@Emits and Longer Emotes

[spawnloser]

Um, even though this is getting completely off topic, I'll still mention that we don't need an EMIT command.  EMOTE is good enough.

Back to the original topic, though, I will have to agree with whoever said it (I'm forgetting right now) that it really is annoying when 'The figure wearing the cloak with the idiotically long description and the much too long for reality descripted veil coughs.'  Granted, I'm not saying that people shouldn't wear them...it's just a pet peeve.  I'd much rather see 'Templar Head-up-Bum does something in this and that fashion while standing on his head and ........................'  So long as it's appropriate to the situation and not overdone again and again.  I can agree with what Cuusardo said about the one person doing one thing over and over again around one group of people...especially when I've seen the same character only emote once using every possible ~ in his emotes as if it was all important.  I'd like to see emotes longer for when someone is describing how they do something...not the color of their toenails, cuirass, hair, eyes, butt hair and every other piece of gear they own.

I'm starting to ramble, so I'll let someone have the oppurtunity to interject.

[Clegane]

I'd like to see emotes longer for when someone is describing how they do something...not the color of their toenails, cuirass, hair, eyes, butt hair and every other piece of gear they own.

While some of us, on the other hand, deeply enjoy the richness that such subtle details provide when appropriately rendered. There is certain a point after which things become excessive, but I appreciate being drawn into the depth of emoting that entails the creaking of a piece of old leather, the colour of a clump of phlegm, or the combined staining of blood and feces on a soldier's boot.

Its really about finesse, I suppose. There's a real distinction to be made between people emoting richness for the world's sake and people trying to masturbate with a thesaurus.

As for repetitive verbiage, yes, it can be annoying when you play in a contained group and are reminded daily of a certain physical feature. However, I don't find it excessive in the least to draw attention to said feature in the presence of a new character. If every third line out of someone's keyboard describes the heady richness of their personal scent or something, it's going to get a bit cumbersome. But when that scent is an integral descriptor, it may indeed be important to draw attention to it whenever they meet someone new. If you happen to be the bodyguard for that deeply-scented noble or whatever, well...more's the pity for you. Go check the GDB another time as they launch into their pungent odor speech; just don't try and infringe on their desire to convey that feature ot others.

[ShaLeah]

I admit it, I'm a big fan of the longer emotes. Big fan. I love watching people who come into the room and command it and still, 2 years later, a good emoter makes me stop what I am doing to observe.

I can also agree that it -can- get quite overwhelming and tedious to watch, particularly if the person is slow, like I am, at typing. I tend to go from long emotes to short ones at (I hope) a pretty decent pace. I try to avoid the entire   talk (the glimmer of mischevious light in her passionately burning eyes concentrating their ardor on ~knife as ~rppartner speaks) Yes.   - thing.

Sometimes I look at an emote I do and say to myself WTF are you thinking.

On the other hand, if I want to create room mood, I do so, more often than not including other people in the room with it such as:

emote among the cheers and stomps of excited fans within the benches of the crowded arena, the sound becomes defeaning around ~pc1, @, ~pc2 and ~pc 3, its roar vicious for the taste of blood

Emits or Echos are for the immortals to set the mood. I wouldn't want that kind of potential abuse in the hands of some players, myself included. I may be tempted to be mean to someone my character doesn't like.  :oops:

ShaLeah
-who thinks she had too much coffee.

[Rindan]

I personally would like to see the emote lengths stay as they are.  I tend to occasionally bump into the limit and would not cry if another 20 characters were tacked on.  However, I think it is better to keep the emoting limit shorter rather then longer.  Half of Armageddon's charm is the speed at which the world moves.  The limits on emoting length go a long way to keep the world moving at a reasonable pace.  Emoting limits do not inhibit the quality of emotes in my opinion the slightest, only the speed.

For instance, let's say you are pissing around in a bar.  You are bored and start to emote the atmosphere.  This might be frivolous to some, but I think it is perfectly acceptable in a boring dull night where no one is around, or no one is talking.  Now, the emoting limits might prevent you from describing the entire bar.  This is a good thing.  Instead, you need to describe different aspects of the bar in short easy to swallow bites.  First you describe the spice smoke, then the elf in the corner, then the shitty lighting, then the shady guy who just walked in.  What this does is keep the scene alive and active.  Instead of shitty out a single pose every 20 minutes, you can spit out 10 in that same time and make the world much more active and interesting.  Further, if someone wants to interrupt, they have time to do so.  Quality is in no way inhibited.  Only speed is regulated, and in my opinion, it is regulated for the better.

[creeper386]

*sigh* I'm going to have to say I am in complete agreement with Rindan... Sad thing huh?


But good post. Good other posts... but if you like really descriptive things... Making longer or short emotes doesn't keep you from being descriptive, as Rindan said, it just keeps you from describing EVERYTHING at once. Sensory overloads are a bad thing. As are just too many things all jammed into one little bit... Think there are even rules to writing that go against cramming everything little thing about everything into a small amount. Now it may not be repetive for some, but reading tons of adjectives and such gets repetive, and also, it's all there, then it's all gone. And thats not good.


Creeper

[spawnloser]

Okay, the original reason I posted that I would like longer limits is for says...not really emotes.  I've never run into an issue with an emote getting cut off.  I'm more worried about when someone's blabbing on about one topic...why not allow it into one say?  As far as emotes that long...like Rindan said, if you're doing so much that you're getting cut off in one emote, you're being overly verbose with adjectives or you're packing too many actions into an emote.  Now, packing so many adjectives into an emote is in some small ways get's old...real fast.  Packing too much action doesn't allow anyone to interject.  As creeper said, too, if you do it all in one long emote, it's there and gone...spread your glory over several emotes, man (or woman)!  If you wanna be awesome, show them you are awesome by including your sdesc in there three times instead of only once!  People will notice it and remember you more!

[JollyGreenGiant]

I like having spoken lines cut off at some point, for the simple reason that at some point, the speaker does need to breathe, and it gives someone a chance to interject a comment mid-speech if they're so inclined.

Also, descriptive emotes are nice, but save the purple prose.  I'd rather respond with a number of shorter emotes to something, because it takes less time to type out and the people you're interacting with get a more immediate response that way.  On the other hand, if you're emoting in a more solo context, it doesn't matter how long it takes to type out.  But avoid purple prose and other such calamities.  If I see something that's going to take forever to read and doesn't look important, I probably won't pay much attention to it.

[Angela Christine]

When things get too long many people tend to skim, or skip to the end hoping to find the point.  This happens with physical descriptions too. A 4 line desc may not be inspiring but you can read it without interupting the flow of the scene, while a very long description (whether of a person or room) may get skimmed or skipped until "later."  

Personally I think the emote length is long enough.  I wouldn't mind another 80-200 characters on says, because (as you all know) I have a lot to say.    But on the whole I think the game is better off with the shorter length.  I wouldn't mind another couple lines on the Idea, Typo and Bug reports, but I can deal with it.

Part of the reason I prefer RP MUDs to RP MUSHes is the faster pace.  MUSHes often allow very long mixed emotes with speach, and often have a tradition of going in "turns".  So if you have even 4 or 5 people in the scene it can litterally take half an hour or more for your turn to come 'round again.  I can't wait that long!  I need to react now, not 20 minutes from now.  It's torture, and just a short step away from play-by-email or Bullitin Board RPGs.

AC