So, recently I had a conversation in Discord over the lack of presence when it came to a number of non-unique or 'Custom' weapons having descriptions added to them, despite the ease of Artificing allowing this. After thinking about it, I realized a basic feature that could be very useful in this game, likely wouldn't require an incredible amount of code to add in, and would only provide positive benefits, barring a few -Extreme- fringe cases.
We should have an Examine button/verb/function in the game. Allow a player to Examine another, and see all the items the player has equipped, and if so chosen, their descriptions/stats. This is a clear quality of life addition that would allow players to view what others are wearing and have a better mental image of the character OOCly, be able to understand the origins of some equipment beyond 'Oh cool, a staff', and allow Artificers and other Crafters to have a little more presence in the world through their work and maker's marks.
This function would also allow help players acting as thieves/bandits/etc. to see what a player is openly wearing in full view, and would allow Guards to do the same when imprisoning enemy Magi.
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There are some fringe cases however, where this would be a bad addition to the game, and there are some solutions I believe could help assist in covering some of these fringe cases.
1. Players may use this information to metagame, especially if some of the information of an item or piece of equipment may be very bad to be openly known.
1a- In addition, I would suggest a -Hidden- verb be capable of being added to equipment by administrators for these fringe cases, allowing certain items (Curses objects, etc.) to be unnoticed. This could even extend to Hiding portions of descriptions from being viewed if the item isn't in your inventory, but I am not savvy enough to tell how that could be coded.
2. Players may use stat knowledge to powergame, thereby ruining some of the organic nature of the current roleplay.
2a- If it is necessary, I believe stats could be hidden and instead replaced with a simple power scoring system a la Eternia 1. The cumulative stats of an item and it's classification could determine if an item is 'Very Weak/Weak/Average/Strong/Very Strong/Unusual/Legendary/Mythic' and give it that descriptor.
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I don't have the time to flesh out this idea further, but I feel like this would be a fun addition to the game.
Edit: Deleted my passive-aggressive comment. Yes, I am Edgy.
We should have an Examine button/verb/function in the game. Allow a player to Examine another, and see all the items the player has equipped, and if so chosen, their descriptions/stats. This is a clear quality of life addition that would allow players to view what others are wearing and have a better mental image of the character OOCly, be able to understand the origins of some equipment beyond 'Oh cool, a staff', and allow Artificers and other Crafters to have a little more presence in the world through their work and maker's marks.
This function would also allow help players acting as thieves/bandits/etc. to see what a player is openly wearing in full view, and would allow Guards to do the same when imprisoning enemy Magi.
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There are some fringe cases however, where this would be a bad addition to the game, and there are some solutions I believe could help assist in covering some of these fringe cases.
1. Players may use this information to metagame, especially if some of the information of an item or piece of equipment may be very bad to be openly known.
1a- In addition, I would suggest a -Hidden- verb be capable of being added to equipment by administrators for these fringe cases, allowing certain items (Curses objects, etc.) to be unnoticed. This could even extend to Hiding portions of descriptions from being viewed if the item isn't in your inventory, but I am not savvy enough to tell how that could be coded.
2. Players may use stat knowledge to powergame, thereby ruining some of the organic nature of the current roleplay.
2a- If it is necessary, I believe stats could be hidden and instead replaced with a simple power scoring system a la Eternia 1. The cumulative stats of an item and it's classification could determine if an item is 'Very Weak/Weak/Average/Strong/Very Strong/Unusual/Legendary/Mythic' and give it that descriptor.
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I don't have the time to flesh out this idea further, but I feel like this would be a fun addition to the game.
Edit: Deleted my passive-aggressive comment. Yes, I am Edgy.