Descriptions: The Good, The Bad, and The Uncharismatic

[Peverell]

In my opinion, the descriptions helpfile is fantastic. It is laid out clearly and concisely, and gives new players ideas on what to include in their descriptions, as well as a length guideline (between 4 and 15 lines after justification). It states how important the description is in this, a roleplay-intensive MUD. When I created Peverell, I fretted and fussed, re-writing my description, feeling sure that it wasn't good enough and that I wouldn't be allowed out of the training temple! I've read some fantastic descriptions here, written by people who clearly care a lot about their characters, and try and make a believable progression over the (in-game) years (and RL years for some, obviously ) Sure, not everyone's a natural poet, we don't all know fancy words or quaint turns of phrase, but it's obvious when someone's made the effort and put real thought into their descriptions.

But what are we supposed to do when faced with someone with a description along the lines of:

he is human he is very tall, striking Blue Eyes set deeply in his head with flashes of anger when enraged, his body covered with scars and the mark of many swordfights, still attractive with Wavey Blond Hair. His Eyes change color when angry.

No, that isn't a verbatim example because I'm not here to point fingers. But I have seen very similar descriptions: Two lines, unjustified, of a run-on sentence that violates plenty of grammatical rules. (Yes, of course we have players from all over the world, and plenty of them speak English as a second language with more eloquence than some native speakers. I'm not ragging on the non-native speakers at all ) Sometimes they contain details that flout the "your description must not refer to any special powers or auras" rules.

So what are we supposed to do in those situations? Use an osay/otell to suggest changes? Point them kindly in the direction of "help description"? Log it, and e-mail complaints so that an Imm can have a quiet word with them in private? Or just ignore it and hope that they'll learn from reading other people's descriptions?

I ask, because I've come across a few descriptions like this recently and it irks me somewhat, because it seems that some players aren't taking the time to read the helpfiles... And you guys put so much effort into the helpfiles! It's a bit disrespectful, you know? But anyway...

[Mele]

Just give them time. :) They're new to us likely, they will notice all the other descriptions around them and grow into a bigger more descriptive one.

This is what I was told by Mask when blubbering about how it annoyed me. :D

[Belose]

Well, for one.. they could be young enough to want to hurry through the training area so they can hurry up and PLAY! Can't blame them for that one. And like you said, not all of us are wordsmiths or have a good enough imagination to get descriptive without violating putting actions into descriptive statements... perhaps they never learned good grammer. You just never know. Hopefully they'll be seeing all those GOOD descriptions out there and even ones that are mediocre <sp?> but at least give you a good idea of the person you're LOOKING at. The good thing is that even those players who have been here a long time still learn something new about the game every time they play.. I hope. I know I do... and I still make boo-boos... at least the ones in charge give me the benefit of the doubt and help when they have the time to do so...no matter how mad I might get in game, I at least know I should quit for a bit, maybe play an alt to get in an entirely different mindset.. cause it's just a game.. and a great one.. I hope it never goes away...

[Peverell]

cause it's just a game..

Noooo! Blasphemy!

[Emrys]

Something that I find vaguely disquieting is a description that seems to go on forever. I wish some would be restricted to 15 lines.

Tattoos are something else that makes me wonder sometimes. I occasionally see tattoos included in descriptions, located in places I assume I would never have reason to see.

[Selveem]

You bring up a good point. I think it was brought up in another thread to be able to add keywords to your character. If not, I think it would be a good idea.

<look> <character> <keyword>

For example:

Look Selveem Scars

The entirity of this tall, Chultan's body is covered in scars any Orc would be proud to say they survived. The scarring is so severe, that scars are formed over scars in a manner that looks as if he bears two layers of flesh.

[Dalvyn]

If you spot a character who is wearing something else than just "plain" things and whose description is not good enough, feel free to offer to give them advice on how to better rewrite their descriptions. Similarly, if you see someone whose description runs on more than 15 lines, suggest that they should cut it off.

Maybe the imms can set up a "description week" where they pay special attention to descriptions and devote some of their time to helping people write better descriptions, but it's not really part of the top priorities right now.