymous', because the game runs on 'keywords'

If your hood is up, I cannot contact you via the way, I cannot include you in any of my emotes, I can't do anything but mistakes and groping around in the dark.

You're limiting your interaction with me.  I'm just going to sit back and not bother trying.

[Stroker]

If others fail to see, whether you are there or not, you are invisible. Precisely the result I would hope to achieve.

[Bestatte]

When it's wintertime and I'm outside, I often wear a calf-length cloak with a hood. EVERYONE who knows me without the cloak, recognizes me with it. Not just because no one around here even owns a calf-length cloak with a hood, but because they can still see my face quite clearly. They can also see my neck, if I'm not wearing a scarf. And the bottom of my pants or skirt, and my shoes, and my wrists and hands.

Since my hair is a few inches longer than shoulder-length and I don't wear it tied back, they can also see my hair. In fact, on a very bright winter day when there's snow all over the place, they can tell that my hair is gold, not blonde, and it shimmers when it's clean. And they can tell that it's rippled, not curley, not wavey. If they're close enough they can even see the couple of light auburn henna streaks I add to it once in awhile. All while my hood is up and my cloak is closed.

My hood covers the top of my head, but doesn't cover my face. I wouldn't be able to see where I was going if it did. And in Armageddon, I'd imagine that if a hood covered your face, it would be coded to work just like those crazy-ass masks that float around the game once in awhile, and cover up your main description as well as your short description.

[Stroker]

Neat masks.

[God]

I ran into trouble when I couldn't contact a cloaked person by the way before, and I think that ICly I should be able to. What do you guys think about asking the cloaked person OOC for a  keyword?

Haven't done that myself, but I kinda wish I had, to contact this cloaked person.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

If the cloaked person is in the same room as you, you might also be able to contact them by using 'hooden', 'tall', or whatever else the figure looks like. Also, if there are more than one, you can use 1.cloaked, 2.cloaked, etc...

[buzz]

A simple solution if you think your character absolutely must pull his hood up if it's windy:

> emote tugs his hood up over his head, sheltering his face from the sands and suk-krath's gaze.

> follow sergeant

And when you stop:

> change ldesc sits here atop his kank, face sheltered in his hood.

[Delirium]

You -can- contact someone by their keywords if they are hooded. At least, I know for sure that you can contact them by their name.

[God]

Actually, I was talking about contacting them later.