alternate look commands

Eltsac · Post by **Eltsac** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 11:34 am

Some descriptions are very long, adding to that all the equipment, and sometimes i don't need to look at both.
I often find looking at someone quite spamming, especially in the middle of rp, and most of time it does not even fit in one screen.

Would it be possible to have 2 look alternate commands ?
lookequip that only shows the equipment of the player / NPC
lookdesc that only shows the description of the player / NPC

Eltsac

Kirkus · Post by **Kirkus** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:43 pm

Perhaps it could be a more detailed glance. Often times I only want to glance at someone but want to know what they look like. If you 'look' at someone they take notice. Basically I like the idea, all I am suggesting is that we change glance instead of look. So glance would become what Eltsac suggested to be lookdesc and leave look for equipment.

Layna · Post by **Layna** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:52 pm

I'm in two minds about this one. On the one hand it can be a bit offputting to hit a wall of text when you look at someone during a roleplay, but I think there's a danger if you look or glance at someone and see only their equipment OR their description that you'll miss something important.

For example, how do you get round it if you glance at someone to get their description and then make some reference to a facial feature - only to discover that person is wearing a shrouding hood or full face helm. Conversely what do you do if you give someone a quick once over to see if you *can* see their face or whatever, and completely miss the huge scar they're now sporting, or the new tattoo they have?

Personally when I'm roleplaying and want to casually glance at someone, I smote that that's what I'm doing. Likewise I'll only really pay attention to someone looking at me if they smote or emote that they're staring, or are looking very frequently during one 'scene'.

Bugoron · Post by **Bugoron** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:14 pm

I believe there is a rule of thumb that is going into the 'help description' helpfile that states that descriptions are to be a maximum of about 15 lines long, as that is more than enough space to say what a character looks like. There have been instances in the past, I believe, where unbelievably long descriptions have lead to the need for such a restriction being put into place. I'm sure no one wants to have to hit enter 5 times everytime they look at a character.

If this were to be followed, the length of description+equipment should not be horribly long, while at the same time, gets the points across that the PC wishes to in their description. Besides, the more condensed the description, the more people need to RP to find out more about you, and RPing is definitely not a bad thing here

If, however, I'm wrong, I apologize for mentioning it, though I do believe that having a line cap on descriptions wouldn't be a bad thought.

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:14 pm

I don't think your wrong Bugoron. I like it when they have a short description. Then they can add to it as their character grows.

Some 15-20 like description is a hinderence to RP... when you first see them and want to know what the look like... by the time you are done reading you miss about 5-7 minutes of RP and THAT is a lot when you are in a fast pace RP

Lathander · Post by **Lathander** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 6:20 pm

There is a limit to the length of descriptions. This should prevent spam looks. A PC's description should not reveal everything. Rp should. If you notice someone who has a description that is spammy, let us know and we will ever-so-gently set them on fi...I mean work with them to shorten the description.

Eltsac · Post by **Eltsac** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:07 am

but I think there's a danger if you look or glance at someone and see only their equipment OR their description that you'll miss something important.

I would never base my rp on a single glance, especially on people i do not know. I would check for both description and equipment, but being able to see them separately would help me as even if the description is limited to 10-15 lines + the equipment that can easily reach 15 lines (18 on Eltsac), it's quite long in the middle of rp conversation, and checking all will easily make me loose a part of the rp when there are a lot of people around like on the square.

And in another hand, with people i know really well, i don't need to check their description anymore, i know how they look like, their hair or eye color don't change all the time. Simply glancing at what they are wearing is enough for me.

Eltsac

Layna · Post by **Layna** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:22 am

That's true in most cases but, without giving away too much IC information, I know of one character I've met on more than one occasion whose description changed rather dramatically following an RPed incident. If I hadn't checked the description I wouldn't have known, and my reaction to them would therefore have seemed strange had I carried on as normal!

I also know of characters who accumulate new distinguishing features - nasty scars or eye colour changes - which I would ICly want to comment on.

I do agree though that having a huge chunk of text suddenly springing up in the middle of an RP can be distracting and interrupt your flow, especially if your client doesn't scroll/log text. I also agree that there are times when it would be a boon just to be able to check what someone is wearing.

So perhaps having the suggested new look commands as additionals instead of replacements? Which is probably what you meant in the first place anyway... ^_^

Lathlain · Post by **Lathlain** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:33 am

What about the current health status ('Is badly bruised', etc) readouts? If you left that out of either of the proposed look commands, you could easily overlook a severed arm or head. If you had to use more than one look command on a person just because you wanted to bypass their description, you'd only be filling the screen with more spam for those involved.

There is also the fact that descriptions do sometimes change, say following a certain experience or roleplay. I've seen more than one addition in the last few weeks where something's been added to the bottom of a description to this effect. It's not as though I fashioned any amount of the following roleplay around their change of features, but it's always good to be aware of.

I don't know. Perhaps it's just me, but I can't see a justifiable or useful application of this command. If you're worried about spam in the middle of roleplay - Don't look at people. If you only want to see their current state of dress - Press enter once or twice and skip straight to that, because you're going to get spam no matter which command you use.

Eltsac · Post by **Eltsac** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 12:08 pm

I see your point.

It was more an addition than a replacement of the current look command, which would still exists so it's always possible to have a full look at someone when you have the time to examine everything.
It was an alternate solution for during rp and such, to avoid the 'not to look at people' solution or the 'hit enter' solution.

But then it's not much a big problem if it stays how it is now

Eltsac