Emotes =, +, !, &

[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!