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Message no. 1
From: Starjammer <starjammer@**********.COM>
Subject: The Nature of Charisma (was Re: New players and elves)
Date: Sun, 20 Sep 1998 08:07:32 -0400
At 12:28 PM 9-20-98 +0200, you wrote:
>
>I think it more has to do with wanting to play a beautiful person (as
>elves are generally perceived to be) than with being thin per se. Often,
>thin = beautiful in our culture, though, so elves are usually thought of
>as thin. OTOH these same players then assign 1 point to Charisma even
>though they want a beautiful character. IMHO you likely end up with a
>character like these "supermodels" who are everywhere on TV nowadays
>(about half of whom I keep wondering why everybody seems to think they're
>so pretty, but that's beside the point).

Although I don't disagree with your basic point, I will take issue with the
idea that Charisma equals beauty, especially in SR where bio-sculpting is
cheap and easy. Charisma is social aptitude, force of presence, and
facility with social interaction. How many times have we seen "beautiful
people" who can exude animal magnetism all over the place, then wreck it
all by opening their mouths? And the converse is true as well.

Elves may be prettier by some standard or another, but I'd say that they
must also have a greater predisposition towards the qualities I listed
above. After all, a spirit isn't impressed by a pretty face, but elves
have an edge in dealing with them, too.

So, yes, I can easily see a very beautiful, low-Charisma character.

All IMHO, of course.

Starjammer | "Would it help if we sacrificed a
goat?"
starjammer@**********.com | -- Street sam "Crusher" Carlson
to mage
Marietta, GA | Straight Blue, on a really bad day
Message no. 2
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: The Nature of Charisma (was Re: New players and elves)
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 12:57:30 +0200
According to Starjammer, at 8:07 on 20 Sep 98, the word on the street was...

> >I think it more has to do with wanting to play a beautiful person (as
> >elves are generally perceived to be) than with being thin per se. Often,
> >thin = beautiful in our culture, though, so elves are usually thought of
> >as thin. OTOH these same players then assign 1 point to Charisma even
> >though they want a beautiful character. IMHO you likely end up with a
> >character like these "supermodels" who are everywhere on TV nowadays
> >(about half of whom I keep wondering why everybody seems to think they're
> >so pretty, but that's beside the point).
>
> Although I don't disagree with your basic point, I will take issue with the
> idea that Charisma equals beauty, especially in SR where bio-sculpting is
> cheap and easy.

You misunderstood. What I was saying is that players like this often end
up with characters who are beautiful (since SR doesn't have an Appearance
attribute), and who have the charisma of shit at the same time. I'm not
saying beauty falls under the Charisma attribute (I'm also not saying it
doesn't -- it's a bit of both, IMHO), but I kinda wonder why a player who
insists on making a really good-looking (elven) character then doesn't
sees the need to also make it a likeable person. Unless it's done on
purpose (as in, "I'll make a really good-looking character who can't get
along with anyone"), I say something's likely wrong.

> So, yes, I can easily see a very beautiful, low-Charisma character.

I didn't say I can't, I tried to say that I don't see why all of them
should be that way (as it so often turns out).

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Unconsciousness is no excuse.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

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