Custom Descriptions

[Dudel]

There can't be a description box because people are retarded and PD already has enough food on their plate.

[FiziKx]

They should let players in-game 'take care' of those ones or deal with them like they do already in other aspects of the game.

[Rob Maule]

If you really want to make it simple (on the player's part), have every aspect of a character's appearance automatically determined when spawned, like skill proficiency. Some sort of combination of the community they spawned in (maybe including all languages present). For current characters, either randomly generate or give players a set amount of time to choose from a list of attributes.

For some reason, letting people type in whatever they want doesn't sit well with me. If you're going to change or add something, it's better to reduce the amount of problems it can cause, not increase them. Otherwise you're making a more-broken game.

[FiziKx]

If the scenarios could be tested in-game, a general consensus could be gathered on how these different ways are working/being abused, as well as the feedback from players. But, I am pretty sure that none of these proposed solutions would ever be tested in that way... right?

[Chris]

Put me down in favor of the multiple choice system. The free form system would be OK with me too, but I know there are objections and more staff work involved.

There are too many nondescript men and women in their twenties. Hair color, eye color, body type, etc. would be a nice touch.

[Piscator]

but I know there are objections and more staff work involved.

Actually, the additional work should be quite manageable. After the first rush when everyone gets a new description, there shouldn't be more than a few description changes per day. As I said, the resulting report should not take more than a minute per day.

And as for anything else, a new option to commit a CRB won't increase the number of CRBers. PD's workload doesn't depend on the number of offenses, but on the number of offender they have to deal with.

[returner]

So what is this idea? Does a description set-in-stone once chosen? What I mean is, can it be changed later? Could I describe myself as blue eyes, brown hair, and then kill out a town and change my identity?

[Ruby]

Alright I don't want to have brought this idea up and end up with a system I hate so I'll address the things I don't want this system to be.

1) Something predetermined upon spawn - the purpose of the box was to give the player more freedom not take it away

2) A one time settable field - if I rp a new scar on my body after being attacked I want to be able to include it in my description

3) Having these attributes effect things in the game - I really don't play Cantr to level up I play it to RP. When I say I'm tall I want it that way because I want my character to be tall not to make me a better or worse fighter.

And addressing Returners point, sure you could change your description field and if you alter it drastically changing it from tall to short that is sort of one of the CRBs that Piscator mentioned earlier. Not that I think it would make much difference in you getting captured or not.

[returner]

1) Something predetermined upon spawn - the purpose of the box was to give the player more freedom not take it away

2) A one time settable field - if I rp a new scar on my body after being attacked I want to be able to include it in my description

I actually would hope these two ideas ARE implemented..

There needs to be more uniqueness in the game, so option 1) is great or option 2) is also great.


I realise you are saying you DON'T want that.. and on point 2), I like the idea that you can add or change things in the box. However, it can and will be abused. And the only people who will abuse it are those who are cunning enough to get away with it.

The self-description box MUST be pre-determined, or alternatively it MUST be a one-time settable field. One or the other, not neither.

[Drael]

I personally see no more abuse potential in free form descriptions than notes, or emotes, or speech.

People who wont roleplay properly, will simply not RP properly, no matter the medium.

Sure the option thing is a compromise, and will satisfy those who see a problem, but honestly as with all RP, if someone says something that doesnt fit, people will just ignore it.

I remember a man who spawned *falls to earth in a ball of flame*

People just disregarded the whole thing..

[Ruby]

There needs to be more uniqueness in the game

The uniqueness for me is that you can do whatever you want. You aren't constrained like other games.

I remember a man who spawned *falls to earth in a ball of flame*

People just disregarded the whole thing..

This is very true. Sure when someone does something stupid like the example given above it is annoying and detracts from the overall feel of Cantr, but it isn't the end of the world. I know it doesn't keep me up at night.

[Cogliostro]

Why not add a freely-editable field like that to the chardesc page and see how it goes? Sure, there would be ways to abuse it, like using it to talk with another without generating any "You say" or "You whisper" events, but if it's a problem we can put it an automatic delay. So the new description takes a few cantr hours to "take" or update after you edit the old one.

It's just a nice little addition for player convenience and doesn't need any PD policing over it any more than PD already polices notes or character speech.

You know some people will invent very artful descriptions for their character, which in turn will make them stand out as "people available as interesting roleplayers". We all know how important that can be, finding some people who are going to have some depth and not just focus on digging resources.

[Ruby]

I'm very happy to see people actually taking my side in this. I know this idea was shot down before, but I would love to see this implemented.

[catpurr]

Actually, the additional work should be quite manageable. After the first rush when everyone gets a new description, there shouldn't be more than a few description changes per day. As I said, the resulting report should not take more than a minute per day.

Why should descriptions change? You set it in creation and that stays.

[Ice-Man]

This should be predetermined upon spawn or shouldn't be implemented at all. I don't want to know if a guy, who just wandered into my city is a foreginer or a guy from next town. Cantr is a asking/taking/guessing game and should stay this way. You want to roleplay your apperance write it in ** and keep a copy of it in notepad for later uses.