I'll just tack this on here.

Skill Atrophy; it helps even if you hate it.
(Predit: please remove the "but if we hate it isn't good" from the title, I don't mean it that way yet can't think of something else differentiating.)

 I found four threads on the matter in this subforum, but they are diffuse in subject and at least three years old ("I'm this many!"). So I wanted to make one that compiles all points raised, at least on this aspect of skills. There are a whole lot of other skill points (ignore pun).
 The concept is that one's skills (and possibly stats) will atrophy (decrease), when left fallow, for the purpose of rounding out the game.

• When will it happen? - Some want it to happen all the time, but a majority want it to only happen when you are logged in; this makes sense, since your character effectively ceases to exist when logged out. It should be a slow process; in real life, if you spend a whole day learning archery, it takes a ~month for that skill to degrade noticeably, a few years for the archer to forget, and decades for the feel to completely vanish (if ever). This needs to be converted to game-time based on skill increase times; we also need to define just when the timer (or each skill timer) is active (such as times where the player can't counteract it).
• How much will it happen? - After an in-game month of being logged in, a skill will start losing practical experience just barely (it will take you down a level, but the instant you use the skill again the level will be back), and this will be your early warning. As more IG months pass by, the rate of practical experience loss will slowly increase. After a couple years, you'll be probably be losing multiple levels. A year after that, you will start losing theoretical knowledge, the rate of which will also slowly increase. However, the rate for practical experience will level out and reduce to nothing, leaving a certain amount permanently, but the theoretical knowledge rate will just keep increasing. The rate is cut down every time you use the skill; but it wont go back down to zero with just one use if it's high enough. Those who have put more work into the skill will have an advantage, because the atrophy isn't percentile; the rate is based on time and a constant.
• And skill synergy? - Using skills similar to the ones you're not using will slow the atrophy, and possibly even start gaining levels. This is somewhat broad topic.
• Why? - Creating procedural professions; further encouraging people to focus on certain jobs. It will cut down the "jack-of-all-trades" problem people have found cheapening. Good fighters will be those who focus on being good fighters, being the great or greatest of something will mean more. I recall their were other problems this solved as well.
   Procedural professions; further encouragement for people to focus on certain jobs. Newbies don't like Super-People.
• But why?! - You might not like to lose things you've spent time to get, almost none do, but this will solve more problems than it creates. Besides, if you want to keep those skills, it's not hard or annoying to just use them again every once in while. You might even visit people you usually don't, or see that something's changed (or be enraged that it hasn't).

I found it kinda funny that any old thread mentioning atrophy was locked, but that's mostly because of the vehement arguments about levels in general. Or perhaps because some mod locks threads when they get old.

 I'd like to know exactly what I missed here, and hopefully those who influence or control the game mechanics do to.

 Chainmail wouldn't provide any protection from blunt force; or about as much as your skin.

 System wise, I would give each attack a certain amount of force (working with the players strength and weapon weight). Then divide that force depended on both the weapon and the armour. For instance, if I were to slash you with a sword (not hack or stab) I would be focusing my kinetic energy on cutting, but if I struck my opponents chain mail (coverage modifiers go here), all of the cutting damage would be negated, but a certain amount would be transferred to blunt damage. Hacking would transfer more damage to blunt against chain mail, but would be a slower strike, and have a chance of getting stuck on lots of damage (to opponent or armour). So I guess the player should also have a quick, strike-type option, something that could be automated for people with super-lag (don't want to be stabbing with a hammer).
 Platemail is the one that gets general damage reduction, from being able to spread the force of any blow of the respective plate. Pierce a hole though and the attacker gets the drive it in for full damage.

 Define "necessary". [: To whom and why?
 You could cull every post not directly responding to the first one, or even my response could be considered utterly necessary for both our understanding. Is the definition whatever it feels like at the time?

Hang in there, you're not the first person to get tripped up by the above... Everyone that has played PS for any amount of time has had to learn/relearn the above at one time or the other, even more than a few "veterans."

This implies that you think it should not be changed, is this correct? (Y/N)
 Y: If you're going through a dark hallway, and trip on a rock, do you leave it there for the next person?
 N: Glorious, how do you think it should be changed, and what do you think should be added? Put any concise suggestions on the bugtracker.

 I opened up a bug report to take care of it completely for 4-5 years.
 Suggest things to go on the character creation list and just what the descriptions should be changed to.

 Do you refer to an old ~DnD GM, or a Plane Shift GM?

 Stereotypes are harder to role-play than a simple person, even a full person, since stereotypes tend not to exist outside our imagination. At least in my experience.

 

Good.