Dynamically generated character portraits/avatars are also a nice feature, and one I've considered using before, but they're a very different type of challenge to the one discussed in this thread.
One of my muds has the following, its a bit buggy with some of the strings, but i prefer it to how eq looks normally (this is shown when a player looks at another player)
Quote
He is wearing two rings of the lynx on his fingers, with a (invisible) night hawk talons covering his hands, long black talons extending from his fingers. A shimmering blue robe is draped over his laerkai might which also barely conceals a large bulge on his back. He is wearing some grey ][+][ legplates on his legs. He wears laerkai stealth as footwear. Bracers of power are on each wrist. A war axe is being wielded in one hand, with a spear in the other. A (invisible) black -=+)> belt fits snugly around his waist. He has two very sharp canines extended in his upper mouth. [/quote]
Dynamically generated character portraits/avatars are also a nice feature, and one I've considered using before, but they're a very different type of challenge to the one discussed in this thread.