I would add a 'child' to the age to define it better, four age catagories should be enough I would think.

Put 'Drow' in race (so I can exclude them from all my searches)

Maybe put a 'middle east' in ethnicity?

In attire put 'leather armor' and 'metal armor' as different categories

You could also put space/sci-fi and 'superhero' in attire, and a few more.

I'm not sure how this would work, but for things like hair colour, why not use every possibility?  Would it be difficult to combine later if we find there are only a few under some?  What about dividing again if in future an odd colour suddenly becomes popular?

I suppose that if we have 'insect' we also should have 'arachnid'.

I agree on the hair.  We've got most of the spectrum in there -- might as well include the rest.  I'd also go consistent and make 'brunette' into brown/brunette and yellow/blond(e) -- or just leave out the brunette/blonde part altogether.

That would leave purple, orange, and what else?  Teal maybe ...*grumbles about anime)

You could always go with "Colors Not Found In Nature" to cover the exotic anime hues.  ;)

I think we need to discuss previously mentioned points, not just put forward our own, going the way we are I'll just be adding 101 things that make no sense.

If Alien's going to be a hassle (and I thought mostly correct information provided by the submitters would be enough) then I'd just remove any distinction between them and just have one Alien category.


Kingdom

• Animal (non-sentient), Plant, Mineral/Elemental, Robot/Cyborg, Inanimate, Bird, Insect, Amphibian, Arachnid

Gender

• Male, Female, Androgynous

Age

• Adult, Elderly, Young

Hair Colour

• Black, Blond(e), Brunette, Grey, White, Red, Blue, Green, Pink, Purple, Silver, Orange

Hair Length/Style

• Short, Medium/Bob, Long, Bald, Cropped, Spiked, Curls/Perm, Mohawk

Race

• Human, Elf/Half-Elf, Dwarf/Gnome, Hobbit/Halfling, Alien (Star-Trek), Alien (Star Wars), Alien (Babylon 5), Alien (Stargate), Alien (Other), Undead, Demonic, Monster

Ethnicity

• Caucasian, Asian/Oriental, American, Indian, Negroid, Aboriginal, Hispanic, blue (skin), green (skin), purple (skin), red (skin)

Attire

• Dress, Suit, Shirt, T-Shirt, Armour, None, Bikini, Costume, Gown, Bathing Suit

Medium

• Drawing, Painting, Photograph, CGI, Cartoon, Line, Art, Black & White

Additions/changes have been underlined, removals struck through.

gtg, work.  Haven't listed all suggestions as nobody else has commented on them.

I think age should include a 'child', young could mean late teens early 20's which is different than a child for a character portrait seeker.

There should be a headware or hat keyword, sometimes I look for a sam spade or indiana jones look for a character, or for a hood or turban.

Armor should be divided into leather and metal to differentiate between thiefly types and warrior types easily.

Also in Attire I believe sci-fi and superhero would help players locate suitable portraits quickly. As it is now if I want a guy in a spacesuit or a cape and tights what do I select?

I believe 'dark elf' should have it's own category as drow and elves are different in appearance enough to warrant it.

I think 'middle east' should be a separate ethnic category, it is a bit different than oriental, and would include (east)indian.

We might also want to include glasses or eyewear, and beard/mustache as these are physical traits you might want reflected in the portrait.

It might be interesting to try an attractiveness rating, although it would be rather subjective.

So how are the keyword tags going to interact with the current gallery system? I could actually see them replacing it entirely.

Especially if this will largely replace the gallery, I think we need to tag pictures with historical time periods. The ones in the current gallery really need re-vamping, in any case. I'd suggest "Ancient" (to cover anything prior to the fall of the Western Roman Empire), "Medieval" (Byzantine, Medieval Europe), "Early Modern" (Renaissance, American Revolutionary War, French Revolution), "Victorian/Edwardian" (includes Civil War, Westerns) and "Historical 20th Century" (which includes anything after WWI that would look obviously dated to modern eyes). This doesn't work so well outside of Europe, though it might not be too bad in combination with the Races/Ethnicities.

For attire, maybe there should be a "None" category in the sense that there's no attire visible because the picture has been closely cropped. I'll often use this sort of "Modern" picture in a historical or fantasy game.

As several people have already pointed out, an "Accessories" category would be a boon. Being able to search for an image with a weapon when the character should be obviously armed, one with glasses, or one with something like an amulet would be very handy.

I believe the keywords system will be set up to work alongside the current categories, not as a replacement.

People will still have the option to browse the galleries, even if they don't have a set idea in mind - some people search for specific images to fit a character description, others browse the images, looking for one which inspires a description.

Well, for the ones that pick a portrait the base their description off that, maybe a random portrait selector could be put in. :)

Go to the beta site at http://beta.rpol.net and choose a portrait for a character, you'll see the new search option.  Feel free to make a game just to take a look if you need to.


+1 vote for child.

Comments on other's points:

I like Elemental, but think it might belong better in the Race category

I also like 'Drow' as a race, and agree that they're distinctive enough from Elves to warrant their own tag

Changing 'Young' to 'Child' does make it more definable, and easier to categorize -- of course, I've noticed that what constitutes both extremes changes dramatically as one ages. ;)

Middle Eastern is also a good suggestion, and we have quite a few portraits that clearly fit that distinction

Superhero wouldn't be a bad classification, though I might add Superhero/Supervillain so that you get both in one click

Allhaja's point about 'None' is also good, though I might suggest changing the description to 'None Visible' just so we don't cause anyone to have expectations. ;)

I'll take Astron's comment about beard/mustache/glasses/cloak/hood/turban to be support for my earlier suggestions, plus the addition of turban - which we also have several pictures including this.

Likewise, I also support leather armor / metal armor, sword, bow, dagger, staff, wand

I have no desire to include an attractiveness rating, especially since we have pictures of RPoL users in the gallery.  Not only is it completely subjective, it could also be potentially hurtful.

I'm also in favor (to some degree) of putting the historical periods in there, but I suggest that if we do, we do so in the format of the Recategorized Gallery -- simply because most people will not have the expertise to use narrow definitions.  'Ancient/Middle Ages', 'Early Modern', 'Late Modern', 'Old West'.  We put a lot of talk and discussion into that part of it when trying to come up with new categories.

BTW, here's a place where you can see the portraits laid out (more images at once).

Also, you can look at the 'recategorized gallery', which is the end result of all the discussion we had way back when.

http://www.revelcity.com/rpol_portrait_gallery.htm

The first links on that page are the way the portraits are currently categories, and the second links show the proposed new categories.

Kingdom

• Animal (non-sentient), Plant, Mineral/Elemental, Robot/Cyborg, Inanimate, Bird, Insect, Amphibian, Arachnid

Gender

• Male, Female, Androgynous

Age

• Adult, Elderly, Young, Child

Hair Colour

• Black, Blond(e), Brunette, Grey, White, Red, Blue, Green, Pink, Purple, Silver, Orange

Hair Length/Style

• Short, Medium/Bob, Long, Bald, Cropped, Spiked, Curls/Perm, Mohawk

Race

• Human, Elf/Half-Elf, Dark Elf, Dwarf/Gnome, Hobbit/Halfling, Alien (Star-Trek), Alien (Star Wars), Alien (Babylon 5), Alien (Stargate), Alien (Other), Undead, Demonic, Monster

Ethnicity

• Caucasian, Asian/Oriental, American, Indian, Negroid, Aboriginal, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, blue (skin), green (skin), purple (skin), red (skin)

Attire

• Dress, Suit, Shirt, T-Shirt, Armour, None Visibile, Bikini/Bathing Suit, Costume, Gown, Coat/Cloak, hat/cap, hood, turban, mask, scarf, leather armour, metallic armour

Phsyical Traits

• Piercings, mustache, beard, tattoo, eye patch, glasses, wings

Equipment and accompaniments

• Sword, gun, bow, staff, weapon (other), cigar/cigarettes

Medium

• Drawing, Painting, Photograph, CGI, Cartoon, Line, Art, Black & White

Era/Period

• Ancient/Middle Ages, Early Modern, Late Modern, Old West, Future

Note: Added "Drow" as "Dark Elf" so it's not system specific.  Added my headings as placeholders only, just so the keywords could be added in.

Lost and without a fixed home:  Elemental, Anime, Superhero/Supervillan.

What's happening with Alien?

Did I miss anything?  Comments?
This message was last edited by admin at 01:26, Thu 09 Apr 2009.

Add a 'future' to era/period?

Scars, possibly?

I'd just as soon say leave Star Wars & Star Trek but leave the others as 'Other', or make them all 'Other'.

BTW, do you think that people will search for portraits of 'Captain Kirk' or 'Luke Skywalker' using those categories?

I'm not sure we need both Young and Child.  Depends on one's definition of 'young' I guess, and Shannara is right, it changes with age; all of you look really young to me!

Anyone under 30 is still wet behind the ears...

I can see a teenager looking young, but not being a child -- likely, I'd categorize anyone who seemed 12 or younger as 'child', and teenage to 21 as 'young', adult up to maybe 60-ish appearing.

*sighs*  We're going to get smacked by a user who has their portrait in the gallery yet. ;)

I demand that my portrait be categorised as "young", because the photo was taken when I was younger than I am now.  ;)

LOL@Ron  I think that is 'younger', not 'young'.

Astron, anyone under 40 is a child, 'young' covers up to 50 or so...  ;-)

But seriously, are there enough pics of children to need a category?  And babies aside, where do you draw the line?  I guess we need to look at a few, and see how it's working out.

Well I'm not a child then, but I'm still young for another year or so. ;P

There are a few child portraits I think, not many. But one day I might try starting an arena game, Kids with Hammers.

Ok, not.

I just think 'Young' is too broad a category although looking at the portraits many are indeterminate age, I think any will be both 'young' and 'adult'.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:12, Thu 09 Apr 2009.

Rename young to teenager then?  Otherwise that age bracket is going to unrepresented.

That works for me :)

Elemental - race
Anime - medium
superhero/supervillain - is this referring to the ones with costumes? If so, attire

I agree with Shan's idea of how to break up age. Child would be 12-under, Young (could be called "young adult" to clarify) would be 13-20ish. And yes, there are quite a few pictures of kids in there, Bri.

Insect and arachnid could be combined into "arthropod" if there aren't that many.

Did Alien (B5) and Alien (Stargate) get in there the first time around because there are a lot of them (comparable to the number of Star Wars/Star Trek)? If so, they should both stay.

Looking at the ethnicities, I see American, Indian, and Aboriginal. Do these refer to American Indian, India Indian, and Australian Aboriginal?