Those little things called Emotes

[Taven]

So whenever I create a new PC, I swear that this will be the one that I emote with and make the world come alive with. That usually last a week, tops. It's too much typing work, or I loose interest. Sometimes it's that I spend too much time doing a routine activity over and over, and the emotes get old and stale. However, I think that a good emoter really brings the world to life. Being around people who can emote makes me want to do a better job myself.

So a few things:

1. How do you get inspired to routinely emote?
2. How do you transition from repetitive crap to interaction with players that need more emotes?
3. How do you think of unique interesting emotes that are actually relevant to the situation?

I know I can emote half way decent when I try, but some of you just do amazing insane things with emotes. I don't know that I could ever be that creative or motivated.

We just had a thread on emotes and "Emote Envy" I know, but I feel like this is a slightly different topic? Feel free to just quote crap from that if you don't feel like repeating yourself. This thread isn't just about how to emote awesome, but how to find the motivation to force yourself to do so, if you feel that it is worthwhile.

[Cindy42]

1. If I'm near players who are in an IG position to talk to my PC, if its during the 90% of the time that i feel like talking, and if they respond back in a non-flat and 1% inspired way, i will emote way more. I emote by myself routinely, but that's barely one every IG hour.
2. I'm not an inspirer for great emoting. If I'm attempting to emote with others and they obviously don't want to put in the effort for the RP for any reason, I'll give up easily. I'll try, but only for two or three emotes. I'm not going to assume they're doing it on purpose--- and besides, we all have uninspired days.
3. I like using hemote, pemote, emotes based on stuff from my desires and pasts that have to be interpreted but usually answer whatever questions they bring up on their own (one of my old prior characters wanted badly to fit in with humans--- she'd make extra effort to talk to them, and give off facial expressions and looks in her eyes that expressed her desire to be accepted) and i tend to treat tdesc and ldesc like emotes by using them a lot and involving them in my character's actions. I also sometimes fall in "writing mode" like when i write stories, which tends to cause me to focus on writing small things to the expulsion of exaggerated movement. I know one or two people liked it.

I feel so jealous when the word magicians come along, and blow your freakin' mind.

[Kismetic]

I just wanted to add my thoughts, here ...

So a couple of things:

First, a couple is understood to be two, explicitly.

/smartass

1. How do you get inspired to routinely emote?

Inspiration should come from desire to play the game, but everyone will fall short (my own reasons have to do with being distracted from the computer).

2. How do you transition from repetitive crap to interaction with players that need more emotes?

Do repetitive crap less.  I like command emotes for this.  The transition is smooooth.

3. How do you think of unique interesting emotes that are actually relevant to the situation?

Immerse yourself into the game, and imagine your surroundings beyond what the room description reads.  Always read room descriptions.  Sometimes, when my character is doing something, I will actually -do- this act, in a mimicking fashion (I am usually alone when I RP, but people IRL have commented on this a time or two).  Always aim to do something new, or at least the same thing in a different way.  Again, everyone falls short, sometimes.  Don't try to be perfect.  Most importantly, involve people as much as you can.

[Riev]

I suffer from the same issues, but what I find works best is to not think that everything you do, say, or what have you, requires an amazing emote.

If you're playing a reserved, shy character, you can only do "say (with a quiet, dulcet tone)" so many times before you revert to "say -softly".

It also helps to take a step back, take 20 seconds, and decide what -else- your character is doing before the emote. Are they looking at their fingers? Crossing their legs? Is their attention diverted by some hot breed with daddy issues?

Sometimes, when I get to that "Well the other person isn't trying that hard either" I try to remember that scenes can be very taxing. Taking an extra 20 seconds to think about what else is going on can help you take short rests, as well.

[valeria]

1. How do you get inspired to routinely emote?

At first I really got into emoting by always, always, always assuming someone was watching.  A staffer, someone who has snuck into the room, someone.  I suspect this is a circular sort of thing--when you emote more and are more interesting, someone is more likely to actually be watching.

And now, it's just how I stay in character.  I play this game to entertain myself as much as anyone else, and it entertains me to imagine my character in whatever situation she's in.

I also tend to use a lot of command emotes.  Because I just can't let it pass by, the manner that my character is interacting with the items and stuff in the world around her.

2. How do you transition from repetitive crap to interaction with players that need more emotes?

I don't.  Thinking up varied emotes that take the game world into account is how I stay plugged into my character and entertained, even through the 'boring' stuff.  Sometimes I'll put as much energy and thought into exactly how my character is crafting that shirt as I will into making some big scene at a bar or in a private room.

3. How do you think of unique interesting emotes that are actually relevant to the situation?

By putting myself into my character's head.  Usually I have a stock set of mannerisms that I take into account for the character as well.  How does she act when she's bored?  Intrigued?  In danger?  How does her face change and how does her body language change?

Sometimes I will even mime posture and facial expressions at my computer, and then try to describe those.  I hope people don't get really impatient with me when I'm trying to figure out how something looks.  Especially when the character is new, it can sometimes take me a second to process what happened and what character X said, and then come up with a character-appropriate response.

[hyzhenhok]

Strategy: save actual actions for separate, full-on emotes. Use command emotes to describe how you do things, not to chain together multiple actions with a single command.

[Pale Horse]

I suffer from falling into the repetitive stuff all the time.

One thing to keep in mind that's helped me, is when using your emotes, remember that there are five senses to which to appeal.

If you've just been describing your character's looks, try switching to how the environment sounds.  Focus on that for a few minutes.  Bring the area's little ambient noises to life.  Once that's accomplished, start describing how the places smells.  Perfect place to test this out is the Gaj.  The place is a cesspool, a hive of scum and villainy, and they let breeds, foreigners, gickers and 'rinthers hang out in there.   There's the stench of vomit, burnt food, unwashed bodies.  The place should turn your stomach if you're not used to it.

What's the seat you're using (provided your in a bar) feel like?  Is it rough, smooth, shoddily made?  What about the counter top?  Roughed up from multiple knives, fights and spilled food and drink?  Or has it been kept miraculously clean and polished to a mirror like quality?  How hot or cold is it where your character is at?  Windy, storming, not a breath of air to cool you off from the abysmally hot weather?

Making a scene come alive through your emotes, and putting a concentrated effort into not making them "fall-flat" is something that can require a great deal of work and writing ability.  Trying to role-play at the same time can tax even the best of us.

Also, keep dictionary.com or thesaurus.com open at all times when playing.  I find myself diving back into them when I've thrown out the tenth "speaks softly" description in my character's speech and realize I'm practicing a habit that I hate.  I'm not always successful in turning myself around, but that's life.

[Lizzie]

I find myself using command emotes and communication emotes much more often than the actual emote command.

I involve things when I sit, when I get, when I give and put.
I involve things when I talk, tell, say, shout.

I rarely use emotes for movement but I do occasionally toss them in. That's acually one of the few times I am MORE likely to use the emote command, than not: if I'm leaving a room, or entering one, and want to draw attention to something my character is doing upon arrival or prior to departure.

I do emote when I'm foraging, casting, and crafting, but the emotes are usually at the beginning of a "session" and only a rare occasional emote inbetween just in case someone is watching so they know that the player is really there, and not just scripting afk. It's a habit from when I used to play a mud where scripting was common, and getting caught scripting afk was grounds for an IMM killing your character.

I totally make use of socials. I nod a lot. By typing 'nod' or 'nod boopsie.' I can only cant my head, tilt my head, bob my head, so many times before I finally decide, ya know what? It's just a fucking nod. And so, often, I just nod.

[musashi]

I hardly ever use the command emote for moving room to room. For one I'm not sure how it turns out because it doesn't echo back to me, so I can't be sure if I've worded the emote right to jive with movement command's echo; I also have a little mapper client that I use to keep my ranger/outdoor type characters from getting lost in the big bad wastes if they're the kind of PC who should know their way around a geographical area, and command emotes mess up the program's ability to recognize the movement command.

I'm a huge fan of other command emotes though, and I use them constantly when my PC is going about their daily routine solo-RP style. I remember an email from Morg that I got with my last PC where he told me that according to the run-logs, I'd used my character's skill-set several hundred times in the past week, but only used the emote command some odd fifty times and he wanted to make sure I wasn't twinking out. I asked him to check for other kinds of emotes (command emotes, hemotes, semotes, ect). Got a "Op! My bad!" sort of reply back.

Command emotes really help to smooth out RP'ing through the daily grind, if your character has a daily grind. Whether that be going out to hunt in the morning or following a clan schedule. The tedious part of doing the same act over and over again as Taven mentioned can really be circumvented by rolling the emotes into the actual commands themselves.



Ok. That little command emote endorsement over with, when it comes to emoting in general and how to keep it spicy Pale Horse's advice was pretty awesome. Remember all five senses.

Here's what I would add to that: Remember that the virtual world is not static.

If you're in the Gaj and you're fed up with the standard "sits at the bar and glowers", have a little fight with a vNPC.
If you're out in the scrublands and you're resting under a tree's shade, have a particularly annoying bug keep flitting around way too close to your eyeballs like a gnat.

There's a line in the sand that you cannot cross with this kind of RP, for sure. You shouldn't be "beating up" vNPC Templars or AoD soldiers in Allanak. You shouldn't be wrestling vNPC bahamets in the grasslands and making them squeal uncle.

But if you keep the flavor small, relevant to your surroundings, and stay away from power posing, this is a great way to bring the world around you to life.

EDIT TO ADD: And if you really want something new ... remember that your character has to pee and poop just like his mount.

[Spice Spice Baby]

I guess I'm in the minority when it comes to emoting. I don't really have to make myself do it or inspire myself to do it... I just emote whenever my PC is doing something, even if they're just standing there.

It seems weird not to emote all the time because otherwise you're just standing there awkwardly!

[Yam]

I guess I'm in the minority when it comes to emoting. I don't really have to make myself do it or inspire myself to do it... I just emote whenever my PC is doing something, even if they're just standing there.

It seems weird not to emote all the time because otherwise you're just standing there awkwardly!

This is what I do in real life and what I tend to do in the game.

Emote awkwardly tries to think of something to emote about, like his particularly phallic fingers.

[Taven]

1. If I'm near players who are in an IG position to talk to my PC, if its during the 90% of the time that i feel like talking, and if they respond back in a non-flat and 1% inspired way, i will emote way more. I emote by myself routinely, but that's barely one every IG hour.

If the players around me aren't emoting, I usually have even less motivation. However, if the people around me are amazing, then I feel guilty and emote more. When alone, I may or may not emote.

2. I'm not an inspirer for great emoting. If I'm attempting to emote with others and they obviously don't want to put in the effort for the RP for any reason, I'll give up easily. I'll try, but only for two or three emotes. I'm not going to assume they're doing it on purpose--- and besides, we all have uninspired days.

I was more asking how you transition from a very repetitive action (there are only so many emotes you can do when you need to make a large amount of clothing, or when you're foraging food, or sifting salt), to interacting with people. If you do an action routinely, for long periods, emotes start to feel old and stale. That's one issue. The other issue is if you go from something repetitive and stale like that to needing to interact with others, how do you get yourself back into "real emote" mode, instead of "arrrgh, not another emote!".

3. I like using hemote, pemote, emotes based on stuff from my desires and pasts that have to be interpreted but usually answer whatever questions they bring up on their own (one of my old prior characters wanted badly to fit in with humans--- she'd make extra effort to talk to them, and give off facial expressions and looks in her eyes that expressed her desire to be accepted) and i tend to treat tdesc and ldesc like emotes by using them a lot and involving them in my character's actions. I also sometimes fall in "writing mode" like when i write stories, which tends to cause me to focus on writing small things to the expulsion of exaggerated movement. I know one or two people liked it.

Emotes are always inspired by character and what your character would do. Emoting isn't the same as being in character, however. How can you find emotes that are relevant to the situation and reflect your character, without seeming excessive? For example, in long talking sessions, my emoting goes drastically down. I run out of things for my character to do, and forcing them in feels...forced. I think that "writing mode" can work, but sometimes it also feels forced, or things are hard to think of.

I feel so jealous when the word magicians come along, and blow your freakin' mind.

I think everyone feels this way.

First, a couple is understood to be two, explicitly.

I fixed it just for you. 

Inspiration should come from desire to play the game, but everyone will fall short (my own reasons have to do with being distracted from the computer).

I do want to emote! I like the game! I just fall short a lot. Distraction is a big part of it. It's easy to get distracted, especially if you think you're alone.

Do repetitive crap less.  I like command emotes for this.  The transition is smooooth.

Sometimes repetitive crap is just hard to avoid. If you have to do repetitive crap for IC reasons, it gets to be a hassle. Command emotes are pretty awesome, but some commands they don't work with. Crafting, for one. Foraging, for another.

Immerse yourself into the game, and imagine your surroundings beyond what the room description reads.  Always read room descriptions.  Sometimes, when my character is doing something, I will actually -do- this act, in a mimicking fashion (I am usually alone when I RP, but people IRL have commented on this a time or two).  Always aim to do something new, or at least the same thing in a different way.  Again, everyone falls short, sometimes.  Don't try to be perfect.  Most importantly, involve people as much as you can.

That's good advice, thanks.

I suffer from the same issues, but what I find works best is to not think that everything you do, say, or what have you, requires an amazing emote.

If you're playing a reserved, shy character, you can only do "say (with a quiet, dulcet tone)" so many times before you revert to "say -softly".

It also helps to take a step back, take 20 seconds, and decide what -else- your character is doing before the emote. Are they looking at their fingers? Crossing their legs? Is their attention diverted by some hot breed with daddy issues?

Sometimes, when I get to that "Well the other person isn't trying that hard either" I try to remember that scenes can be very taxing. Taking an extra 20 seconds to think about what else is going on can help you take short rests, as well.

I'll try this and see if it helps. I think it might, but on the other hand, I might just end up picking things that feel forced, like I'm trying for an emote.

At first I really got into emoting by always, always, always assuming someone was watching.  A staffer, someone who has snuck into the room, someone.  I suspect this is a circular sort of thing--when you emote more and are more interesting, someone is more likely to actually be watching.

And now, it's just how I stay in character.  I play this game to entertain myself as much as anyone else, and it entertains me to imagine my character in whatever situation she's in.

I also tend to use a lot of command emotes.  Because I just can't let it pass by, the manner that my character is interacting with the items and stuff in the world around her.

This is really good advice. Odds are that someone is watching you, and you never know. I'll try to see if this helps. I know that if I know people are there, I feel more obligated/motivated to emote.

I also think that I'll try to make even more use of command emotes, a couple of people have suggested it.

I don't.  Thinking up varied emotes that take the game world into account is how I stay plugged into my character and entertained, even through the 'boring' stuff.  Sometimes I'll put as much energy and thought into exactly how my character is crafting that shirt as I will into making some big scene at a bar or in a private room.

I use to do this, but after you make the same shirt 50 times (or do whatever repetitive action that often), it gets to be hard.

By putting myself into my character's head.  Usually I have a stock set of mannerisms that I take into account for the character as well.  How does she act when she's bored?  Intrigued?  In danger?  How does her face change and how does her body language change?

Sometimes I will even mime posture and facial expressions at my computer, and then try to describe those.  I hope people don't get really impatient with me when I'm trying to figure out how something looks.  Especially when the character is new, it can sometimes take me a second to process what happened and what character X said, and then come up with a character-appropriate response.

I have stock emotes/mannerism, but they just seem old and stale sometimes. Or they're fine, but I can't think of anything else to do. I might try to think about facial expressions more, and see if that helps.

Strategy: save actual actions for separate, full-on emotes. Use command emotes to describe how you do things, not to chain together multiple actions with a single command.

So what you're saying is instead of going:

Code Select Expand

sit table (crossing the floor with a large, impatient strides before yanking out a chair)

You should go:

Code Select Expand

em crosses the floor with long, impatient strides

sit table (yanking out a chair)

I guess it separates it out a little more. I think it might just be an aesthetic thing?

I suffer from falling into the repetitive stuff all the time.

One thing to keep in mind that's helped me, is when using your emotes, remember that there are five senses to which to appeal.

[more stuff]

This is really good advice. I'll try that.

Making a scene come alive through your emotes, and putting a concentrated effort into not making them "fall-flat" is something that can require a great deal of work and writing ability.  Trying to role-play at the same time can tax even the best of us.

Also, keep dictionary.com or thesaurus.com open at all times when playing.  I find myself diving back into them when I've thrown out the tenth "speaks softly" description in my character's speech and realize I'm practicing a habit that I hate.  I'm not always successful in turning myself around, but that's life.

I think that using a thesaurus can be really great, but that over using one (or misusing one) can be bad. It's about balance. I may try to do more with this.

I find myself using command emotes and communication emotes much more often than the actual emote command.

I involve things when I sit, when I get, when I give and put.
I involve things when I talk, tell, say, shout.

I rarely use emotes for movement but I do occasionally toss them in. That's acually one of the few times I am MORE likely to use the emote command, than not: if I'm leaving a room, or entering one, and want to draw attention to something my character is doing upon arrival or prior to departure.

I do emote when I'm foraging, casting, and crafting, but the emotes are usually at the beginning of a "session" and only a rare occasional emote inbetween just in case someone is watching so they know that the player is really there, and not just scripting afk. It's a habit from when I used to play a mud where scripting was common, and getting caught scripting afk was grounds for an IMM killing your character.

I totally make use of socials. I nod a lot. By typing 'nod' or 'nod boopsie.' I can only cant my head, tilt my head, bob my head, so many times before I finally decide, ya know what? It's just a fucking nod. And so, often, I just nod.

I think emoting just at the beginning of a "session" of whatever is common, because it gets to be so repetitive. I also feel guilty when I do it, because I feel like I'm not involving the world enough.

I'd also be curious to know how you keep motivated to emote.

I hardly ever use the command emote for moving room to room. For one I'm not sure how it turns out because it doesn't echo back to me, so I can't be sure if I've worded the emote right to jive with movement command's echo; I also have a little mapper client that I use to keep my ranger/outdoor type characters from getting lost in the big bad wastes if they're the kind of PC who should know their way around a geographical area, and command emotes mess up the program's ability to recognize the movement command.

It's easy to forget that targeting doesn't work moving room to room. It would be awesome if you could target things on your person when moving room to room. I don't use an automapper. I will map by hand or look at the logs, however. And then I'll just sometimes be lost, because my character would honestly have no idea where they are. Getting lost can be fun! It can also be deadly.

I'm a huge fan of other command emotes though, and I use them constantly when my PC is going about their daily routine solo-RP style. I remember an email from Morg that I got with my last PC where he told me that according to the run-logs, I'd used my character's skill-set several hundred times in the past week, but only used the emote command some odd fifty times and he wanted to make sure I wasn't twinking out. I asked him to check for other kinds of emotes (command emotes, hemotes, semotes, ect). Got a "Op! My bad!" sort of reply back.

That's a neat story. 

Command emotes really help to smooth out RP'ing through the daily grind, if your character has a daily grind. Whether that be going out to hunt in the morning or following a clan schedule. The tedious part of doing the same act over and over again as Taven mentioned can really be circumvented by rolling the emotes into the actual commands themselves.

I really wish that you could do command emotes with foraging or crafting. To my knowledge, you can't. 

Here's what I would add to that: Remember that the virtual world is not static.

[other stuff that was cool]

That's also really good advice. I'll try to incorporate this more.

I guess I'm in the minority when it comes to emoting. I don't really have to make myself do it or inspire myself to do it... I just emote whenever my PC is doing something, even if they're just standing there.

It seems weird not to emote all the time because otherwise you're just standing there awkwardly!

I feel awkward about it, but if my character isn't standing in any particular way, then I have trouble thinking of things to describe it. Or if you've been standing in the same way a long time with no real change... I guess you can shift your weight or something, but that doesn't seem to do much. It seems a little forced. It depends on how you do it. Some people are better/more inspired then me.

[boog]

I did so much better with pretty emotes than ugly ones. This is taking some getting used to - not playing a character so adept in physical motion as my previous.

[Spice Spice Baby]

I feel awkward about it, but if my character isn't standing in any particular way, then I have trouble thinking of things to describe it. Or if you've been standing in the same way a long time with no real change... I guess you can shift your weight or something, but that doesn't seem to do much. It seems a little forced. It depends on how you do it. Some people are better/more inspired then me.

You're never just standing there doing nothing, though. Your PC is looking at things, hearing things, smelling things, perhaps making small movements. When your PC is just standing around, what are you the player paying attention to?

If you're listening to other people talk, emote listening to other people talk.

If you're watching in a direction, emote watching in that direction.

If you're Waying people, emote yourself looking distracted.

You don't have to shift your weight and scratch your ass a dozen times. Just emote what you're actually doing. Unless you're idling, I don't think there's ever lengthy stretches of time where your character isn't doing anything at all.

[SMuz]

I don't really worry about it. I think I've played enough sneaky characters to always think someone's watching me. My first character got a mail from staff telling me to emote more while out in the desert (and I thought it was awesome that someone was watching me). But I try not to feel too pressured to do it, it feels dry and insincere that way, like having to pay for skills with emotes.

I certainly don't try to put one emote for each and everything my character forages. Find a rock, emote picking up rock, emote throwing it away. Repeat that stuff 88x a day and I'll actually be more out of character.

If it's routine enough, then emote it once or twice. There's only so many ways you can forage for rocks. Emoting feels great in breaking the monotony, but becomes tedious if done too much. I find a good way is just to recycle an emote or two, for the voyeurs. You'll think up a unique emote later when you're in the mood for it.

The ones I particularly dislike are the ones you can't really BS. I mean, heck, I know nothing about skinning a scrab. I have difficulty imagining it (like a giant lobster eh?), and a bit more difficulty trying to try to figure out what it'd look like. I have little idea how to "hide in a crowd" or tan leather or heck, even how to chop wood.


One thing that does help is to read the descriptions again. The delay is certainly long enough to give a second glance at the desc. I get more into character, get the feel of the game world more, and I think my emoting skills go up about as slowly as the character's skills do. After the 40th time, I start to think that this plant can be found this way or that rings are crafted that way or my character might actually hide better thanks to this aspect of room description. I get the feeling that plants may grow in a group, that I can sniff for them. I feel that hunting is not just by looking for tracks on dust, but also for broken twigs, and things. That kind of 'emote branching' where I understand in more detail is what keeps me motivated.

I'm actually quite curious on how to react with virtual NPCs and virtual objects. I feel rather... nerdy and awkward talking to a VNPC or using a virtual punching bag. Sometimes using a virtual shovel to shove virtual shit seems twinky, when there's real shovel and real shit. But I've seen some people really get in character with them and do them very well.

[Lizzie]

Taven asked me:

I'd also be curious to know how you keep motivated to emote.

I don't think I feel any "motivation" to emote. I mean, no more than I feel any "motivation" to log in and roleplay. When you speak of emoting, I'm assuming you refer to all the various methods of emoting, not merely using the actual "emote" command and its p/h/s cousins. I never used to do things like

sit bar (pulling out a stool) until I realized how easy and effortless this is. Prior, I would just type n; sit bar. I assumed people knew I was pulling out a stool; it wasn't necessary to tell them that. But it does give a little more fluidity to the scene. Plus, it's SO much easier to include a brief action to an existing command, than it is to use an emote AND the sit command seperately.

emote pulls out a stool. sit bar - is perfectly fine. It tells the story. But the other way just seems more fluid, and we CAN do it.

The answer isn't anything really to do with motivation. I incorporate actions into my text mostly because I -can.-  And again, I don't do it constantly, or even consistently. But it's nice that I can do it, and so, I do it.

[boog]

1. How do you get inspired to routinely emote?
2. How do you transition from repetitive crap to interaction with players that need more emotes?
3. How do you think of unique interesting emotes that are actually relevant to the situation?

1. Sometimes, I just don't. Sometimes, if I'm alone and RPing I will only emote every 5-10 minutes. But I think, or feel. I always think or feel if I'm not emoting rapidly. The feels and thinks sometimes then lead to better emotes.

feel like you have to pee.
em shuffles off into a bush and whips his thang out.

2. Usually, I have key words for each character. Physical descriptors or fancy words, depending on what sort of character I'm playing, designed to keep their emotes away from previous emotes I used on previous characters.

3. I guess this sort of goes hand in hand with the words I use, but at the same time, I'm always trying to think of new ways to evoke certain physical gestures or to invent new takes on phrases. I read a lot, and sometimes, I steal from the shit I read. Or, I'll tweak someone else's fabulous emote into one of my own.

[Cindy42]

i have a serious mistake in my post and i'm too lazy to fix it. except for this: if the people around me don't seem inspired, i will emote less or leave.

in good RP environments i let the pressure go and emote as i please without worrying whether it sounds good or not--- except grammatical errors. i hates them.

i'm not sure if i should say something, but i've seen a certain pc walking around using "obvious emotes".... they're saying thing like

emote glares at ~red with obvious hatred, mixed with a little pity at his circumstances.

The short dwarf glared at the red-haired man with obvious hatred, mixed with a little pity at his circumstances.

someone just coming into the room won't know what the hell they're talking about, and for those who were already there, for me anyway its a bit jarring.

I find their emotes a bit much and i feel like i should say something, but otherwise they are good pcs and don't do anything wrong as a player.

[bcw81]

I personally feel 'obvious' emotes are fine. Have you ever seen anyone glaring at someone for no reason? You can still tell it's a death-glare.

[boog]

I've given up giving a fuck, seriously. If somebody doesn't like how you RP, they're not going to RP with you more than likely. If they don't like it, screw them. They're not someone you want to interact with. Write things how you want to write them and how you like to write them. If you're confident in your emoting and your ability to display your character in the physical and obvious ways, people'll flock.

Sorry. This isn't a rant or anything. It's just good advice from someone else who told me to stop caring so much about being a people pleaser. Please yourself, then good things'll come.

[Taven]

I did so much better with pretty emotes than ugly ones. This is taking some getting used to - not playing a character so adept in physical motion as my previous.

Actually, really ugly can be just as good as pretty. Dragging around a club foot or hobbling with a cane are interesting. The trouble is when you get "average".

You're never just standing there doing nothing, though. Your PC is looking at things, hearing things, smelling things, perhaps making small movements. When your PC is just standing around, what are you the player paying attention to?

If you're listening to other people talk, emote listening to other people talk.

If you're watching in a direction, emote watching in that direction.

If you're Waying people, emote yourself looking distracted.

You don't have to shift your weight and scratch your ass a dozen times. Just emote what you're actually doing. Unless you're idling, I don't think there's ever lengthy stretches of time where your character isn't doing anything at all.

Well, yeah. But there's only so many times you can say you're paying attention and nodding and looking at a person talking. It gets hard to be creative.

I certainly don't try to put one emote for each and everything my character forages. Find a rock, emote picking up rock, emote throwing it away. Repeat that stuff 88x a day and I'll actually be more out of character.

If it's routine enough, then emote it once or twice. There's only so many ways you can forage for rocks. Emoting feels great in breaking the monotony, but becomes tedious if done too much. I find a good way is just to recycle an emote or two, for the voyeurs. You'll think up a unique emote later when you're in the mood for it.

The ones I particularly dislike are the ones you can't really BS. I mean, heck, I know nothing about skinning a scrab. I have difficulty imagining it (like a giant lobster eh?), and a bit more difficulty trying to try to figure out what it'd look like. I have little idea how to "hide in a crowd" or tan leather or heck, even how to chop wood.

I'll emote a couple of times or when I feel like it or more if I know someone is there. My problem is how do you go from routine foraging to less repetitive interaction? I tend to not want to do emotes after that.

For things I have no clue how to do, I'll imagine it or I'll try to look it up. I actually thing it would be really helpful if someone made a series of Articles in the Player Collaboration that covered a variety of how-to. How-to Tailor, How-to Play X Instrument,  How-to Skin An Animal, How-to Tann, How-to Work Leather, How-to Make Arrow Shafts, etc., etc. It would take some research, but it would certainly be doable for someone motivated. I know that I would consult articles like that, for role-playing purposes. It would also help with emotes.

One thing that does help is to read the descriptions again. The delay is certainly long enough to give a second glance at the desc. I get more into character, get the feel of the game world more, and I think my emoting skills go up about as slowly as the character's skills do. After the 40th time, I start to think that this plant can be found this way or that rings are crafted that way or my character might actually hide better thanks to this aspect of room description. I get the feeling that plants may grow in a group, that I can sniff for them. I feel that hunting is not just by looking for tracks on dust, but also for broken twigs, and things. That kind of 'emote branching' where I understand in more detail is what keeps me motivated.

I think reading descriptions, of rooms and objects, is definitely a good way to fit into the world more and think of better emotes. The problem is, sometimes the world seems to move faster then you do. People expect fast reactions. Sometimes you can make them wait, other times I'll sneak back and read the whole thing when the scene gets a little slower.

I'm actually quite curious on how to react with virtual NPCs and virtual objects. I feel rather... nerdy and awkward talking to a VNPC or using a virtual punching bag. Sometimes using a virtual shovel to shove virtual shit seems twinky, when there's real shovel and real shit. But I've seen some people really get in character with them and do them very well.

The trick is to just treat it like something that isn't virtual. In room descriptions in city streets there are tons of virtual people (usually) and they're all pushing past you. Are they cluttering you? Is there a hidden thief that picked your pockets, or tried to? Are you too drunk to remember to clear the way when that wagon rolls down the street? What about if you're driving a wagon? Are the stupid people on the roads keeping out of your way? The only thing to remember is that with virtual people, don't give yourself an unfair advantage. It's totally cool to beat up a wimpy breed, but if you're beating up a thick, muscular, veteran bynner, to impress people when you haven't had any training, or whatever... That's a problem. But being reasonable about it can be a lot of fun.

Involving virtual family and their issues in your life can also be fun. After the Gith War, there was a law that said looters would be killed. My AoD soldier had a younger brother who got into trouble a lot. The younger brother vNPC got caught by vNPC soldiers and templars looting. He kicked a vNPC soldier in the crotch and ran off. All of that was just assumed to happen. My PC got to talk with the templars over his command (Samos Rennik!) about what to do about this. He didn't want his brother to die. He also tried to hire a rinthi who knew the city to find his brother. That never happened (she got other work), but it provided a lot of RP opportunities.

VNPCs can be loads of fun, and don't be afraid to use them.

I don't think I feel any "motivation" to emote. I mean, no more than I feel any "motivation" to log in and roleplay. When you speak of emoting, I'm assuming you refer to all the various methods of emoting, not merely using the actual "emote" command and its p/h/s cousins.

[stuff]

The answer isn't anything really to do with motivation. I incorporate actions into my text mostly because I -can.-  And again, I don't do it constantly, or even consistently. But it's nice that I can do it, and so, I do it.

Well, you could also do a paragraph emote for each action that you do. You [/i]could[/i] describe sitting on a stool with a huge flowery emote that stretched the emote command to the maximum characters. But generally, people don't do this. You don't do it constantly or consistently, so why not? You can do it all the time, but you don't. You only do it some of the time. My point is, emotes, and how detailed emotes are, is entirely about motivation. Simply being able to do it isn't enough, we have to want to do it enough to actually do it.

I emote. I don't go around in the world emoteless. I do emote a fair amount. The trouble is having the inspiration and motivation to do more then your basic boring emotes and actually bring the world to life.

1. Sometimes, I just don't. Sometimes, if I'm alone and RPing I will only emote every 5-10 minutes. But I think, or feel. I always think or feel if I'm not emoting rapidly. The feels and thinks sometimes then lead to better emotes.

feel like you have to pee.
em shuffles off into a bush and whips his thang out.

If I'm alone and foraging or clothes making or doing repetitive activity X, it can be a great time for thinks and feels. Sometimes I feel too blah to try for thinks and feels, but it's a great time for it. Thinks and feels don't have to be related to an activity at all, but can be daydreaming, or wondering about X, or speculating on Y. I really should try to do this more again.

2. Usually, I have key words for each character. Physical descriptors or fancy words, depending on what sort of character I'm playing, designed to keep their emotes away from previous emotes I used on previous characters.

This is actually an answer to a different question then I'm asking. I'm asking how you go from doing repetitive activity X with one character, to full interaction with other characters, where you want and should emote more. As to making sure characters aren't the same, I have general behavior for each character and do much the same as you.

3. I guess this sort of goes hand in hand with the words I use, but at the same time, I'm always trying to think of new ways to evoke certain physical gestures or to invent new takes on phrases. I read a lot, and sometimes, I steal from the shit I read. Or, I'll tweak someone else's fabulous emote into one of my own.

Reading can be a great inspiration for characters, be it personality or emoting. What I find hard (this is a tangent) is if I've been arming for too long, normal writing seems alien. I'm stuck in MUD-mode.

i have a serious mistake in my post and i'm too lazy to fix it. except for this: if the people around me don't seem inspired, i will emote less or leave.

in good RP environments i let the pressure go and emote as i please without worrying whether it sounds good or not--- except grammatical errors. i hates them.

I hope you're trying for irony here.

i'm not sure if i should say something, but i've seen a certain pc walking around using "obvious emotes".... they're saying thing like

emote glares at ~red with obvious hatred, mixed with a little pity at his circumstances.

The short dwarf glared at the red-haired man with obvious hatred, mixed with a little pity at his circumstances.

someone just coming into the room won't know what the hell they're talking about, and for those who were already there, for me anyway its a bit jarring.

I find their emotes a bit much and i feel like i should say something, but otherwise they are good pcs and don't do anything wrong as a player.

I think that obvious hatred is fine and obvious pity is fine. I don't like the "at his circumstances," and agree with you. It's jarring. However, it's not really good to say that a living PC is doing this. You should try to speak more in generals like "when I see this, I dislike it". Pinpointing a specific PC, even if you're not naming them, isn't good.

I personally feel 'obvious' emotes are fine. Have you ever seen anyone glaring at someone for no reason? You can still tell it's a death-glare.

I don't think she's talking about death-glares, at least not as I read it. It's more the "at his circumstances" part that's the issue. But maybe I just misinterpreted it.

I've given up giving a fuck, seriously. If somebody doesn't like how you RP, they're not going to RP with you more than likely. If they don't like it, screw them. They're not someone you want to interact with. Write things how you want to write them and how you like to write them. If you're confident in your emoting and your ability to display your character in the physical and obvious ways, people'll flock.

Sorry. This isn't a rant or anything. It's just good advice from someone else who told me to stop caring so much about being a people pleaser. Please yourself, then good things'll come.

I think you can want to do something but still lack the motivation to actually do it, even if it would please yourself.

[Lizzie]

Taven ponders:

Well, you could also do a paragraph emote for each action that you do. You could describe sitting on a stool with a huge flowery emote that stretched the emote command to the maximum characters. But generally, people don't do this. You don't do it constantly or consistently, so why not? You can do it all the time, but you don't. You only do it some of the time. My point is, emotes, and how detailed emotes are, is entirely about motivation. Simply being able to do it isn't enough, we have to want to do it enough to actually do it.

I emote. I don't go around in the world emoteless. I do emote a fair amount. The trouble is having the inspiration and motivation to do more then your basic boring emotes and actually bring the world to life.

That'd be a bad example to use on me, since I am -never- motivated to do flowery paragraph-long emotes. My answer to "how are you motivated" to do those is "I'm not." I don't do them, I don't like them, I don't really even like having to read them much. I know they're popular though, and other people love them. And I appreciate that they're popular, and other people love them. But I never worry about being motivated to do them.

My point was that these *other* ways to emote exists. I *can* type
sit table (pulling out a stool)

instead of

emote pulls out a stool
sit table

I -can- put together related, emoted behaviors, with coded behaviors, into nice neat tidy packages. And because I CAN, and because I like them, I do them. I do them more than I use the actual emote command. I was referring specifically to things other than the actual emote command. The "command emotes" - emoting within the coded context of OTHER commands, rather than emoting using the emote command. All the ones that are -not- emote, pemote, hemote, semote...

All those other ways of including your character's actions into the scene, are the things I prefer to do, and I think it's awesome that I CAN, which is why I do them. Most other games don't have that feature.

[Cindy42]

trying for irony? i just said something i do that i imagine a lot of other people would say.


i'm not trying to be mean. i just mentioned that because i'm not sure what to say to the pc. She keeps emoting things like, The orange-eyed dwarf appears upset to have been greatly mistaken about your trustworthiness, or, The red-haired elf nods to you, convinced you are not a thief, and I just don't like it. i can't pretend i don't in order to split hairs with you about whether i'm being rude or not, i just wonder if i should say something to her to keep her from jarring others.

[Lizzie]

trying for irony? i just said something i do that i imagine a lot of other people would say.


i'm not trying to be mean. i just mentioned that because i'm not sure what to say to the pc. She keeps emoting things like, The orange-eyed dwarf appears upset to have been greatly mistaken about your trustworthiness, or, The red-haired elf nods to you, convinced you are not a thief, and I just don't like it. i can't pretend i don't in order to split hairs with you about whether i'm being rude or not, i just wonder if i should say something to her to keep her from jarring others.

The irony is your claim of disdain of bad grammar, when your posts are rife with misplaced commas, a blatant (and possibly intentional) ignorance of capitalization, erroneous phrasing, poor sentence structure, run-on sentences, and so on and so forth. It's akin to someone saying "eye h8 it wen u cant spel"

Regarding your actual complaint, it doesn't belong here on the GDB. You are complaining about a specific player, and that needs to get sent through a player complaint in the request tool. The person you are responding to already said this, but you don't seem to have caught that suggestion.

[musashi]

Regarding your actual complaint, it doesn't belong here on the GDB. You are complaining about a specific player, and that needs to get sent through a player complaint in the request tool.

+1.

It's generally considered bad form to get on the GDB and grief about another player in particular, no matter how vague you might be trying to be.

Take the player aside and OOC to them your concern if you think they are just making a n00b mistake. File a player complaint if you think that they're doing something staff should have a look at.

[valeria]

I would say you should file a player complaint even if you think they are just making a noob mistake.  It's not like the staff is going to kill their puppy for questionably OOCly-phrased emotes.  I doubt it goes on their Permanent Record that staff had to point them to some better examples of emotes.  And it has the benefit of you not looking like a stuck-up prat 'correcting their RP' which they might just think is creative, and which a lot of people get really really defensive about.

Edit : For the clarifications, the 'you' here is a general you.

[Cindy42]

trying for irony? i just said something i do that i imagine a lot of other people would say.


i'm not trying to be mean. i just mentioned that because i'm not sure what to say to the pc. She keeps emoting things like, The orange-eyed dwarf appears upset to have been greatly mistaken about your trustworthiness, or, The red-haired elf nods to you, convinced you are not a thief, and I just don't like it. i can't pretend i don't in order to split hairs with you about whether i'm being rude or not, i just wonder if i should say something to her to keep her from jarring others.

The irony is your claim of disdain of bad grammar, when your posts are rife with misplaced commas, a blatant (and possibly intentional) ignorance of capitalization, erroneous phrasing, poor sentence structure, run-on sentences, and so on and so forth. It's akin to someone saying "eye h8 it wen u cant spel"

Regarding your actual complaint, it doesn't belong here on the GDB. You are complaining about a specific player, and that needs to get sent through a player complaint in the request tool. The person you are responding to already said this, but you don't seem to have caught that suggestion.

99% of my grammer IG is perfect, actually. and sorry for not catching the point before--- i was busy replying to some hate there. i'm not that upset about this player to go to the trouble of filing a complaint, and i'm sorry its made you all upset and mean to me, apparently. why don't we talk on something different?

[solera]

I'm fine with foraging emotes.  It's something I love doing in RL and I feel a bit naked if I let a few forages or junks go by without emoting.  Partly habit now too.
But I wish I could emote more when I'm travelling. Too busy looking.  The best I seem to do is plug in a l desc and have a feel or a streaming think. I'm feeling bad about this quite often.

[Marshmellow]

Actually, Cindy, it is hard to take you serious because you do NOT capitalize properly.  The rest pales in comparison.

[AmandaGreathouse]

Haters gonna hate. [As the avatar says.]

Anyhow:
Remember, there's nothing going to make you randomly sneeze or trip or spill a drink on yourself or drop a cup and so on and so on.
I think some of my favorite types of people to be around, emote-wise are people who:
Have tics
Have accidents
Hemote so much that it's always obvious if you know their character well, when they're lying or bluffing or uncomfortable by body language alone
Watch and interplay with my own hemotes/emotes
Act in a logical fashion [ie: Don't sit in the middle of the floor of a shop crafting, don't assume that the bartender just loves them chiseling away while sitting AT the bar, don't threaten templars or huge hulky people with teeny merchants, etc]
Bring the world, the weather, the senses, and vnpcs to life, alternating between them so that the world feels like a living tapestry.

That said... I don't think it's overly important that you have flowery emotes, it's more important to be so very real and present and consistent that you seem real, and to keep the world around you in mind with what you do.

[Is Friday]

99% of my grammer IG is perfect, actually.

That 1% of your imperfect grammar must have been when I interacted with you, then. Your emotes were/are frequently run-on, you throw out some borderline power-emotes, and your capitalization needs some work. But you try pretty hard, so I'll give you a pass. I just don't think anyone should lie to you about how you're performing.

Maybe this is just personal preference, but my take on this: If you're going to subdue my patience with 3-4 line emotes at that speed like Force Recon coming through a window with grenades and machine guns ablazin', you can at least check your grammar.

[BleakOne]

99% of my grammer IG is perfect, actually.

That 1% of your imperfect grammar must have been when I interacted with you, then. Your emotes were/are frequently run-on, you throw out some borderline power-emotes, and your capitalization needs some work. But you try pretty hard, so I'll give you a pass. I just don't think anyone should lie to you about how you're performing.

Maybe this is just personal preference, but my take on this: If you're going to subdue my patience with 3-4 line emotes at that speed like Force Recon coming through a window with grenades and machine guns ablazin', you can at least check your grammar.

Uhm... maybe a bit too specific for the GDB, dude.
On the topic of flowery emotes, I'm fine with or without them. A well done flowery emote or 'normal' emote are both just as engaging.

[musashi]

I think this thread has juuuuuuuuuuust about run its course.

[Rhyden]

Honestly guys?

I don't really care what someone posts on the GDB, nor how they post it.

My opinion? If you emote at least once per log-in, you're ok in my books so far as RP goes. If you happen to do it often, we'll probably get along famously.

The fact that we're complaining over grammar used on the GDB or anyone emoting "too much" still baffles me.

[path]

Where are our moderators when we need them?

On point, my PCs often aren't doing anything particularly interesting to emote about. In such cases, I involve the world as best I can, the scents of the surrounding room or street, the weather, the time of day. Emoting with one's gear seems like it used to be more popular, it's certainly something I forget to do these days.

I completely hear you about coming in guns blazing and then feeling the emote-ardor wear off a bit. When this happens to me, and I'm actually aware of it, I take some time to solo roleplay which I find refreshes my approach when I rejoin the visible playerbase.

Anyway, they're watching you. Don't forget that. Always watching.

[Taven]

No more comments on Cindy or Cindy's grammar, or player complaints please.

A few comments were necessary, but it's getting to the point of hassling or degrading into an off-topic argument. Let's breathe!

I'm fine with foraging emotes.  It's something I love doing in RL and I feel a bit naked if I let a few forages or junks go by without emoting.  Partly habit now too.
But I wish I could emote more when I'm travelling. Too busy looking.  The best I seem to do is plug in a l desc and have a feel or a streaming think. I'm feeling bad about this quite often.

My problem is if I forage a whole ton. As someone said (I'm too lazy to look it up, sorry!), there's only so many ways you can find a rock. For some strange reason I'm really good about emoting poop scooping, however.

Remember, there's nothing going to make you randomly sneeze or trip or spill a drink on yourself or drop a cup and so on and so on. I think some of my favorite types of people to be around, emote-wise are people who:

• Have tics
• Have accidents
• Hemote so much that it's always obvious if you know their character well, when they're lying or bluffing or uncomfortable by body language alone
• Watch and interplay with my own hemotes/emotes
• Act in a logical fashion [ie: Don't sit in the middle of the floor of a shop crafting, don't assume that the bartender just loves them chiseling away while sitting AT the bar, don't threaten templars or huge hulky people with teeny merchants, etc]
• Bring the world, the weather, the senses, and vnpcs to life, alternating between them so that the world feels like a living tapestry.

That said... I don't think it's overly important that you have flowery emotes, it's more important to be so very real and present and consistent that you seem real, and to keep the world around you in mind with what you do.

I should do accidents more, they can be a ton of fun. I should also hemote more, although I do so when it would make sense (IE, could give something away, feeling something different then what's said). I think acting logical is something I'm usually on top of. I don't always remember the weather, and I could involve senses more. I love vNPCs, but I could also involve them more. I'm more likely to involve city vNPCs then vNPCs in the wild (IE animals, small lizards, bugs, whatever).

On the topic of flowery emotes, I'm fine with or without them. A well done flowery emote or 'normal' emote are both just as engaging.

Flowery emotes can be beautiful and impressive. They can also be excessive and annoying, depending on the situation. IMHO, of course.

On point, my PCs often aren't doing anything particularly interesting to emote about. In such cases, I involve the world as best I can, the scents of the surrounding room or street, the weather, the time of day. Emoting with one's gear seems like it used to be more popular, it's certainly something I forget to do these days.

I completely hear you about coming in guns blazing and then feeling the emote-ardor wear off a bit. When this happens to me, and I'm actually aware of it, I take some time to solo roleplay which I find refreshes my approach when I rejoin the visible playerbase.

Anyway, they're watching you. Don't forget that. Always watching.

I think that potentially solo-RP could be a good way to redefine and establish emotes. I know that I feel stuck in a rut sometimes, because my character is expected to emote doing this in that way, or whatever. I feel unmotivated to change how I emote a character's habits, if the way I emote them is routine. However, sometimes it seems old and stale and a new way to emote would be just the thing.

They are always watching. Always.

[Majikal]

Sometimes I emote.

[BleakOne]

Sometimes I emote.

[racurtne]

I probably look like an idiot because I often do the gestures I am about to emote so that I can accurately describe them. I then proceed to describe them in exceedingly simple terms because I lack creativity.

[Taven]

I probably look like an idiot because I often do the gestures I am about to emote so that I can accurately describe them. I then proceed to describe them in exceedingly simple terms because I lack creativity.

I can't recall any of your emotes, but you were fun to role-play with, if that helps. Maybe this thread will inspire you more!

[Marshmellow]

On the topic of emotes when foraging, for any invisible people or the like watching me forage and thinking that I'm doing nothing because I never emote?  I'm thinking a lot instead.  If you want me to emote, though, just lemme know you're there. 

[Nil AlSahni]

On the topic of emotes when foraging, for any invisible people....If you want me to emote, though, just lemme know you're there. 

Definitely. The onus is on the watcher to let the person know they're not alone if you want to be entertained. Though... in the past, I've had friends tag along - also invisible, and just watch people out in the wilderness who think they're alone, signing with semote and waying each other about it, cracking jokes and so on. You really never know if you're alone.

By the same token - if someone DOES make it a point to emote vs semote to let you know you're not alone, and it's something that your pc wouldn't notice, like [someone looks at %your inix, poking it slightly] or [As a result of someone or something disturbing it, %inix head whips around] type thing... don't spam scan and try to pk like a dick because the person was trying to be considerate and encourage some limited interaction.

On the topic of emotes: Flowery emotes rock, but they're not always suitable. I think that the best emotes even shift word choices based on situation. Like sitting in a bar your blue eyes might blah blah, but with someone very close to your face, they might notice the details and that there's hints of violet and green in them, etc.

[Lizzie]

Since this is now a more general kind of overall emoting thread, I'd like to offer a suggestion/reminder/hint to those who might not realize it:

If you're sitting at a table and using the talk command, and inserting an emote within the talk, do *not* capitalize the first word of the emote. If you do that, it will capitalize it in the -middle- of the sentence that everyone else reads. The game system will *correctly* capitalize it automatically, as long as you don't force the capital letter yourself. Example:

talk (Waving at ~amos) Hello, Amos!

returns to everyone else at the table:

The green-eyed girl, Waving at the brown-eyed boy, says, in sirihish, "Hello, Amos!"

This happens with other command emotes I believe as well; give pouch talia [Tossing it over] as opposed to give pouch talia [tossing it over].

[Cutthroat]

1. How do you get inspired to routinely emote?

I think what inspires me most is having other PCs around. It helps to basically have an obligation to not appear dead to the other players. I can solo RP to an extent, but then it's mainly use of the "think" and "say" commands.

Command emotes help very much. If you type them out quickly enough, you can emote while holding a conversation, and keep the scene lively. Sometimes a pure emote in a conversation can feel like a waste of time to me (when I do it), because nothing is actually said.

2. How do you transition from repetitive crap to interaction with players that need more emotes?

Get into different situations with those players and their PCs. In taverns and city areas, emote about your surroundings. Spar with them, and emote about that. Show emotion in public and private conversations. And imagine that there's an invisible, curious gith or halfling in the room trying to understand what's going on. Slam the table if you're angry; sit back if you're relaxed; steeple your fingers if you're plotting something evil; dart your eyes from side to side if you're nervous, scheming, or lying. There are certain gestures, eye and body motions that universally mean something... many of us do these things because it's natural.

3. How do you think of unique interesting emotes that are actually relevant to the situation?

People-watching. It may seem strange, but in a city with eight million people, it's pretty hard to miss the quirks people have when they interact with each other. Watching good movies helps a lot. Look for "emotes" of the laid-back characters, and anxious ones - annoying characters and pleasant ones - tough characters and weak ones - leaders and followers - and so on, and you'll start to see certain patterns. And read books for a similar effect.

[Majikal]

My emotes aren't nearly as creative as I'd like them to be, which is hurtful because we have a lot of great writers in this game. Though I feel that I get the point across it's rarely ever a flowery thing unless I'm inspired by a really great scene that really just puts my brain on overdrive for a bit.

I do have a horribly bad habit though, often times I'll bump into a pc somewhere and if it feels as if they're actually trying to have a text-based pissing contest with me right out of the gate with emotes that are so flowery they're to the point of ridiculous. Apparently for some people it's not okay for a look to be a look and a drink to be a drink, in these over-emote situations I usually resort to say/talk and socials, conceding to the other person in hopes I make their day better.  

[Akaramu]

I might be one of those flowery emoters. 

It's not intentional or a pissing contest, though... I just don't know any other way to emote.