Yeah, fireballing the swarthy half-elf, seared halfling, or nondescript human in your group can be really frustrating, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's gotten stuck trying to figure out why I couldn't ever get past that locked southeast door in the outpost because the game kept thinking I was trying to get philosophical and unlock myself.
As a side note, for all you MUSHClient users, you might benefit from
this link to accomplish the same goal.
http://www.shatteredkingdoms.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=20819