Emotes =, +, !, &

[Tulana]

I don't understand how to use them. I'd appreciate some examples please!

Also this paragraph from the help files confuses me:

Multiple options exist for specifying a command emote. A one-word emote, like "nodding", can be specified with a preceding dash, like -nodding. More complex emotes can be enclosed in parantheses (), square brackets [], or asterisks **.

I understand the examples:

    > say -gruffly Got any spice?
    Gruffly, you ask, in sirihish, 'Got any spice?"

    > say [in a low voice] You got any spice?
    In a low voice, you ask, in sirihish: 'You got any spice?'

    > north *limping heavily*

    > look elf (with contempt)
    With contempt, you look at the elf.

    > look elf [with contempt]
    You look at the elf, with contempt.

...but I don't see why use one of the symbols over another ? They produce the same effect.

[Is Friday]

^his/her
!him/her
#he/she

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

If you are asking about the examples, it is to provide the ability to grammerically flow correctly. () proceeds the command, [] follows the command. I didn't know anything about **, as it never occured to me to even attempt.

If you are actually asking about the symbols to proceed keywords (~man/!man/%man/etc), I am not sure what you do not understand.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

First, !

! is him/her, which makes more sense to differentiate as 'him'.  The way to remember the difference in my head is mostly between his (^) and him (!) since ^ and ! both will read to you and others as 'her'.

emote peers at ~amos, and touches !amos.

Would show up in the room as -> The skinny lad peers at the tall, muscular man and, and touches him.
It would show up to Amos as -> The skinny lad peers at you, and touches you.

Then, &

& is himself/herself.

emote touches &amos

Would show up to the room as -> The tall, muscular man touches himself.
Would show up to Amos as -> You touches yourself.

It doesn't make much grammatical sense to you, but it does to everyone around you.

+ and = are the same thing, which is 'his/hers'

It's just that = shows the entire mdesc, like %, and + shows his/hers, similar to how ^ functions.

emote kisses ~talia and lays his hand over +talia.

Would show up to the room as -> The tall, muscular man kisses the tall, muscular woman and lays his hand over hers.
Would show up to Talia as -> The tall, muscular man kisses you and lays his hand over yours.

emote presses ^me lips against =talia.

Would show up to the room as -> The tall, muscular man presses his lips against the tall, muscular woman's.
Would show up to Talia as -> The tall, muscular man presses his lips against yours.

Hope that helped.

[Tulana]

^his/her
!him/her
#he/she

Hey, thanks. I learned about the '!' though I don't get why you'd use that over ~ which means the same thing?

But what I'm asking for are specifically the symbols in the title of the thread. I know about the rest (^, #, etc)

[Tulana]

If you are asking about the examples, it is to provide the ability to grammerically flow correctly. () proceeds the command, [] follows the command. I didn't know anything about **, as it never occured to me to even attempt.

If you are actually asking about the symbols to proceed keywords (~man/!man/%man/etc), I am not sure what you do not understand.

Ah, that makes sense.

I meant specifically the symbols =, +, !, &

I couldn't find info or examples on what they do that other symbols don't already do

[Is Friday]

^his/her
!him/her
#he/she

Hey, thanks. I learned about the '!' though I don't get why you'd use that over ~ which means the same thing?

In case you want a shorter sentence, so as not to reach the emote limit or for it to be read easier if you've already used ~ in that emote/say. For instance:

em waves to ~amos before motioning for !amos to sit down.

Malik waves to the tall, muscular man before motioning for him to sit down.

As opposed to:

Malik waves to the tall, muscular man before motioning for the tall, muscular man to sit down.

[Tulana]

First, !

! is him/her, which makes more sense to differentiate as 'him'.  The way to remember the difference in my head is mostly between his (^) and him (!) since ^ and ! both will read to you and others as 'her'.

emote peers at ~amos, and touches !amos.

Would show up in the room as -> The skinny lad peers at the tall, muscular man and, and touches him.
It would show up to Amos as -> The skinny lad peers at you, and touches you.

Then, &

& is himself/herself.

emote touches &amos

Would show up to the room as -> The tall, muscular man touches himself.
Would show up to Amos as -> You touches yourself.

It doesn't make much grammatical sense to you, but it does to everyone around you.

+ and = are the same thing, which is 'his/hers'

It's just that = shows the entire mdesc, like %, and + shows his/hers, similar to how ^ functions.

emote kisses ~talia and lays his hand over +talia.

Would show up to the room as -> The tall, muscular man kisses the tall, muscular woman and lays his hand over hers.
Would show up to Talia as -> The tall, muscular man kisses you and lays his hand over yours.

emote presses ^me lips against =talia.

Would show up to the room as -> The tall, muscular man presses his lips against the tall, muscular woman's.
Would show up to Talia as -> The tall, muscular man presses his lips against yours.

Hope that helped.

Ahh thank you. But again, why not use just % and ^ instead of = and + if they mean the same thing?

[Tulana]

^his/her
!him/her
#he/she

Hey, thanks. I learned about the '!' though I don't get why you'd use that over ~ which means the same thing?

In case you want a shorter sentence, so as not to reach the emote limit or for it to be read easier if you've already used ~ in that emote/say. For instance:

em waves to ~amos before motioning for !amos to sit down.

Malik waves to the tall, muscular man before motioning for him to sit down.

As opposed to:

Malik waves to the tall, muscular man before motioning for the tall, muscular man to sit down.

Ahh thanks!!

[Tulana]

I've two new questions:

1. Would it be ok to use this? :

:pulls ^me legs close to her body and wraps them with ^me arms

2. This I read in the help files, but didn't know you could combine two symbols.

eat (lowering ^@ head) meat [then looks up and wipes ^@ mouth]

Can you do this with other symbols?

[Lizzie]

Yes you can use "me" and there are examples on the GDB of people using it scattered around various threads. Personally, I just type in the pronoun when I'm referring to myself, because it's one less symbol I have to remember not to screw up.

emote looks down at her hands and flexes her fingers.

as opposed to:

emote looks down at ^me hands and flexes ^me fingers.

"her" is infinitely easier to type than "^me", requires the same number of characters to type, and echoes the exact same to anyone watching other than myself. It doesn't matter how it looks to me, since emote echoes sometimes look weird when you're referring to your own character in them anyway.

[FantasyWriter]

Yes you can use "me" and there are examples on the GDB of people using it scattered around various threads. Personally, I just type in the pronoun when I'm referring to myself, because it's one less symbol I have to remember not to screw up.

I do this too.  The only one who sees an improper echo is you (which you are already seeing since it shows you your sdesc instead of 'you').

[Shiroi Tsuki]

Ahh thank you. But again, why not use just % and ^ instead of = and + if they mean the same thing?

They are similar, but not the same thing.  If you did..

emote kisses ~talia and lays his hand over ^talia.

Would show up to the room as -> The tall, muscular man kisses the tall, muscular woman and lays his hand over her.
Would show up to Talia as -> The tall, muscular man kisses you and lays his hand over your.

Neither shows up correctly.  Where as with +

emote kisses ~talia and lays his hand over +talia.

Would show up to the room as -> The tall, muscular man kisses the tall, muscular woman and lays his hand over hers.
Would show up to Talia as -> The tall, muscular man kisses you and lays his hand over yours.

That shows up correctly.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

Also, the only reason I use ^me instead of 'his' is because occasionally I will play characters of a different gender, and being in this habit has been the only thing that has prevented me from publicly screwing up the gender of a new character on more than one occasion.

That might not seem like much of a reason, but I personally am just used to it.  Since it doesn't show up improperly to anybody except you, in this incarnation of the game, I don't see why it would matter much.  I'm looking forward to Arm2, when if I set my entire thing to do first person, the whole string will always show up first person.

[Lizzie]

Yep it's definitely a matter of preference, as long as it's just your own character you're doing it with. I've seen a few instances of:

>The green-eyed man waves his hand to greet the brown-haired woman.

And *I* was the brown-haired woman. Talk about strange, seeing someone waving to someone else, but that someone else was me. I keep typing "look" to see if there was someone with the same sdesc as me in the room when that happens. The funniest ones are when we misdirect a keyword. Like, reaching into the female wearing the red silk veil, when you're actually trying to reach into your blue silk bag. I think we've all done that a few times!

[fourTwenty]

Can this be made a sticky. I've picked up on quite a bit I didn't know from this thread.

[Tulana]

I haven't seen stickies... There are tons and tons of threads worthy to be stickied, but I don't think they ever will be. I bookmark good threads in furl.net under Arm.
Maybe the Creators could take this as a hint to reorganize the emoting help file or to create that emoting tutorial I suggested

Thanks Lizzie and Shiroi. No one answered this though  :

2. This I read in the help files, but didn't know you could combine two symbols.

eat (lowering ^@ head) meat [then looks up and wipes ^@ mouth]

Can you do this with other symbols?

[Shiroi Tsuki]

That isn't anything I've ever tried, since doing ^@ seems a lot more awkward to me than just doing ^me.

I would assume though if it parses correctly for the one symbol, it would parse for all of them.  Since it would be silly for a coder to write that as an exception ONLY into the code for the ^ symbol, instead of into the code for emote symbols in general.

[Delstro]

I can't use two symbols.

The Rock looks at ^the tights-wearing, shaven man.

[Gunnerblaster]

I can't use two symbols.

The Rock looks at ^the tights-wearing, shaven man.

That would be... Wrong, in a sense.

What everyone else would see:
The rock looks at his.

What the tights-wearing, shaven man sees:
The rock looks at your.

This is how, I, as a player group the emote commands.

~ = The tights-wearing, shaven wo/man
! = Him/Her

% = The tights-wearing, shaven wo/man's
^ = His/Her

Here are some examples I use with @.

>Grunting, @ turns around to face the horizon.

Code Select Expand

Grunting, the tights-wearing, shaven man turns around to face the horizon.

or

>Snorting at ~man, @ takes a step back, slashing out at ^man wrist.

Code Select Expand

Snorting at the tall, muscular man, the tights-wearing, shaven man takes a step back, slashing out at his (The tall muscular man's) wrist.

[Delstro]

You are wrong, Gunnerblaster. Your examples make me feel like you missunderstood.

I cannot use ~ and @ together. I can't use one to target the other. It won't work.

[Gunnerblaster]

You are wrong, Gunnerblaster. Your examples make me feel like you missunderstood.

I cannot use ~ and @ together. I can't use one to target the other. It won't work.

Oh, yeah - In that case, I am wrong.

But why would you try to target yourself? ~ is to target and @ is for yourself. Could you give an example of what your trying to accomplish by ~@ yourself?

Edited to add:
~ is typically used to target objects either ON your character, objects in the room, or someone else.

@ activates your short desc when inserted further along in an emote.

[Delstro]

You got me, I don't know either. I was addressing a previous post.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

For the record (I just played with this) using ^@, !@, or any other sort of emote symbol and @ does not work to target yourself.

The only way @ works is if you want to insert your name in the middle of an emote.

For instance, emote Bending, @ surveys the ground.

Trying to do emote slaps ^@ hand to ^@ head is not going to parse correctly.  It'll throw your sdesc in there twice, while showing the ^ thingies.

[jmordetsky]

Is there a way to accomplish:

the something, something man says, "This is the first part of what I want to say." then glances over his shoulder and continues, "This is the second part of what I want to say."

[Gimfalisette]

Is there a way to accomplish:

the something, something man says, "This is the first part of what I want to say." then glances over his shoulder and continues, "This is the second part of what I want to say."

Only this:

Code Select Expand

say This is the first part of what I want to say.

say (then glances over ^me shoulder and continues) This is the second part of what I want to say.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

There is no way to insert an emote into the middle of a say line.  I've seen a couple people try to do this in various ways, and it turns out awkwardly.

I would recommend using two different says, perhaps with an ellipsis at the end of the first to indicate there's more to come.

[jmordetsky]

Is there a way to accomplish:

the something, something man says, "This is the first part of what I want to say." then glances over his shoulder and continues, "This is the second part of what I want to say."

Only this:

Code Select Expand

say This is the first part of what I want to say.

say (then glances over ^me shoulder and continues) This is the second part of what I want to say.

There is no way to insert an emote into the middle of a say line.  I've seen a couple people try to do this in various ways, and it turns out awkwardly.

I would recommend using two different says, perhaps with an ellipsis at the end of the first to indicate there's more to come.

Darn. Thought that went in.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

Alas    At least not that I know about, and I try to keep up on things like that.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Code Select Expand

tell lad (pursing his lips) Look, I am getting tired of this. (Shrugging then, ^me continues) "But if that's the way it's got to go.

Pursing his lips, you say to the brawny lad, in sirihish:
   "Look, I am getting tired of this."
Shrugging then, you continue:
   "But if that's the way it's got to go."
Eh, I don't know ... it might be able to be worked out to be less awkward ... I'd love to be able to do it.

[Gimfalisette]

Usually I do it like this:

Code Select Expand

Pursing your lips, you say to the brawny lad, in sirihish:
      "Look, I'm getting tired of this. But if that's the way it's got to go..."

Letting the words trail off, the tall muscular woman shrugs.

So emote / say / emote, basically. If you know you're doing it ahead of time you can use your MUD client's separator character to put the two things out at once.

Code Select Expand

tell lad (pursing ^me lips) Look, I'm getting tired of this. But if that's the way
it's got to go...;emote Letting the words trail off, @ shrugs

[Tulana]

Off-topic... Another rpi mud I visit uses travel emote and object emote. The former is obvious; the latter is used for arranging the way objects look in a room, example: "a dagger is stuck in a painting here, its blade glinting with red". Would we ever see something like this on Arm, or is there no point to it?

[Gimfalisette]

Off-topic... Another rpi mud I visit uses travel emote and object emote. The former is obvious; the latter is used for arranging the way objects look in a room, example: "a dagger is stuck in a painting here, its blade glinting with red". Would we ever see something like this on Arm, or is there no point to it?

You want the arrange command.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

We do have that, it's called arrange.  You used show where the item is, and you can do an emote with it.

You can also simply use it when dropping an item.

drop dagger ~ lies here, blade stained red.

Would show, A small obsidian dagger lies here, blade stained red.

Or you could do,

drop dagger
arrange dagger ~ lies here, blade stained red.

For the same effect.  I just prefer the first option.

And you can use an emote, in parentheses, with either.

[brytta.leofa]

But not:
> arrange cloak The gigantic and obese figure in ~ lunges at you, bellowing a bloodcurdling cry!

[Gimfalisette]

But not:
> arrange cloak The gigantic and obese figure in ~ lunges at you, bellowing a bloodcurdling cry!

Not even for a form of Zalanthan performance art?

[Rahnevyn]

Armageddon also features travel emotes:

north (whistling while he works)

[Tulana]

Armageddon also features travel emotes:

north (whistling while he works)

Would the emote be the same if you decided to travel south? Or would it be nulled? Do you have to re-enter it every time?

[tortall]

For every time you type a direction, if you want to emote with it, you have to type the emote again.

s (whistling) w(whistling) w(whistling) ect

[Cutthroat]

It's also probably worth mentioning that none of the emote symbols will show properly in a travel emote.

If you do

> n (shaking ^me head)

People will see

Shaking ^me head, the tall, muscular man walks north.

[Lou]

 %       (sdesc)'s       your
!       him/her         you
^       his/her         your
#       he/she          you
&       himself/herself yourself
=       (sdesc)'s       yours
+       his/hers        yours

This has probably been addressed a hundred times, but I can't find it via search. So. It is possible to brainstorm a simpler way of handling these things? They're ... not easy for the newbie.

Something like, instead of:

emo smiles at ~skinny, reaching for ^skinny hand and watching to see how #skinny reacts.

emo smiles at ~skinny, looking at {his}skinny hand and watching to see how {he}skinny reacts. (Or {her} and {she}, of course.)

Obviously, not necessarily with brackets, but with -some- mark that actually encompassed the part of speech you wanted to target. Does that make sense? An easy coding change?

[Qzzrbl]

%       (sdesc)'s       your
!       him/her         you
^       his/her         your
#       he/she          you
&       himself/herself yourself
=       (sdesc)'s       yours
+       his/hers        yours

This has probably been addressed a hundred times, but I can't find it via search. So. It is possible to brainstorm a simpler way of handling these things? They're ... not easy for the newbie.

Something like, instead of:

emo smiles at ~skinny, reaching for ^skinny hand and watching to see how #skinny reacts.

emo smiles at ~skinny, looking at {his}skinny hand and watching to see how {he}skinny reacts. (Or {her} and {she}, of course.)

Obviously, not necessarily with brackets, but with -some- mark that actually encompassed the part of speech you wanted to target. Does that make sense? An easy coding change?

I kinda like this idea....

But what will determine what the target sees?

[Lou]

Well, my idea is that the commands would work exactly the same as currently.


So '... how {he}skinny reacts...' would be exactly the same as '... how #skinny reacts ...'

You'd see the same, the others in the room would see the same, the target would see the same with {he} as #.

{him} = !
{his} = ^
{he} = #
{himself} = &

I'm not sure how it's work for = and + and &, but maybe someone else can refine the idea. And even cutting out a few of the &#$%!^ things would be great.

[musashi]

To be honest, my first 3 months of Arm were played with the website-based helpfile for emoting loaded up in another window for easy access. It's not easy for a newbie to grasp, I agree. But I feel like it's just one of those things that you have to grit your teeth and practice to get the hang of. There aren't any magick pills to make it easier to digest imo. 

[tortall]

And try remember to think about what other people in the room see when you type it.

= and + are for echoing back yours. There is a HUGE difference between that and %/^. As in, it won't jar me out of real life.

I don't think I've EVER used &, in all my years. I can't even think of how I COULD use it... Anyone got any examples?

[Marauder Moe]

{him} = !
{his} = ^
{he} = #
{himself} = &

I like this idea.

FYI, though, this would be really easy to do in client-side aliases.

[Lou]

There aren't any magick pills to make it easier to digest imo. 

You don't think this would help? Giving newbies the option of memorizing '{him}' as an emote command instead of '!'? Seems to me that'd be much easier, and there's no reason to accept how hard this emoting is, at least not before looking into some alternatives.

And try remember to think about what other people in the room see when you type it.

= and + are for echoing back yours. There is a HUGE difference between that and %/^. As in, it won't jar me out of real life.

I don't think I've EVER used &, in all my years. I can't even think of how I COULD use it... Anyone got any examples?

This doesn't change what anyone sees, or what gets echoed back, or anything like that. It changes nothing at all except what I, the player, type into my mudclient. Instead of typing "emo whistles at ~frail, ogling ^frail cleavage and watching to see how #frail reacts," I type "emo whistles at ~frail, ogling {her}frail and cleavage and watching to see how {she}frail reacts."

For me, at least, that's many, many times easier. But maybe this would be tough to code?

As for an example of &, how about:

emo watches as ~frail dusts &frail off.

(Which in my scheme is 'emo watches as ~frail dusts {herself}frail off.' See how much easier!)

[a strange shadow]

It's also a lot more typing.

I suspect, that as you get familiar with the emote symbols, they'll become second nature and you'll be grateful for the simple keystrokes. It took me a while to really settle in with them, but now I barely have to think about it.

[musashi]

I'm of the mind that what you suggest would just be a different flavor of the same kind of headache that new people experience when testing the waters of our emote code. Of course that's just my opinion based on nothing but what I'm thinking at the moment but ... I just feel like whether of not the syntax is & or {him/herself} people are going to think it's confusing at first until they get used to it.

It's also a lot more typing.

I suspect, that as you get familiar with the emote symbols, they'll become second nature and you'll be grateful for the simple keystrokes. It took me a while to really settle in with them, but now I barely have to think about it.

EDIT: +1

[AJM]

whats wrong with just typing

emote takes his hand and shoves it up his bum.

instead of using the symbols

[Marauder Moe]

emo watches as ~frail dusts &frail off.

(Which in my scheme is 'emo watches as ~frail dusts {herself}frail off.' See how much easier!)

The tall, muscular man watches as you dusts yourself off.

Sorry.   

Also,

emo smiles at ~skinny, reaching for ^skinny hand and watching to see how #skinny reacts.

The tall, muscular man smiles at you, reaching for your hand and watching to see how you reacts.

In general, you can't emote the action of another player (and you really shouldn't anyway).


Anyway, bad emote examples aside, I'm probably going to put these tags into my client when I get home today.  After 6 years of playing I still have to keep a chart of the emote symbols on my desk, and I can type {him} much faster than I can pause and look for the right symbol on the chart.

[Rahnevyn]

Here's some tips for anyone who's having trouble with emoting:

• Work on the basics first. Get ~ and % down and know when to use them.
• You can always practice emoting on NPCs. This way there's less pressure, an NPC won't point and laugh and call you a noob if you mess up.
• Once you have ~ and % down, ! and ^ are really easy. They're interchangeable in context, the only difference is that ! and ^ will print him/her or his/her to a third party viewer instead of printing the full sdesc.
• Those four are the big ones. Once you're comfortable with them, you can do most emotes with no trouble at all. Don't worry about the other fancy commands, just focus on getting the basics down. You don't get extra roleplay points or anything the more weird symbols you use per emote.
• Once you're feeling risky again, try out = and +. As with ^ and !, + is just the shortened version of =. + just prints his/hers instead of an sdesc. If you can use one, you can use both.
• & and # are the trickiest. They're included because there are times when they work, but to be honest, I almost NEVER use them. Using & and = in sentences that conjugate correctly for you, the target, and other viewers is difficult and usually results in really awkward sentences anyway. Don't worry about them so much.

As an example of why # is not easy to use, take a look at your example emote, Lou. "emote looks to see how #skinny reacts" will print to the skinny as "The tall, muscular man looks to see how you reacts." Your verb isn't in the right tense there. You can rephrase and get around needing # at all by using something like "emote watches for %skinny reaction", or "emote watches for a reaction from ~skinny". Hopefully I'm being clear, it's early.

[SMuz]

Yeah, I'm a bit ambivalent about the idea. It actually slows down the rate of getting used to the 'proper' emoting syntax.

On the plus side, it's very, very good for when you want to emote something really quick but don't want to go through the 3 pages of "help emoting" to find it. Like emoting in the middle of a fight, or when trying to talk to someone who's about to leave the room.

EDIT: Geez, 4 replies while I was typing my post.

[Marauder Moe]

Ah damn, there's no way to differentiate between ! and ^ with female pronouns.  Stupid English...

[Winterless]

Ah damn, there's no way to differentiate between ! and ^ with female pronouns.  Stupid English...

There is a difference to that PC.

>em glances over to ~female, as ^me eyes widen slightly in recognition #me dips ^me head to !female, ^me eyes flicking to the gem around ^female neck.

They will see:

The man glances over to you, as his eyes widen slightly in recognition he dips his head to you, his eyes flicking to the gem around your neck.

The room will see:

The man glances over to the female, as his eyes widen slightly in recognition he dips his head to her, his eyes flicking to the gem around her neck.

[Marauder Moe]

I meant for a set of {her} tags.  No way to differentiate between {her} = ! and {her} = ^

[Lou]

As an example of why # is not easy to use, take a look at your example emote, Lou. "emote looks to see how #skinny reacts" will print to the skinny as "The tall, muscular man looks to see how you reacts." Your verb isn't in the right tense there. You can rephrase and get around needing # at all by using something like "emote watches for %skinny reaction", or "emote watches for a reaction from ~skinny". Hopefully I'm being clear, it's early.

Yeah, that's clear. I can't even get this in theory! I guess I was more concerned with the echo to the room than to the target. But mostly I just screwed that up ...

But I still think that there must be a better way, even if my particular idea wasn't right. It feels a little to me like there's a certain degree of OOC dues-paying here that's required in addition to role-playing. This isn't really an example of that--more just a bunch of really opaque commands--but it certainly doesn't make the game any more welcoming.

emo weeps into {pluperfect}his Cheerios ...

[Rahnevyn]

It feels a little to me like there's a certain degree of OOC dues-paying here that's required in addition to role-playing. This isn't really an example of that--more just a bunch of really opaque commands--but it certainly doesn't make the game any more welcoming.

You're right that the emote system definitely isn't the easiest to grasp or most intuitive at first. It isn't intended to require any dues-paying, it's just that as a game, we pride ourselves on our emote system, because if you take advantage of all its features, you end up with a great deal more flexibility than nearly any other game can offer. All the extra features do unfortunately make it more complex, but the trade off seems to be worth it.

In terms of interface, we COULD consider adding alternate syntax like you suggested into the code, something like:

Code Select Expand

~ = {you}
% = {your}
= = {yours}
! = {him}
^ = {his}
+ = {hers}
# = {he}
& = {himself}

... but my question here is, would people find this any more intuitive and helpful? Just to manage for each symbol to have its own unique identifier, I had to switch from second to third person AND switch gender pronouns. To me that's almost just as confusing as looking up symbols in a table like we do now. It'd also be a lot more typing required, and I'm not sure it'd really make things any clearer. If people think it would, maybe we could try and snag a coder's attention, but I'm not sold myself.

[Medena]

Lou, take heart.  When I started playing I, too, thought the symbols were the most ridiculously complicated thing I'd ever seen.  What I did was copy them out onto a sticky note which I stuck to my monitor. I wrote them a bit differently on my sticky so that it was easier for me to see what exactly I'd use it for.  Then I did what Rahnevyn suggests -- mastered the basic ones and then moved on to the more refined ones.

I don't think it's a matter of OOC dues-paying.  The system works and really nicely so that you, the target and the echo all show the right thing.  I'm not so sure that your system would be all that much easier for a new player. I'm not that great a typist and I think as  a newbie I would have fretted over all the typing plus hated having to use { } because I get mixed up on where the different brackets are.

[FightClub]

This thread, along with help emote, hurts my head immensely.  For all the years I've played, I've never been able to graduate past ~ and %.  Which is exceptional, seeing that for my first half, it was simply ~ and writing out his, her, it's, whatever.

Sorry, I'm just not savvy enough to be throwing down some hieroglyphics mid combat.

[Qzzrbl]

This thread, along with help emote, hurts my head immensely.  For all the years I've played, I've never been able to graduate past ~ and %.  Which is exceptional, seeing that for my first half, it was simply ~ and writing out his, her, it's, whatever.

Sorry, I'm just not savvy enough to be throwing down some hieroglyphics mid combat.

Same here. v-v

I might feel a little risky and throw out a % or ^ for shits and giggles, but y'know.... I live on the edge.

[Winterless]

Sorry, I'm just not savvy enough to be throwing down some hieroglyphics mid combat.

Newb.

[Gagula]

Just rememver, there are enough of us "newbs" to rule the world! (insert evil laugh here) 

[staggerlee]

But I still think that there must be a better way, even if my particular idea wasn't right. It feels a little to me like there's a certain degree of OOC dues-paying here that's required in addition to role-playing.

Nawh, they're mostly for your own convenience.  And mudsex.

...seriously though, they're useful sometimes, but I don't know very many of them either.  The best way to learn them is in solo rp - refer to npcs around you or something, using your handy little sticky list.

This is also perfectly acceptable:

whats wrong with just typing

emote takes his hand and shoves it up his bum.

instead of using the symbols

Except that it's either going to be grammatically incorrect for you, the third party, or the target.   
Like sentence structure in any context, proper syntax is there for convenience, elegance and clarity.

[Lou]

Nawh, they're mostly for your own convenience.  And mudsex.

Oh, no, no! I don't mean that the emote commands are dues-paying at all! Just difficult, and I thought I had a brilliant idea how to make them easier. But like most of my brilliant ideas ... not so much.

And thanks for everyone who said, 'I've played here years and only use ~ and &'. Because that's gonna be my strategy through 2013. (Yes, I have long-term plans for my PC! Which means he'll die next time I log on ...)

[Lizzie]

Reason why that won't work:

You're in the room with Sue and Amy, both female, and so are you. All three of you are talking with each other.

emote nods to ~amy, chuckling to ~sue, then rolls her eyes at {her} while shaking a scolding finger at {her}.

Which "her" are you talking about? How does the code know to differentiate between one and the other? If I nod to amy, chuckle at sue, then roll my eyes at Sue, while shaking a scolding finger at Amy, how does the code know this? How does it know I'm not rolling my eyes at Amy while shaking a scolding finger at Sue?

Will I now have to break up every complex sentence into multiple emotes, even if they fit nicely into the text limit, just because I'm referring to two PCs at the same time? What if I'm not sure of the gender? What if it's a mutant, whose gender is questionable? What about things that have no gender, such as silk backpacks, and buildings, and trees? What if I'm targetting more than one of these non-gender things?

Do you see how complex this could end up being, just to avoid using !skinny? Much easier to learn to type !skinny. And much less stuff that everyone else has to -un-learn, as well.

[FantasyWriter]

This thread, along with help emote, hurts my head immensely.  For all the years I've played, I've never been able to graduate past ~ and %.  Which is exceptional, seeing that for my first half, it was simply ~ and writing out his, her, it's, whatever.

Sorry, I'm just not savvy enough to be throwing down some hieroglyphics mid combat.

I only use ~ and %, too... I will also use the words his/him when talking about myself.. it still looks good to everyone but me, and I don't really care.  I know what I am saying.

[Riev]

I constantly use ~, !, %, ^, and sometimes even a #.

The stuff I DON'T get is like =. I never think to do an emote that talks about me doing something with my hand, and then touching someone elses. My mind just doesn't work that way.

[Lou]

Reason why that won't work:

You're in the room with Sue and Amy, both female, and so are you. All three of you are talking with each other.

emote nods to ~amy, chuckling to ~sue, then rolls her eyes at {her} while shaking a scolding finger at {her}.

I can't tell if I haven't been clear, or the idea is bad, or both!

You'd write:

emote nods to ~amy, chuckling to ~sue, then rolls her eyes at {her}amy while shaking a scolding finger at {her}sue.

The name or short description would follow the {her}. That would be a straight exchange for the ! or = or whatever the symbol currently is. This would change absolutely nothing else. instead of # you'd type {he} or {she} or whatever # is ...

But I think my grammar's possibly so screwed that this wouldn't help anyway.

[tortall]

Reason why that won't work:

You're in the room with Sue and Amy, both female, and so are you. All three of you are talking with each other.

emote nods to ~amy, chuckling to ~sue, then rolls her eyes at {her} while shaking a scolding finger at {her}.

I can't tell if I haven't been clear, or the idea is bad, or both!

You'd write:

emote nods to ~amy, chuckling to ~sue, then rolls her eyes at {her}amy while shaking a scolding finger at {her}sue.

The name or short description would follow the {her}. That would be a straight exchange for the ! or = or whatever the symbol currently is. This would change absolutely nothing else. instead of # you'd type {he} or {she} or whatever # is ...

But I think my grammar's possibly so screwed that this wouldn't help anyway.

As stated before, that's a LOT more typing, and only mildly less confusing. Just read the help emoting file and you'll be fine. It's not THAT hard. Trust me.

[jhunter]

This thread, along with help emote, hurts my head immensely.  For all the years I've played, I've never been able to graduate past ~ and %.  Which is exceptional, seeing that for my first half, it was simply ~ and writing out his, her, it's, whatever.

Sorry, I'm just not savvy enough to be throwing down some hieroglyphics mid combat.

I only use ~ and %, too... I will also use the words his/him when talking about myself.. it still looks good to everyone but me, and I don't really care.  I know what I am saying.

That's pretty much my stance on it. I don't really care how it looks to me, so long as I can get it to look alright to the others around me and have it make sense.

[SMuz]

Well, yeah, I think it'd be a bit more confusing. Because there's two types of "his" and two types of "person's". Yeah, I'd rather learn the 'proper' emoting style

[Lou]

As stated before, that's a LOT more typing, and only mildly less confusing.

It's eight characters out of a hundred!  I'd rather try to learn the difference between Oash and Fale and Tor and gwoshi and erdlu than between $ and ^ and # and !. Still, as someone said this is easily done via my mudclient, if I can only figure out how ...

[Marauder Moe]

Which client do you use?

You're looking for something like aliases, macros, or maybe filters.  For the pattern it would probably be like \{him\} (the \'s are needed because {} is used for regular expression patterns) and the replacement would be !.

[Lou]

Thanks, Maurauder Moe. I use Atlantis. I'm definitely gonna try to do this for myself, and stop cluttering up the boards!