Those little things called Emotes

[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.