Movement Messages

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Currently, the movement messages are reversed from room to room.

For instance, if someone in the room you leave sees, The big man walks south, using a staff, the player in the room you enter sees, Using a staff, the big man has arrived from the north.

Can we have the form standardized, please, so that the premote appears in the same place for either leaving or arriving? In other words, The big man walks south, using a staff and The big man has arrived from the north, using a staff.

[Xygax]

Why?

[Tamarin]

Because it's discontiguous with how emotes work in every other scenario.  That is, unless command emotes on movement are subject to the difference between ( ) and [ ] when adding your tag.

[LoD]

I don't think a change is necessary because the message is more accurate when presented in its current format.

It may not be plain why this reverse order makes sense when you use a tagline such as "Leaning on a staff."  However, if you use messages that have any kind of implication where you're coming from, or an action you took before walking, the sentence reads in the order of action.

Room 1

>north pushing aside the tarp
The willowy, black haired man walks north, pushing aside the tarp.

This is accurate.  The man began walking north, then pushed aside the tarp and continued on his way out to the street, alley, next room, etc...

Room 2

Pushing aside the tarp, the willowy, black haired man has arrived from the south.

This, too, is accurate.  Your character would see the tarp be pushed aside first followed by the person walking through it and onto the street.

This reverse order is actually a superior model for presenting movement messages than the one suggested by the OP because it places any action items in order of event rather than in a standard order.  I have no problem with the way this has been implemented, nor with the fact that movement messages work differently than other emote models because it -is- different.

The code does not distinguish between an emote that accentuates a type of movement (i.e. walking slowly, swiftly, quietly, head lowered, shuffling) and an added gesture/action prior to the movement (i.e. shoving an elf out of his way, stepping through the doorway, drawing his sword).  I'd rather keep the reverse order so that the actions are presently correctly rather than to suit someone's desire for standardization.

-LoD

[spawnloser]

Yeah, I'm with LoD on this one.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Why?

Well, before LoD's post, I would have said, "Because it requires more thought than the other emotes due to the odd way it switchs between departure and arrival."

Now, I withdraw that argument.

Now, I would like to hope that you plan on adding [] to movement. I tried this the other day and didn't even think that it might not be in. I had to read the help file on movement to know it.

[Cale_Knight]

(i.e. shoving an elf out of his way, stepping through the doorway, drawing his sword).

Smoking a pipe, humming a quiet tune, glancing over his shoulder.

There are plenty of action tags that wouldn't necessarily be the very first thing a person would notice, so I don't think your argument really holds water.

What it comes down to is that players should have the choice on what they want to emphasis.

I think adding () [] functionality and allowing both pre- and post-emotes would be just peachy here. We've already standardized look, now we should do the same for movement emotes.

[Delirium]

I think adding () [] functionality and allowing both pre- and post-emotes would be just peachy here. We've already standardized look, now we should do the same for movement emotes.

Yeah, plus, I don't see a reason why not, and being able to see these would also be nice for logging purposes, on top of the other reasons stated previously in the thread (i.e. noticing how your emote looks, whether you're running/walking/sneaking).

Sometimes I think LoD is addicted to writing long-winded, well-structured posts for the pure hell of argument.

[LoD]

Sometimes I think LoD is addicted to writing long-winded, well-structured posts for the pure hell of argument.

u be silence!!  i m outragged that u wud suggist this!!!

Smoking a pipe, humming a quiet tune, glancing over his shoulder.  There are plenty of action tags that wouldn't necessarily be the very first thing a person would notice, so I don't think your argument really holds water.

I'm not sure you understood what my arguement was, which was that the reverse order format for movement messages is superior to keeping them standard between rooms.  My reasoning for this arguement is that while examples such as yours don't really matter one way or the other...

Jo-jo has walks east, humming a tune.
Humming a tune, jo-ho has arrived from the west.

...there are some taglines and action sequences that do.

Jo-jo runs north, shoving the tarp aside.
Shoving the tarp aside, Jo-jo has arrived from the south.

So, if we have a choice of a model that better conveys the action more effectively some of the time, then that's the one I choose.  And it happens to be the one that's presently in the game.

I think adding () [] functionality and allowing both pre- and post-emotes would be just peachy here. We've already standardized look, now we should do the same for movement emotes.

A method to choose how the message is conveyed sounds like a fine suggestion.  I'd likely continue using the message as it always had been, but for people who really want to be seen smoking their pipe AFTER they're seen walking down the road, this would be great.

-LoD

[Yang]

I think the ()[] standardization should continue. I have seen a drastic improvement in the learning curve of such commands for newbies, and consequently, less spam, as you can effectively 'emote' while doing coded actions. Now, one line of text might replace 3 or 4, and I've been able to be much more liberal with \n in my prompts.

All we need to do now is figure out the !@#$%^&* situation, which honest to god, in all my 12 years playing, I have not been able to get the hang of without typing help emote. But it could just be me. I'm willing to come to terms with that, if that's the case.