Command:
Similar to the "ht " command which gives a general idea on a players health.
how about an "evaluate player" command (syntax to be redefined something better).. that in essence gives a brief description about that players charisma and or intelligence. or possibly more relevant to the purpose but in relation to their own stats... No other information would be given (relative measure of agility/strength/endurance/skills etc..)..obviously nothing else..
Motive:
The idea behind this is to help in RP and specifically for an aid to PLAYER to PLAYER interaction... Most of this i assume is already being done in Player to GM interaction as again i assume that the GM'S can review and judge accordingly success based on RP and UE allocation.
Reasoning:
Now i'm not suggesting it gives out exact facts and figures as such.. just a general guide...(and should probably be based on perception)
My reason being is this is an aid to player interactions between themselves.. I could be entirely wrong in this but two players meeting have very little clues as to there respective values in these things beyond the Ugly/Average/Charming title.
It could be argued that players should RP their characters characteristic and their physical descriptions should indicate things like this to make this more obvious.. and as always RP is king over Stats and mechanics as its just their to aid the RP.. which is where i think this idea lives..
In the examples below is where i think it could be of help off the top of my head..
* Power struggle in corpie land - Player A and Player B are having a verbal power stuggle..their Boss Players C could do with seeing who is actually more persuasive (Charming and smarter in their arguments at least from a stats perspective). Interestingly it does raise the question who would/should win.. a player with no invested UE charisma and low intelligence but is actually making more of a case with their typed words.. or a player with massive ue of charisma invested and high intelligence but isn't able to explain their case?)
* Power struggle in a gang - same above really. but in a hypothetical power struggle to take over a gang charisma and intelligence would play a part as well as fighting prowess? loyalties etc would play a part but so should investment of UE to back up the RP..
* two players are haggling over a price.. being able to gauge trading skills and charisma/intelligence.. which each other to figure out and RP accordingly who comes out on top..
* two players try to persuade a judge or a terra agent that they are right and the other is wrong...
Now like i said i'm not long enough in the game to know if this is doable or even needed.. and in an ideal SD world players should be self regulating in their behavior (ie if you ain't invested any UE in Charisma then you shouldn't be trying to be a CEO or high ranking corpie, if you have no UE in intelligence you shouldn't be plotting and scheming.. if you have 0 ue invested in trade.. your shouldn't be haggling/bartering and know all the real prices of every item in the game)... but sometimes this does get lost and sometimes it also a matter of subtle shades...
Just occurs to me that the clear and obvious goal is for the player base to expand and for companies/gangs/organisations to become increasingly in the sole hands of players with hopefully less GM direct involvement where these sorts of considerations would become more important...
SideEffect:
Maybe it would encourage more rounded balance characters from a UE perspective and encourage players to match their RP with their stats and generate more distinct characters and make the allocation of UE more important from a building your character POV. Whilst RP should always be king and the entire reason for playing.. UE and its limited drip allocation is important (otherwise we would all start at the same Maxx UE point). IMO its there to not limit RP but to enhance it and let you build a character over time.. RP play should reflect this in my opinion and your choice of UE allocation should matter.. if you dont want to talk and sounds slow in game.. invest UE. if you want to climb to the top of the gang...invest in charisma as well as fighting etc.. ( doesnt mean your pretty means you can be ugly but intimidating ugly rather than plain ugly)...etc etc...
This is not a criticism and im sure that i am as guilty as others in some respects (please call me on it if you see me doing it) but i for one see a lot of UGLY players that still being charismatic and charming and expecting people to react to them according to their RP as opposed to UE and RP. obviously i have no idea on others allocation of intelligence but this could be effected as well..
Considerations:
New players would need to be given a little slack in this regard as they havent had the UE to really be able to shape their characters UE investment to match their play.. Unless and im not suggesting this.. but character gen be tweaked to start everyone on a more even base level of UE and players can at chargen be allowed to remove from the base (and invest elsewhere).. therefore a charisma of ugly , an intelligence of slow.. a strength of puny.) is a choice rather than a default..
Anyway just a random thought for consideration/dismissal..and if im wrong in any assumptions please forgive my ignorance..