Sorry if this is the wrong forum, I wasn't sure where the best place to put this was!

I just had some questions about item customization. What are people's opinions about using descriptive words that might not have a definition in game?

Specifically, I would like to use the phrase 'colombina mask' in a customization, but I'm not sure if it would be appropriate. The color 'columbine' exists, but I'm not sure if I can use it related to masks since there probably hasn't been a Commedia dell'Arte knockoff in Lusternia. Would it be better to use half mask? Masquerade mask? Eye mask?

If it would be better to email artifacts directly, I will do that, but I don't want to be too high maintenance for the admin so I thought I'd ask here first.

I'm not sure if the policy is different for artifacts, but for regular designs they don't allow foreign words. I'm not sure if colombina qualifies, so you might have to get a direct answer from the admin.

I can only speak to how I would view a matter from a designs standpoint - in such a case, "Colombina mask" wouldn't be appropriate, since it references an OOC character.

You'd be better reference it descriptively, ie "a feminine half-mask made of gold" or something.

Personally, I suspect artifacts will allow you to get away with it, as they tend to be very lenient. However, I will add, whenever I see people with overtly OOC pets or items, it severely downgrades their 'credibility', so to speak, in my eyes. I know I'm not the only one who thinks less of people who do so, at least without being subtle about it. Some references are cute, but outright 'copying' is just uncreative and, well, tasteless, I suppose.

End of the day it'll come down to you, but if I were to pay for something in credits, I'd like for it to look good, have people be envious of it, and not cause people to look down on me (ie no stuffed penguin mounts, Aerosmith clothes or Richard Nixon masks) - or, at the very least, have someone say, "Oh, that's from xyz italian opera. Man, he didn't even bother trying to make it less obvious. He might as well be wearing 'a Bugs Bunny mask' or something."

Just two cents.

Ah, all right, that's very helpful! It's more or less what I thought, but mask genres were something I wasn't sure about, which is why I asked. Thanks a lot!

Edit: Oh yeah, other question. Papier-mache, does it exist in game?

Since I wasn't familiar with the subject, I looked it up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commedia_dell'arte

I think that in this case, harlequin mask might work, as there are harlequins in Lusternia and the Harlequin did come from Italian decent. And there are carnivals, so I guess that could work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin

I think one of the trickier problems is that while Lusternia is not Earth, there's a lot of parallel development and it can be hard to consider what's valid and what isn't. For instance, there are Katanas but there's no Japanese culture on this planet, so it gets trickier when it comes to naming things based on other cultures. Which names are valid in Lusternia and which are tied to cultural history? (Example--Cheddar and Swiss cheese are based on places--most cheese names came from their locations--so would a cheddar or swiss cheese meal be OOC in Lusternia?) I mean, since there's no Italian based human race (although I wish there was, since a village with those ethnic types would be fun), maybe the term would not be good as written, but it's pretty obvious that there was parallel development of these types of things so the concept of the harlequin is valid in Lusternia.

If you're going to bother with customization, I would ask when doing it if the admin feel it fits and if not, feel free to make suggestions on how to make it fit.

Thank goodness tentacle monsters have precedent here in Lusternia.

I should clarify - my only comment was that a 'colombina mask' was wrong not because it's an italian word, but because 'Colombina' was a character. It's no different than having a 'Romeo mask' or a 'Ceasar Mask' - these characters do not exist in Lusternia, so a 'colombina mask' is just out of sorts. Harlequins certainly exist in Lusternia, and the design itself is not out of sorts - just naming it after an OOC character would be something I'd look down upon, on a personal level.

Papier-mache is pretty low tech. Letters sound like they would be of a proper grade of paper to utilize for it, and I'm sure plaster is utilized somewhere within one of the villages or cities. Wouldn't see any issue with that myself. But, alas, I am not an admin nor an avid designer so my opinion means diddly.

What do we call a ceasar salad then?

A salad consisting of lettuce, cheese, olives, tomatoes and cucumber?

Uh... that's not a caeser salad...

Oops, that was the greek salad. Ahem! Well, you get the idea...

Cannibalism.

caeser
ceaser
Aaaaauuuugh.

Shouldn't it be "caesar" and not "caeser"?

If I may hijack just a tad...

What about proper names for weapons and instruments? For example, I'd like to name my viola either Kaigetsu or Cloier (of course, there's more description than just 'He is wielding Cloier'). However, the first is overtly Japanese (though, it is just a serious of syllables I find attractive to the ear; Google says it also happens to be a hotel >.>), and the second overtly French (granted, simply a surname or french spelling of Chloe).

I'm hesitant to send the e-mail, as I don't want people to react poorly.

Cloier is the name of an aetherbeast, just so you know. That might result in some conflict and undue confusion.

Single noun names for weapons do happen, but I find them dumb and annoying personally.

Hrm. Did not know that! *strikes it*

I like the idea of weapons having names. Achaea has a quest for named swords that I've always thought was pretty cool, but naming a weapon/instrument/important object through customization is cool also. But rather than just calling it something, maybe 'a violin named Kaigetsu'. The cool thing about having named objects is that people can ask for the story behind the name, if there is one.

I personally find named items somewhat tacky, but I recognize that everyone has their own style. I think it's probably important to voice, though, that you shouldn't just name something and expect everyone to know what it is. 'He is wielding Petunia' doesn't tell us as much as 'He is wielding Petunia, the whale-bone club.' for instance.