Character Descriptions

[FrozenSolid]

QQ

I have seen a lot of characters walking around with blank, or the generic descriptions. While this isn't a "Sin" it does make it really hard to find some reason to interact with that character. Without even a basic description we have 0 details about anything other then the IG character model which is not much at all

It doesn't have to be pure writing gold, but just like some details, is your character tall? Short? Well kept? Messy? What kind of gear does your character have? Holy symbols? Any smells?

When another character glances in your characters direction what would be some basic things that might stand out?

Giiiiveeee uuusssss soooommmeeetttthiinnnggg!

It also makes it incredibly hard to describe your character to someone looking for you.

"Well... He's... A human. Wearing... Clothes, and maybe armor."

So yeah! Huray descriptions! There are tools to add them in game do -description to see the command list.

[gilescorey]

okay

[cptcuddlepants]

I know some people keep their description blank because they use the -disguise feature a lot and don't want to get metagamed if they forget to change their description.

[FrozenSolid]

That makes sense, but if they are going to meta game you they'll still get you >.> I made a custom description for my character in disguise to prevent this. Ontop of that the IG roll was successful twelve times in a row as they spammed it hoping to get lucky.

Ultimately they used another trick to meta my player name and call me out IC

So Idk. Understandable but it'd sure be nice to have some details on characters

[cptcuddlepants]

Having 70 ranks in bluff is useless when someone else has one rank in metagame.

[Xerah]

It's sometimes hard to really see what race the other character is, so at least that info can be helpful. I made that mistake today thinking a dwarf was a gnome.

[Echohawk]

I'm always impressed by how much effort some players put into the description, but at the same time, I go by the rule of 'If they couldn't see this in 30 seconds of looking at me, don't write it down'.
I see a lot of internal details that tend to fluff out a lovely description, but too often the detail that matters is buried under all the self loving texts.
Not knocking on anyone in particular, that's just my take on it.

[One Two Three Five]

I'm not trying to be mean but threads like these, the "Hey, people aren't doing things the way I like" type threads never seem to end well.

[Cerk Evermoore]

What everyone else said, I personally would have the same description across all disguises but people in my life keep sending me tells and bothering me because "People can meta my description" Or "Change your description so nobody knows it is you." Eventually I just said screw it and left the space blank.

[Iceborn]

I've used descriptions of all sort. Paaaaaaaaages and pages worth of description defining even the faintest evocation of the curl of a tail, but for the moment, and since I don't use the disguise feature at all with my current character, I try to keep it extremely short, just definining exactly what makes the character different on the glance. The rest I RP since I am an automatic emote machine and I fit everything between other things.

[FrozenSolid]

I'm not trying to be mean but threads like these, the "Hey, people aren't doing things the way I like" type threads never seem to end well.

Yeah I get that. But I figured if no one ever says anything then nothing will ever change.

No one has to do it, but even a small description is a great way to encourage others to RP with you. You can make friends that unite over the fact you both have a Cormyrian style dagger on your hip. It's the small things!

[DarkDreamer]

its one of those random downsides to the what you see is what you get rule. If its in your bio, its entirely legal to claim that you can see it, even if the char is in disguise.

[FrozenSolid]

I'll have to check that out. Because If your bio says "Wearing a red cloak" but your disguise is a black cloak, then that's not accurate? I'd assume the same for other traits aswell.

I just assume if they are in disguise, I look at them at face value. And unless the description matches to some degree the disguise I ignore all traits.

In disguise is the one time having a blank bio is okay, in my opinion

[HindianaJones]

I find that a short few lines that give a general description of what you see physically is enough to set the scene, where all mannerisms and further actions will take place during the RP.

My opinion: blank descriptions give the impression that someone couldn't be bothered to try and write something. We have an excellent system where you can change these at any time. You need to be disguised? Write what the disguise is. You revert back to non-disguised self? Copy+paste the original back in. You can put these in a notepad document and just copy+paste it all as soon as you want to change it. You don't have to constantly change it either, you could just have one description that seems to work for both normal self or disguise. It's just a very simple step to make Arelith a much more engaging place. Help describe the story of Arelith by describing your character.

[Xerah]

Copy+paste the original back in. You can put these in a notepad document and just copy+paste it all as soon as you want to change it.

You can actually quick slot it. 1000 characters is plenty for a "what you see in 30 seconds" look at the character.

[HindianaJones]

Even better! No excuses people, get to it!

[Seven Sons of Sin]

When are you going to start a discussion that isn't shamelessly critiquing others, FrozenSolid?

[FrozenSolid]

When are you going to start a discussion that isn't shamelessly critiquing others, FrozenSolid?

Idk, but if no one ever says anything because they are afraid of push backs, or feelings, then no one will ever be pushed to improve or try something different.

Critiques are what have helped push me to improve. Only a few months ago someone sent me a tell that kind of tore my own description apart QQ. But the points brought up were valid, it was something I could do better on and I actually really liked the next description I made afterwards better.

The reason for my posts are to do that, not be spiteful, hurtful, or show off how awesome I am (Because there are a lot more awesome players than me!) And as far as this goes, players can ignore it, discuss it, or whatever. Nothing says they -have- to do it. But I think descriptions are a great tool to expand your character, even in a simple way that help characters interact. If you disagree then no problamo.

[Seven Sons of Sin]

It would have been much more encouraging to start a discussion on "What do you think makes an excellent, memorable, or informative character description?" than saying "U r wrong for having no description."

Have you ever thought of the "meta" of what a character description is? There's a lot of respected roleplayers who have none, or little. Have you thought of why that is? Maybe their character appearance alone is enough. Maybe they don't want you to spend time on looking at their description. Maybe the player themselves just doesn't like the idea of character descriptions. Maybe it's an OOC tongue-in-cheek joke on people with really bad or lame descriptions.

There's a lot at play there. I remember when I made a rogue I purposefully used the template description to make my character/login seem wholly unassuming and to make myself get more incognito. I wanted players to think I was just some noob.

There's a lot at work here. I think descriptions are one of the weirdest mechanics.

So when you say, emphatically, "Giiiiveeee uuusssss soooommmeeetttthiinnnggg!", you're just going about it all wrong.

It's a sin to start to some sarcastic, unintelligent crusade on people not including descriptions. Why don't we talk about what makes a description what it is, first.

[HD52]

As players, it is not our place to enforce what we view as "perfection" on others. Grant your fellow player the benefit of the doubt that each of us hopes would be gifted to us in turn. Be kind to each other and send polite tells if you require more information.

I am currently playing a "spotter" character. If an individual is using the generic description or a plain blank, I send a tell to that player to ask if there are any key points of interest about their character that makes him or her unique from the rest. I have done this twenty-eight times. I have been respectfully responded to every single one of them.

As a teacher, I stop myself from correcting petty spelling or grammar errors. I may do so in my classroom, but that right does not belong to me on an open, public server serving hundreds of unique people as young as twelve to as old as sixty, each from different backgrounds and with different education or upbearings.

If it is your desire to be treated with perfection in mind, then ask for critique - but do not force this on others, especially if they do not ask for it. We are here to enjoy each other's writing and interests, not to receive a grade for our efforts.

Thank you.

[FrozenSolid]

Well, a few things, to comment on stuff added:

1. I slung my post out in a moment of mild irritation without taking the time to properly construct the argument in a more productive way. I think I'll post this again, later, with a more complete originating point, that is more conductive to discussion and comes off less hard.

2. I've never demanded anyone adhere to anything. They don't even have to read the post. This was meant as a suggestion and something to discuss. But I could have presented that better with the original post.

3. An un-intelligent campaign against descriptions... I don't think it's un-intelligent. OOC / IC descriptions hold some serious merit. Some of which were discussed above. I've never told anyone their play style was bad, wrong, or anything but I realize with the wording of the post that might be inferred. It's a real discussion but I should have presented it better. Regardless it doesn't deserve to be discarded as "Un-intelligent."

4. As far as OOC pokes etc go, I try to avoid tells unless I know the player, or some other situation. So poking a Tell to a player asking them to describe their character is not something that occurred to me. Also, when you have four characters, all without descriptions, it can be really hard to poke 4 players, then awkwardly wait for a response. It'd be a really weird time to find out they are wearing the holy symbol of Cyric, or something, and affects the entire encounter.

5. Again about the post... I guess I'm the sort of person that sees something, then calls it out. Making a passive post asking about how to make better descriptions would not accomplish, in my opinion what I wanted to present. The issue I wanted to discuss was a large lack of descriptions. So that's what I said.

Anyways, a few good points above about descriptions, etc, I do plan to repost this as a new post better and more thoughtfully written. Maybe after the death penalty thing has cooled down

[Kuma]

enserric aerlias was one of my favourite characters ever and his description was literally just a single period

[If Valor Were Inches]

I usually put up a simple description or none at all when first starting characters, then set something up days later. Other times, if they disguise a lot, I may keep it blank. Sometimes on casual characters I just do a joking description, like "Heya, it's me, Emily", or "Witchy, witchy, witchy." Also keep in mind some people don't speak fluent English, and I don't speak fluent anything.

Description suggestions:
(Note the below are all my opinions, you aren't playing wrong if you go against them! More speaking from a writing perspective, and every writer is different).

1: Add items to your description that may set up the first line of a character's conversation:
This would be religious items, like a necklace, red cord, a marriage ring or handfasting cord, or maybe social status, like a guard's pin. (Slave collar does this automatically). This helps other characters decide to begin with pity, disdain at your faith, flirtatious, aloof, etc.

2: Keep it short. Avoid scrolling descriptions. You should be able to use a few lines to get all you need. Make it consistent in any situation (Not when in armor, when in cloth), and avoid lines that are redundant with what your model is showing (Hair color, pony-tail, pointy-ears (Unless half-elf)). Eye color is also very unimportant, but in case of seeking you out or detailing you from a guard seeking victim/criminal standpoint, it can be useful to include.

3: If your description is about the attractiveness of your character, avoid the sexual. Bust/Rear/Body shape descriptions fall under here. My prudent Halfling wizard is just not going to look for these things when she firsts looks at you at all. Or ever. It feels male-gaze to me, which can work in certain books but doesn't fit RP in Arelith.
In fact you should avoid saying your character is attractive, as its up to interpretation. Suggest it instead without telling it.

4: Armor/Weapon descriptions. Maybe an Unpopular opinion, but I find these very unimportant. If there was a family crest emblazoned, maybe, but unless there's more than one family member about, and I could use it as a way to recognize a sibling, or it's a faction crest, which is actually good RP information, it's fluff details to me. Better for a book and less for RP. Plus these can clog up a description's length. Best save the space for unique details we can sense.

5: Utilize the other senses. Its going to be mostly sight but the other sense allow more depth to a description. Obviously, we don't need to know what your character tastes like, but maybe their skin feels odd, or they smell funny, or their feet jingle with bells attached to them, or under your wizard's hat is your cackling fey familiar's feet that are poking out. (Though this is better emoted out, as its not consistent).

Maybe I'll add more later, but the most important is to just have fun with it and don't make it too long!

[Seven Sons of Sin]

enserric aerlias was one of my favourite characters ever and his description was literally just a single period

Yeah, exactly.

And your entire tirade is unintelligent, FrozenSolid. Like what the actual are you trying to achieve here?

I said if you want to start a thoughtful discussion, lead with thought-provoking questions.

I'll start -

What do you think a description should be? Or perhaps more fundamentally, what do you think a description is for?

[Xerah]

A description is used by other players to aid in role play interaction. A quick few notes about the character that are not obvious by looking at the character model such a voice, equipment, etc. (basically what Valor said) can go a long way to add initial flavor to interaction with that character.

Just because someone made a good character without a description, doesn't mean that first time encounters with that character wouldn't have benefited from reading a quick description.