Hmm, Ember, let's avoid jests and let's focus on what matters, come on. :P
Here the point is not whether doppelgangers are a bad race because of their abilities. With this new GUI anybody with change self at will has the same damaging potential. I.e. succubi, brachina, etc.
Nor is whether somebody with change self should be able to emulate somebody's else. It is something generally included in that ability. And having a pair of screenshots really does not make copying appearances so difficult in any case.
The point here, in my humble opinion, is whether it should be
so easy for a doppelganger to copy another character.
And there are plenty of reasons to argue it should not.
-First and foremost the lore explicitly says that a) they study their victims for a long time b) they are very accurate in portraying them (90-95%, which anyway leads them to be discovered relatively soon). Now this is clearly not compatible with the zap-metamorphosis. Because to be accurate in emulating someone else you need to study them for a while.
-Second, as Mr O pointed out, it encourages a lazy and griefing playstyle. In my opinion this also diverts the players from what I see as the most rewarding and stimulating way to play such a race. Which is essentially not by copying someone but by creating a series of alternate identities. If somebody is familiar with early XX century literature I can point out a doppelganger as an exquisite way to portray the idea of the "masks" found for example in the Italian writer Luigi Pirandello, such as
this or
this novel.
-Third, if somebody has not the time to stay there and tailor their fake appearances, again, in my opinion, then they have probably chosen the wrong race to play. Because, if a race is about taking alternative identities, employing a good amount of time in perfecting them is really the first thing that race is expected to do. And also what actually should attract players to it.
And the first point would probably be enough just alone.
