Hidden Emotes?

[Reito]

I was having some trouble with this the other day. I wanted to emote some rustling in the bush, and, I was hidden, as I didn't want to show myself. But, Alas, I was unable to do such a thing, was deemed visible, looked at, and the potential roleplay was ruined, and the target ran. So..What I'm suggesting, is, while hidden, being able to 'emit' things. i.e.

hide
Blah blah
You find a hiding spot! Gj!

A short male in a desert-colored duster walks in from the east.
emit Some of the bushes suddenly rustle.
Shown to the duster-wearing male as
'Some of the bushes suddenly rustle.'
Eh?
What'd you think?

[Marauder Moe]

You can emote while hidden.  Your target may have looked at you for other reasons.

[Reito]

I know you can. But it doesn't show what I wanted it to show.

[Marauder Moe]

Alright.  Well, the problem is that an 'emit' command has too much potential for abuse, in my opinion.

[Bestatte]

What I'd REALLY love, is for "outdoor hide emotes" to echo as "Something" instead of "Someone."

Indoor emotes make sense to be "someone" since it isn't likely you'll find a gith hiding in Trader's Inn, or a raptor ducking under a table in the Tembo's Tooth.

But outdoors, most of the entities that dwell in the wilderness aren't people. You shouldn't see "Someone rustles the bushes" when a goudra scratches its nose, there's no reason why you should see "Someone" rustling the bushes when an elf scratches its nose either.

Replacing "someone" with "something" in hidden emotes would be really groovy for wilderness areas.

[Rhyden]

If you are codedly hidden, I don't see what's the problem with just:

emote as @ hides within a leafy bush, it rustles and shakes.

Code Select Expand

As somebody hides within a leafy bush, it rustles and shakes.

I don't see anything wrong with this. Your bushes are still moving and shaking and if anybody's around, they won't have a clue who or what's making the noise.

Edit: Oh, props to Bestatte's idea. It's pretty cool too. Maybe it's a bird or a little critter inside that bush? How do we know it's some-body-?

[Reito]

The problem is mainly Twinks. It just shows that someones there, and now they'll spam scan twenty times to find you, then run, or, worse, attack you.

[Xygax]

This subject has been thoroughly discussed here.  My (non-staff) opinions on the subject remain unchanged.

-- X

[amoeba]

The problem is mainly Twinks. It just shows that someones there, and now they'll spam scan twenty times to find you, then run, or, worse, attack you.

I used to do a lot of hiddens in the outside areas. Yes people would scan repeatedly, some would get up and  bolt, but for the most part the encounters were fun.  I have never quite understood why people get quite so upset at some people running at the sign of danger, if you are a very vulnerable character, running is fine.  The ones you want to worry about are the ones that don't feel a need to run at the sign of danger.

Back on target. not having the "someone" in the emote will do little to nothing to resolve the problems you described.  People will be just as likley to scan/flee at any unusual activity.

[Cenghiz]

Bah.. Read the whole thread Xygaz mentioned... I confess my thoughts were different but I have to agree with Xygaz.
I had characters so far with no or low scan skills. With those, I always responded to hidden emotes like nothing happened. But it's the way I'm used to RP... When we used to play tabletop games, I remember an incident.
I was playing a fine mage with a fort of his own. A group of other players got to my fort, to ask for a druidic artifact to be given back. Being in the mood for fun, I told the DM loud out that I left the room, produced some feces - -, polymorphed it to the shape of the artifact, cast undetectability, then permanency on it and headed back.
All chars but a couple acted like they've been really given the artifact. There was another mage in their group, who was built on a paranoid personality. He checked the artifact with his little spellpower but my fake was good enough, then he also OOC said "My char's contented.. It's the real thing." But the other character...
He used the OOC info being extremely suspicious though he was just a rogue, the last person to be suspicious when it comes to ancient useless things with historical value. Soon he was deftly singled out to encounter a baddie on his own by the DM and he has never been taken into our serious RP sessions again.
I try to say, I trust my ability to seperate IC and OOC and I also trust all turkish players here. If it was only us in the game, I'd say "Fuck it. I'll use hidden emotes till I bleed..". But if someone's used to playing the notebook method - you type anything OOC to the notebook and hand it to the DM - it must be respected. He's used to taking everything into account in his RP, so it's of no use to give him additional OOC information if you don't want to make him mad OOCly.
There's no need to use hidden emotes if you don't want be found out in a way.. Then it's not twinkish to stand up and scan, cast 'detect hidden emoter', walk away, check belongings or fart.
Hehe, just my two sparky 'sids.

[SpyGuy]

I suppose as is the best course to take is this (apply this only to outdoor hidden emotes):

Emote while hidden if you want to give the person and the PC knowledge that someone or something is near.  So in your emotes involve rustling some brush, stepping on a twig, whatever.  You are letting them know that they are being watched or something is in the area.  If you want to prevent them from running off immediately and avoiding any RP I suggest using the shadow command rather than hide.  Try to avoid emotes that could only be seen if person X had a full view of your PC.

If you want to be completely unseen don't confuse the issue with emotes.  Use thinks if you want to keep up your own play.  Assume in this case that your PC is being extra special careful not to rustle that brush or step on all that dry grass on the ground to keep your presence hidden.

All of that stuff said in the outdoors people often have scan and your hide just might fail on you.  And awaking other PCs to your presence can sometimes result in some really rich RP.

My opinion and what I try to play by.