Help with emotes

[nakrat]

Hey guys,

Was wondering if I could get some new ideas on how to format emotes.

Most of mine are like : em takes his bottle off the ground, grabbing at it with a nod, or em taking his bottle, @ gives a nod.

Was hoping someone could give me some pointers to improve my emotes, maybe some advanced techniques that look cool and lend a lot more atmosphere to the character.

Thanks!

[azuriolinist]

I try to incorporate my character's environment into my emotes, now and then. Especially while solo-rping.

You could go about doing this by combining a clause about the surroundings with one of your PC's current action...

em The scorching heat of Krath bears down on the wastes as @ steers ~beetle along the base of a heaping swell in the sands.
em A cloud of dust unsettles into the air as @ skids to a stop.

Or just separating them into sentences (beware the targeting code that causes periods to be swallowed up), really.

em steers ~beetle along the base of a heaping swell in the sands. The scorching heat of Krath bears down on the wastes.
em skids to a stop. A cloud of dust unsettles into the air with ^me abrupt halt.

Also, try making use of VNPCs here and there! An emote wherein instead of doing something, your PC is the receiver.

em A large, hooded figure jostles past @.

edit: Because grammar.

[Lizzie]

I personally try to keep it pretty simple. I'll toss in something "fancy" once in awhile if I'm personally feeling too blah about the whole scene at the moment. It helps perk me up and brings me closer to what's going on.

The advice from azuriolinist is great, about bringing the "atmosphere" into the scene with emotes. I'd add a caution against using too many actions. Remember people need to be able to respond to things and if you have your character do a bunch of stuff all in a single 3-line emote, no one will be able to react to the first bunch of actions til after the final action is completed.

Example:

The thin dark woman steps in and waves to the green-eyed man, then passes the tressy noble, smirking, and heads to the bar and orders a drink from the bartender. Cup in hand, she walks away.
The thin dark woman walks north.

Basically you've created an entire scene, involving two PCs and an NPC, and didn't give anyone a chance to react.

Better might've been:

The thin dark woman steps in and passes the tressy noble, smirking, on the way to the bar.
<wait a second or two>
<if the noble doesn't react...then>
After waving at the green-eyed man, the thin dark woman orders a drink from the bartender.
<wait a second or two>
<if the noble hasn't realized she's just been snubbed, and the green-eyed man doesn't try to engage in conversation, then....>
Cup in hand, the thin dark woman walks north.