[MUD-Dev] Re: Introductions and descriptions

[Marian Griffith]

On Wed 19 Nov, Richard Woolcock wrote:
> This message is getting huge, so i'm going to give it a trim.

> Matt Chatterley wrote:

> > I overlooked hair length. :)

> I only have 'short', 'average', 'shoulder length', 'half way down back' and
> 'down to waist'.  Hair doesn't grow yet either.

How about straight, wavey, permanented, frizzy, curly, braided, afro, pony-
tail, etc?  Not to mention the more outlandish things  you can have done to
your hair if you go to the hairdresser. *grin*

> > > A tall, ugly fat man with a bushy black beard, bald head, piercing
> > > blue eyes, heavily tanned skin dressed in expensive clothes
> > > says 'hello'.

Keep the description about the same size of the message. If the message is
only "says hello" you probably want to stick to the most important part of
his description, in this case likely the expensive clothing. And maybe his
most striking feature, either tall or bearded.  So you would get something
like "A rich bearded man says 'hello'.
However if the message is much longer  you could get away with adding more
detail to the description  though I would still recommend avoiding all the
commas. If you need more than three of them you ought to break up the sen-
tence and tell it in chunks, adding detail of the speaker as you go.
Or you could just outright describe him and then refer to him as he.  That
would give you something like: "A tall man in expensive clothing speaks up
he has a bushy black beard and piercing blue eyes.  His skin is tanned  so
he likely works outdoor. He says "......... long story .......". It's just
as long but a little easier to read I think.

> > Right, this is simply too verbose for most players. I personally am
> > capable (no boast, just a fact) of reading a screen of text in a few
> > seconds, and retaining most of the content - many, many, many people read
> > FAR slower than me, something of which I have to be repeatedly reminded,
> > because my messages for various minor game events tend to stray on the
> > verbose side of things. It also gives you far too much information, unless
> > your character is penomenally informative.

This largely depends on the speed of events. When descing rooms for a mud
I like to keep the length just under one page, adding more details in ad-
ditional descriptions of objects that might be interesting. I never heard
complaints, but then on muds most players don't read anything at all any-
way, so I guess nobody ever noticed.

> Hmmm so you're suggesting perhaps YOU the player could chose how much
> information you want to see about other people?  Now that would be very
> interesting...

Yes, and especially important when you are dealing with different races.
But in general I would like to see that players  who are (apparently) in
a hurry should miss more detail as they run by. Perhaps this can be done
through the speed with which you walk as well as with abilities?  If you
choose to run you might make better speed, but all kinds of details will
be lost, like that bridge that looks like it is waiting for an excuse to
collapse.  And certain races, and characters, should simply be less per-
ceptive.  Unless they take extra care with looking around  they ought to
miss all but the most obvious of clues.

> > > However it would be nice if it picked for example 'fat' and
> > > 'piercing blue eyes' (your characters most outstanding two features)
> > > and displayed:
> > > A fat man with piercing blue eyes says 'hello'.

> The trouble is working out priorities - surely they are a personal thing?

Well, not really. There is probably somebody around who has studied just
this thing :)  But realistically speaking  your character would pick out
the things that are most important for his immediate goals. In muds that
would primarily come down to survival.  Things like 'rich' would be very
important because it implies successfull and thus dangerous. The same is
true for weaponry and size. Appearance is far less importance and serves
mostly as a way to identify the other.
Of course if your character is a testosterone soaked adolescent  priori-
ties may be slightly different.

> If I like slender women with long dark hair and dark eyes (read "I do" ;),
> then I might see something like:
>    A slender woman with long dark hair and dark eyes stands here.

Or you would see:  A pretty woman, or:  A beautifull woman, depending on
how closely she matches your personal ideal.

> Whilst if Bob likes chubby women with short hair and long legs, he might
> see:
>    A skinny women with uncut dark hair and lovely long legs stands here.

A bit too verbose, but that is probably justified because she matches at
least one of his ideals. If she didn't the description should be reduced
to 'an ugly woman'  or to just 'a woman'.  Only when he makes the effort
to actually look at her would he see more detailed information.

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey