Character descriptions

[El_Skwidd]

Just an idea I thought up in the shower, my own personal birthplace of creativity... but you probably didn't want to know that

If the whole description by spawn location thing doesn't work out, what if the players could put some of their art to good use by uploading it as a character description? It wouldn't be a huge picture, just a thumbnailish size to give you a good idea of what the person looks like. Of course, whatever department runs that sort of thing would have to filter the pictures like they do for notes to make sure we don't get OOC or too obscene. The thumbnail could show up on the page with their clothing and damage and tiredness and all that coolness.

[SekoETC]

You know hard it is to get a picture in at the moment, even for note purposes? The system is really disappointing. Pictures for character descriptions have been suggested before and disapproved, though I don't think that time monitoring was mentioned. But anyway, Cantr staff has much better things to mind. We have survived without this before and will probably do so in future as well.

[Crosshair]

I think I'd want to BUMP...

I saw in a game called Uban Dead (which I and Anti play) that a player is allowed to fill out a small section on what he/she appears as in the game. Now this could be really silly, and unfortunately some of the descriptions are ingame for UD, but I think if approved by PD, it could be a good addition to the game.

He is in his fourties and he is: "Tall, with thinning blonde hair, and a gaunt expression..." Etc :He wears:

A...
A...
A...

[SekoETC]

If it were a priviledge, not a right, (maybe something you could earn by credits), the people would be less likely to screw it up.

Writing stuff that includes other characters ("is having sex with Mary"), off-game material or something else that doesn't fit the concept would lead into your right being suspended.

- For the first report, the illegal description would be made invisible (though the text would still be stored for editing) and the person asked to change it to fit the rules.

- For further breaches, the boxes would be removed, for all the characters of this player, and after a period of time they could request for a second chance.

Surveillance of the descriptions:
The first few descriptions of a player would have to be checked, preferably before they go live. After that, observance would be carried out in random spot checks and new descriptions can be entered without a waiting period (though there should be a limit, for example three changes a day). Also players can report breaches on the forums. Old descriptions would be stored for about a week in case someone uses a description to taunt another player, then edits it out before PD can interfere.

[Oasis]

Hmmmm. Sounds like we'd need a whole new department just to monitor and approve descriptions. Which, I'd be all for, if it get's this passed through. I really like the whole concept.

However, might it not be a little less taxing staff-wise if we just provided a drop down menu, under different categories, of things people could pick? I think it's okay if the description then reads in point form.......far easier to get a picture of a char that way, anyways, than reading a long sentence imo.

[SekoETC]

I can volunteer for the check-up department, if this gets implemented.

But a list of things to choose would totally destroy the creative possibilities of this idea. Have you ever played those online games Windows XP offers? In order for people from different language groups to communicate, they offer a short selection of game related phrases. That ain't even communication. All you can say is Yay I got the corner, and hello, good luck, nice game, yes, no. If character descriptions were limited to a list, you'd have them like text versions of Yahoo avatars. No emerald eyes and auburn hair. Well, actually that would have it's upsides.

[Schme]

I don't like the idea at all.

[psymann]

Happy to see this here as I was only thinking yesterday how useful this would be.

Options I've noticed flicking through this thread are:

1) genetics - you appear however you appear, and lump it.
2) free-flow text area - you write in whatever you like
3) drop down menus on certain areas

For me, I don't like (1) as it means that you have even less scope for imagining what your character is like. "So my new character is slim, blond, and bad at fighting. That rather rules out the piracy I had planned for him". You end up having to role-play whatever you get, and I think it's harder to get into playing someone you don't want to play.

(2) is ok, but I fear, as do others, that descriptions such as "robot from Mars" or "wearing amazing clothes [no he's not!]" could really spoil that.

I'd thought about (3) and I think that would be nice.
When you spawn a new character, as well as choosing their name, you choose their appearance in certain categories:
- height (tall, medium, short)
- weight (large, medium, slim)
- facial appearance (beautiful, pretty, plain, ugly)
- hair length (long, short, shaved)
Not a lot more than that. Maybe the hair's not a good idea as it would be liable to change through the game.

Then you can't change the appearance all game, except the game could maybe add amendments to the description depending on age. Alternatively you *can* make amendments in certain categories, but only once every couple of days/years, eg from "slim" to "medium", or from "long hair" to "shaved". You'd have to have rules in there such as
- you can't change height or facial appearance
- you can't go straight from slim to heavy
- you can go from long hair to shorter hair whenever you like, but it would take X days before you can put it longer again (it's got to grow)

psymann

[T-shirt]

I like option 2 if it is a Dynamic Text. You can fill in whatever you like, but others will see only what they fill in. Just like names.
Something like:

[CHAR NAME]
[CHAR DESC]

... would become:

T-shirt
Who has all these brilliant ideas and successful addititions to other people's sugestions.

... for me. But will be:

A man
In his fifties.

... for everyone who has not filled anything in the dynamic text areas.

[Chris Johnson]

Any free format character description is going to be a non starter as they don't leave themselves open to translation - Character descriptions should be visible in the native language of the character observing them. Consequently if implemented they will have to come from a predefined set of descriptions.

Since we already have genetics in Cantr it would make sense if choice of descriptions available was partially determined (and limited )by spawning location/ parents characters - No hulking blonde Conan types if the general population are olive skinned, slim darked haired people.

[Phalynx]

Finally the voice of sanity!

[Crosshair]

Hmmh... yeah... I think you've got something there... I was wondering why no one could tell by looking if someone was from a desert or a miserable mountain top... perhaps that should be a start for this all?

[Rusalka]

So you mean a discription generator Chris? I am almost sure I suggested it before long time ago, but people hated it. I always wanted to create a directory of attributes which would generate the general view of the char.

No one wants Cantr to became a catwalk full of good-looking models. It is not a problem. It is rather easy to write a discription which does not determine if the person is preety or ugly.

I can volunteer for the check-up department, if this gets implemented.

You don't know what have you declared. I thought about the idea in the same way, but the approval thing is a crucial reason why it can't be that way. Not mentioning translation problems.

[Sicofonte]

I'd thought about (3) and I think that would be nice.

Expanding the suggestions of psymann and others:

When you spawn a new character, as well as choosing their name, you choose their appearance in certain categories, bounded to some genetic constraints (max and min values):


Height: tall / medium / short.

Weight: large / medium / slim.
Weight could change depending on the diet... but it would be another thread.

The concret height and weight (meters and kilograms), would be set randomly according to the genes and user choices. A simple method could be like this: if one town has a normal height of (150,10) (median m and standard deviation d) and the char chose "tall", the final height could be 150 (median) + 10 + rand(10) (tall), resulting in a number between 160 and 170
height = median + (deviation - rand(deviation)) + deviation*option
where option could be: tall=1, medium=0, short=-1.


Inborn built: I don't know the correct way to say this in english, but I'm refering to the size (above all width) of our skeleton: wide / medium / slim or puny or weak.

Hair length: shaved / short / mid-long / long / very long.
Can be changed during the game, we can assume that one character can have the hair lenght he/she wants, since time is accelerated. But...

it would take X days before you can put it longer again

Of course, hair and skin colors. That could be setted in a similar way as height, or simply giving just some choices depending on genes.
Possible colors: black / dark / brown / ginger / dark-blond / light-blond

What about introducing more colors than black, brown, red and yellow? green, blue, purple...
People form one "pure" race could have just one "basic" tone (from yellow, black, red and blue), maybe adjusted in intensity (from dark to light), that could become mixed with other races resulting in new colors (red and blue becomes purple, yellow and blue -> green, red and black -> dark-red...)

Facial appearance... what is beauty for someone can be ugliness for another... but well: beautiful, pretty, plain, ugly, horrible

Maybe the hair's not a good idea as it would be liable to change through the game

No, no, it's ok!

I would add curly, wavy and straight. That could be changed temporarily via combing projects .

The game could maybe add amendments to the description depending on age.

And maybe the biggest scars?
Each wound of 50% or higher could leave extra (automatically generated) lines in your character description

[Rusalka]

Every Cantrian should be equaly attractive. Theoretically ii is impossible, cause not everyone likes e.g. blondes but it's not the point. There shuldn't be 'ugly' or 'pretty' adjective used ever in char's driscription. Why? People like prette people. Cantrians would become not equal from the begining. It will result in mass spawnig in order to get 15 x miss universe.

However, I can unwillingly agree to gaining ugliness from the game progress