Descriptions

Posted by Quintano on 02/14

I don't really know if this is the right forum to be adressing this but I think the Imms in general have been WAY to picky about descriptions as of late. Often it comes down to whether they like it themselves or not. I'm not pointing any fingers here or saying its even necessarily happened to me but I've noticed this happening and wonder, "why?". If it doesn't violate basic rules, go for it. -shrug- my two cents.

Me.

From: Archaon Wednesday, February 13 2002, 02:12AM

this sounds familliar...

My long desc, "...beeps about" was originally 'bleep' but the imm at the time thought that 'bleep' was not a word.

The prize machine bleeps at you! -chuckle-

- Archaon

From: Karrion Wednesday, February 13 2002, 03:14PM

As a player I can say that more than one of my chars have encountered a great deal of difficulty in getting descriptions approved, however it has only been my recent chars that have had this trouble. Did the PR devision get together and decide that in general they had not been restrictive enough in the past or something? Some reasons I have been given for rejected descriptions are directly contradicted by existing desc on current players, and older char descs are even more 'in violation' by the present day standards as outlined by several differant immortals.

Being able to write yourself a description is one of my favorite things about LegendMUD. It is extremely frustrating, though, to be creatively 'hobbled' because, like Quintano said, the immortal you talk to dosn't seem to like your description personally. I have been pretty sure that the reson I was given for rejecting my desc was purely a not so blatant way of saying "I just don't like it so 'no'" on more than one occasion.

I asked directly one time 'Does my short now have to word for word match my long?" after being offered to make them match either one or the other exactly rather than have the desc denied. I was told that while it wasn't required, it was preffered.

This char is a good example of what I am talking about. My description was denied twice before (after asking around quite a bit to make sure I wasn't breaking rules or going to get anyone in trouble) the exact same description was approved by the head of PR without even a second glance. I was told that you wouldn't necessarily be 'sickly lookiing' (which is part of my long desc) if you were 'horribly emaciated', and then heard that 'it wasn't specifically human'. Use of sinonyms (however that is spelled :P) and vocabulary is what seperates the best descs from all the other ones, the way I see it. It would be a real shame if parameters were narrowed to the point of sinonyms being illegal and the word 'human' being required in all descriptions. The whole point of the description is to personalize your character and make it less generic, I thought.

It would just be nice if the rules were all I had to take into account, not each immortals personal tastes. It may not be anything major, but it really feels like a slap in the face followed by a swift kick in the ass when you see a char walk by with a description that goes 100% against the reasons you were given for yours being denied.

From: LadyAce Wednesday, February 13 2002, 05:44PM

In general, we try to be pretty even-handed about what descriptions are allowed -- we have a set of rules, we have a set of tools, we have a board for tracking denials. In looking back over the denials that Karrion mentioned, I don't see any reason to overturn them, while the final desc that was approved does seem fine to me. If you want to appeal a decision made on a desc, you can always talk send your appeal to me. If you don't agree with my decision, you can appeal it to Kaige.

Perhaps you can take a moment to consider the position we're in as staff: We have to make a judgement call. There's a set of rules, but there's no scientific way to say, on most of them at least, whether the rules are violated or respected by a particular desc. A player's creativity and energy has gone into the desc, their RP may hinge upon it, or maybe they just scribbled something down and figure they'll work with us to get it finalized. A player may be anywhere in that spectrum, and that's what they bring to the table. As imms, we bring to the table our experience in doing past descriptions, we bring a knowledge of what else has been denied, and we bring our judgement. But we also bring a strong awareness of the role which descriptions as a phenomenon bring to the game over time. It's a "big picture" thing which comes of doing dozens or more per week. We don't want to see the mud filled with carbon copies, with gross-out combinations, with non-human monstrosities, or with bizarre twists of light or shadow.

Descriptions play an important role in how you play, true, but our task is to also look at the role they play in other people's experiences here. We think that something is lost from the environment, from the feel of the game, from the overall experience of all our players, if descriptions are allowed to get out of whack. And that's why we work so hard on them, and think so hard about them -- and consequently, give you a hard time about them sometimes.

Because they're important to us, and to the game, and we hope that they'll be important to you, too.

-LA

From: LadyAce Wednesday, February 13 2002, 06:03PM

As far as old descs -- we do try to leave them alone, and not take away something that someone has had for ages even though the rules have changed. I understand the frustration of seeing a desc that is similar to one you've just been denied, but I do hope that you'll mention it to us in specific. Then we can say for sure if the discrepancy represents a change in policy or if we're seeing something different than you are.

-LA

From: Taffy Thursday, February 14 2002, 12:17AM

About 2...2 1/2 years ago, an alt of mine had a desc rejected. The imm said that the long was not descriptive enough. About a month later, I saw somebody with a new desc, and the long was very similar to the one I wante It was basically the same in effect. But different imms had done them, and it is basically just a judgement call on their part. They are only human afterall. So, the restrictiveness and seeming unfairness is really nothing new.

I recommend that you talk with friends or friendly players ooc about your desc. They can help brainstorm for ideas, fine tune it, look for ways to make it fit in the desc rules, etc. I always like to help out, so send me a tell if you want ;)

Taffy's player, not so dumb as the char