Solo emotes

[theebie]

hi,

the issue about solo emoting.
lets say you play a hunter, and go hunt alone sometimes.

now after several rl-month of play, the threehundredfiftyseventh duskhorn finds its early, unnatural death.

how many ways are there to emote skinning a duskhorn ? and even
more important, is it -necessary- to emote how to skin it ?
if some other player is there, sure, its rp-interaction, but alone ?

i m not sure...

---theebie---

[Rindan]

Emoting is a pretty good method of self regulation.  If you slow down and take the time to emote, you probably are in no danger of spamming your way around the world killing thousands of duskhorn.  If you log on for an hour and do nothing but ride around killing things and never once emote, you are probably doing something wrong.

It isn't that you need to emote before or after you do any coded action.  The point is that this is a role playing game.  You can't possibly be role playing if you never rise above the code a little.  There is no 'one emote per three coded actions' rule.  Just realize that you are trying to flesh out a character in a living and breathing world.  If you just wander from 'room' to 'room' slaughtering and skinning, you probably are not fleshing out much.

When you emote really depends upon your intent.  There have been times when I have spent half of a Zalanthas day going from one end of the city to the other because I emoted out the entire trip like it was a small story.  There have also been times when I have walked from Allanak to Red Storm in a hurry because I needed to meet someone before I logged and so barely slowed down to even look and see if the way was safe.

Some days you are in a hurry from point A to B and don't bother to emote skinning.  Some days you are in no rush and so spend some quality time describing how you gut the duskhorn.  There is no rule on how many times you have to emote.  Just keep in mind that you have a living and breathing character and you don't win if you kill the most duskhorn.

If someone was watching you and filtered out the movement spam, what would you look like?  Kill, skin, kill, skin, kill, skin, kill, skin?  Or would they see the story of a lone ranger out on the hunt for his next meal in a barren and dangerous wasteland?

[theebie]

you didnt get my point.

my point is: when i m alone, and riding out, i think about how i skin it in my mind, i picture it out, and everything is fine, rp-wise, for me.
noone else will see it though, since i dont write it down.

why dont i write it down ? because i m solo.

[bloodfromstone]

I would suggest continuing to emote to yourself, even if it is very basic.
The duskhorn says, as it dies, in duskhorn-accent Sirihish, "Blargh!"
emote kicks ~body over and kneels beside it.
skin duskhorn

Or

emote slides an arrow from ~quiver, taking aim as he pulls back ~bow.
shoot fatty n
pull arrow
shoot fatty n
pull arrow...
etc

Just keep yourself in the practice. It is all too easy to fall into seeing the code and text rather than the world, if you don't. Stay simple and save the fancy emoting for when others are around if you don't enjoy solo-RP. I know I don't. But emote -something-. Paint the scene a little, even if you're mostly relying on what's in your head.

[Larrath]

If you have the energy to do so, you should always emote, even when alone.
You never know who might be watching - it could be a staff member that will bring the surroundings to life or it could be some evil badass magicker.

Emotes make it much cooler.

[rishenko]

I agree with Larrath, you never EVER know who could be watching.  Especially as a hunter, you would be surprised by the number of elves observing, hidden from a bush, or better yet, some gicker watching from above.  Also, as noted, stopping to emote forces you to really think about what you are doing and keep you from raping the world.  

Sure, your character might be in a hurry because dusk is about to fade and you know the bahamets are about.  Even then, though, show the concern of the character, have them glance at the sky, make their motions a little quick, have them grab the things off the ground and scurry back to their mount.

kill duskhorn

emote lifts the neck of the duskhorn, slitting its throat with his blade.  He glances up at the fading light before dropping the head of the duskhorn and drawing his skinning knife.

sheath longsword
draw skinning sheath
skin body

emote makes quick work of the body then absently cleans the blade on the grass.

emote tosses the animal parts haphazardly into a bag, turning to jog back to his kank.

*toss parts in bag*

mount

emote Looking back at the setting Krath before kicking the sides of his kank, @ hurries off into the distance.

w

kill duskhorn

emote jams his blade into the side of the duskhorn before sheathing it and drawing his skinning knife.

sheath longsword
draw skinning

emote squats down by the body, separating its parts with his blade, his movements quick and loose.

skin body
*get the stuff, toss it in the bag*
mount
w (glancing at the setting Krath)

Also, if you have a set goal for the day's hunt (two birds, two flying man things, two poisonous bugs), then you can use thinks and feels to reflect your character's attitude about the day's work.  The emotes might show how your character was more careful in the morning, but as the end of the day approached, their moves became bit lazy.

Also, the elves that are watching may decide that you are in too much of a hurry to deal with, or may find disrespect in your haphazard actions and decide to deal with you on the spot.

[marko]

I'm often really bad about emoting while alone.

I did (and still do, although not as much) what the original poster does - play out the scene in my mind without bothering to transfer it out to the game.  This can lead for long periods of apparent nothingness other than coded actions.

Really, if you are paying enough attention, do the emotes since they can make even solo gaming more interesting and you never know what is watching.  Don't worry about playing for the imms - play for yourself.

Typically, if you are emoting out the scene and thinking it - then you are making the scene more interesting to you and, again, you never know who may stumble upon you or is watching from a few rooms distant.

A lot of times you can tell if I'm fully paying attention to the game by my level of involvement.  Involvement being emotes and, as I attempt to create a new habit, thinks.  Quick, short, and terse emotes are a fairly good indicator that I'm doing something else as I play.  Which, I suppose, is better than what I did before which was nothing at all.  

Anyway, my advice, is try and do them.  Create the scene in the game and you may be surprised to see that it makes playing it out a little more enjoyable to you.  If it feels repetitive then you can start adding in stuff like,

>emote with a familiar-looking motion, @ flips over ~corpse and brings ~knife to its side.

[LoD]

Your character shouldn't be any different alone than they are in company.

Consistency is one of the things I always try to maintain with my characters in terms of how they laugh, sit, walk, talk, move, etc...  As Larrath said, you never know who is watching and I know that I am always impressed when I come across someone who thinks they are alone and they are still using a good deal of emotes to demonstrate what and how they are acting.

It may seem boring to RP skinning your 465th duskhorn, though that may also encourage you to hunt them less.  However, if you don't want to use the same old skinning emote, throw some other stuff in there while you move through your regular options.  Perhaps there is a young gimpka rat following you around that you watch as you skin.  Maybe you're developing a rash and have to scratch it or complain every time you dismount.  Think bigger than the simple skinning and toward other situations that may come up in the area you hunt and how you can use that environment to enhance an otherwise mundane task.

-LoD

[mansa]

Or, remember that you're never alone.

:P

[grog]

The immortals do see you, and while they may not punish you for not emoting (unless your just hunting all day every day)  there is a reward for telling an engaging story

[Agent_137]

I personally like to see the slice of the image in my mind become code, become recorded both in my logs and in ginka's logs.

Sure, I step up the emotes when others are around, but I still certainly emote, for my own good, when they aren't.

And I typically do a LOT of "think" when alone, which practically drops off to nil when I start interacting with people.

[sarahjc]

As others said, you really never do know when you are alone or who is watching you. While I can understand the idea of thinking out your actions and not typing that down, you are really missing out on a bit of the game experience that way.

As Rindan said, if you have the time, take the time to do it. It will enhance your role play as well as enhance the story for anyone who may be watching you.

[bloodfromstone]

And I typically do a LOT of "think"

Ditto. Solo-RP is a great time to develop your PCs inner voice. I'm often surprised by the terms a PC of mine will start thinking in. Suddenly I realize the tough bastard I'm playing actually talks down to himself constantly in his head. Maybe that's why he's so mean. Etc, etc...

[amoeba]

I agree with what everyone is saying, but I also understand the tedium of doing the same thing ad-nausium.  Here is my approach to this.

Look at solo emoting of the skinning as an opportunity rather than a chore.  Use this time where you are alone (usually) and refine your writting skills.   If you emote a particularly nice emote, save it as a macro for your client.  The advantage of this is that during those times when coming up with yet another unique emote eludes you, then you can pull out a stock emote and move on.  Just be cautious to do this sparingly as you willl find it becomes stale and does not eat up enough time.

Also, remember you don't have to emote about the skinning itself.  Use the enivonment around you to enhance the scene and your mood.  This is one area I need the most work on, but it is also sometimes the most rewarding.  Think about how your back is killing you after riding hard  to chase down that johzal.  Think about the girl you are riding to meet in Luir's after you have downed enough game for the day.  Notice the sunlight glinting off the trail of blood gushing off the neck of the duskhorn you slaughtered.  Then just skin the corpse.  There is no rule that you -must- describe the act of skinning.  The code does that.  If fact it is my contention if all you are doing is in essence extending what the code already does, then your roleplay is not near as strong as to when you try to show more about your character and thier outlook on the world.

[Cenghiz]

Emote if you're not about to fall on the keyboard asleep.. It's practice, it lets you feel what your chacter does and some folks watch and enjoy it even when you're totally unaware.

[Cale_Knight]

I play this game to interact with other players. I know that emoting while alone might provide entertainment for a hiding elf or insight for an immortal, but I simply don't have fun doing the solo thing.

I solo emote when I'm doing something coded and repetitive, like a daily beating on a sparring dummy. Otherwise, I take zero pleasure from it.

Now, that's an attitude that I'm sure has and will cost me the chance at karma points, but I feel that so long as you're not breaking rules, you should play this game for yourself (so long as you're not in a leadership role).

[adrien]

personally i emote 100X more with people then with out


i try to put an expression in all my speaking and make some fun while walking or running threw the desert

personally if an imm is watching me it wont bother me at all I wont change much i play for my own enjoyment, I always have an exploritory hunter for the last few years. I follow the rules and enjoy my self

[Supreme Allah]

It's good to be as consistent with your emotes and your thinks by yourself as you are with others, but there are certainly times when that is difficult.

Like another said, my think rate seems to go up when I'm by myself while my emote rate goes down. The opposite is also true. I'd rather I was more consistent, but I find it difficult to emote with any amount of detail or speed and think out lengthy thoughts at the same time. I still both emote and think among one another, but one or the other often gets more sparse, depending on the situation. I don't really think that's terrible of me to do or to reccommend here.

As long as you're putting enough effort into one or both when it is appropriate and convenient for you, there should be no worry about the Immortals wanting to eat your brains over the matter. But both are THE forms of expressing your character. Don't slack on them if you can help it.

It's also worth noting that emotes and dialogue alone aren't roleplay, but they are everything when it comes to supporting and encouraging roleplay, as they are what is most visible to your fellow player.

[Zharal]

Personally, if your solo rping and dont feel like emoting,.. don't.  We rp cause we need to, we emote cause we feel creative and want to bring the world around us more alive, if ya feeling kinda blah and are alone, I say do want you want, or need to have a good time with it.

[path]

Of course, I don't think it's obligatory, but I'm not sure that's your question at all.

The only thing I wanted to add is maybe you're too focused on the skinning, slaughtering aspect of emoting the hunt. Bloody knives and animal tracks. Sure writing about the same thing over and over gets boring. You might switch the focus of your emotes to instead include the sound of the winds across the dunes/through the trees/wailing along the plains. Add in the quality of the sharp early morning light. Switch to thinking about the hot chick you saw in the street or make up a mini plot for yourself where you notice the animal you thought was dead was still alive.. ie, being skinned alive. Or maybe you think that you took a wrong turn but you didn't, or did, and become slightly lost, your mind being elsewhere. Maybe you think you heard someone. Maybe you develop paranoias or compound superstitions about the forces of the different moons during hunting in your thoughts. Maybe you come up with your own.

Ohh.. or you could chase an VNPC monsterously large white carru for miles, only to find yourself lost and the strange creature vanished...

Anyway, the point I'm getting at is that as long as you're sticking to the same stuff it's bound to get dull. So instead of finding new ways to dig the edge of your blade benealth that fine-looking pelt before you pluck out some organs, you can shift your creative focus elsewhere.

[Ritley]

I can understand what you're saying, but to me it's sounding like you're asking us if it's alright if you don't emote at all. I always find putting what you see in you're head into writing allows you to carry some of you're characters emotion onto you're self. Emoting does not make RP, but it's no fun not emoting, and you don't enjoy the RP as much. Sure, don't emote when you're hunting a duskhorn, but you will get bored pretty quick. There is a unlimited amount of emotes to reflect any character at anytime, remember that.