Excelmation points and their usage

[tortall]

Did anyone ever watch School House Rock at all? In one of their songs they say something along the lines of exclmation points show strong emotion. Usually excitement. It does -not- mean that they're being loud. Yes, people do tend to get a bit louder when they're excided. That does not mean you have to wince every time someone in the room uses an excelmation point.

It is a big pet peeve of mine, as my chars tend to get excited easly. PLEASE guys, people don't wince that often. The bar/tavern is always noisy, and you're unlikly to hear them over the rest of the roar of the crowed. Deal!


-Tortall, who is a bit pissed at the moment.

[Bestatte]

I guess it depends on who's doing the exclaiming, and where exactly the people are situated.

A halfling exclaiming in the middle of a sandstorm is likely to not be heard much more than a strange squeak.

A half-giant standing a few feet from you in the middle of a bar might blow your eardrums off if he continuously exclaimed, unless he emoted that he wasn't facing you or talking in your direction.

A mantis exclaiming on the street, to no one in particular, might only be heard as a high-pitched hiss.

A human exclaiming to another human in a crowded tavern might be heard above the din, but probably not to the point of annoyance.

So like I say, it depends on who's doing the exclaiming, and where that person is in comparison to the people reacting to it.

[tortall]

Half-Giants are not always loud.
And I'm sorry, but you don't need to emote facing away from someone to let them know you're not talking to them. It's kinda a given. :-p



-Tortall

[Ueda]

Well a problem I see with not being able to hear you is -- the listen skill but thats a hole nother subject and I don't feel like typing to much, but what I will say is I think this skill, gives the wrong impression, I've already said I'd like it to be refined. Tha's my 2 'sid.

[mansa]

And I'm sorry, but you don't need to emote facing away from someone to let them know you're not talking to them.

I'm going to disagree.   I -don't- know anything of what you're doing, unless you -show- me.  I don't know if you've noticed me in the tavern, unless you emote looking in my direction, or if you use the look command.
I'm going to ASSUME that you've not spotted me, unless you show me that you do.  I'm going to ASSUME you're listening intently to my every word, unless you show me that you're not, but looking elsewhere, or by talking to someone else.

Emote MORE, not LESS!

[tortall]

~shakes her head~ Mansa, if you're going to assume that everyone, including people you don't even LOOK at you, are listening to your ever word, then you are FAR too pompus. Also, there is a limit to how much you shoudl emote I think. I don't want people emoting ever time they twich. I don't want to see an emote about how they chew their food. I'm sorry, but I just see that as overkill. If I'm talking to you, I will emote that I turn to you and start talking. Infact, I might evne use the tell command! Oh, what a revelation! I'm OBVIOUSLY talking to you. If I used the say command, I am likly eather talking to myself, or no one.


My point of this thred was to tell people that using excelmation points does NOT mean that person is yelling.


-Tortall, who looks pointly at mansa.

[Carnage]

Also, there is a limit to how much you shoudl emote I think

Uh-huh. Put a limit on how much people can creatively write and emote.

Fucking brilliant.

[tortall]

~smirks~ I expected you to say no less Carnage. The screen was always moving by faster than I could read when your chars came into the room.


-Tortall, who never saw the point of writing out long lines of babble when you can say the same thing in 5 words.

[Anonymous]

I'm more annoyed with the timing of this. By posting what you posted, anyone who was present when it happened now knows exactly who you play and anyone who attempts to explain their viewpoint will reveal to you exactly who they play and I think it's poor form.

Go fishing somewhere else.

[tortall]

Actually, the last instance I have problems with people doing this was several days ago. I waited because I didn't want everyone to know who I played. If someone else happened to use lots of excelmation points at the time I was posting this, that's not my fault.


-Tortall

[Ueda]

Also, there is a limit to how much you shoudl emote I think

Uh-huh. Put a limit on how much people can creatively write and emote.

Fucking brilliant.

I can't even believe tortall said that, I agree that now one wants to see someone twitch 20 time in a IG hour but, telling other people where that limit is ... is simply not your place tortall

[Carnage]

-Tortall, who never saw the point of writing out long lines of babble when you can say the same thing in 5 words.

Uh, it's called elaboration and I'd much rather have a descriptive line than see half-assed posts. Example:

emote runs down the street.

emote Slowly backing away, @ suddenly turns away from ~soldier and bolts down the street, weaving in and out of a line of passing wagons.

OH THE AGONY OF THE LATTER! THE DETAIL, IT BURNS!

[Armaddict]

Okay.  While vast numbers of emotes can be annoying a room full of PC's, I rarely -see- anyone using vast numbers of emotes then.

When you're in a sparsely populated room, you're saying you want -less- activity going on?  My opinion differs (I'm not saying you're wrong).  I personally enjoy having people around who can always come up with something for their character to be doing that makes sense, or even better, using emote to show how the area is interacting with them.  Not only does it give -you- something to do while you're waiting for that fella to reply to you, but it also enhances the entire atmosphere.

And I'm curious...how did this get from you not liking to have people react as if you were yelling every time, to how you didn't like how often people emoted?

[Anonymous]

I think exclamations mean you aren't being subtle enough.

[Anonymous]

Actually, the last instance I have problems with people doing this was several days ago. I waited because I didn't want everyone to know who I played. If someone else happened to use lots of excelmation points at the time I was posting this, that's not my fault.


-Tortall

Wow. You really hold on to your anger then since your first post ended with "who is really pissed at the moment". Let it go dood. If youre still "really pissed at the moment" after something that happened a few days ago you should take a break.

[Socko]

Alright.

I'm a long emoter-- and that comment about shutting down longer emotes did strike me like a knife through the heart.

To me, the emotes are there for expression. You're trying to help -everyone- by adding atmosphere to the situations, stages, ect. You're helping the world come to life.

How is this bad? Really, can you come up with one way in which bringing the world that you RP in to life is a bother/bad thing? This is, of course, aside from blinking or twitching twenty times in a RL hour.

The point of the game is immersion. Lots of emotes that enlist the superfriends of sound effects, lighting, weather conditions, and smell/sight, ect. Are wholly unnecessary. But are they good? In -my- opinion, yes.

No one's telling you to make your emotes longer, Tortall. Don't imply to others that they, in turn, should make theirs shorter.

[mansa]

I think we all know it is POOR FORM TO USE ALL CAPS.  I think people wouldn't take that, into Armageddon, as 'Yelling'.  I think people assume that exclaiming is 'yelling'

[Anonymous]

mansa you cheating bastard, stop twinking out your emote skill, you already branched the eat skill from it.  JUST STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(that wasn't a yell)

[Socko]

I hardly ever see exclaimations as yelling-- usually I just do a little of this:

The gollum-bodied gith twitches his head up in the air, screeching loudly, in duderish, "Mo' beer!"
 
Just make it look like you're screaming. Maybe even like a screeching mad gith.

[Northlander]

Well.. There's the 'shout' command.

The emote discussion needs another thread so we can have less Tortall-bashing and instead discuss the exclamation mark. If there's a need to discuss it.

[Anonymous]

Language skills
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
sirihish                               duderish

>change language duderish
>say That's what you think.
The portly, middle-aged man says, in duderish "Yeah well, that's just like, your opinion, man."

[Armaddict]

Woowoo!  Another big Lebowski Fan!

[Anonymous]

well lets put it this way.

Im talking to someone in the middle of a bar. You else come into the room. Its crowded not just virtually but also with a bunch of PCs too. The person who JUST walked in exclaims to the person youre talkign to -in the middle of the room-

So and so exclaims to the other guy, "Hey! I don't like this thing!"

The guy youre talking to actually goes thru the trouble of emoting that hes turning around, so the person exclaiming can see damned well that he was facing the other direction and you were loud enough to be heard all the way over from the entry. You make no motion of movement, no indication to anyone that you havent gotten any closer to him. You continue exclaiming things, and still no "emote approaches the other guy" or "takes a few more steps closer to the other guy" or "skips merrily into the middle of the room" or "does a somersault and a fucking half-gainer over the goddamned couch, landing smack dab in front of the other guy."

From where Im standing, youre being very loud, loud enough to be heard clear over the noise and even when the other guy turns to get closer to you, you don't stop being "excited." guess what? I'm gonna think it's grating on my ears and my nerves and I'm gonna react that way. If you don't like it, then um. Tough, I guess. Or maybe take the atmosphere of the place your in into consideration next time.

[Ueda]

Donny says "They peed on your rug dude?"

[Northlander]

The Lebowski-discussion needs another thread so we can have less incoherent quotes and instead discuss the exclamation mark!