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Old 11-01-2011, 01:53 PM   #2
Kromm
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
Default Re: [Social Engineering] Why can't Observation be used to covertly judge approachabil

Observation doesn't provide emotional or social context, only the tactical and physical kind. It can tell you who's armed and the size of their patrols, and note who has a black coat, white hat, or gold-plated pistol. It cannot tell you who is having a bad day or isn't liked by his pals. As written, it's intended to be a neutral intelligence-gathering skill that's as useful to robots and emotionless, socially useless AIs as it is to humans. Consequently, it doesn't include knowledge of how to stay off somebody's social radar, which is the concealment being discussed here. If physical or tactical concealment were meant, then Stealth and Shadowing would apply as well.
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